Volume 7 – Chapter 6 – Part 3 – Moving Tides, Swaying Hearts

Third Person Point of View

— ○ ● ○ —

He was destined to become evil. Those were the type of parents he was born from. The Evil Goddess—Eris, from the Greek Mythology—the Goddess of Strife and Discord, to have such a mother like that, one would usually have some evil in their mind and heart. However, for the boy that only knew his name as 'Leon', he had no real parental figures.

The person who 'looked' after him for the first sixteen years of his life was a man that could be called his biological father. However, the only thing that this man did was provide the Goddess with the seed to make Leon. After that, his memories were changed and Leon was 'conceived' from his usual one-night stands and the prostitute dumped Leon on the 'father'.

Eris, the goddess had cut ties with them—with him. However, Leon was still born different—he was born as a demigod. A being born from a god and mortal, Leon didn't discover this fact until the later half of his life and once he did, dove straight into the supernatural because he was stronger than most.

Even though the young man met many kind-hearted and good-willed individuals, he was not swayed by his nature—because after he found out who the deity was that gave birth to him, he became infatuated at meeting them again. To Leon, if he became strong enough, he could have a chance at meeting his mother—the Evil Goddess Eris.

Leon was the only one who knew of his real goal. He simply wished to meet his mother, that was the innocent goal…at the start. But as he continued on with his journey and as he grew older, it changed and the Leon that exists today, was the accumulation of those experiences he had.

Goddess Eris was evil, and evil did horrible things—surely he had to do evil. When he went back to his biological father, he came upon him sexual assault someone, Leon was intrigued by the man, he wondered what led him down this path in life.

To Leon, his father was supposedly born into an ordinary household—he never met his parents, but the few times his father spoke to him normally, he found out that he was the 'black sheep' of the family, the 'screw up', and he had no place there. That was the one and only normal conversation he ever had with him and nothing like that happened again.

In order to inflict the same pain that the woman felt, Leon used his powers—his Sacred Gear to kill his father, and once his father lay there dying, his memories returned. The last words of this man stuck in Leon's head.

"Hahaha! So it was all real! I always wondered why I had that missing memory for so long!"

The man wasn't fazed by death—perhaps the man had already lost his man a long time ago. This further confused Leon, but he also killed the woman that his father assaulted. These set of actions permanently cut his ties to the normal human world altogether. After that, Leon wandered the human world and supernatural world, slowly growing stronger and building up his team.

The terrorist organization Khaos Brigade took the spotlight and that worked for Leon since he could focus on other things. While arrogant, Leon wasn't stupid…originally, but time changed him. As his strength grew, so did that arrogance.

The more people he overpowered, killed and or brought into his team, his ego grew. Someone of his caliber couldn't fall to weaklings. Those were the kind of thoughts he had. However, a strange anomaly showed up.

This generation's Red Dragon Emperor. Everywhere his team and him went, they heard his name—at the start it was every few weeks, then it slowly increased, and it almost seemed like overnight, but his name was suddenly known throughout the supernatural world—the Middleman, Red Dragon Emperor—Jin Skyward.

To Leon—he was a 'goody-two-shoes', the 'Hero' that he read about in many books. The one who won in the end and brought people around him. The things he achieved, it kept piling up and Leon couldn't ignore them. And then one day…

"If he's the [Ultimate Hero], then he'll need a nemesis! The [Ultimate Villain]! And I'll become that!" Leon shouted. He and his team were in a random abandoned building in Europe.

His team was surprised by his sudden words, but accepted it. Every decision that Leon made they left it up to him and never questioned it, because at the end of the day, he always accomplished it—that was the kind of man Leon was to them. The demigod who could do everything.

After that day, the [Ultimate Villain] was born. However, just like the Vortex Bunch, many of their exploits were automatically pointed towards the Khaos Brigade, which turned to the Khaos Order. It left Leon frustrated that his exploits were being brushed off as just the Khaos Order's attacks.

However, a thought occurred to him: 'If I can't beat them, why not join them?' He would complete his own personal goals while taking advantage of the Khaos Order, and at the same time grow stronger with whatever benefits they gave him and his team.

In the end, they became even stronger because of this decision, and they were allowed to face off against the Middleman and his group. However—the day came for them to fight them and it didn't go as planned, no Leon knew—in the back of his head that this would have been the result of their confrontation.

The Hero always wins. Jin told him that earlier, but he didn't want to listen. There had been films, TV shows, books and other media that showed where the villain won. He didn't want it to end here. He hadn't met his mother yet!

'What is this…? How can he be so strong? No normal human—no, he can't be human, he must be special…just like me, that's the only logical conclusion! But I'm more special than him, because I was born from her—!' he thought.

"Jin!!" screamed Leon as he fired enormous black blades of wind towards Aaron. Aaron brushed them aside as if they were nothing which made Leon more excited but also frustrated. "Why aren't you using your [Boosted Gear] or [Divine Dividing]?!"

Aaron didn't answer and swung his scythe towards the young man. Leon dodged it and grinned, but he noticed that countless cuts appeared all around his body and he started to bleed which made him angrier.

'Haaah!? I dodged that! What bullshit is this!?' Leon was limited in his movements when using his Sacred Gear. Darkness and shadows didn't exist in this realm as everything was silvery-white. Even when he used an attack, or uplifted rubble around them, the items thrown had no shadows.

Aaron had purposely gotten rid of them to limit his abilities, although Leon himself could still produce them. Leon suddenly backed away to his surprise and he chuckled.

"I rarely use the powers given to me at birth—well, apart from my enhanced physical abilities and other areas, but today is an exception," he said, and a black aura covered his body. "Because of the Khaos Order, I can create darkness and shadows from anywhere—including in this silvery-white world!"

Darkness shot out from his hand and it changed into a large snake. Aaron sliced it apart with his scythe, but saw that there were even more, so he kept killing them while wings made of darkness and shadows manifested behind Leon's body and formed wings. He had previously used his black wind and magic to fly, but with his wings he didn't need to strain himself that way.

