The Final Verdict II (All Worlds United)

It echoed out clear as day for all of those present to hear. The Heroic Spirits did not know what to make of it as they looked at one another in confusion. However, Raizo's gaze widened due to the familiarity he shared with the tune. He felt a strong tug on his heart as if the music struck something within him that he felt saddened yet inspired by. It was a sensation that he could not easily forget at all; nevertheless, he was still in disbelief because there should not be a way for him to hear that song again.

"This has got to be a dream right?" the Stormbringer stood gazing up in the air. Then it happened.

The rift tore itself open as six figures clad in feminine battle armor came rushing through. The first female had an orange aura around her with a surging power gathered around her fists. The second had a blue aura striding through the sky with her gleaming katana. The third possessed by a red aura followed suit wielding crossbow pistols. After her came two smaller females, one with a green aura wielding a giant scythe and the other with a pink aura carrying two saw blades off her headwear. Lastly was a female with a silver white aura equipped with a short sword tucked inside a gauntlet. These six females were allies of Raizo known by their power as the Symphogears.

As they rained down onto the battlefield, the demon pillars took note of the sudden intruders. For the first time, the monstrosities enacted a sort of offensive as waves of miasmic gas spewed from a small batch of them towards the descending females.

Tsubasa moved forward spinning her body like a cartwheel as dancing flames whirled off her body blowing the toxic gas away in that moment. Supporting her counter, Chris then moved in and opened fire with her pistols unleashing a torrent of dark crimson arrows upon the targets below. As each round struck, they instantly imploded causing the tentacle beasts to shriek in agony. However, that was not all.

Kirika and Shirabe dived in making the first bout of close contact with the foe. In perfect sync with one another, the two girls made their simultaneous assault. The blonde haired female swung her scythe with both hands hacking one of the demon pillars in half. Her partner with the twin-tailed hair style used her giant yo-yo sawblades to cleave two more in half.

Maria then took her stand drawing her blade from the gauntlet on her opposite arm. As she grasped firmly onto her steel blade, the weapon elongated into a regular longsword before it began to segment. With one fell swoop, the girl swung the weapon like a whip before the saw teeth latched across another small bundle of targets. A swift tug of the handle was enough to decapitate the pillars at their roots causing them to tumble over one another like freshly cut trees.

Last but not least, Hibiki pushed forward. She may have been the first one out of the gate, but she was the last to make her opening move for the big finale to the opening act. She took aim at a crowd of demon pillars seeking to reach up and grab the girls to become food for their next meal. In that instant, her gauntlet began to rotate around her right fist before transforming into a giant drill. As the conical weapon spun with kinetic energy, she dive bombed towards the ground great haste. With a spectacular show of force, the girl eradicated the oncoming beasts down to their roots as the drill instantly disintegrated the very concept of their existence in one shot. She further navigated her way through another crowd of ten before coming to a stop just a short distance of 20 feet or more from Raizo. The other girls landed soon after.

"Hibiki, Tsubasa, Chris, Kirika, Shirabe, and Maria…y-you're here?!" the youth cried out in disbelief.

""""""Sensei!"""""" the girls responded in unison.

The group rushed over to the male's location much to the perplexed nature of the Heroic Spirits in the short distance behind the Stormbringer. Raizo did not expect to see the girls again after they fought side by side against Tiamat. He had hoped to if it was possible, but he discounted the notion thinking that such a possibility would not exist.

"Raizo-sensei, it really is you!" Hibiki cheered with a grin.

"Sensei, it's good to see you again," Tsubasa nodded in agreement.

"Yeah it is…wait, um…Sensei, w-why are you half naked?!" Chris pointed out whilst observing the male's bare torso covered by his makeshift jacket formed from his cloak. The girl quickly tried to avert her eyes as her cheeks filled with a blush.

"Oh my…I mean…ahem…Sensei, shouldn't you be wearing that armor?" Maria questioned whilst blushing as well.

"Is…is it okay to look or….not? This is so confusing-desu," Kirika pondered struggling with her decision on whether or not to look.

"Sensei…pervert," Shirabe chastised.

"Hey, it's not my fault my armor broke and it won't regenerate for some reason. Things have been rather complicated you know…mou," Raizo turned away while crossing his arms.

"Hey look, Sensei's tsun-tsun side is showing," Hibiki teased.

"Yukine, take notes," Tsubasa chuckled.

"Oi Senpai, what the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Chris shouted out.

"Ahem, ladies…we're getting a little distracted," Maria sighed. Kirika and Shirabe nodded in the background.

It was then that Altera, Semiramis, and Raikou approached from behind.

"Senpai, who are these girls?" the dark-skinned Saber inquired.

"They're not projections created by Goetia right? I could zap them with my runes…" the Queen of Assyria noted.

"Ara, ara, I don't like the gaze they are giving my Raizo-sama…" Raikou spoke with a disapproving stare.

"Excuse me? Who the hell are you supposed to be with those tumors for breasts?" Chris mouthed off first in irritation.

"Ara? The runt is quite feisty."

"Bitch, I know you are not trying to call me a damn runt!"

"Easy Yukine, we don't want to cause problems here," Tsubasa held an arm back.

"Raikou, calm down…same to you two as well," Raizo shot a glare at the trio of females, "These are my allies from another world I visited."

"Apologies Raizo-sama, I did not mean to offend…"

"Yes I apologize as well, Senpai."

"Sorry…R-Raizo-san…"

"Um…guys, those things are coming back-desu," Kirika pointed out noticing the pillars regenerating.

"Well, looks like introductions will have to wait. Hey Symphogears, you're gonna have to settle for a crash course in what's going on so listen up…"

Just when Raizo was about to lay out the situation, another tear in space had opened up. While the Demon Pillars were in the midst of regeneration, a new presence came zipping out of the gate as the echoes of a motorcycle engine vehemently roared in the air. Like a crimson phantom, a blazing two-wheeled machine emerged being mounted by a man in red and black attire with silver hair. He pulled a long steel blade from behind his back as he processed to bulldoze through the spawn of creatures hacking them down like trees one after the other.

He traversed up the side of one pillar like it was a ramp before jumping off it in the air. While listing through the sky, the man tucked his blade away and pulled out two pistols. He took aim with his shots and concentrated dark crimson energy into both hand cannons. It was here that he proceeded to open fire spewing a hailstorm of bullets on the shadowy beasts below him.

As each round struck its target through the individual eye sockets, the beasts flailed in agony sweeping in to try and bat the new foe away. Miasmic clouds of poison and dust swept over the crowd like a tidal wave; however, the biker merely weaved his ride onto the backs of one of the snake-like tendrils that swiped past. He persisted with his drive unleashing another wave of bullets before charging up the energy into the barrels of his weapons. He waited for his chance before he came to another point where he would jump. As he did just that, he pulled the triggers and fired beam-like rounds that blew away the fledgling pillars before he rode over towards Raizo's location.

Words could not even escape from the lips of all the females surrounding the Stormbringer. They never seen feats quite like that before; however, the Stormbringer could only smile as he was already familiar with a taste of this man's antics. As the man known as a Devil Hunter approached, the young man greeted him.

"Dante, been awhile hasn't it?" Raizo smirked.

"Obsidian eh? You look younger than I expected without that armor on," Dante responded in kind.

"Just call me Raizo, that other name no longer has purpose when I'm among friends."

"Yeah? Raizo suits you better anyways."

"Heh right, nice of you to join the party."

"Yeah talk about one hell of a random invitation."

"Senpai, is this another one of your friends?" Altera asked from behind. Dante looked past him and saw all the females standing there staring at him.

"Damn kiddo, I wouldn't have pegged you for the time to have so many lady friends. You got a lot of play going on here."

"Whoa, whoa, Dante…despite of how it looks…that is not the case here. I just know a lot of females across two other worlds. That's all," Raizo tried to deflect but…

"Raizo-sama, you can play with me anytime!" Raikou called out.

"Well…if it's Raizo-san, I suppose it's not a bad idea," Semiramis pondered.

"Sensei…it's not like I don't think you're good looking or anything, it's just…my heart needs time you know," Chris suddenly echoed.

"Chris-chan, you were finally honest!" Hibiki cheered.

"Yukine is a maiden after all," Tsubasa nodded in approval.

"With Sensei…I don't suppose…" Maria pondered quietly to herself.

"I wonder if Sensei would care for a girl like me-desu," Kirika thought curiously.

"Sensei…is lewd…" Shirabe looked away.

"Senpai, this is…bad civilization…." Altera mused.

