Ch 111: In love and war, if you’re not cheating…

Noah had gone early, and was busy laying the foundations for the defensive arrays that would be used during the Peace Conference this weekend. As he couldn't exactly draw a gigantic magic array on the ground without it becoming instantly visible, he had instead created a number of focus crystals that would link to each other when activated and act as a replacement for the array. Those crystals were made completely transparent by his Light runes, and were completely inert when not in use.

The enemy wouldn't notice it until it became too late. And it was only one of four magic formation that Noah planned to deploy.

The first would subject anyone flying to gradually increasing gravity, until they were grounded.

The second, would create a barrier, reinforced with Stop runes, around the gymnasium where the negotiations would take place.

The third one, large enough to encompass the whole academy, would also create another reinforced barrier, but this one would be used to prevent the attackers from fleeing.

Finally, the last formation would be just as large as the third one and would notify him of anyone entering it when activated, as well as keep track of their position.

Noah had already set up the fourth formation and activated it as a test. This allowed him to notice the four people entering the skill the instant they went through the Academy's gates. Three men and a girl. The girl wore a hooded robe shadowing her face, but with Promise, Noah could observe her clearly.

The girl, judging by the smile that seemed to be a permanent feature of her face and her long pink hairs tired into two loose ponytails at the base of her neck, had to be Rinne Shimokadzuma. The smile was obviously a façade for her real feelings and reminded him a little of Gin Ichimura, but seemed a lot less sinister on her cute face. Noah had no illusion that she would betray him just as easily, if he left her an opportunity.

She had a sheathed kitchen knife tied to her belt. The ability of her Arcana, Wheel of Fortune, allowed her to rewind back time, and was triggered whenever she injured herself.

Her presence was expected, as she was always seen following Lost in the first part of the original work.

The leader of the group, Lost Joudougahama, was of medium build, with short red hairs and golden eyes. He had a small leather choker around his neck, and was dressed in a white shirt, black jeans, and a black hoodie.

The other two were people Noah could identify, too. Lunatic Kitakami, the man with short silver hairs, was the holder of the Moon Arcana and could force his target to relive their worst trauma, until their destroyed themselves.

Noah wasn't worried at all about him, as his protection against mental attacks would counter this.

The last one, judging by his unkempt, wavy green hairs and his uniform marred with paint, was the Tower. Noah had forgotten his name, but remembered his abilities. By destroying art pieces that he had created, the Tower could summon them into battle. His Arcana's ultimate move was a little strange, somehow turning the target's surroundings into a tower's top they could not escape from while unleashing a powerful lightning strike on them.

Noah leisurely walked toward the courtyard where he had agreed to meet them. They reached the courtyard just after he did, and Noah waved at them from afar. They stopped about ten meters for each other.

"Hi. Thanks for coming." casually said Noah.

"Hi, handsome guy!" cheered Rinne.

"Hey. I'm surprised. I would have expected ya to come with your allies." said Lost as he looked around, searching for hidden figures.

"They need their beauty sleep, and I didn't feel their presence was necessary." shrugged Noah.

"That kind of overconfidence is going to cost ya. But ya're right, their presence wouldn't have changed the outcome."

"Before we start, Lost, is there any chance I can convince you to stop trying to kill every single devil noble?"

"…Ya disappoint me, Noah. I was fond of ya, because ya were a human until recently, but it seems the Gremory have made ya their lapdog."

Noah chuckled, thinking about his relationship with Elisabeth Phenex and what he planned to do to Rias.

"If only you knew. Lost, I understand why you want them dead, after what this shitty noble did to you and the other people of your village. If every noble were like this, I'd be helping you kill them all. But, and that's the important thing, not all nobles are pieces of crap. There are some families, like the Sitri and the Gremory, who still take the concept of Noblesse Oblige seriously. And as long as nobles like that exist, I will defend them."

"So, can we agree to judge nobles on an individual basis, and kill only those who truly deserve it? And after making sure they haven't been framed by rivals or something?" hopefully asked Noah.

"No." flat out replied Lost. his friendly tone was gone, and Noah saw pain and madness in his golden eyes.

"That's a pity." sighed Noah, understanding that Lost was past the point where reason could reach him. "I had hoped I wouldn't need to kill you."

He took from his inventory his newest weapon. Almost three meters long, two meters of a wooden shaft wrapped in thin strings and a meter of sharp metal, separated by a guard. A swordstaff, similar to an oversized naginata, but with a head sharpened to cut in both directions. A weapon whose head was engraved with Stop runes.

Thanks to Noah's Weapon Mastery ability, he didn't need training to already be familiar with the way to handle this weapon. It had the reach advantage of a spear, with the polyvalence of a sword. It's only weaknesses were the heavier weight, causing its wielder to tire faster, and that a nimble opponent might be able to get past the head and grab the shaft, forcing Noah to abandon the weapon to fight in very close combat.

"Why would the Magician hold a ridiculous weapon like this?" exclaimed the Tower, pointing with a finger as he reached into the gym bag around his shoulder.

A fake moon appeared behind the silver-haired man.