Various creatures made of darkness and shadows appeared around Aaron who wasn't phased by this. Leon was annoyed by his lack of a reaction, so he ordered them to attack him.

"Even without this Sacred Gear, I can still use those powers. Isn't that amazing!? Because I use my Sacred Gear constantly, I am able to utilize these powers just as effectively. It's a two for one!" Leon summoned a large wave of shadows and they quickly approached Aaron.

Aaron summoned another scythe and threw it in front of him. The scythe began to spin and hunt down the creatures that were targeting him. With his other scythe, he gripped it with both hands and swung it horizontally, cutting the wave of darkness in half. After he did that, Leon appeared in front of him with a sword stabbing his body.

"Wha—!?" Leon was shocked as the sword passed through him.

<<…You have powers that control shadows and darkness. Surely you can do something like this, right?>> asked Aaron as he swung his scythe again, cutting off Leon's left arm. He followed that up by slamming the end of his scythe into his gut, knocking him away.

<<Maybe he's stupid?>> concluded Lycaon.

Aaron's eyes shone brightly and he sighed. <<No, he boasted about mastering his powers, but he hasn't completely mastered them. I would say he's around 72% there,>> explained the silver-white humanoid.

<<Humanities arrogance knows no bound. I like proving those idiots wrong, and have their ego and pride crumble,>> said Lycaon while snickering.

<<Alright, alright, I've heard this so many times over the 10,000 years we spent together. You don't need to repeat it endlessly.>>

<<Hah! Says the bastard shouting peace this, peace that,>> replied Lycaon.

<<Touché.>> Aaron smirked at Lycaon's response and faced Leon again. The man in front of them looked furious. However, he had created an arm made of darkness and shadows in replacement for the one he had lost.

[Look at them, so in love!] Ddraig choked out, as if he was crying.

'You need more hobbies, Ddraig,' said Rudra.

[Yes, real life dramas like Partners!]

'...…'

Without another word, the battle between them continued with Leon furiously using everything he had.

— ○ ● ○ —

Audos and Bliron. The two monsters of the [Z-Team]. Audos was a centaur and a lamia monster hybrid mix. However, he had a mix of green and purple hair and had black eyes. He was quite a strange creature.

Bliron was a wolf with a strange mutation making his fur crimson-blue and his eyes flaming-pink. Shunned from the rest of his small 'tribe' he wandered the world until he was found by Leon—beaten half to death and added to his team.

Audos was the more violent of the two while Bliron didn't want to hurt anybody, but was forced to or he would die. Audos loved his new life and fully immersed himself in it and became stronger, while Bliron did the minimum, but overtime he found some pleasure in defeating strong people—although he still had honor and wouldn't kill his opponents. But he didn't stop Leon or the others from doing so.

"That one's cute," said Kanami. "Can't it be a pet or something?"

"Your taste in things has always been weird…can't we just ask Aaron for a normal pet? Heck, we have Poh, Shin, and Griffon in our home!" replied Natsume.

"Fufu, you two are fun sisters." The woman with them—Koharu Fujiwara chuckled. She, the contracted magician of Vanaria Mammon came along with the Minagawa sisters.

"I'm the more fun one, right?!" Kanami asked and pointed at herself. Natsume stared at her sister with a confused glare. However, Audos suddenly picked up a building and threw it at them. In one fluid motion, Kanami pointed the [True Longinus] at it, stopping it and shattering the building into tiny pieces. "We're talkin' 'ere!"

Natsume covered her face in embarrassment. "Why? Why do you have to be like this…?"

Kanami fired a shot of light energy at Audos and laughed. The monster was blown away and she started patting her sister on the back. "Details, Natsu! Details! We're here to do a job, and we might get spoiled after, uheheheh~"

Natsume looked at her older sister with disgust. "Since you got engaged to Aaron, you've really become a thirsty pervert, you know that?"

"I haven't done it with him yet, that's why! W-well…" Kanami blushed and twirled her finger around her hair. "W-we have made out a lot…"

"We don't need to hear about that!" Natsume shouted and turned to Bliron who was confused by the situation he was in. Natsume pointed at him and shouted, "You! Aren't you going to fight with us!?"

"Um…w-well, I don't really like violence, and I'm usually forced to do it—b-but I do become a battle maniac when I do start fighting, bu-but I never killed anyone!" said Bliron.

Everyone there became confused by his meek nature. They were unsure if they should even attack him. However, Audos who had been knocked away, came back even more furious than earlier and began attacking Kanami.

"Well, time for a fight, bye~!" Kanami shouted before kicking Audos away and following after him.

"Natsume-san, can you support me then? I'd like to be a bit more useful than the last operation we were on, fufu," said Koharu.

"Okay, Koharu-san!" replied Natsume and summoned Sylph.

"Eh? I'm coming out too? Yaaay~" said Sylph while flying around Natsume.

"Sylph, I know you're contracted to me, but can you be Koharu-san's partner for this fight?" asked Natsume.

"Will do! Let's go K-o-h-a-r-u~!" Sylph laughed while flying towards the woman.

Koharu suddenly felt lighter and more agile. She, along with the rest of everyone in the realm had received Aaron's tattoo earlier, so they were already fine that way. However, now she was even stronger. The older woman giggled at the wind spirits' playfulness. She then brought out her wand and waved it around and created numerous magic circles around them.

Bliron frowned, and his body was shrouded in crimson-blue energy. His body and size also increased four times its original size. He got on all fours and howled.

"I thought [DxD] were reasonable people, but I guess I was wrong. I'll just slaughter both of you!" he bellowed before charging towards both women.

Before he arrived in front of them, large spikes made of flesh appeared from beneath his pawns and headed towards Natsume and Koharu. Natsume flicked her hand towards the spikes direction and sliced them up into multiple pieces. Sylph helped with this and Koharu launched her attacks at Bliron.

'Maybe we should have talked it out a bit more? Koharu-san was insistent on facing him though…we even heard his reasoning for not attacking us immediately. Or does she plan on weakening him first and then taking him in? We don't know if he's telling the truth either,' thought Natsume.

