chapter 292

Chapter 292:

The gathering of a large army of alien Vikings, along with tens of thousands of fallen Angels, outside the Vatican didn’t exactly go unnoticed. Michael and Gabriel hovered above the city, their wings spread wide, trying to keep the humans of Rome from panicking. I walked through the ranks of soldiers, making sure everyone was ready for the upcoming battle in the Underworld, offering quick healing to anyone who needed it.

“Excuse me! Can you please answer some questions!?” A woman’s voice called out from the nearby streets. Crowds of thousands of curious onlookers were being held back by hundreds of Vatican agents and exorcists, creating a barrier between them and the army.

I turned toward the sound and saw a reporter looking directly at me. My 16 black wings manifested behind my back as I floated over to her. Her eyes widened, and she swallowed nervously. The nearby crowd fell completely silent, all eyes locked on me.

“Hello… You’re the Angel who helped save New York City, aren’t you?” she asked nervously.

I gave a slight nod. “Yep. That was me. My name is Layla…” I introduced myself.

The reporter shifted her weight nervously and asked, “What’s going on? Why are there so many men and women in old-fashioned armor and carrying swords outside the Vatican? And why… Why are there so many Angels here?”

I couldn’t help but smirk a little. “You’re asking why there are a lot of Angels outside the Vatican?” I teased her.

Her cheeks flushed, and she fumbled with her notepad. “I-I mean, it’s not something we see every day…”

I suppose she had a point there.

I chuckled softly, then waved a hand toward the army. “We’re preparing for a battle in the Underworld. It’s nothing for the people of Rome to worry about. The soldiers in armor are our allies from Asgard, they've graciously come to offer their aid in these trying times.” I explained.

The reporter blinked, clearly trying to process everything I had just said. “The Underworld? You mean Hell?”

“Kind of…” I said while tilting my head. “The underworld isn't exactly Hell though since it's where Devils live…not damned human souls.”

The reporter hesitantly nodded at me, clearly overwhelmed by my words and probably not exactly understanding.. I could tell she wasn’t exactly a devout person before all of this chaos unfolded around the world.

"You said the armored soldiers are from Asgard?" she asked curiously, as the cameraman behind her started filming the ranks of warriors.

I gave a small smile. "Yes, but probably not the Asgard you're thinking of. Their Asgard is in another solar system. So technically, they’re aliens."

"Aliens!?" She stared at me, eyes wide in disbelief. "Why are aliens here? How long have they been on our world!?"

I shrugged casually, still hovering in the air with my wings occasionally gently flapping behind me. "They’ve been here for quite some time, if we’re going by human years—easily over 1,000. As for why they’re here… Hela, the current Queen of Asgard, happens to be my betrothed. Our daughter is going to be the next Queen."

The reporter blinked at me, even more confused now. "Queen? But... how do two women have a daughter together?"

I grinned at her. "Magic…" I said simply, keeping my answer vague on purpose. Her face had a look of confusion, before her cheeks heated up and turned scarlet as she probably came to her own conclusions.

“How scandalous…” she mumbled to herself while lowering the mic.

I didn’t answer any more questions and flew back towards our forces, gliding smoothly through the air until I found a spot near the front of the legions. As I landed, I found myself right next to Sif. The beautiful blonde goddess greeted me with a warm smile, and I took her hand in mine, leaning in to kiss her cheek.

“Hela mentioned you’ve gotten a lot stronger,” I said softly.

Sif blushed and nodded. “I’ve been training intensely these past two years,” she admitted. “It’s been frustrating, being the goddess of war and always having to leave the big battles to everyone else. It should’ve been my responsibility.”

I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “You’ll get your chance, Sif. You’ve already proven yourself many times over.”

She smiled at me, though I could still see a flicker of frustration in her eyes. Before I could say more, Michael and Gabriel appeared overhead, hovering above our combined forces, their majestic wings glowing with divine light.

