Chapter 11: Taming the Lion King

Wait did he say brother, then that means his brother possessed Regulus Nemea. Well, that was unexpected, I had not thought that such a coincidence could have occurred with the wielder of Regulus Nemea also being the brother of Hercules, it is truly ironic.

With missiles still coming at us, I decided to pull out my fake Rho Ais to shield Sieg and myself from the flying projectiles. I decided it would probably be best just to wait it out until he got tired of firing at us and was ready to talk, I didn't want to have to knock Hercules out to him calm down as I'm pretty sure that won't help in the long run. He needs to vent for a bit before we can help him. Siraorg seeing me not attacking also decided to follow my lead on this and he and Kuisha stood behind her Holes which were pulling all of the missiles into it before it could do damage to them. After about a minute the missiles stopped coming as frequently and after another minute they stopped coming altogether. We then lowered our defences and walked towards the figure of Hercules who was standing in the dust from the ground he had created with his relentless attack. While approaching him I noticed just how young he was. He looked like he was only 12 or 13, compared to me who was already 14. In canon, it looked like his and my canon counterparts were the same age.

"Are you ready to talk yet?" I asked him noticing he was now on his knees due to exhausting himself.

"I'll kill you!!! I will avenge Alcides no matter what, even if it's the last thing I do," he then began to tiering up after that, we all stood around him uncomfortably waiting for him to stop crying as none of us knew what to do.

Eventually, Sairaog knelt next to him and placed a hand on his should. "Hercules it's me, Sairaog, I'm sorry that wasn't able to get here in time to save your brother." He said

"It hurts so bad… he was the only person that I had left, but now he's gone and there's no one left but me." He continues to sob out.

"I can't say it will get any easier Herc as I too lost someone I love, but eventually you realise that being depressed and sad is not what they would have wanted for you and that they would have wanted you to live your life to its fullest," Sairaorg replied to the kid.

"So what should I do just forget him!" He replied angrily

"No hold their memory in your heart and never forget them but do not drown yourself in your sadness and anger as it will get you nowhere and it will leave you feeling empty. We are going to deal with your brother's sacred gear and hopefully find a way to calm it down, do you want to come with us." He said.

I felt bad that I too couldn't help Hercules's brothers, but I didn't know if it was a good idea to bring him along as currently, he was a loose cannon and if we counted more of the mages, which I'm pretty sure we will considering I only saw around ten corpses and I'm pretty sure they would not have sent such a little amount of people to subdue a wielder of a Longinus. Hercules would not be able to think straight and will most likely be killed by them if he lets his emotions cloud his judgement. But I didn't want to go again Sairaorg on this and decided to not bring this up now.

"I'll come with as I can't just let my brother's sacred gear run wild and kill innocent people as that is not what he would have wanted," Hercules said with his eyes clearing of the tires and his new determination showing in his eyes.

"Very well then let's get moving, by the way, I'm Cao Cao and this is my teammate Siegfried, I hope we can work this each other," I said

"It is nice to meet you both I'm Hercules and I too hope we can work with each other to stop the lion." He replied.

X

We had now been walking through the forest for almost half an hour, following the path of destruction the lion left it seemed that it was attacking anything near it whether it was people or things. We had to slow down a few times as Hercules did not have the same amount of stamina as the rest of us meaning we were getting further and further away from the lion. I only hoped that at some point it would stop completely so we could bridge the gate between us, as the only reason it had not gotten completely away from us was that it was getting distracted by plants and wild animals that it would attempt to destroy or kill. All we had to do was keep following the trail of blood, corpses and destruction it was leaving behind to catch up to keep following it. The last animal we had only been killed 5 minutes before we had arrived so I had us pick up the speed to follow it. We then began hearing the noise as we approach another clearing. Upon arriving I immediately noticed 5 mages who were standing around Regulus and had it sealed in a magic circle in the middle of the clearing.

Before we could come up with a plan Hercules charged into the clearing crying out "Die, die, die, die, die for my brother!!!"

"Oh shit! Sairaorg you try to calm down the lion, well deal with the mages."

"Got, let's go Kushina."

We then all charged into the clearing going in the direction of our targets. Sieg and I immediately charged the enemies with both of us taking on two at a time and Hercules taking on the fifth. As I fought the mages I found it extremely weird that they could keep up with me, even though I hadn't started taking the fight seriously yet, their combo attacks of lightning and water were pretty powerful, it seems as though these guys were not your regular cannon fodder and I need to use 10 per cent of my power. I then activated my Touki, created a light spear and charged at them a breakneck speeds before they could even blink. I immediately attempted to stab the lightning mage but his partner was quick and immediately raised a wall of water to give him enough time to evade my spear and charge the water with electricity to electrocute me. Noticing what was going to happen I was able to pull my hands out of the water before lightning could reach me. I then enhanced my body with magic, as I had gotten tired of testing these guys while charging the water mage and stabbed him in the chest. I then turned around and immediately threw my spear straight into the lightning mage killing him instantly.