As Bliron swiped his claws at Koharu, the magician didn't dodge the attacks. However, they kept being deflected or redirected before they reached her. This confused the wolf monster and they backed away while staring at Koharu.

"Ara? What's wrong? Did my little ability scare you? It's not that rare you know?" Koharu said playfully.

What Koharu told Bliron was true. There were various abilities like this all around the world. They may vary in how they function, but in the end, they generally do things the same. Koharu pointed her wand at Bliron and a small flash of aqua blue appeared and began pulling the wolf monster towards her.

Panic appeared on his face and he began to resist the pull and jumped away. Koharu was only playing with Bliron—she knew she was around the same power level as him, but was confident that she was more competent and skilled at the use of her powers. She compared Bliron to a diamond in the rough while she was already a polished one.

Koharu turned to look at Sylph who was happily sitting on her shoulder. "Sylph-san, I'd like to thank you. Because of your wind, my ability is a little bit stronger today, so I won't need to strain my powers too much."

"Hmm? Hehe, it's based on wind, right? With enough force and delicate control, you can deflect powerful attacks away from you. You're a normal human. I don't sense that you're a hybrid either—you're just really gifted!" said Sylph.

Koharu smiled as more attacks thrown at them were deflected by her invisible wind. She excelled at defense and support, while she could fight back with her regular magic. Koharu Fujiwara was a magician who excelled at defending her allies—especially the devil she has a pact with, Vanaria Mammon.

Natsume joined her side and added, "Wind, huh? I use wind with Griffon here, as well as Sylph, but I was also given some light powers by Aaron." Natsume then summoned wind and light, then combined them. Griffon who was on Natsume's shoulder leaned forward and consumed the mixed elements. "Ah! Hey, I didn't say you could eat that yet."

Griffon huffed and turned his head away making Natsume sigh. Natsume had already helped Koharu's ability by applying her own power to it. This meant they could have this relaxed conversation even while being attacked by Bliron.

Even the young monster's previous anger had started to diminish as he was confused by their relaxed attitudes. 'Even though that human magician decided to fight me, she hasn't fired her magic at me yet…'

Deciding to trust his instincts, Bliron undid his transformation and calmed down. He sat on the ground and sighed. The two women and spirit glanced at him and undid their magic too. Sylph flew over and started flying around him and poked him several times.

"You look strange. Why do you look like that? Is it because you're special? It's not bad being special you know? You find great friends because of it!" she said and continued to circle him until Natsume grabbed her tiny body.

"Stop, you're making him uncomfortable," said Natsume. Sylph stuck her tongue out at her friend and wriggled free before sitting on Griffon's head. The two exchanged glances and then smirked at each other.

"You two…have gotten way too mischievous over the last few months," Natsume said tiredly, but Sylph and Griffon sneered at her.

"Bliron-san, right? So, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your group?" Koharu asked while placing him in magical handcuffs.

"I'm just an outcast, what happens to me doesn't matter to my tribe, and little spirit—being special isn't that great, because I look different, I was exiled. Though, whether or not meeting Leon and his group was a blessing or a curse, I'm not too sure on the answer yet," he explained.

He glanced at Koharu and added, "Female magician. To answer your question…I myself don't know what Leon wants. None of us do, not even his right-hand. We just blindly follow him and if we disobey, we'll usually be beaten for it and killed. There used to be someone else before me, but he was killed and I joined."

"Leon does whatever he wants. He's convinced that 'something' might happen if he continued with his way of life…whatever that is. However, there is one goal we're aware of, and that's his obsession of being the [Ultimate Villain]."

Natsume tilted her head, confused. "Ultimate Villain? What does that mean?"

Bliron shrugged. "His reasoning is, if the Middleman is the [Ultimate Hero], then he would need a nemesis, so he chose to become the [Ultimate Villain], to become…something equal to him? None of us questioned it, but we all knew that if we did start to actively pursue him, we'd eventually be taken down by him and Team [DxD]."

"Well, [DxD] does have various people from all walks of life, and we've been made stronger because of Aaron, so it only makes sense to fear it as a powerful group that protects the supernatural world," said Natsume.

Bliron chuckled confusing them. "You don't know what [DxD] stands for guys like us, do you? I don't know what reasons you guys chose to name it that, but because of [DxD]'s fame and deeds across the world—it also earned its own reputation with the 'villains' as we're seen."

He looked at them seriously while smiling sadly. "It's known as Death x Destruction—because any organization that's seen as 'villainous' or something akin to that, we're usually taken care of. You're either killed or captured and the destruction of your group is guaranteed after [DxD] deals with it."

"Does Aaron kill many of his enemies~?" Sylph asked.

"You'd be surprised at how many people he kills when he sees them as enemies. Aaron often targets the ones he deems 'redeemable' by his standards, or if the leaders of the factions ask him to spare a certain person's life. Otherwise, he typically kills them or cripples them beyond repair. We've only seen the ones he spared, but there's probably thousands that had names and lives and were just killed by him and us," said Natsume.

Bliron chuckled. "I guess he's not all-forgiving then. So, now what?"

"We have a designated spot to take you too, so come with us. The rest of your team should be dealt with shortly," said Koharu and began leading Bliron away. "I can bring him back. You can join your sister if you want, Natsume-san~!"

"It's fine, she can handle herself." Natsume joined Koharu and they began speaking more to Bliron, trying to get as much information as they could.

— ○ ● ○ —

"Ugh, why am I stuck with you?" asked Sokus.

"Same with you, bitch!" replied Pelola.

Sokus, a devil and Pelola a bird youkai were forced to team up with each other—they two of the three females of the [Z-Team]. However, these two despised each other and couldn't get along no matter how hard they tried.

Sokus had short brown hair, sharp black eyes and she wore old black and red noble clothing. While Pelola was a bird youkai with long pink hair, pink eyes and feathers, she had arms that resembled a harpy, talons and wore a long shirt that had 'Kill the Worms' in the center of it.