Michael raised his voice, his powerful words echoing across the battlefield. “The Devils have always pushed the boundaries of what's acceptable, but they've gone too far this time! They have brought too much death and suffering to this world! Three of the Maous are dead, and the Underworld is at its weakest. It’s time to purge the Devils from Father’s creation!”

Serafall wasn't actually dead yet, but it was better for morale that people thought she was…

[I'm sure that won’t come back to bite someone in the future…]

A thunderous cheer erupted from the army. Soldiers pounded their fists against their shields, and the Asgardians raised their swords in the air, ready for battle.

Azazel activated multiple magic circles beneath our feet. In an instant, the entire army was transported to the middle of the Underworld. The sudden shift was momentarily jarring, but everyone was immediately on alert, weapons drawn, ready for the fight.

I scanned the dark barren landscape for our enemies. The Devils knew we were coming—there was no way they wouldn’t. I suspected the Vatican still had a few traitorous human spies in its ranks, despite Gabriel’s best efforts to root them out.

[Sure enough, you're right.]

I let out a low whistle as I glanced up. Hundreds—no, thousands—of long-range magical attacks were streaking through the air, aimed directly at our army. The Devil Allegiance had been waiting, hoping to ambush us the moment we arrived.

“Shields up!” Michael’s voice boomed across the battlefield.

In perfect unison, hundreds of Angels and thousands of Fallen Angels raised their hands, conjuring massive light barriers. Fireballs, icicles, and all manner of demonic magic slammed against the shields, but they splashed off harmlessly, dissolving into nothing. When my brothers and sisters lowered their hands, we finally got a clear view of the enemy forces, gathered about a kilometer away.

We had chosen this massive open plain in the Underworld for the final battle. There was nowhere for the Devils to hide, no more surprises waiting for us. Their ambush had failed, and now, it was time for the Great War to come to an end.

As I stared at the Devil Army, a grimace crossed my face. My heart tightened as I spotted familiar faces among the ranks—doppelgangers of people I had grown to care about. My eyes locked on Cecilia Sitri, leading her forces in place of her missing daughter, Serafall. Near her, I saw Rias Gremory standing beside her parents. In another life, Rias probably would have thanked me for getting rid of Riser for her, but now, all I could see in her eyes was hatred as she gazed at us.

There were countless other familiar faces as well. My hand trembled in Sif’s grasp, and she noticed immediately. She squeezed my hand gently to get my attention, then leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on my lips.

“I know this is hard,” Sif whispered, her voice filled with empathy. “I care for Rias and Sona too. Even knowing those are their evil doppelgangers out there… watching them die will be difficult.”

I swallowed hard, my gaze shifting back to the battlefield. “It’s surreal. I’ve fought in countless battles, but this will be a massacre against sentient beings…”

Sif brushed a strand of hair away from my face, her blue eyes full of understanding. “Hela told me that your siblings already talked to you about this. None of us want you to go through something like that, Layla. Leave the truly grueling parts to us. And remember that you don't actually know any of the Devils that will die today.”

I let out a heavy sigh and nodded. “I know. But seeing them like this... it’s hard to separate what they are now from who they could have been.”

Sif’s grip tightened, grounding me. “We fight for a better world,” she reminded me softly. “And they fight to destroy it. Don’t forget that.”

I leaned into her touch, closing my eyes for a moment, taking comfort in her presence. “I just wish it didn’t have to be this way.”

Before Sif could respond, Gabriel’s voice boomed from above. She was adorned in her golden war armor. "Prepare yourselves!" she called out to all of us, her wings glowing bright white as she drew her flaming sword from its golden sheathe. "This ends today!"

Gabriel was the first to dive into the Devil army, crashing into their ranks like a comet. It didn’t matter to her that they numbered in the tens of thousands. Every swing of her sword cleaved through multiple Devils at once, but I found myself frowning. She should have been cutting down dozens with every strike, not just a handful.