I then turned to Sieg who had killed one of the mages soon after I killed both of mine, but he was having so trouble finishing off an Earth mage as the mage kept blocking his attacks and hiding under the ground like a mole. Siegfried then decided he had enough activated Grams ability of destruction and immediately slammed the demonic blade onto the ground as the mage was hiding in underground tunnels he was making to hide in and collapsed it on top of him which ended him.

I then focused on Hercules who was not doing too bad but was still currently outmatched by the ice mage he was facing. With Hercules tiring he was getting even more sloppy with his attacks and was allowing the mage to get hits on him slowly him down with ice which was beginning to freeze him. Deciding he needed some help I created a light whip to temporarily distract him. The whip hit the mage's leg throwing him off balance and Hercules took this opportunity to get in closer and blast a missile into his which detonated completely incinerating him leaving nothing behind.

After making sure there were no enemies in our area I went up to the water mage which I had stabbed and healed him enough to keep him alive temporarily. "Sieg can you tie him up and watch him for me we'll need to integrate him later." I pointed a the mage's body.

"Sure thing boss." He replied sarcastically.

I then went over to Sairaorg who currently seemed to have calmed the lion enough for it to stop thrashing around in the circle, it was now just standing still staring at Sairaorg in the eyes of both of them unmoving as I observed them from a distance. While I didn't want the devil race to gain another Longinus, I didn't have a choice. Right now I simply could not tame the lion king as even though I was powerful until I achieved my balance breaker I would only be around Regulus level maybe a bit higher, which would mean he would not follow me willingly as I was not able to suppress him with overwhelming power and I also just didn't have the same lion taming abilities that Sairaorg has to make him follow me. The second reason is that I didn't want to weaken the new generation of the devil race too much especially someone who was not like ninety per cent of the other devil heirs who were a bunch of self-entitled, lazy and some outright fucked up brats. And the final reason was that I hoped that Sairaorg would eventually rise to the level of Satan and hopefully change things for the better as he would have the power to do so being from the Beal clan which I was told by Shifu that they were the hidden true rulers of Aras Goetia.

With the Staring contest continuing I decided to go back over to where Hercules and Siegfried. Sieg had our captive tied to a tree and Hercules had collapsed on the ground nearby and was currently sleeping due to exhaustion. I then move to our captive and placed a hand near his forehead and formed a magic circle. I then hit him across the face a few times to wake him up.

"Ugh, what happened."

"We killed your partners and now have you captive currently, so if you would be so kind as to tell us what your plan was and who your working for I'll consider letting you go relatively unharmed," I replied

"Now why would I do that, I'd rather die than tell you church scum bags anything."

"Well, then I suppose torture it is." I then pulled a combat knife that I carried around with me and then used it to cut off one of his fingers which course him to scream out in pain as his finger fell to the ground and a stream of blood began gushing out of his had. I then pulled out a gun and shot another finger off.

"Aaaaahhhhhh, fuck you, you piece of shit, I'm going to kill you."

"Sure you are, now tell me what I want to know or I'll take another finger off your hands," I said while laughing at my pun.

"Fuck you, go die in a ditch." He replied

"Well, that wasn't nice," I said as I used the gun again to shoot off another finger.

"Aaaahhhh, Ok I'll talk, huff, please just stop."

"Ok now tell me what was your plan and who are you working with," I said stopping the bleeding of his finger with a fire spell.

"We were sent here by the organisation called the Khaos brigade… huff, huff…to secure the wielder of the Longinus Regulus Nemea, I don't know anything else I swear."

"That's not good enough I had already deduced 90% of what you had told me, tell me everything you know about this Khaos Brigade."

"I don't know much, I'm just a measly foot soldier I wasn't important enough for them to tell me anything important."

I then shot off another finger of his, which made him cry out in pain again, because I knew he was lying while the Khaos Brigade was run by many idiots, but not all of them are complete idiots. They wouldn't have sent complete cannon fodder to capture the user of a Longinus. "Start speaking the truth, I couldn't figure it out before but I'm able to sense power from a dragon that you have in your body. There's no way the Khaos brigade will just give Conan fodder a power like that. You had to be someone pretty important." I then shot his ear making him scream in pain.

"Ok, I know the fact that the person who started the Khaos Brigade is the Infinity Dragon who has taken the form of a little girl. The Ophis goal is to kill or remove Great Red from the dimensional gap and so to do that it formed the Khaos Brigade. The Khaos Brigade is currently made up of 5 different factions the Nilrem faction, the Hexennacht, the Old Satan Faction, The Monster faction and the Hidden faction." He said while huffing in pain, I decided to help him out and stop the bleeding of his wounds.