"What the hell are all of you on right now? Get serious already! Jeez…w-why are women so complicated? Mou…" Raizo blushed heavily.

"Heh, looks like I wasn't too far from the truth after all," Dante continued to tease.

Meanwhile in the distance…

"Oh my…seems like Raizo-san has quite the fan club. I wonder how they would react if I stole him away for fun," Scathach chuckled.

"Scathach-san, do you really have to flex your Celtic harlotry around so vicariously?" Jeanne criticized.

"I can sense that boy's health fluctuating due to the female attention, perhaps I should examine him myself," Nightingale randomly cut in.

"Oi, oi, I thought we were in a battle…not a dating simulator," Mordred sighed.

"Akaro-san was in a similar scenario once upon a time," Artoria nodded.

During the idle chatter taking place amongst all of the warriors present, the pillars began to rise again. However much like before, two more rifts in space had torn open before another batch of individuals came rushing through.

The first group was a band of seven unique fighters. There was a giantess who toted a giant hammer, a child floating in the air hugging onto a pillow, a woman levitating alongside the former with a crystal ball in hand, a lean man with womanly features, a tall male with silver hair and a tri-linked staff around his neck, a muscular man of imposing demeanor holding a golden axe, and lastly, a short blonde with a one handed sword on his back. They poured onto the battlefield with confidence despite of the fact that they were getting into a battle that was beyond their wildest dreams. As they came through the gate, the group had witnessed the beasts rising up before them.

"First form: Chastiefol!" the male floating in the air called out.

In that moment, the pillow he possessed had transformed into a luxurious spear boasting a strong concentration of holy energy. With a flick of the wrist, the massive lance was sent hurtling towards its intended target. In a flash, the nearest demon pillar was impaled and vaporized into dust.

"Heavy Metal!" the giantess cried out whilst charging forward encasing her body in steel.

She effortlessly bulldozed her way through a cluster of regenerating creatures thus knocking them back down to black mush on the scorched surface of the ground they traversed. As the blobs of darkness tried to reform, the woman added insult to injury by swinging her mighty hammer around and crushing the growths underneath.

"Super Slash," bellowed the voice of the muscular giant sporting the golden axe.

He held his weapon with ease by the use of one hand before it glowed with the flaming intensity of the sun layered around its edge. In one smooth motion, cut the air before discharging the wave of heat upon the impure forms that tried to flank the group incinerating them on impact.

"Assault Hunt," uttered the lankier male of the bunch.

He blasted off with blinding speed taking his tri-linked staff to seamlessly cut down more of the pillars that had been moving their way towards his team's position. However, one of them was still left alive and shook with intense animosity. A wave of demonic energy spewed out of it intending to blitz the group with poison.

"Full Counter," the shortest male called out before jumping in the path of the energy wave and redirecting it with his blade.

The poison washed over that monster and melted it down to a murky puddle. The blonde man could only smirk as he landed on the group bumping fists with the tall guy beside him. However, the regenerating beasts continued to keep coming.

"Perfect Cube," uttered the other female.

She encapsulated a large chunk of the stampeding tendrils headed towards her allies. In an instant, a cube-like object captured a chunk of the targets then erased their flesh. Appearing like half-eaten noodles, the monsters merely collapsed on top of one another before crumbling into dust.

Around the same time as that display occurred, two more warriors joined the fray on the opposite side coming from above. One wore an orange karate gi while the other appeared in a blue jumpsuit with white armor, gloves and boots over top. The spikey headed pair descended onto the battlefield and immediately transformed by encasing their bodies in divine blue energy multiplying their physical attributes and changing their appearances. Their black hair had stood straight up with blue and their pupils shifted to a darker shade of the same color.

The pillars in their general area took note of their presence before attempting to attack using similar tactics as before via miasma and sling their weight around to bat their opponents. The two men merely flew down and began to use martial arts as a means to literally beat these creatures into paste. As quickly as they appeared was about as quickly as they had dealt with the threat that assailed them.

"HEY! OVER HERE!" Raizo shouted out to both groups whilst waving his arms.

As the new parties took note of him as well as the crowd of human beings in the distance, the respective parties traversed the distance to get there. Behind the Stormbringer, the Symphogear users, the Heroic Spirts, as well as the Devil Hunter were all conversing about what they had just witnessed. Before long, the group had grown in number.

"Yo Obsidian, long no time no see," the warrior in orange had spoken up first before reverting back to his base state alongside his companion.

"You look like you've been roughed up a bit. And here I thought the man who beat Zamasu was some badass from another universe," the man with the armor noted.

"Yeah, nice to see you both, Goku and Vegeta," Raizo chuckled.

"Oi Obsidian, what happened to your armor? I wasn't expecting to see ya unmasked," the leader of the group of seven called out.

"Yeah…it's a long story Meliodas. Glad you and the Seven Deadly Sins could join us."

"Wait a sec, Cap'n. This is the guy you were talkin' about that saved our asses when that shadow thing showed up?" the man with the spiked hair asked in disbelief.

"Yeah Ban, this is Akaro's little brother."

"Whoa Captain, Akaro-niisan has a little brother? No way!" the giant female gasped.

"Indeed Diane."

"Ho…he does have a resemblance to that Red Knight fellow…I suppose it makes sense," the floating kid with the pillow nodded.

"Yeah King, and his strength is just as noteworthy," Meliodas added onto that point.

"Interesting, but I wonder if he could take me one on one," the axe-wielder called out.

"Easy Escanor, there's no need to be laying down open challenges. Besides, Gowther could analyze that power level with his eyes."

"Yes, I can….it would seem this man's power level does seem to sky rocket to a place value that far surpasses the combined level of the Seven Deadly Sins. Even the Ten Commandments don't have anyone at that high of a level," the girlish male stated whilst adjusting his glasses.

"See? I told ya, Obsidian is the real deal."

"Heh…well…thanks guys, I'm flattered. I should have done this before when you first said that you knew Aniki, but I wasn't thinking about it at the time. You guys can just call me Raizo. The nickname thing is unneeded at this point," the Stormbringer said.

To this point, the Sins whom had met the youth for the first time collectively nodded.

"Now that's a name that fits the face," Merlin chuckled, "Though that damage to your armor seems to be of a supernatural cause."

"Guessing you could tell already?" the boy asked.

"Indeed, I have a gist of it. I could study you for a more precise result."

"Easy Merlin…we just reunited. Speaking of…I can't believe all of you guys are here. I guess the Arcana Crystal decided to bring all the worlds that it afflicted together for one last ride."

"Holy crap, she's huge!" Goku called out in reference to Diane.

"Hmm?" the giantess turned around to see the male standing there.

"Hey, are you the strongest of the group?"

"E-Er…what?"

"For heaven's sake Kakarot, this is no time for trying to sift out which one is the strongest here," Vegeta gritted his teeth in annoyance.

"Heh, you guys should already know that Raizo-sensei is the strongest," Chris called out with a smug tone of voice.

"Nobody asked the children for their opinion," the Saiyan Prince swiftly dismissed the statement from the armored female.

"HUUUH?? Oi, old man, who the hell are you calling a child? Just because your hairline is receding," the Ichaival armor-bearer called out.

"Jiiiii….he does seem to have an issue going on up there," Shirabe criticized.

"Shampoo and conditioner-desu!" Kirika eagerly chimed in.

"Tch…coming from a bunch of little girls who are trying to play hero, I don't want to hear it!"

"Hey guy, I don't know you but I wouldn't underestimate these ladies. You never know what kind of power can come from someone based on looks," Dante spoke up with a casual dismissal of Vegeta's argument.

"Yep, look at Meliodas over here. He's short and easily the strongest among us," Ban stated randomly.

"Ho? I've yet to have a true contest with the Captain in order to let such comments slide," Escanor responded in kind.

"Well this, this is rather a lively bunch," Tsubasa sighed heavily, "And Yukine is feeding into it…"

"I don't know Tsubasa-chan, maybe an exchange of fists for a bit can help us understand each other," Hibiki pondered.

"Don't feed into the silliness of boys. Sensei, do something about this," Maria pleaded.

Raizo merely nodded and began to clap his hands to bring everyone back to focus on the matter.

"Alright everyone, let's try to focus here. We're all on the same team. Seriously you all, as much as I'm glad to see each and every single one of you….how the hell did you guys get here?"

"We were training to take on the Ten Commandments when that same issue took place for us too," Meliodas noted.