They were currently fighting Vanaria Mammon and Zhang Mei of the 8 Divas. The rest of the 8 Divas were on this mission and fighting others while she had teamed up with the Mammon devil.

"They don't get along, do they~? We have to capture them though," said Zhang Mei.

"Fufu, well, Jin-san was asked to bring back only the most important figures, although there are a lot more than we thought. Thanatos, that female Grim Reaper, two hybrids, and all of the [Z-Team]," replied Vanaria.

"Don't ignore us!!" both shouted and attacked the two ladies.

Vanaria countered with her own beam and the ball of demonic energy that Sokus turned to diamond and fell to the ground. Zhang Mei unsheathed her sword and created a blade of wind from it, slicing apart the touki ball aimed at her.

"Devil versus Devil and Human versus Youkai?" Zhang Mei asked.

"Yes, let's move forward with that," replied Vanaria. Both Vanaria and Zhang Mei disappeared from their spots and slammed their knees into Sokus and Pelola's stomachs, sending them away and crashing into a few buildings.

Zhang Mei looked at Vanaria in wonder. "I didn't think you would use hand-to-hand combat."

"I heard that Jin-san was an all-rounder, so I've been practicing. I'm still stronger using my demonic powers though," Vanaria replied while shrugging her shoulders.

Zhang Mei dashed towards Pelola again and she flapped her wings and created powerful gusts of wind. However, the young silver-haired woman raised her left hand and created a magic circle and fired ice attacks that collided with the wind attacks, making both of them explode. However, Zhang Mei jumped forward and slashed in front of her—clipping Pelola's left wing.

"You bitch!" she shrieked and swiped her talons at Zhang Mei, who blocked the attack with her sword.

"Thanks~" Zhang Mei winked and sent a flurry of slashes towards the bird youkai who countered using water blades by utilizing their youjutsu.

Zhang Mei, while utilizing her touki, moved to the side and avoided an attack from Pelola. The youkai had tried to stab her using her long and sharp beak. She hadn't expected that to happen and stared at the youkai.

'Using her beak? Sheesh, I thought she'd just rely on her natural abilities along with youjutsu,' she thought and dodged another attempt from Pelola. Zhang Mei began to relax when she saw multiple more of Pelola and proceeded to dodge the rest of the clone's attack. However, she was grazed by her thigh.

She squinted her eyes at them and said, "Replication magic, huh? The fact that you mostly fly makes it even more troublesome, jeez lady! So, mind telling me why you went super evil?"

"Most people don't talk that much during a fight," replied Pelola and appeared behind Zhang Mei and fired a point-blank ball of touki at her.

"Well, I'm the opposite!" shouted Zhang Mei while slicing apart the attack and thrusting her sword towards Pelola. She stopped her attack as she noticed the replicas of the youkai and jumped away while avoiding their attacks.

Zhang Mei sighed. "I won't win unless I do that, huh? I guess I need to train more." Zhang Mei closed her eyes and opened them a few seconds later. Her pale blue eyes had started glowing yellow—her body was also covered in a thin layer of silver energy along with touki.

"Let me play with you a little, Pelola-chan~" Zhang Mei said playfully.

Pelola frowned at the young woman, but after she blinked, Zhang Mei had disappeared from her spot. Pelola frantically looked around her but didn't see her, so she used her senjutsu to locate her, but failed which shocked her. It would normally be impossible to evade its detection since Pelola had high mastery of her senjutsu.

'Where!? Where did she—' Pelola suddenly felt a searing pain on her back, and when she turned around, she briefly saw Zhang Mei sticking her tongue out at her before disappearing again. Out of frustration she shouted, "Quit hiding and face me like a woman!"

Pelola spread her wings and created mini tornadoes around her and it began sucking up everything around her, but before it could become even more dangerous, Zhang Mei dashed towards Pelola at a speed she couldn't follow and cut off both her arms that had both her wings on them. Once Zhang Mei appeared behind her, she flicked the blood off her blade and sheathed it.

"Eh?" muttered Pelola. She looked at the spots where her arms were previously were, but only found stubs that spurted blood. "Aaaahhh—" She was kicked in the face and slammed to the ground, cutting off her sudden cries of anguish.

Zhang Mei sighed and looked at the knocked-out youkai. "Phew. One down, all that's left is Vanaria's youkai. But still…you were a lot more annoying than I anticipated. I wasn't planning on using this at all," mumbled Zhang Mei.

She pulled out cuffs and a slime pill. She first gathered up Pelola's severed arms and put them by the stubs, after that she forced the slime pills down her throat. As the youkai was waking up, she knocked her out again and cuffed her.

She sat on Pelola and crossed her arms and legs. "I did promise to go to the drop-off point with her, so I better wait…" said Zhang Mei as she also popped a slime pill into her mouth. "Aaron's pills sure are convenient…" she looked up at the sky. "I might as well try to court him too, I want an easy life for myself shishishi~"

[I can hear you, Zhang Mei…] Aaron said through the transceiver.

Zhang Mei's face turned red and she covered her face out of embarrassment. [I…please forget about what I said. I didn't mean the last part…well, the easy life part…]

[…Right…]

"Forget about iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!" Zhang Mei screamed and began rolling around the passed out Pelola.

In the distance Vanaria Mammon snickered to herself, confusing Sokus. Both devils had been exchanging demonic attacks for a short few minutes they had been fighting. They were in a standstill since any attacks Sokus threw at Vanaria, she simply used her [Ray of Avarice] to turn them into diamonds or gold, leaving Sokus frustrated.

Unlike the Artificial Super Devils that were made by Hades in droves when they had access to Nyarlathotep's blood—the rate that they could create Super Devils had decreased significantly and he could only make high-class in mass and he may get lucky with Ultimate-class, Satan-class and the rare [Transcendental] class of devil.

Sokus…was none of those—well, she was Satan-class because of the experiments the [Z-Team] underwent, but before that and before she joined Leon's team, she was an ordinary low-class noble devil. Her family had no merits and she decided to discard her surname because of it.