He then continued after that and said "The Nilrem faction is made up of all different kinds of mages from around the world who wish to expand their power by obtaining the Infinity Dragons gift, this faction is led by a Devil with silver hair. The Hexennacht is a faction made up of withes from the Wizards of Oz. The Old Satan faction is the largest and is made up of the descendants of the original Satan and their followers which they have been amassing since their defeat in the Civil war. It was their faction that also sent men to make sure the Lion was captured, but of course, they were all killed when it was released. The monster faction is made up is beasts from across each methodology and have banded together to destroy humanity. As for the hidden faction, I don't know anything about them I swear… please don't shoot me again."

Well, that seems to be all he knows I thought while observing him crying in pain on the floor.

In The Real World:

I lifted my hand off of the mage's head, using some metal magic I was able to interrogate the mage without physically harming him. While torcher left a bad taste in my mouth I rationalised by believing that it wasn't even permanent as I was going to wipe his mind of all memories of the supernatural anyway so he would remember nothing. I then manifested another magic circle and wiped his memory.

Normally most of my mind magic would not be this effective on a mage due to most of them being able to detect when magic is being used on them if they are conscious. But due to him being unconscious it was a lot easier to infiltrate his mind and create a mental illusion.

Sieg who had been observing me curiously the whole time asked: "What did you just do to him boss his face started making weird expressions while your hand was over it."

"Pulled his consciousness deep into his mind and recreated the scene around us and tortured him to extract the information he knew about the organisation he is working for."

"Wow that's cold-blooded I didn't take you as some who resorted to torture."

"I didn't have any chose I had to get the information and there was no other way but torture as his memories were blocked by powerful magic that needed for me to resort to torture," I told him the truth the magic blocks on his memories were too powerful for me to break at the moment, even if I was able to break them I ran the risk of destroying his mind completely which would turn him into a vegetable.

We then go up and approached Sairaorg again at which time it seemed like he had the Lion under control as it was currently kneeling as if it was bowing.

As we neared them the lion began growling at us "Calm down Regulus they are our allies."

"So it seems as though you were able to tame the Lion, I'm surprised considering the Nemea Lion is notoriously known as a prideful and difficult beast to tame," I said

"After explaining to him my dream he said he was willing to follow me until the day I die." He answered me.

"What do you want to do about Hercules, we can't just leave him out here in the middle of the forest."

"We'll wake him up and see what he wants to do."

So I went over to him and shook him awake. "What happened, did we win?" "Yes all the mages were defeated, the question now what do want to do from here?" I then continue "You can come with Sieg and myself to the church or you can choose your path."

Hercules didn't answer and went up to the Lion King and looked it in the eyes. Then Regulus slowly moved right up to him and hugged him with his lion body. We all stood there shocked as that was not something we expected to happen.

"Her..cu..les" the Lion growled out softly

I then realised that apart of the soul of Hercules's brother, Alcides, must have fused with the sacred gear. Which would explain why the sacred gear hadn't faded back into the system. All sacred gears are linked to the soul of their wielder so if the user's soul fused with the sacred gear then what would mean that it could be manifest permanent. The only problem would be the fact that the sacred gear wielder would lose their body and that they wouldn't be their true self anymore as their soul would have fused with the one residing in the gear.

"Alcides is that you?" Hercules said looking as though he was about to cry.

"No and Yes… We are Regulus… but also have the memories of Alcide… we are now one"

"But you remember who I am?" Hercules asked

"Yes, but we are not Alcides we are Regulus the Lion King, but if we were Alcides I feel like we would be happy you survived."

He then continued "This is goodbye, Hercules, we have pledged our loyalty to Master Sairaorg, but we are thankful to your brother as without his sacrifice we would not be free once more after thousands of years."

"Very well, if my brother is truly gone then I will follow his original of joining the church." He said and then looked at me "I would like to join the church like my brother originally intended to."

"Welcome to the church them," I said

"Seeing as how this situation is not resolved I think we should part ways Sairaorg, it was good working with you," I spoke to him, I put out my hand for him to shake, which he did.

"It was a pleasure working with you as well Cao Cao and I hope we can battle each other in the future, if you ever want a fight use this to summon me." He said as he handed me the devil summoning sheet.

"I'll think about it and let you know."

So after I said this he, Kuisha and Regulus all teleported away leaving just Siegfried, Hercules, the unconscious mage and me.

"Sieg goes with Hercules and the mage to the nearest point of Civilisation and leaves him there, he has no memories of the supernatural so he should be able to live a normal life."

"Very well, let's go, Hercules." He said

While Hercules looked at the mage with disgust he didn't say anything and followed Siegfried.

Once they left and I shouted out "I know your there there's no need to hide anymore, if you want to come out you can, it's only you and me here."

Slowly a figure walked out of the Forest. "I did not expect you to sense my presence so easily, after all the effort I went through to hide it you still somehow sensed me. I must admit I'm impressed but then again what did I expect from the wielder of the True Longinus." He said as he walked towards the middle of the clearing.