"I was on assignment hunting down a couple of creatures terrorizing Venice when the skies grew really menacing in appearance. It was like Hell had literally opened up on Earth and that's when I heard a woman whisper into my ear. She said something like: Your world is in danger, the Arcana is not finished with you yet. Follow the path to Obsidian; help win this war once and for all.

I may be exaggerating on that message a bit, but your nickname came up that's for sure. Given how you helped me out, I wanted to do you a solid so next thing I knew I was riding through a portal and that's how I got here," Dante explained.

"The girls and I were training to adjust to our heightened abilities when a similar phenomenon occurred. Genjuro-san told us that something was going on outside. We thought that the Distortion was about to attack again when a voice rang out in our minds telling us a similar message," Hibiki stated.

"Then we felt an unknown energy surge and instinctively went with our superb song," Tsubasa added.

"And now here we are feeling the effects of that S.O.U.L. module standing with ya again, Sensei," Chris smirked cheekily. Maria, Kirika, and Shirabe were nodding along to corroborate the story.

"Vegeta and I were training after the Tournament of Power came to an end and that weird stuff happened. At first, I thought someone got a hand on the Dragon Balls and was trying to summon Shenron…" Goku spoke up.

"Dammit Kakarot, Shenron's arrival wouldn't herald the apocalypse. Regardless, we came here hoping for a challenge and to run into you again," Vegeta noted.

"A voice eh?" Raizo pondered.

Onee-sama…you're really showing off now aren't you? Though…the first universe I visited hasn't had any heroes show up. Maybe it is because they weren't affected nearly as bad, or because I didn't forge any bonds with anyone. Either way…

"Well regardless of the circumstances…you guys getting here in the nick of time was a blessing. You all probably want some form of an explanation as to what is happen so I'll keep things brief. The fragments that led me to each of your worlds have been gathered in this universe for a final war. If you look in the distance behind me, you should see some monster sitting on a throne with a golden chalice infused with a rainbow crystal. That beast is the one who caused all of this to begin with. To add even more heartache, he singlehandedly incinerated all of history throughout the multiverse and has effectively wiped mankind from existence except for those of us who were already here before you guys arrived," Raizo explained before taking a pause to let the information since in.

The Sins, the Symphogears, the Saiyans, and the Devil Hunter each held tense expressions on their faces mixed with astonishment and disbelief. However, they withheld their questions anticipating a further explanation from the Crimson Harbinger.

"As for how you all were able to travel here, I can only surmise that the fragments somehow influenced each of your worlds thus sparing them from the mass extinction that occurred. The mastermind behind this, known as Goetia, could be plotting to use your worlds for something else or they are just meals for his demonic hordes. I don't really know. Nevertheless, here you all are.

Aside from everyone you see here around you, every single thing in this realm is an enemy. We are stuck inside enemy territory. Therefore, use whatever power you got in the tanks to take these bastards down. If we're lucky, then we can all take a crack at that overbearing bastard in the distance. However, someone close to me is already on that case. So take a look at the person to your left and your right. These are your allies and we're all gonna have to work together to survive. I'd hate to ask you all to fight in this war, but…I hope I can count on you all in this fight."

"Hey kid, I'm a professional Devil Hunter by trade. This sort of situation is the reason why I exist," Dante nodded with a small grin.

"Fighting demons is something we were all going to have to do back in our world anyways with the Ten Commandments. These guys can serve as the perfect warm-up before we settle our affairs back home. That being said, the Seven Deadly Sins are with you," Meliodas enthusiastically expressed.

"I have to admit, I am rather curious as to how demons from another universe function," Merlin added.

"Should be a piece of cake with all of us around, right King?" Diane smiled with determination.

"Of course, I'm right there with you," the Fairy King nodded.

"Gonna be another fun time with the gang, at least I won't get bored," Ban slyly added.

"I shall unleash the might of the Sun. This space is too cowardly to affect my body," Escanor put proudly.

"Well…I AM using some magic to grant you artificial sunlight…"

"A-Apologies, I have forgotten. I am truly grateful, Lady Merlin."

"Fighting in a dark corner of space with a team of strong allies? This is like the Tournament of Power all over again!" Goku chuckled with a focused tone of voice.

"Yeah except instead of actual warriors to fight, we're pitted against these disgusting creatures. Oi Raizo, I'm taking a crack at that Goetia person or whatever his name is," Vegeta simply expressed.

"Heh, if you can manage to get a punch in before Onee-sama kills him," Raizo slid in with a hint of doubt.

"Don't worry Sensei; we've all got your back!" Hibiki spoke up supported by approving smiles from the Symphogears.

"And we'll be supporting you too, Senpai," Altera nodded alongside Raikou and Semiramis from behind the youth.

"Thanks…all of you. But, I want to make one more special note," the Stormbringer spoke noted with a hint of caution.

All eyes present focused on Raizo for a moment before he pointed in the general direction where Lucy was being treated.

"My other friends over there are trying their best to protect someone I love dearly. So whatever you do, please make sure the enemy doesn't get to her. I beg of all of you."

Raizo created a small image of the woman in question by using a mix of astral energy and electricity. They could see the body of the blonde maiden lying still with her eyes closed.

"Who is she, Raizo-sensei?" Chris asked.

"She's my mother."

"No offense, but…I kinda don't see the resemblance," Goku childishly stated, Vegeta nudging him in the side.

"Ow…what the heck, Vegeta?"

"Insensitive ass…" the shorter Saiyan sighed heavily.

"It's okay. She's my stepmother but…since I never really had a maternal figure in my life; she's the closest person to one that I've got. You're probably wondering why she's in this state. Well, to put it plainly, she's the Primordial Goddess of Time. Since history was erased and the timelines of the multiverse were destroyed along with it, she essentially felt every single impact of the destruction. As a result…." Raizo stated with a saddened tone.

Silence wafted over the group as that shift changed everyone's demeanor. Not only was this a war to save all of existence, but it had become a personal struggle for the boy before them.

"Don't worry Raizo, we'll definitely win this," Dante spoke.

"Yeah…let's…" Raizo's words faded away when he turned his attention to the enemy.

During the time of the group discussion, the pillars had regenerated once more; however, this time something different was taking place. Several of the tentacle beasts had begun to latch onto another as if they had been fighting among themselves. Upon closer inspection, one could see that the beasts were melding together as if they were devouring each other for some unknown reason. As the seconds passed, the monstrosities broke each other down into a pile of miasmic slime before shaping into something else. They were not destroying each other; they were evolving into a new lifeform.

A dense aura compiled with poisonous mist arisen from the shadows of the colossal spawns. A new figure was taking shape except it was almost four times the size of the original pillars about 600-feet tall. It had a shape like an octopus with six arms and two hind legs; the limbs were patterned like tree trunks with violet and black energy. The claws on its hands and the talons on its feet glowed with a faint silver shade. Along its back were two pairs of moss covered skeletal wings with lavender webbing in between. Its head had two bow-like horns on either side, half of it being green like the moss on its back while the other half was a reddish pink. Its face was covered in crimson eyes numbering around 20 at the very least. The monstrosity exuded an aura that far outclassed any of the individual demon god pillars as its beast like stare gazed down upon the batch of heroes.

"This thing makes the Distortion look like a bad joke…what the hell?" Chris cursed whilst gritting her teeth.

"That armor will be tough to break with just a sword," Tsubasa analyzed.

"My blades can cut through anything-desu!" Kirika boasted unafraid.

"We can't lose heart before such a beast," Maria chimed in.

"We'll do it as a team," Shirabe further noted.

"And if blades don't work, then we'll just have to use our fists!" Hibiki declared boldly readying herself for a fight.

"What the hell is that thing?" questioned Vegeta having never before seen something like this.

"I thought Shenron was big…" Goku commented as well.

Another batch of pillars repeated the same process before forming an additional hybrid. This creature took on the figure of a dragon. It had black armor over top of dark crimson and violet scales. Two large, diamond-like crystal wings had protruded from its back, but it seemed as if they were an added layer of protection as opposed to be used for sustained flight. It had curved steel blades along its forearms with a spearhead on its tail. Its head appeared like the merged skull shape of a dragon mixed with that of a tiger complete with a black and red blade jutting out like a unicorn's horn. It was only about half the height of the octopus creature, but it still boasted a similarly intense aura.

"What the hell is that thing?" questioned Vegeta having never before seen something like this.

"And I thought Super Shenron was a scary looking dragon…" Goku commented as well.