She is only known as Sokus and nothing more. Because of her new powers, she knew she could make waves back in the Underworld if she showed up again. However, she was now labeled as a terrorist and that wouldn't be possible—especially for her. Vali Lucifer had that chance because of various things that happened to him, as well as him being the true descendant of Lucifer.

She didn't because she was a nobody. When Diehauser Belial exposed the [King] piece and the Underworld fell into disarray it made her happy and she was giddy for quite a bit of time because of it. In her eyes, he was the only respectable devil since he exposed the corruption of the games.

"Why don't you rebel against them?" Sokus suddenly asked Vanaria.

The woman in question stared at her and laughed. "Why would I? I have no need for it, I don't get involved with the politics, and we make enough money through our ability. I'm considered to be a 'freak' or 'on par' with Sirzechs and the like because of my weird mutation and strength. However, I never felt the need to rebel since I was content with life," replied Vanaria.

She fired a few more demonic attacks at Sokus who avoided them and countered with her own. Every time [Ray of Avarice] was used, Vanaria stored them in a different space since she could use them to make profit later—she was quite efficient even during a battle.

"Tch. Another gifted bitch, die." Sokus' power exploded and she discharged several large demonic lightning to Vanaria, who, again turned them into useful minerals for herself.

"You know, you don't need to worry about a thing. I can turn anything into minerals like diamond and gold, it's not just limited to objects or demonic attacks." Vanaria pointed at Sokus with a smirk. "Even you."

A thin beam shot out of her finger and Sokus felt her arm become even heavier. She was surprised by this and looked at it and was surprised to find it had turned into copper. Cold sweat suddenly spread throughout her body as she looked at Vanaria who kept smiling at her.

"If you cut that off and sell it, you could make a decent profit…well…hmm, maybe if it was gold or diamond, then maybe. I don't know about copper…" mumbled Vanaria.

'…Moving with this will be difficult—I should cut it off like what she said…' thought Sokus and she did just that, but to her surprise, the arm she cut off had disappeared before it hit the ground. 'What did she do…? No, who cares about that? Let's kill her first!'

Sokus with her only arm left began a continuous assault of demonic attacks. All types of elements in all shapes and sizes were created and Vanaria was constantly attacked. Vanaria didn't want to waste her energy, so she only chose the largest attacks to turn into diamond and gold while avoiding the rest. Sokus was being reckless and her own stamina and demonic power quickly drained.

She stopped knowing that she would tire herself out. She stared at Vanaria who stood still and stared at her back. However, she suddenly felt the lower half of her body become numb and she quickly looked at it and to her horror, it had become diamond. Because of the weight, she fell to the ground, unable to move. She tried to fly with her wings, but that was also quite a struggle for her.

"Killing your own presence is pretty useful, you know? Sneak attacks like this are very useful in assassination missions or reconnaissance missions," said Vanaria from above Sokus. She squatted down and patted Sokus' head. "Don't worry, I'll undo this when the time is right."

She held Sokus' head and turned the rest of her body into diamond. The face that the devil had was of anger as she froze.

"Phew, job done!" she said to herself and made the diamond-Sokus float.

"Good job!!" Zhang Mei shouted while dragging Pelola behind her, occasionally dragging her head into some kind of rock.

"Um…are you sure that's fine?" Vanaria asked while pointing at the knocked-out youkai.

Zhang Mei laughed and waved her off. "It's fine, they're the bad guys, right~? We, the heroes won and get to torture them a bit," she said and giggled evilly.

With a sigh, Vanaria said, "Even with that innocent-looking face of yours, you can act pretty evil you know?"

Zhang Mei formed a peace sign with her left hand and said, "That's what I'm aiming for! Jin-kun will like it, right?"

This only confused Vanaria even more as both of them walked towards the drop-off point for the captured prisoners. To Vanaria the woman called Zhang Mei was quite eccentric, but she didn't seem like a bad person, so she thought she could establish a friendship with her.

— ○ ● ○ —

"Gzrel, why did you disappear?" Baraqiel asked. The four fallen angels stood on top of buildings—Baraqiel's group were on one and Gzrel was on top of a taller one looking down on them.

Gzrel had medium length hair and gray eyes. He wore a black and white sports jersey as he hated wearing formal clothing.

"My opinions differed from Azazel and the rest of Grigori. There's nothing more to it. Just like Azrael and Kokabiel, I wished for war to continue. Most of Grigori didn't agree, so I left," explained Gzrel.

While still young, many were confused by Gzrel's actions, but some pointed to Kokabiel since he started speaking to the young man more when he was a teenager. Just like how Acacius spoke to Tobio Ikuse and tried to change his mind. But unlike Acacius, Kokabiel succeeded and convinced Gzrel to leave. However, at one point, after Mīkhā'īl stepped down as leader, Gzrel left the organization and no one could find him—so they presumed him dead.

Unlike Kokabiel and Azrael, Gzrel was only a battle maniac and generally didn't take lives when fighting his opponents. However, if he's forced to, he'll do it because to him, it was part of his job.

"But…this is a great opportunity. The [Lightning of God], the [Thunder of God] and Mīkhā'īl, our former leader. I get to fight many strong people here," he said, and his body was covered in light.

"Is there no way to avoid a fight?" asked Ramiel.

Gzrel shook his head. "None. I already know we're going to lose, but I still want to fight you guys. You always refused me back then, Baraqiel. Even when you sparred with the Slash Dog Team in their early days."

"That was for guidance," replied Baraqiel.

"Regardless—" Gzrel appeared in front of Baraqiel and thrust his hand towards his face. A sword appeared and blocked the attack—it was Mīkhā'īl's sword. "Heh, I guess I'm a bit stronger than you two, eh?"

'I was just caught off guard,' thought Baraqiel. "Very well. If you're that insistent on fighting us, we'll do just that."

At a speed he didn't think Baraqiel had, he was punched by him on the stomach and knocked away. It was followed up by a thunder strike by Ramiel and Gzrel felt pain all over his body, but he smiled through it all. However, a silent attack severed his right arm from his body. It took him a couple of seconds to react, but when he did, he saw that Mīkhā'īl had done it.