"This must be the power of the final Maou," I muttered to myself, sensing the dark magic bolstering the Devils' defenses. Falbium Asmodeus was lending them all his defensive power.

The dreary, barren landscape of the Underworld shook as the Asgardians let out a triumphant war cry and charged forward. My Fallen brothers and sisters soared above them, staying just overhead, shielding the warriors below from stray magical attacks raining down from the Devils.

Sif squeezed my hand one last time, giving me a loving, reassuring look. “Stay safe,” she said, though we both knew I was probably the only person here who wasn't in any danger of actually dying.

I smiled at her. “You too. Stay safe.”

She drew her blade, and without another word, she rushed into the fray, following our forces into battle.

The chaos of war began. Asgardians, Fallen Angels, Angels, and exorcists all fought side by side, tearing through the Devil ranks. The battlefield turned into a storm of clashing blades, spells, and blood.

I watched for a moment, taking in the sight, before inhaling deeply. I took to the skies, my wings carrying me above the battlefield. From my vantage point, I could see we were gaining ground, but it wasn’t the overwhelming victory I’d anticipated. The Devils were holding the line, their defenses bolstered by Falbium’s magic. Under his power, fatal blows became flesh wounds, and flesh wounds became nothing more than minor cuts and bruises.

It was time to change that.

Hovering above the battlefield, I stretched out my senses, searching for the strongest magical presences among our enemies. I could feel the oppressive energy of Falbium himself somewhere deep within the Devil ranks.

[Try looking somewhere in the middle. They would want to keep him well protected since they know he's their only hope at surviving.]

“There you are,” I muttered, heeding the System's advice.

Out of all the most famous and powerful Devils, Falbium was arguably the least recognizable. I always suspected that was by design—keeping their most valuable general anonymous and well-protected for moments like this. It might have worked against someone else, but as a high goddess, my senses were on another level. I immediately picked him out from the crowd of middle-class Devils he was hiding among. His face was plain, unassuming, the type that could easily disappear in a crowd. His bald head gleamed so brightly it was almost painful to look at.

Magical attacks flew at me from all directions. Fireballs, icicles—none of it mattered. The fire hit me but didn’t burn; the icicles shattered against my skin without leaving a scratch. I didn’t even bother dodging. My eyes were locked with Falbium’s as I descended toward him. He saw me coming, and we held each other’s gaze as I landed in the middle of the Devil forces, my sixteen wings spreading wide behind me. Terrified eyes turned my way as I touched down.

Falbium sighed, a look of weary resignation on his face. "Looks like the Fallen Angels' secret trump card has found me," he muttered. "They really pulled one over on us, hiding you outside the Dimensional Gap." He looked at me, almost curious. "Tell me," he asked amidst the chaos, "was the plan always to wipe us out?"

I shook my head, feeling the weight of the moment. “I never wanted to be responsible for wiping out an entire race, no matter the atrocities your kind has committed against humanity. I was actually planning to banish you all to another universe—one devoid of human life."

Falbium rubbed his bald head with a tired, almost amused look. “Huh,” he murmured, taking a moment to think. "So, we could have actually survived all of this… had we not been so foolish as to attack the entire world?"

I conjured a glowing purple light spear in my right hand, pumping a bit of cosmic energy into it until it pulsed dangerously with power. The light hummed, radiating with intensity.

"I'm sorry it’s come to this," I told him, my voice soft but firm.

Without another word, I hurled the spear toward him. I expected him to dodge, fight back, or summon one of his legendary protective barriers. But to my shock, he didn’t move. He simply spread his arms wide, his eyes calm, and allowed the spear to hit him square in the chest.

The spear pierced through his torso, and for a brief moment, time seemed to slow. Falbium’s face remained impassive, as if accepting his fate, but I could see the tiniest flicker of regret in his eyes. He staggered back slightly from the force of the attack, but he didn’t scream or cry out in pain. Instead, he looked down at the glowing wound with a quiet resignation.