A third amalgamation spawned in that time. This one was a four-legged monster with a head taking the shape of an old bearded king. The monster's body was covered in black fur layered with steel-like armor along its front and back legs, the shoulders, and its tail. It also had a pair of dark brown wing-like growths stretching from its back on either side as its red eyes shimmered with hatred and hunger. The lion king monster stood around 275-feet high on all fours, but needless to say that it could pack a mean punch in its smaller stature.

"Well then, putting down wild animals just so happens to be my specialty. This almost reminds me of a certain three-headed dog I put down a long time again," Dante analyzed before revving up his bike.

The rest of the pillars dissolved into much smaller creatures taking a wide variety of shapes. Some were shaped like reptilian beasts with armor along the head and body running around on two legs and stubby arms. Others took the shape of oversized moths each possessing one eye and feminine body types. Then there were monsters that took the shape of giant crocodiles with drills for tails. These numbered into the hundreds or even thousands as they rushed forward like ants.

"Hey Cap'n, looks like we can have fun again with our favorite game," Ban smirked.

"Ya never know when to give up, do ya?" Meliodas responded with a grin.

"I'll easily outmatch you both using a single form with Chastiefol," King declared with a casual yawn.

"In a contest of raw strength, none of you shall surpass me," Escanor proudly tacked on.

"I'll dance over each and every one of ya with my hammer in tow," Diane spoke up with determination.

"Interesting, playing a game in this situation could erase the tedium," Gowther nodded in approval.

"Perhaps I'll join in for once just to entertain myself," Merlin sighed.

"Altera, Raikou, Semiramis, continue holding things down over here for my mother's sake. Just because we have reinforcements doesn't mean I want you guys to take a chance with the remaining mana you each have left. You all and the other Heroic Spirits need to sit this out for now," Raizo explained to the trio of women behind him before setting off for battle.

"Don't overdo it yourself, Senpai," Altera advised.

"Raizo-sama, it warms my heart that you say such words…but it isn't fair that you won't let us fight with you," Raikou spoke in a disappointed tone.

"I apologize for being so useless without my Noble Phantasm," Semiramis criticized in deprecation over herself.

"Semiramis…you're doing the best you can with the current circumstances. That's all I could ever ask of you. And Raikou, I don't want to step on your pride as a warrior…but I don't want you or any of the others disappearing before this fight is done. Lastly, I'll do what I can Altera. Count on that," Raizo responded to alleviate the concerns of the three females.

As each of them looked at the youth with small blushes across their faces, they nodded in unison. The Stormbringer then focused his attention to the groups of warriors that had joined the fray.

"Go wild everyone!" he ordered as his comrades from the various universes rushed off in various directions to begin the fight.

Raizo took a moment to turn his gaze back towards Lucy. He felt his heart beat heavily inside his chest out of worry for her.

You're the closest person I have to a real mother so don't die on me, please.

The battle began once more with the Seven Deadly Sins leading the charge. The merry band of misfits charged headlong towards the mob of smaller targets that came rushing towards the area as a massive swarm. Taking the lead of the heroic charge was the Serpent's Sin of Envy. Diane firmly grasped onto her sacred treasure and began to swing it like a massive club thus bashing the skulls in of the reptile monsters that came towards her way. She swung her hammer to the left and then to the right like the pendulum inside of a grandfather clock, each time hitting some creature.

The moth-like beasts then swarmed in over her head firing miasmic projectiles at her location. Catching this out of the corner of her eye, the girl had turned on her heel in a pirouette fashion. The gaseous energy clouds brushed past the fibers of her clothing as the toxicity of each blast was made apparent by dissolving small areas of her clothes along her left sleeve and mid region.

"Tch…" she gritted her teeth before completing her turn by swinging her raised leg in the air to knock one beast down.

"Diane!" King called out seeing his lover grazed by the toxic gas.

The Grizzly's Sin of Sloth moved into action by creating a series of gestures with his hands.

"Form Five: Increase!"

Chastiefol transformed into thousands of daggers in that instant as King directed them at the flying moths around Diane's location. He then allowed the daggers to rain down on about 100 of the raptor looking beasts charging at the girl. With a small chunk of the crowd dealt with, the fairy flew up beside the tall female.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a panicked tone of voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry; it was only my clothes that got burned a bit. It didn't even breakthrough my tough skin," the girl smiled reassuringly.

"Keep that lover's tryst up and you'll fall behind in the competition!" Ban shouted out as he rushed past with his tri-linked staff in hand.

"Fox Hunt!"

The Fox's Sin of Greed held one hand out and snatched it down through the air. One after another, the reptilian beasts felt as small cores representing their hearts had been removed. As 10 of them fell over dying instantly, a few kicked back on their hind legs before lunging forward trying to take a chunk out of the man. The tall individual merely yielded a smug grin before batting them aside with his weapon one after the other. He spun the linked polearm around his body before jutting it out at 180-degrees. Every time he moved like this, the pole hit the intended target splitting heads in half without any further delay.

Bolts of purple energy were fired past Ban's location at the larger crocodile beasts fumbling around in the back. Each projectile of light struck its target, but the monsters continued to move around without any real effect. The Goat's Sin of Lust raised an eyebrow at this strange phenomenon before scanning the creatures with his special ocular power, Balor's Magical Eye.

"I see now," he said after analyzing the targets.

"What's going on Gowther?" Meliodas casually asked whilst running up alongside the doll after decapitating one of the nearby monsters.

"My powers will not work on these creatures. They are all projections crafted from one person's aura. Therefore they cannot be mentally manipulated nor have their souls mutilated. Though they are physical manifestations that can be killed, they are nothing more than superficial beings designed to exhaust one's opponents. In short, they are puppets designed with one purpose—to kill any who stand in the way of their master."

"That analysis does seem to be correct. Though one could argue that sentient thought is present given how their tactics have shifted, one could also assume this change in behavior was due to the observation of their master," Merlin added in whilst swooping down from her flight.

"Nevertheless, we still have a battle to fight," Meliodas concluded before rushing forward into the heat of battle.

The Dragon's Sin of Wrath spared no effort in eradicating the enemy. He weaved his way through the rushing formation of the enemy hacking apart any limbs that came across his path. Any stragglers were roasted by Merlin's magic, but the male continued to advance. As the various monsters fell to his blade, the green-eyed demon got closer and closer towards the crocodile looking beasts waiting in the deep midst of the enemy.

The elongated reptilian monsters took heed of Meliodas' advanced before moving together to prepare for an attack. They stampeded towards the man unafraid of his advancement towards them. The one in front of the group charged first by sliding across the ground with its mouth open in an effort to devour the tiny figure.

The Captain of the Seven Deadly Sins leapt into the air evading the attack and landed on the beast's head. He jammed his blade into its skull then ran down the monster's spine all the way to the tip of its tail. The sight of the leader did not deter the other beasts from following through with their offensives as they joined the fray.

The second croc had jumped up in the air and dived down with its mouth ready to chomp the male's body. Meliodas merely concentrated the pressure of his aura into his blade and swung it down vertically as a black crescent moon escaped him and split the beast in two. Another monster continued the pressure by swinging its tail across the ground to smack its target away. The male reacted to this by jumping up between the descending halves of flesh from the previous victim to his attack. He kicked one half of that monster towards the third creature to catch it off guard.

Stunned, the tail sweeping reptile stumbled over its legs. The Dragon's Sin took advantage of that opening by kicking off of the air and flying towards his intended mark. He did not hesitate in using the momentum of his flight as he penetrated the head of the dazed beast like a bullet. In a matter of seconds, Meliodas had taken out four of the larger creatures. However, more of them were still coming. This time, six of them sought to pounce on the man simultaneously.

"Cruel Sun," a voice called out.

A giant ball of fire taking the shape of a miniature sun was hurled at the beasts like they were bowling pins. The intense conflagration of flames captured all six beasts before being sent into another crowd of rampaging beasts running around in the distance.

"Pride Flare…" the voice spoke once again.

In the distance, the ball of fire had exploding rendering all caught within its infernal territory to ash.

"Really Captain, how could you drop your guard like that?" Escanor asked as he slung his golden axe over his shoulder.

"Heh, you really know how to put on a light show."

"Of course, I bask in my strength after all," the Lion's Sin of Pride exuded confidently.

"Yeah well, you probably got quite few added to your kill count just now. Though you know you won't be able to win right?"

"Captain, a trivial matter of deciding who is strongest by the most kills is rather beneath me. I'd prefer a contest to determine who can display the greatest feat of strength. Taking on one of the larger monsters is more my speed," Escanor pointed in the distance.