"Mīkhā'īl, we can't kill him," said Ramiel while worriedly looking at Gzrel cauterizing the wound with fire magic.

"I am aware. We were also given the pills from Aaron-sama if we 'accidentally' severe a body part from them. Gzrel won't come quietly, so defeating him first is priority," Mīkhā'īl told them. "Since Baraqiel is closer, he should face him along with Ramiel, I will provide support from a distance. Go."

Ramiel and Baraqiel looked at each other before flying towards Gzrel who had finished cauterizing his wound. However, he knew that he was living on borrowed time since he couldn't fight to the full extent of his ability with a missing arm.

Unlike most fallen angels, Gzrel liked fighting with his fists. He would use enhancement magic along with his light powers to strengthen his body and use his fists to beat his opponents. Even in his current state, he did the same thing—flying towards the two fallen angels he cocked his left arm back and threw it at Ramiel who was the closest in front of him.

Ramiel easily parried his attack, and elbowed Gzrel in the chest, knocking him away. Baraqiel followed up with a holy lightning strike that momentarily stunned Gzrel. This made it easier for both fallen angels to punch him with light imbued in their fists, knocking him to the ground.

Baraqiel and Ramiel raised their right and left arms and brought down a powerful lightning and thunder strike combo on Gzrel who was still on the ground. To both their surprise, Gzrel stood back up after their combined attack. However, it was obvious to all of them that he couldn't fight anymore, and he was just standing up to defy them.

"Why did you fight us knowing you would lose?" Ramiel asked as he, Baraqiel and Mīkhā'īl landed on the ground.

With a shaky smile on his face, Gzrel laughed. "Fighting strong people is always fun. Whether I lose or win, all I want is the experience. I also knew you guys would kill me…heh, so much for getting experimented on, it didn't do anything for me."

Gzrel fell on his back and stared at the sky. "We traveled to a lot of places. We kept our group's name on the down low. We didn't want to attract unnecessary attention to us until we were strong enough—of course, there are exceptions."

"Did you kill anyone?" Baraqiel asked.

"Of course, he did. When he was briefly part of the fallen angel faction of the Khaos Brigade and Khaos Order. He was sent on some scouting and assassination missions. Although I'm not sure if he was the one to end the targets' life," said Mīkhā'īl.

Gzrel closed his eyes and sighed. "…I obviously killed people. It would be impossible not to. At the start I didn't enjoy it, but over time you just get used to it, and I became numb to it. Man, woman, child, or elderly, it didn't matter—if it had to be done, I'd do it."

He opened his eyes back up and looked at the three fallen angels. "I don't know Leon's goals. He's always been weird. He only recruited me after I left the Khaos Order. He nearly killed me, but decided to let me join his team."

Ramiel bent down and pulled Gzrel up while putting a single handcuff on him. Even if only one hand was cuffed, their powers would still be sealed. Gzrel had already given up—he knew like a few others that if they went on with this operation they would be defeated and captured. However, their fear of Leon won over their rationality.

As Ramiel and Baraqiel walked away with him after reattaching his arm, Mīkhā'īl flew away to continue fighting. Gzrel looked back up at the sky and sighed. "Hey…how long do you think I'll be imprisoned for?" he asked.

"That is up to the leaders to decide," replied Baraqiel.

"Well, when I'm free, fight me again!"

Both men shook their heads at Gzrel's attitude. He had coasted through life and for the first time he was being punished because of his actions. Reality hadn't set in for him, but soon enough he would realize and whatever he decided after, would solely be on him.

— ○ ● ○ —

"You have brute strength, that much I can tell," said Kanami. She had been casually fighting Audos, the centaur and lamia hybrid. "What's your sad backstory?" Kanami asked and twirled her spear around her hand.

"Sad backstory? I do not have one—I am a warrior through and through. My mother was a Lamia and my father was a Centaur. They lived and died the way they wanted, and I'm living life how I want now. I only do death matches—female. Are you ready to die?" asked Audos.

"They're dead, huh? Is it because of the Khaos Order?" asked Kanami. "And sure, I'll play with you!" White flames and crosses appeared around Kanami as she activated her Balance Breaker. A small white dome covered their general vicinity.

"It matters not. I am alive now and they are gone—however, they passed peacefully, woman," said Audos as wings grew out of his back and his body was covered in a green aura and he dashed towards Kanami.

Kanami jumped up and avoided his charge. "Hey, do you know what Leon wants?"

"No! We only follow him, even if it means death!" shouted Audos.

He turned around and spat acid at Kanami from his mouth in large volumes. It almost resembled a small wave. Kanami smiled and used her [Fourth Commandment] and reflected the attack back. However, it doubled in size and power while also changing the color to ashen-white with divine and holy properties.

<Don't move!> shouted Kanami.

Audos immediately froze and was unable to move from his spot. He could only stare at the wave as it hit him. When the attack ended, large bits of Audos' flesh had melted and were still melting. It seemed like if he was hit again by that attack he would completely melt into the ground.

'…That smell of rotting and melting flesh…' Kanami grimaced as she stared at the monster in front of her. "I'll ask again, why did you guys attack today?"

"…Hip…"

'Hip? My hips? No! Pervert! I don't want anyone looking at my hips, except my fiancé and maybe Natsu since we're sisters!' shouted Kanami in her head.

"…Document…hip…Middleman…" muttered Audos before collapsing on the ground.

"Ah—!" Kanami trudged over to Audos and pointed her spear at him. She then used her [Ninth Commandment] and healed him. That commandment of hers can heal herself and anyone regardless of their species, almost like [Twilight Healing]. But this ability cannot regenerate lost limbs or revive the dead.

As Audos began to wake up, she slammed her spear on his neck, knocking him back out while also cuffing him with the handcuffs.

"Hips, huh? So it's about that. I guess that plan worked, but…mission done!" shouted Kanami and she put her hand on her transceiver. [Aaron! I want a reward after this!]

[…Hmm? Sure thing, what do you—]

[Fuck me!!!] Kanami bellowed happily.