"I'm not your typical Magician." smiled Noah, flexing his legs a little to lower in center of gravity, and casting Augment on himself.

[User has learned Queen of Night.]

Just like that, Noah was gifted another ability he never planned to use. Before any of them could notice that Noah was immune to Lunatic's move, he used Shunpo to appear near Kitakami and drove the shaft of his swordstaff in his guts. As he doubled over in pain, Noah stuck his neck with a hand chop, and he collapsed, unconscious. Noah jumped away from the group with a slight smile as they got over their surprise and started casting Stride, Maximize and Armored on themselves.

Tower threw to the group several of his models, and they exploded in clouds of smoke. When the smoke cleared, four monsters stood between him and Noah. A Valkyrie with shield and spear, a lizardman with a huge stone hammer, a two-meters tall Gundam-like mecha with a stone sword, and a gargoyle.

And Lost created some dark miasma, that condensed in his right hand and took the form of a black gun.

Noah of course wasn't going to just let them regain the initiative. He already had created a clone of himself using Senjutsu, made himself invisible, and was flanking them, intending to take out Rinne next.

The four monsters jumped at the clone, but their weapons and claws only passed though.

"Shit! Where is he?" shouted Tower.

Before Rinne could look around, something impacted her neck and she fell down, losing consciousness. Tower hurriedly retreated from her as Noah became visible again, and Lost fired a bullet from his weapon. The black bullet hit him on the torso and penetrated Noah's skin, muscles tissues and liver before turning into miasma, delivering its death curse.

Noah grunted in pain. He had protected his head with his arm, as brain damage it was the one thing that might kill him outright.

[User has learned Happy Ending (Life Sentence)]

Noah cast Greater Healing on himself, and Lost frowned as he didn't see him going down. As he healed, he used Shunpo to appear behind Lost and drove the business end of his swordstaff through his back, piercing his heart.

With the anti-magic property of the spear's blade, and Rinne being incapacitated, Lost had no way to recover from this wound. He gasped and looked down, seeing the blade coming out of his chest. He tried to grab it uselessly as his knees gave way, and he found himself sitting on the ground.

"Rest in peace, Lost Joudougahama." said Noah with a sad voice. taking his hands off his swordstaff and drawing Seifuku. Lost was a murderer and had rejected his olive branch, but the whole thing started from him and everyone he knew being experimented on. Noah decapitated Lost to be certain he wouldn't somehow make a comeback, like antagonists tended to do, then went to town with the monsters.

Tower was already summoning more of them, but they were all slow compared to Noah, and he destroyed them all with little difficulty.

"Shit shit shit! You forced me to do this!" screamed Tower in despair as he held a final sculpture, looking like an exquisite doll with articulated joints. He threw in on the ground and it shattered. instantly, Noah's surrounding changed, and he found himself standing on the narrow top of a stone tower, hundreds of meter above a forest surrounded by tall mountains. The skies were covered by rumbling storm clouds.

"That's it! You're going to die now! And you killed Lost for me!" screamed Tower with jubilation. He was still crying tears over the loss of his most prized sculpture. He was flying, a few dozen meters away from the tower's top.

"Am I, now?" shrugged Noah, feeling the gradual ionization of the air, and his hairs standing as they became charged with static electricity. He lifted his right hand above his head and created a large Hole, three meters in diameter. Lightning struck down, and disappeared harmlessly inside the Hole. Then the illusion broke, and Noah was back in the courtyard. He quickly closed the Hole, and, not wanting to waste any more time, used Shunpo and knocked the guy unconscious.

The Death Arcana had already returned wherever Arcanas were stored, and the other three, seeing that their candidates were at the mercy of the Magician Candidate, followed suit.

Noah took his own Arcana and checked the result.

0 – Fool – Active - Submitted to Emperor

I – Magician - Active

II – Priestess – Active – Submitted to Emperor

III – Empress – Active – Submitted to Emperor

IV – Emperor – Active

V – Hierophant – Active – Submitted to Emperor

VI – Lovers – Retired – Submitted to Magician

VII – Chariot – Active

VIII – Hermit – Retired – Killed by Emperor

XI – Strength – Active

X – Wheel of Fortune – Retired – Defeated by Magician

XI – Justice – Active

XII – Hanged Man – Active

XIII – Death – Retired – Killed by Magician

XIV – Temperance – Active

XV – Devil – Retired – Killed by Magician

XVI – Tower – Retired – Defeated by Magician

XVII – Star – Active

XVIII – Moon – Retired – Defeated by Magician

XIX – Sun – Active

XX – Judgment – Active

XXI – World – Retired – Defeated by Magician

That list hadn't changed much prior to this night, with only the Emperor killing Hermit. Noah wondered who the Emperor candidate would turn out to be, and how they would react to seeing the updated list. He wasn't even done yet. As he did, he crouched over Rinne's limp body, engraved a Stop rune on her back, and left with her, thinking that he would have to send a message to Gandou to report the fight and the result, so he could clean up the scene.

He came back a minute later, embarrassed, and retrieved the swordstaff he had forgotten.