"Yeah, I hear ya on that one. But our teams have specific roles to play for now and containment is something the Seven Deadly Sins just so happens to excel at. Besides, we can't let these things get close to Raizo's mother ya know."

"Ah…the red-eyed one…yes, perhaps if I make him in debt to me, he and I can have a contest of strength since I was not able to see his power firsthand."

"Escanor, be careful what you wish for. You just might see it in this very battle," Merlin called out upon flying past.

As the muscular figure and the shorter male looked into the distance for a brief moment, they could see the other battles taking place.

"Come on Escanor, we've got work to do," Meliodas suggested before jumping out of the carcass of the dead crocodile and heading back into the fray.

"As you wish, Captain," the Lion's Sin responded in kind.

The Seven Deadly Sins continued their foray of combat against the smaller beasts keeping the horde contained in the northern part of the battlefield.

Around the same time, Dante was rolling across the battlefield on his motorcycle with his eyes on the massive beast before him. The giant sabretooth monstrosity with the head of a bearded old man and a crown atop of it fixated its dark and hateful gaze upon the approaching Devil Hunter. Acknowledging him as a threat, the monster leapt into action.

It became a game of chicken as the two respective parties rushed at one another. The monster continued its stampede while Dante proceeded with his trailblazing on his vehicle. At the point of confrontation, the Devil Hunter turned his ride into a slanted angle before leaning backwards thus causing it to slide. The black demon went for a bite with its poisonous fangs thirsting for a taste of flesh. The creative slayer evaded that and had taken the chance to pass under his target's belly. Without wasting a beat, Dante drew Ebony and Ivory from his jacket and began to pull the triggers thus barraging the beast with bullets.

Coming out on the other side after passing through the hind legs, Dante corrected his position on his ride before steering in the opposite direction to the right. The demon spawn stopped in its tracks before turning around slowly. It growled in anger as it felt the sting of those bullets. Underneath it, the points of impact where the bullets hit had small trails of smoke coming from it as they gradually began to heal up. The monster was not pleased about this; however, Dante did not care about that.

The silver haired male revved the engine of his transportation device and adjusted his trajectory for another approach. He elected to run this beast ragged all over the field if he had to just to wear it down before finishing it off; however, the monster did not bother to make the same move as the last time. Instead, it just stood there as if waiting for the man to come to it. This made the man in red cautiously aware of something unusual, but he elected to play it out. However in order to play it safe, he eased off the gas to reduce his speed whilst making his offensive rush.

Suddenly, the monster gathered a pale, luminescent ball of pinkish red energy in front of its face. It grew larger and larger in mass before splitting into three balls of light. Dante continued to advance, yet was consciously aware of the energy gathered before him. He had already tucked his pistols away to focus on his steering. Fortunately, that instinct served him well as the monster jumped up in the air before unleashing the volley of energy balls.

Descending upon him like heat-seeking missiles, Dante weaved across the landscape wildly dodging the concussive blasts one by one. His bike never lost its momentum as he successively managed to continue on its path. However, the monster had played on a form of trickery as it elected to swiftly dive down while the man was distracted to attack him from overhead.

"Shit…" the demon slayer gritted his teeth as he narrowly dodged the oncoming attack.

The creature had swooped in and had aimed to take the man's head with a swing of its claws. Dante evaded this by cutting his bike close to the ground with a leaning motion. He managed to evade the attack, but he did not account for the tail of the monster. The beast had managed to slap its tail on the ground causing a violent vibration that shook underneath the man. A dislocated stone from the impact caused Dante to lose balance with his bike thus flipping with the vehicle in the air. To make matters worse, the monster had quickly altered its upper half of its body to fire another ball of lightning at the man.

In that wild blur of motion, Dante quickly acted by rolling over his two-wheeled vehicle and pressing a switch along the body of the bike. The blast was advancing rapidly upon him so every millisecond counted. The motorcycle split in half and transformed. Suddenly, the two halves changed into giant, mechanized chainsaw-like weapons. The handlebars and pipes served as the grips, the body of the machine becoming the backbone of the weapons; lastly, the wheels grew spiked edges from the surface of the tires. With both halves in hand, Dante batted away the concentrated energy blast before gathering his demonic aura to his feet.

He kicked off a runic circle of magic that allowed him to quickly glide through the air towards the beast that had just landed on the ground. Unprepared for a counter attack, the sabretooth demon had a visible expression of shock on its human-like face. The Devil Hunter charged in with an unrelenting display of power as he dropped down from the air delivering a strong blow across the forehead of the monster.

Touching the ground before his ferocious opposite, Dante pivoted on his heel and began his assault. He dashed towards the left front leg of the monster hacking at the armor covering its claw. From there, he spun around the limb and went underneath the beast's belly thus dragging his chainsaw weapons across to the other side before taking a chance to attack the right rear leg. With a widened diagonal gash, the blood and miasma contained inside the monster seeped out; however, Dante was already working on the next area as he had jumped up onto the creature's back.

He took his weaponry and reattached them thus recreating his bike before mounting the seat. While the spiked blades of the wheels were still deployed, the man in the red coat elected to increase the agony of his foe by doing donuts along the creature's spine about six times. Then to finish the job, he infused his aura into the rear tire and popped a wheelie before jumping off the beast thus landing on the ground below. The spikes receded inside the tires as Dante revved the engine to taunt his wounded foe.

The creature was shakily standing on its limbs at the moment. One of its eyes was partially closed due to the blood flowing into it. Its stomach was pouring out contents and the armor along two of its legs was shattered. The damage along these limbs was so severe that they were trembling. Coupling all of that along with the numbing horror in the form of a spiral pattern engraved in its back, the beast was just a hair's breadth away from death; however, it still managed to find the strength to relinquish an ear-splitting roar.

"Now, now, crying over spilled milk never solved anything," Dante smirked but that smile would not last for long.

The intense aura around the amalgamation had intensified once again as it looked like it was trying to heave something up from its bowels. The cape-like armor dangling from its back suddenly began to shift. In a flash, two giant skeletal wings had spawned with its protrusions taking the shape of crimson blades. A dark crimson lightning had rotated around the creature as the level of animosity contained within it escalated instantaneously. The severed flesh was cauterized by the heat radiated from its body as the monster seemed to ignore the concept of pain in that singular moment.

"Well then, aren't you the innovative type? Come on, wimp," the Devil Hunter taunted whilst lifting his arm to motion the beast to approach him.

The beast relinquished another howl before rushing at the man in the blink of an eye. With its wings functioning as new weapons, the tiger demon had attacked full force swinging the appendages. Slicing through the air, the dangerous blades were bearing down on Dante's location. The man in the coat countered this by swerving his bike to the side. He then leaned towards the ground placing his forearm on the dark crust and lifted his vehicle using the muscles in his legs. The blades struck against his ride's underbelly thus causing sparks to spray everywhere.

As the monster passed over him, Dante channeled his aura into the ground causing another runic circle to appear before pushing off of it. The force then transferred through his body and into the base of his bike causing him to knock the beast over on its side. Capitalizing on that moment, Dante split the bike in half once again and proceeded to charge at the monster. The sabretooth quickly readjusted its body and brought one of its wings over its head to defend itself from the opening cross-slash attack from the demon slayer.

The Son of Sparda proceeded to unleash a volley of slashes at his opponent as he began to beat at the demon like someone pounding a large Taiko drum. The beast could only afford to block as its feet slid across the ground from the sheer force of Dante's attacks. In that moment, the creature found the strength to perform a full 360-degree spin releasing a wave of electricity as well thus blasting the man away from him. As the male glided listlessly through the air, the demon began charging another large concentration of energy.

"Heh, so you're actually trying to think for yourself eh? Show what you've got then!"

As the dense concentration of energy gathered in greater mass, the nanoseconds that ticked by seemingly dredged away slowly like a man trying to muscle his way whilst walking in mud or snow. Dante was going to use his bike as a shield against the attack in order to defend himself. More than likely the blast would reduce his vehicle to a molten mess; however, he still had Sparda to count on among other tricks up his sleeve. It was at this moment in thought that the energy was discharged and hurled at Dante's descending body. Just before it made contact, the immediate area just seemingly blanked out from the hunter's eyesight.

"Is this guy giving you a hard time? Come on, Dante," a voice called out.

The Son of Sparda opened his eyes finding his feet firmly placed on the ground and a singular figure standing before him.

"Raizo? Where'd you come from?"

"From the starting point actually…ya know, where everyone was gathered at just a few minutes ago. I needed a minute to catch my breath so I figured you guys could handle things. But…I saw lightning and figured I'd take the chance to catch a free power-up."