All around the realm—all of [EXE], and other groups that joined Aaron today had shocked and embarrassed expressions across their faces. They weren't expecting a confession like that during this time, nor Kanami being so blatant.

[S-s-siiiiiiiiiiiiiiis!! What the hell is wrong with you!?]

However, the silence that came after was deafening. Aaron didn't answer Kanami for a full minute. As she walked to the drop-off point, anxiety filled her thoughts and body, she started to sweat. Normally, Aaron would laugh along and answer her right away. In a way, it became a joke to them, but Kanami was serious and the fact that she didn't get an immediate answer made her nervous.

[Sure,] replied Aaron after a minute. A goofy smile spread across Kanami's as she skipped her way to the drop-off zone. All the while a few others commented on the absurd situation at hand. But Kanami ignored it all as she was content with herself.

— ○ ● ○ —

"I'm part of the secret organization, nin-nin!" said Aoife as she made some strange hand signs.

"…Nin-nin…!" Ophis had joined her and done the same thing—with an entire ninja costume and all…

"The fuck is wrong with you two?" asked a youkai—he was the last youkai in the [Z-Team], Yorane.

Yorane was a wolf youkai who had the typical gray fur and sharp yellow eyes. He stood on his two legs, and wore a black jacket, blue jeans and brown boots. Unlike Rugal (Loup Garou), he stayed in his regular form rather than assume a human one.

He had left his home in search of challenges and strong opponents. He had fought everyone in his quaint village. From the weakest to the strongest, Yorane only kept getting stronger after every battle he lost, so even if he lost one battle, he'd train harder, get stronger and challenge them again.

His village always told him he was welcome back, even if he did bad things, because those were the type of people he grew up with—Yorane still had honor, but still did anything to get stronger, and Leon liked that.

After Leon beat him, Yorane would regularly challenge Leon, only for it to end the same way. Even now, this cycle still repeated. However, in pursuit of power, he was involved in this plan and didn't mind. Even now, he still wanted to fight with honor.

"It's time you met your maker, evil doer!" Aoife said and pointed at Yorane.

"Evil doer!" repeated Ophis and pointed her finger at Yorane.

"Evil? Me? Well, I'd say I'm a battle maniac, but evil? …To you guys, I guess I am," he replied and covered his body in touki. "Alright, since I'm evil, I might as well have an epic battle to end it all, right?"

Ophis looked at Aoife and they nodded. "Yeah, yeah! I'll fight you—no, we'll fight you! Time to combine!" shouted Aoife and Ophis jumped before she clung to Aoife's back.

"Co-mb-in-ati-on Co-mp-le-te!" Aoife and Ophis said in unison. Yorane stood there utterly confused by what he was seeing, but seconds later Aoife with a sword made of draconic aura in her right hand dashed towards him.

Yorane matched her speed as Aoife held back and his touki covered fist and her draconic sword collided. The area around them shook and they grinned at each other

"Not bad, woman! You're quite strong, why don't you become mine?" he asked as they jumped away from each other.

"I'm sorry, but…I'm taken!" replied Aoife and pointed her sword at him while making ethereal swords above and behind her.

"Unfortunate." Yorane created replicas of himself using replication magic and youjutsu to create illusions to confuse his opponents. Multiple clones of Yorane ran around while taunting Aoife and Ophis.

"Hey, hey, you got big titties, let's do it!"

"Loli on the back, I'd like to tap that!"

"Threesome? Foursome? Let's just have a gangbang like this!"

Unfortunately, he had a very perverted side to himself that he usually kept quiet about. However, when his clones are out, they tend to blabber about them. The original Yorane blushed as he stood at the back and facepalmed.

"Oh dear, he's quite a pervert," said Aoife while putting a hand on her cheek.

"…Aaron is one too," corrected Ophis.

"This guy and Aaron are different, trust me, Ophis!" said Aoife and the Dragon God behind her nodded.

'Aaron? Who's that? Well, whatever…' thought Yorane as he ordered his replicas and illusions to attack the young silver-haired lady. To his surprise, with a single swing of her blade, all of them were dispelled.

"C'mon kitty-cat, let's dance!" Aoife said playfully and dashed back at Yorane.

Yorane didn't like being called that and blinked forward before throwing all his weight into his next punch. Aoife was surprised by the sudden shift in attitude, but still parried the attack. However, she saw that he had already begun to uppercut with his other arm. Aoife also blocked it with her other hand, much to his surprise and Ophis, on her shoulder, hurled a direct breath attack at him. Roasting the man alive.

The man dropped to the ground with severe burns all around his body. However, to their surprise, his burns began to rapidly heal and he got up before jumping back while staring at them.

"Ophis-dono, could that be some kind of regeneration ability?" Aoife asked while squinting her eyes at Yorane.

"It seems like it, Aoife…nin-nin?" replied Ophis. Aoife giggled at her and told her that's not how you use that phrase.

'They're looking down on me…! How can they be so calm about this situation?' thought Yorane. He looked at his body and found that all his injuries had already healed, so he brought out all of his power. "I won't win if I half-ass it, I shouldn't underestimate women," he mumbled to himself.

At an even greater speed than earlier, he dashed towards Aoife and Ophis. However, a portal opened in front of him and he disappeared into it, surprising Aoife.

"…Spatial magic. He, is jumping around. Be careful," said Ophis.

"O-kay!" replied Aoife and focused around her surroundings and felt Yorane moving around in a different space. "He has spatial magic and a pretty powerful regeneration ability. What a good boy!"

'Who are you calling a good boy?! I'm not a cat or a dog! I'm a wolf youkai dammit!' he thought.

Yorane finally left the space he was in and attacked Aoife at an angle he thought was her blind spot. To his surprise, she made minimal movement and avoided his attack. The girl on her back, Ophis stared at him and slapped him on the cheek, throwing him away. He crashed through several buildings and was impaled by a sharp rod. Moments later, Aoife and Ophis landed in front of him.

He pulled himself out of the rubble, but kept the rod inside him as he didn't want to bleed to death. He made it smaller by slicing parts of it off and stared at the two women while panting heavily.