“I suppose our race had a good run, but this is how it ends…” He said right before his body turned to ash.

[He knew he had no chance against you and chose to die with his dignity…]

I felt a strange sadness after eliminating Falbium. Yet, his death sent immediate ripples across the battlefield. The Devil army lost their massive defensive buffs almost instantly, and the balance shifted. What had been a fairly even fight now became one-sided. The Devils didn’t stand a chance anymore. I ignored the wide, terrified eyes of the Devils around me. They had just witnessed me eliminate the final Maou with one attack, and now they looked at me like I was some sort of monster. Maybe I was, in their eyes. I didn’t care. With a single flap of my wings, I took off high into the sky, ready to watch the battle play out to its inevitable conclusion.

At least, that’s what I would’ve done—had I not sensed it.

A massive surge of power suddenly exploded a couple of kilometers away, shaking the stale air of the Underworld. The ground beneath me trembled as a deafening roar echoed across the landscape, reverberating for what felt like hundreds of kilometers.

“Juggernaut Drive!”

I gasped, my eyes widening in shock. I knew that power, but something about it felt off. It wasn’t the familiar energy of Isane or even Ddraig. This was something else, a mix of draconic power and… demonic energy.

“Vali Lucifer?” I muttered under my breath, as my gaze snapped to the sky.

And there it was—a massive dragonoid construct made of glowing silver scales, soaring toward the battlefield. As it approached, it spread its gaping maw wide and unleashed a breath attack, a wave of pure darkness. It was one of the signature abilities of the Lucifer clan.

The breath attack was aimed at both armies, intending to wipe them all out at once!

“Damn it!” I cursed, diving down at full speed.

In an instant, I summoned my Susanoo. A gigantic purple Angel was suddenly towering above the battlefield, its wings spread wide as it blanketed the false sky. The breath attack slammed into my Susanoo, the force of it shaking everything around us. The purple construct held strong, its massive form tanking the blast head-on.

I hovered inside my Angelic Susanoo, staring down the massive silver dragonoid in front of me. Vali Lucifer—finally, after all this time. We’d never officially met, but I knew all about him from my past life. I’d always wondered where he’d been, and why he hadn’t shown up until now?

“Vali!” I shouted, trying to get his attention. “Why are you attacking everyone?”

Since he was technically only a half-Devil, we should be able to spare him if he comes to his senses and stops attacking. Wasn't he supposed to hate the Devil race anyway after what they did to his mother?

I got no response. The silver dragonoid’s glowing red eyes just locked onto me with a single-minded purpose. It flapped its wings lunged, trying to rip apart my Susanoo with claws and teeth. It was almost like I was fighting a rabid beast. It wasn't even trying to Divide my power.

Was there any consciousness inside there at all?

“Roooooooaaaaaar!” The silver dragon’s roar pretty much answered that question. Vali had completely lost control of his Juggernaut Drive. Looks like we were doing this the hard way then. I was going to rip apart those scales and yank his body out to find out what happened to make him like this!

Subduing a giant rage dragon without killing it was way more tedious than I expected. Vali's metal teeth and claws kept trying to rip me apart, but my Susanoo’s hands were locked tight around the Juggernaut Drive’s neck. I pulled back my arm and slammed the dragon into a nearby mountain. The rocks shattered instantly, crumbling to dust under the impact.

That just seemed to piss Vali off even more. Out of the dust cloud, the dragon’s tail whipped forward and slapped my Susanoo right across the face. I stumbled back a couple of steps, gritting my teeth in annoyance.

“Now listen here, you little shit,” I snapped, clicking my tongue in frustration. “I was trying to be nice, but now you’ve asked for it.”

Without missing a beat, I grabbed the dragonoid by its tail, wrapping my Susanoo’s massive hands around it. “Let’s see how you like this!” I shouted, spinning him around like a windmill. The dragon shrieked as I swung it faster and faster, the force building up with every turn.