Dante merely tilted his head in confusion before noticing that ball of energy was gone. The beast in front stomped in place, but hesitated to advance towards his foe when the Stormbringer arrived.

"Wait, what happened to that giant-…"

"Yeah, I ate that."

"You what?"

"I ate it….figuratively speaking. Basically I just stepped in right before the blast hit you and absorbed the energy into my body. Hardly enough to call it an appetizer, but hey…I needed the little boost."

"You are one hell of a guy, you know that?"

"Eh, I try my best from time to time. Anyways, you got this right? Because, I'm pretty sure this thing is like one big slap away from just keeling over."

"Oh yeah, I was getting bored myself."

"Gonna do that transformation thing?"

"Nah, but watch this."

Dante reconstructed his motorcycle once again. He revved the energy and began infusing his demonic aura into it. As he stared down the beast before him, the monster could only growl in irritation and step back slowly. In an instant, the demon slayer rode off straight at his foe for one last ride in this matchup.

The acceleration from the motorcycle intensified due to the influence of the Son of Sparda's power. With the relinquishing of a cascading wave of dark crimson and black energy around it, Dante popped yet another wheelie as the blades from the front tire protruded outwards. The beast attempted to defend itself from the attack, but Dante was already cruising at a speed faster than the creature could ever hope to keep up with. In that next instant, the Devil Hunter collided with the monstrosity seemingly passing straight through it as his aura had incinerated the body of the bulky beast. After the man passed on through, the sabretooth had been split directly in half before it crumbled into muck and paste.

Dante dropped his bike down on two wheels as his aura faded and the vehicle returned back to normal. He drove his ride around and stopped right beside the Stormbringer.

"Now that was quite the finale," Raizo commented with a tone of approval.

"You gotta go for that stylish finish," Dante chuckled in response.

"True enough, but it looks like these things aren't gonna back down just because of your little show."

In the background just ahead, the demon pillars were cooking up once again as they elected to try and combine causing deformed copies of the same beast to spawn.

"Looks like the enemy are getting a little sloppy, regardless, I got this covered," Dante nodded.

"Fair enough. Since the Sins already appear to have the small fry covered, I suppose I should go bail my Saiyan friends out of trouble," Raizo replied seeing Goku and Vegeta struggling against the dragon in the western part of the battlefield.

"Damn, that thing boxes like a human being."

"Yeah…they'll feel that in the morning."

"Well, I got things covered here. Knowing your fast ass, you'll come and bail me out again if I really need it; but try not to bother yourself too much. I can tell…"

"Yeah Dante, I know…I'm trying not to think about that."

"We've got your back, remember that."

The Stormbringer nodded before taking off in a flash of light. Dante turned his attention towards the deformed beasts headed his way as he revved his bike up once more.

"This is indeed one hell of a party…"

Meanwhile, Goku and Vegeta were having an all-out melee against the draconic beast. In spite of its size, the monstrous, humanoid reptilian managed to maneuver in space much like the Saiyan warriors. In addition, it did not hesitate in throwing punches like a human being to completely overwhelm the unprepared fighters.

During the time in which the Sins were doing damage alongside Dante in their respective corners of the battlefield, Goku and Vegeta found themselves all but outmatched against their opponent. Goku would charge headlong into the fight throwing a wild combination of punches, but his fists were ultimately stopped short by the intuition of the beast that had successfully parried his attacks. The same behavior was reciprocated for Vegeta. Even with a barrage of ki blasts, the monster merely guarded against the blasts thanks to the superior armor along its scales.

"Guess we'll have to go Blue after all," Goku exhaled for a moment whilst observing the beast wading in the short distance.

"Tch, what kind of monster has the ability to fight like a martial artist? This is completely absurd," Vegeta spat in disdain.

"Come on Vegeta, doesn't this get your blood pumping? Even giant monsters have the capability to give us a run for our money. That's gotta be exciting right?"

"Only you would get excited about testing your limits against some giant lizard from another universe, Kakarot…"

Suddenly without delay, the dragon elected to take advantage of the distracted duo. The creature lunged forward at a blazingly fast speed that managed to overwhelm the senses of the two Saiyans. The man in the orange karate gi took a massive right hook to the entirety of his vessel as he was sent flying downward into the dirt by the creature. As for the Prince of Saiyans, he found himself on the receiving end of a massive tail whip that literally slapped the taste out of his mouth thus causing him to spiral down after. The two men crashed into the ground hard enough to leave perfect tracings of their bodies in the black soil. However, that was not the full extent of their punishment. Overhead, the beast had charged up a large ball of black and purple energy before it discharged the dark hellfire down to the surface the causing a massive crater to appear.

"Guh…are you still…enjoying yourself, Kakarot?" Vegeta stammered over his words whilst gradually raising his body off of the ground.

"Heh...damn right, it's almost like the Tournament of Power all over again," Goku chuckled as he did the same.

The pair felt the soreness kick in off of that last attack, however, it wasn't anywhere near the worst they experienced. Vegeta's armor had visible cracks and wear across the torso along with black clay smudges along his boots. Goku's torso attire had been torn up revealing the blue undershirt layered beneath combined with holes in his pants along the legs. The two men still had the strength to boldly stand on their two feet thus staring down their foe overhead.

"To hell with this, one overconfident lizard is far too annoying to let live. Play time is over damn it!"

"Right behind you, Vegeta!"

In a brilliant flash of azure light, the Saiyans had transformed into their Super Saiyan Blue forms as divine energy radiated from their bodies. In a flash, both warriors charged ahead towards their target. The two often had qualms about working together in a fight, yet this was a special circumstance. The bitter rivals had worked in tandem with one another as they furiously attacked their foe. Like machines, they continuously charged at their opponent attacking with unquestionable fury.

Their wild punches and kicks had created thunderous echoes of sonic booms in the sky as they relentlessly throttled the large dragon. This rendered the creature to be strictly pushed on the defensive as the pair seemingly never stopped. Goku pressed forward with his assault from the left side while Vegeta advanced from the right. The duo threw punch after punch and kick after kick giving little time for the monster to breathe. The creature eventually grew irritated by this display.

An immense pressure was emitted from its body before it let out a deafening roar thus causing a surge of black and purple flames to surround its body. The shockwave from the wave of heat sent Goku and Vegeta flying back. In that time, the crystal wings on its back had shattered thus yielding it to form giant, lavender flame wings on its back. Without even giving the Saiyans time to react, the beast launched itself at its foes and proceeded to use its arm blades to slash at the bodies of the two men. In a whirlwind rush of speed and power, the dragon essentially created a tornado of motion in which it sliced up the bodies of its two victims with ease before going for the slap with its tail.

"Oh no, you don't," a familiar voice called out in that moment.

Raizo had appeared in the nick of time cutting in between the movement of that dangerous tail and the vulnerable Saiyan warriors using his blade to block the coming attack. As the whip-like protrusion bounced off of the edge of the honed steel, the Stormbringer took advantage by sending a wave of lightning at the monster to cause it to retreat.

"Obsi-…I mean, Raizo…looks like you saved us there," Goku chuckled as the cuts across his body began to bleed.

"Don't expect a thank you…no one asked you to butt in," Vegeta turned his gaze to the side.

"Eh I wasn't expecting one. I mean…I wouldn't want to be the guy who has to own up to the fact a giant overgrown gecko almost beat his ass anyway," the Stormbringer smirked.

"Why you…tch…smartass. I suppose I could be a little forthcoming in gratitude…"

"Oh come on, Vegeta…no need to be like that right? We're all on the same side here."

"Don't worry, Goku. After being around Vegeta for the limited amount of time I have been, I already got the gist of his personality. Regardless, you guys looked like y'all were caught off guard there. Being honest, I'm shocked the damage isn't much worse. You're facing divine beasts after all."

"Man and these are just the lesser guys?" Goku asked in disbelief.

"This is just a minion… pretty sure this thing could eat a Lesser God with ease," Raizo analyzed as the three individuals floated in the air.

In the meantime, the beast began to charge itself up for another blast. This time, the concentrated energy suggested that it was preparing for a large beam-style attack to wipe its enemies away in one singular shot.

"Damn guys, you really managed to piss that thing off," Raizo commented casually whilst sheathing his sword.

"To be fair, we weren't exactly preparing for a fight against a giant monster that could box like a human being," Goku responded.

"Heh, I'd rather not drag out this particular encounter any longer than we should…especially since it's a full-on war," Vegeta regarded.