“Hang on tight, Vali!” I yelled, grinning a little despite myself. After a few rotations, I released him, sending the dragon flying straight up toward the false sky of the Underworld.

Vali shot upward, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. The illusionary sky above us flickered and winked out as he crashed into the ceiling of the Underworld with crushing force. A dragon-shaped hole appeared in the Earth's crust.

I let out a breath, shaking my head. “You’re really making this difficult, Vali.”

I hovered in place, watching as the dust and debris began to settle. “You better stay down after that one,” I muttered, half-expecting him to get up again.

Sure enough, there was movement—Vali wasn’t done yet. The dragon let out another roar, this time filled with frustration and pain, as it tried to free itself from the Earth's crust that it was embedded in.

“Unbelievable,” I sighed, rubbing my forehead. “You just don’t know when to quit, do you?”

I crossed my arms in front of me again, bracing for another of Vali’s darkness breath attacks. This one was even more powerful than before. My Susanoo wasn’t enhanced with cosmic energy, and I winced as cracks began to form in the construct. If that attack had hit the ground below, it would’ve wiped out hundreds of my people.

“Fuck it,” I muttered, frowning. I was done holding back. Whether Vali survived or not, I’d leave that up to fate.

Launching myself upward toward the ceiling, I reached him just as he finished pulling his massive body out of the bedrock. Without hesitating, I grabbed the top and bottom of the dragonoid’s jaws. “Sorry about this, kid…” I muttered under my breath before yanking my hands apart, tearing the dragon’s head in two.

There was no blood, just a sickening crack, but the machine-like dragonoid let out one final shriek of agony before its entire body began crumbling to pieces. As it collapsed, I noticed a small, human-shaped figure falling from the debris. I darted forward and caught him, my Susanoo’s hand gently cradling his fragile form.

When I opened my Susanoo’s hand, I finally got a good look at Vali.

“Oh…” I whispered, taken aback by the state he was in. He was nothing like I expected. Skinny, malnourished—a Devil shouldn’t look like this. But that wasn’t the worst of it. His body was covered in scars and bruises, the kind that spoke of years of torture. My heart clenched at the sight.

“I should heal him,” I thought instinctively, but then I hesitated. After everything he’d been through, I wasn’t even sure if he was still sane.

“He might not be,” the system in my mind commented dryly.

With a deep breath, I let my Susanoo fade away and grabbed Vali with my real hands. He wasn’t waking up anytime soon, and his chest was rising and falling very weakly. I couldn’t leave him like this either. I opened a portal back to my penthouse on Earth Marvel and stepped through. On the other side, I found Artemis sitting with Hestia and Frigga. They looked up as I entered.

Artemis smiled warmly at me. “Hi, Layla. What’s wrong?”

Without a word, I showed them Vali’s scarred and battered body. Frigga gasped, horror written across her face as she rushed over to take him from me. “What have they done to him?” she whispered, cradling him as though he were her own child.

I sighed, feeling a weight lift from my shoulders now that he was in her care. “Can you watch over him? He’s… been through a lot.”

Frigga nodded, her motherly instincts kicking in. “Of course. I’ll take care of him.”

I gave them a small, grateful smile. “Thank you. The battle’s almost over. I’ll be home soon.”

“Good luck, Layla,” Artemis said gently, her eyes filled with understanding as I closed the portal behind me.

I turned and flew back down toward the battlefield. It was over. The opposing forces had been wiped out. As I descended, I forced myself not to look too closely at any of the familiar faces among the bodies scattered below. Once I landed, I immediately started searching for Gabriel, Michael, and Azazel. I needed to know what they had planned for next.

For some reason, Michael was heavily frowning when I caught up with them.

“What’s wrong, Michael?”

“While you were busy subduing the White Dragon Emperor, I sensed a powerful Devil sneaking into Father’s throne room in Heaven…”

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