"On that, we can agree. Why don't we respond in kind then?" Raizo smirked whilst feeling the energy well up within him to transform.

In that moment, the Stormbringer had enough strength to ascend to the Mastered Heart of the Storm transformation. As the divine amethyst energy spiraled around his body, he spread out his arms for a brief moment to channel electricity to his palms dyed in crimson. Then he placed both of his palms against one another at the wrists in an open jaw shape at a 180-degree angle. This stance struck a familiar chord with the Saiyan Prince off to the youth's right side.

"It seems like you and I may have something in common after all," Vegeta remarked before mimicking the same motion as gold energy gathered to his palms. He then placed both hands in front of him with the butt of his palms rubbing against one another like a horizontal jaw shape.

"I'll definitely join in for this one," Goku said on Raizo's left as he twisted his upper torso to the side channeling energy into his hands like he was holding a ball.

The warriors gathered up all the power they needed to deal a devastating final blow. The trio then unleashed their attacks in succession going in order from Vegeta, to Raizo, and then to Goku.

"Final…"

"Ruin…"

"Kamehameha!"

A torrent of energy was relinquished in that fatal instant that would bathe the entire western landscape in a myriad of colorful energy. From the dragon amalgamation, the wave of dark hellfire mixing black and purple was released towards the trio of fighters. From the Stormbringer and the Saiyans, a combined blast mixed with gold, crimson, and blue energy had twisted together to counter. The beams of death had collided against one another over top of the massive crater below. The force of the impact had shaken the sector for a moment as it appeared the energy blasts were at a deadlock. However, that was only for the briefest of moments as the collaborated attack between the trio had pierced through the hellfire attack and immersed the dragon in the brightest array of light. As a result, the creature was effectively eviscerated.

"Now that's what I call teamwork," Goku spoke in an approving tone before sighing in relief.

"Pretty interesting to see someone using my move in action," Vegeta chuckled.

"Don't you mean that you copied my move?" Raizo wittily shot back.

"What? I'm pretty sure I've had the Final Flash technique down packed way before you even lifted a sword to fight!"

"Possibly, but…Ruin Unyielding has a lot of various forms of application to it. So…maybe you do get the points for originality, but I beat you in creativity."

"Damn you, you little…."

"Heh, regardless, that was good work…but the battle isn't over yet," Raizo commented witnessing the pillars beginning to respawn and attempting to fuse again.

"So much for a break," Goku sighed.

"Yeah well…now you know how I've been feeling. Though you guys got it from here right?"

"Tch, no one asked for your help to begin with…"

"Fair enough, just try not to get your ass handed to you again all right?"

A dense rush of aura shot over towards their direction coming from the south in that next instant. Raizo turned his gaze to see the towering beast looming in the background while the six Symphogear users were doing their best to hold it off.

"While I still got the kick going, I'd better go help out. I trust this side to you both."

"You got it, Raizo," Goku nodded.

"Heh, we'll settle our debate after this battle is over then," Vegeta spat.

"Looking forward to it," the Stormbringer uttered before running off in a purple streak of light. As the youth vanished, the two Saiyans merely looked to one another before staring at the giant tentacle beasts morphing together ahead.

"You felt it too, didn't you Kakarot?"

"Yeah, he might not be able to keep things up much longer. Compared to when we first met him and saw him in action, it's almost like something inside him is fading away."

"Indeed, we're gonna have to pick up the pace then."

"Right."

As the Saiyan warriors prepared themselves for round 2 against whatever the demonic pillars had in store for them, an air of uncertainty had washed over the atmosphere.

The Symphogears were having a tough time against their opponent in the south. They had been assaulting their foe in a variety of fashions. The usual reckless full throttle assault was the initial strategy at first, however, the monster merely sent out its tentacle arms to divide the girls up thus preventing them from coordinating rhythmically. When it sent one set of arms out towards them, the beast sent pulses of its aura across the ground causing chasms of geyser-like energy surges to attempt to shoot down its targets.

The colossal octopus was a slow moving creature; however, that could only be said for when it remained mostly docile. When provoked, the beast could potentially attack without warning using its powerful limbs or by doing something else. The mysterious and unpredictable nature of this opponent gave the Symphogears a rather difficult time in determining how to deal with it.

The girls had elected to try an old faithful ambushing formation. Hibiki had rushed at it head on electing to attack straight up the center. Supporting her, Tsubasa attempted to focus on the left side whilst Maria focused on the right. Kirika and Shirabe elected to attack from behind together leaving Chris to rain down artillery fire from above. By attempting to attack from all of these directions simultaneously, the goal was to overwhelm the opponent's senses enough to get it to reveal several openings at once in which the girls could take advantage of. This worked on many different large scale opponents such as the Noise, Alca-Noise, and even the Distortion in the past; however, this enemy far outclassed those creatures.

As a response, the giant titan-like monster merely raised itself up using its humongous legs. It then spread its tendrils and spun around in place as its limbs freely lashed through the air effectively batting aside any caught in its web-like path. Five of the girls were sent hurdling in the opposite direction of their advance whilst Chris was left all alone. The ancient tree-looking octopus focused its eyes on the girl that was floating before it. In its upright position, the monster merely stared through the gun wielding Symphogear as if casting a petrifying stare at her. By instinct, the girl immediately dashed out of the way before a devastating laser attack was shot at her thus scorching the ground below.

"Tch…dammit, that was a close one," Chris gritted her teeth as she glided through the sky before descending towards the ground to locate her allies.

On the ground, Tsubasa had managed to narrowly raise herself up to her feet using her sword as a crutch. In one hit, she felt like her entire skeletal frame was rattled. She wiped the dirt off her chin using the back of her hand as she stared at the beast that lowered itself back towards the ground again.

"That creature packs quite the punch. This may prove to be more of a challenge than previously anticipated," the girl had analyzed.

"Tsubasa-san, you okay?" asked one of the swordswoman's comrades.

The girl with the long blue hair adjusted her gaze to see Maria rushing over from the other side of the field.

"Maria-san, were you hit at all?"

"Just barely, I somehow managed to raise my shield at the last possible second to mitigate the damage."

"I see…if only I had the good sense to do the same with my blade."

"Come on Tsubasa-chan, it's only a scratch right?" Hibiki called out as she appeared from behind the duo.

"Hibiki-san, you appear to be in good health as well," Maria analyzed whilst looking over her comrade.

"Never let your guard down, I'm pretty sure that's something both Genjuro-san and Raizo-sensei would say."

"Hey you three!" Chris shouted from the closing distance as she descended from the sky.

"Chris-chan!" Hibiki cried out with joy.

"Yukine, it would appear you're in good health as well," Tsubasa said in a sigh of relief.

"Indeed," Maria nodded approvingly.

"Yeah I got lucky. That damn thing shot a laser beam at me! I could've been toast if my body hadn't moved on its own. I mean look at the ground…this thing is something else."

"Wait…where's Shirabe-chan and Kirika-chan?" Hibiki looked around out of concern.

"They tried to attack our foe from behind right?" Tsubasa recalled.

"The beast is turning around actually…oh no!" Maria gasped.

Ignoring any damage or shock that may have struck their hearts, the four females rushed across the battlefield to save their friends. However, the creature suddenly began to stampede across the field at an alarming rate as if pouncing on something in the distance.

"Shit…I won't let them die, I refuse to!" Chris declared out of desperation before rushing off as fast as she could.

"Yukine wait!" Tsubasa uttered but the girl in the red armor was already gone.

"C'mon, we can't let Chris-chan go in alone!" Hibiki added before following suit.

"Can you move okay?" Maria asked out of concern.

"Yes, I just needed a minute to calm my nerves and alleviate the shock. Let's go, Maria-san!"

"Right!"

In the meantime, Kirika and Shirabe were just barely recovering from that ridiculous blow they absorbed earlier. Due to their tinier statures, the blows they received felt five times worse as the two girls had been all but buried in the dirt.

"Shirabe, are you okay-desu?" Kirika muttered whilst shaking her head to snap out of the pain.

"Yes, I'm fine for the most part. My head kinda hurts however," the young female in pink responded.

The two females gradually rose up from the ground before stumbling over their feet and into each other. They instinctively reached out to one another and to prevent the other from falling. Realizing this fact, the two girls shared a small laugh.

"We better reunite with the others-desu," the girl in green proposed.

"I agree…"

Suddenly, the ground began to shake violently. The two females struggled to maintain their balance on their feet as they avoided trying to stumble over.

"What's going on-desu?" Kirika gasped in exasperation.

"Look, it's that monster…it's headed this way!" Shirabe shrieked.

"Come on, we have to move-desu!"

"I-I can't move my legs for some reason…"

"Me…Me neither-desu!"

The girls looked down to see that their legs were caught in some bindings. As misfortune would have it, the beast had stealthily sent out its long tendrils through the ground to capture the girls and hold them in place. Neither of the two were expected to discover this.

"How'd these gross things get here-desu?"

"I don't know, it must have been when we were slapped away by the thing. Perhaps we didn't get as far away from the monster as the others did," Shirabe explained.

"Gah…that thing must have serious roots like a tree-desu! Or maybe we landed in its underground vines-desu!"

"Come on, we can just cut through this right?"

Shirabe used her sawblades from Shul Shagana to try and cut the vines; however, the blades would not spin through the muck of the blackened earth.

"Let me try! My blade will cut anything-desu!"

Kirika pulled out her giant scythe and went to swing at the ground with it, but the weapon crafted by her armor was also caught.

"If I have to die…then I don't mind dying alongside you, Kirika…"

"Yes…I feel the same way about you, Shirabe-desu…"

As the creature inched closer and closer, the monster charged another beam from its eyes and took aim at the females that it was advancing on. The pinkish-violet energy was discharged in that next instant, yet it would never reach the two girls.

A shadow engrossed in amethyst energy had rushed in and swept the two females out of the way. Unsure of what transpired the girls looked around to discover they were not only alive, but standing on the other side of the field behind the beast.

"Shirabe, Kirika, you're alive!" Chris called out from behind.

"Huh? Chris-senpai? Wait…what just happened-desu?" Kirika tilted her head in confusion.

"I don't know either…" Shirabe murmured.

"Good to know you're safe, Kirika-chan, Shirabe-chan," Hibiki sighed in relief coming up alongside the girl in red.

"Yes…that was quite the close call. We thought you both were in danger of being stomped on," Tsubasa expressed as she was the next on the scene.

"Yes, but I see why you're both safe now," Maria pointed out as she brought up the rear before turning her attention to the person responsible. The girls turned their heads in the same direction as the eldest female.

"Sensei!" Chris gasped in surprise.

"Yo looks like you ladies are having fun with giant monsters again," Raizo spoke casually whilst staring at the monster in the distance.

"Sensei, you saved us-desu?" Kirika asked in bewilderment.

"How?" Shirabe added, "We were trapped…"

"I grabbed you both and made your bodies intangible for a brief second so that you would pass through the mud."

The girls only tilted their heads in confusion.

"I made your atoms able to pass through objects…" Raizo tried to explain it in simpler terms feeling the confusion in the air.

"Oh, so you made us like ghosts-desu!" Kirika pointed out in a way that made sense.

"Let's go with that…" the Stormbringer shook his head.

"Anyways, why don't we go ahead and put that thing down? Besides, there are other creatures to slay so you ladies don't need to waste your time on one overgrown plant octopus hybrid."

Raizo held out his right hand evoking Nirvana to emerge from the Astral Dimension. He gripped the scythe and held it like a guitar.

"Time to get that S.O.U.L. module all fired up."

""""""Right Sensei!"""""" the Symphogears collectively declared.

As the youth began to play on the angelic instrument, he immediately poured as much strength as he could in order to evoke the melody that he felt in his heart. While the harmonious notes filled the air, the power within him began to resonate with the Symphogear armors. The girls had locked hands together for a moment and closed their eyes in order to synchronize with the Stormbringer. In that instant, their armor began to shift. The armors changed from white to black whilst maintaining the identifying colors that each individual female had. This was the same sensation they felt when they had the final showdown with the Distortion and Tiamat. As a result, the girls were able to convey the words shared in their hearts from their Sensei's soul.

"I must move on and I must not give into

This insane world

It's catching fire 'round me now."

The six females sang in perfect harmony with one another as they dashed towards their foe in the distance. The behemoth had taken note of them once more and perceived them as a threat that needed to be immediately neutralized. Without any indication, the monster began to fire a series of laser beams at the approaching females. Like a hailstorm of endless spraying bullets, the short bursts of energy were released.

With their newly endowed strength, the six females had effortlessly zipped through the projectile beams cruising at them beyond light speed. They had blitzed through the barrage without wavering from their attack pattern going straight for the kill. As if reacting to the fear of death with unrestricted anxiety, the monster attempted to throw everything it could to possibly deter its death at the hands of the women. The monster had stabbed its tree-like arms into the ground causing a forest of its tentacle appendages to spring up from the ground like pistons in an engine. It attempted to stave them off or redirect their trajectory; however, their superior reflexes had easily evaded it.

"I'll rise up," Kirika sang whilst swinging an enlarged version of her scythe.

"Won't stand down," Shirabe followed reciprocating the same motion by generating a massive saw blade.

Together, the pair of females had effectively sliced through the maze of limbs in a massive sweeping motion. As numerous tendrils were cut down to size, sprays of its blood began to rain down all over the place. Responding to this pain, the beast attempted to discharge a massive beam at their location.

"To anyone's commands, live or die," Maria cut in with her part of the song.

The female had created a massive shield from her forearm to obstruct the path of the energy blast thus dispersing it in multiple directions. With its attention occupied, this allowed the other trio to close the distance.

"I won't break," Chris continued the melody whilst unleashing a tirade of bullets combined with the firepower of two giant torpedoes and tomahawk missiles. The ammunition had assaulted the body of the beast one after the other along the shoulders and upper chest causing its focus to waver.

"I'm always ready for another round, yeah," Tsubasa followed suit using one of the missiles as a surfboard prior to impact. The girl had drawn two of her blades before dropping into a downward cross-slash thus hacking away many of the eyes covering the creature's face. As the beast riled in agony from the action of the girl, it was left vulnerable to the final attack.

Hibiki had rushed in to deal the final blow. She charged all of her might into her right fist as a giant drill had spawned around her arm. With her ability to overcome invulnerability and the capacity of the god-slayer attribute, she drove her fist forward with the last words of the song.

"I'M ALIVE!"

Her punch had pierced the ferocious titan to the core of its being causing it to detonate. Its body had spontaneously combusted into light as the woman vanquished the concept of its existence. Even if it was an amalgamation of aura, it would be impossible for the creature to come back from that. Sensing the massive dispersal of energy, the demon pillars in the immediate area seemed to have collectively wavered which caused the fighting to lessen for a moment. Looking around, the girls were still on their guard.

"Guess they're taking the hint that this war won't be won so easily," Raizo had commented upon joining up with the female group.

"About time…gah…"

The Stormbringer reluctantly reverted back to his base form whilst sending Nirvana back to the Astral Realm. As he did this, the youth began to rotate his shoulders around trying to obscure his heavy breathing and numbing pain.

"Sensei, are you all right?" Chris asked in concern, the other girls sharing expressions conveying a similar attitude.

"Yeah…I just need a minute that's all. We're definitely gonna win this," he nodded; however, his optimism didn't alleviate their concerns at all.

"The enemy is getting the hint now. Let's regroup with the others before more of those big bastards spawn again."

As he turned to walk back towards the rally point, the girls merely looked to one another. Chris continued to look at the young man with a burdened expression of worry.

"Raizo-sensei, you're really approaching your limit, aren't you?"

The Crimson Harbinger paused for a moment hearing the girl's words. He didn't want to admit it, but it was true. He was at the edge of his rope. His mind became filled by visions of his battles against Arjuna and Gilgamesh and their respective conclusions. Both of those encounters involved new power ups, the one against the King of Heroes being the most dramatic.

My body feels like it's trying to break down. I really don't know how much longer I can keep fighting. This…this kinda terrifies me. So many people are depending on me, I can't let anyone down.

As he rummaged through his thoughts, the male attempted to keep walking but he stumbled. Instantly, the girls ran over to him. Maria and Chris hoisted him over their shoulders whilst Kirika attempted to steady his chest on her petite back.

"Eh…sorry about that," he spoke in a quiet tone.

"Sensei, you need to rest," Hibiki suggested.

"I can't…not with so many of you counting on me. I just need to catch my breath. I promise I'll be ready for…the next round," he attempted to argue.

"Let's just get back to the others. I'm sure with the fighting slowing down, everyone is rallying back where Raizo-sensei's mother is located," Tsubasa proposed.

Nodding in unison, the six females took flight. Maria, Chris and Kirika had supported Raizo's weakened body whilst Hibiki, Tsubasa, and Shirabe led the way keeping an eye out for a potential ambush.