"Who…are you two…?" he asked.

"Aoife?" replied Aoife while tilting her head.

"…Ophis?" repeated the Dragon God and tilted her head too.

'…I have no idea who Aoife is, but Ophis…I see, so she's the Dragon God of Infinity. No wonder her attacks are lethal…' he thought and became even warier.

Aoife suddenly turned to stare in a certain direction and frowned. They all felt a surge in power and an enormous silvery-white slash appeared in the horizon. Yorane looked at it with unease, but when he looked back at the two women, Aoife had arrived in front of him.

"I'm sorry, something came up," she muttered and knocked Yorane in one attack. The youkai fell to the ground without much struggle. "Ophis, do you have that thing Azazel gave you?"

Ophis nodded and summoned the 'pokeball' and handed it to Aoife. She couldn't help but smile while looking at it. 'Did Aaron suggest this thing to them? Jeez, he sure is extra at times…' she threw the ball at the knocked out Yorane and it captured him.

"Aaron…" muttered Ophis and Aoife nodded.

"Mmm. Let's go." Aoife stored the pokeball in her ring and they made their way towards the Middleman.

— ○ ● ○ —

"Fufufu! This is an odd team, but it works! Let's do this, magical girl team!" announced Serafall.

The two with her were Latia Astaroth and Kuisha Abaddon. Serafall had already changed into her magical girl outfit while Kuisha and Latia were in their normal attire. However, they slightly felt embarrassed while posing—the Satan Leviathan was quite insistent on it.

In front of them was Leon's right-hand, Zialbes. He was a monster (that looked like a dragon) human hybrid who also possessed a Sacred Gear. He had white hair with blue highlights on the left side of his hair. He had glowing light blue eyes and he wore multiple layers of baggy coats of different colors, baggy black pants and black sports shoes.

Zialbes put his hands on his sword on his hip and prepared himself for their inevitable battle. '…Facing off against three devils, and one of them is the Satan Leviathan herself, this won't be easy…'

As Serafall kept talking, Zialbes didn't waste any time as he silently appeared in front of the three women and unsheathed his blade, he swung it horizontally towards the three, to him, it looked like a clean cut, but he suddenly felt a reverberating 'pang' and his right hand and body went numb. He was shocked to see the fake magical girl's wand had stopped his attack. Serafall herself kept on talking like nothing had happened. Even the two other devils didn't react to his attack, adding insult to injury.

"Like this! Pyooh~!" said Serafall as she swung her magic stick and knocked back Zialbes much to his surprise. He didn't think the Serafall would suddenly retaliate, but he was even more shocked that she just twirled around with the magic stick—she hadn't intended to attack him.

"Hmm? Oh, have we started already? Teehee, sorry~" she said and playfully hit herself on the head. Kuisha and Latia stared at her, dumbfounded by the situation.

'She didn't notice him attacking and her accidentally countering him…?' both Latia and Kuisha thought.

Zialbes squinted his eyes at the three women in front of him and sighed. A powerful burst of energy shrouded his body as he glared at the three in front of him. He was going to use his full power—the new power he got that was comparable to God-class beings. Horns grew out of his forehead and he rocketed forward at a much faster speed than before.

"Ara? Did I make him angry~?" Serafall asked as she dodged a powerful slash from Zialbes.

The shockwave the slash created destroyed everything in front of them, as well as his allies. He immediately covered his body with more energy and swung at the Leviathan again—she jumped over the sword and poked it with her finger. That action caused the sword to instantly freeze, but Zialbes let go of it immediately and avoided being frozen too.

He backed away and sighed. Even with his full power, he didn't stand a chance against one of the Satans of the Underworld. 'Those two haven't made their moves yet either. Are they waiting for their chance to catch me off guard?' he thought.

Unfortunately for Zialbes, all three women had been conversing telepathically and Serafall had asked them to just sit back and watch her fight like a 'magical girl'. In other words—she hadn't planned on taking this 'fight' seriously from the start.

"Cheerleader squad, go!" Serafall said and pointed her fingers at Zialbes, confusing him more.

"D-d-do your b-best M-magical girl L-Levi-t-tan…" mumbled Kuisha as she did strange movement with her arms and legs.

Latia stood there shaking her head and blushing. "…I will respectfully decline in doing such behaviors, Serafall-sama…"

"You're no fun, Latia-chan~" replied Serafall while cutely pouting. "Pweeeaasse~?"

"…No." Latia Astaroth turned away, too embarrassed about the situation. She glanced at Kuisha who begrudgingly did such embarrassing things.

Zialbes didn't like being ignored, but could tell the other two women were also powerful—much more powerful than him. He sighed and brought his arms to his side. An aqua blue electric aura began surging around his body, his veins also began to glow the same color and two spectral wings formed behind his back and on his ankles.

"Oh! Is that his Sacred Gear?" Serafall asked.

"…Normally, I can only use this electricity to shock my opponents and increase the strength in my body, but with my Balance Breaker, I can make these wings…kind of strange since I'm a monster that looks like a humanoid dragon," he explained.

What he didn't tell them was that it also gave him one powerful ability. Precognition—Zialbes while in his Balance Breaker can see up to ten seconds into the future while in this form, while also giving him the ability to fly, generate even more powerful electric attacks and strengthen his body further.

"[Sparkly Spark Wings]! That's what you call it, right?!" asked the Leviathan excitedly.

"…No. [Ethereal Booster], well, that's what Leon suggested in naming my Sacred Gear. Let's see if I stand a shot against a Satan with these," he said and dashed in front of Serafall. He immediately materialized a sword made of electricity in one hand and swung it towards her.

Serafall blinked and created blades of ice from the ground, forcing Zialbes to jump away, but as he did, he threw spears of electricity towards the woman who thrust the side of her hip towards the attack—which created another powerful shockwave, disrupting the attack, much to everyone's surprise.

Zialbes landed on the ground, dumbfounded by what he had just seen, both with his precognition and in real time. He had expected for the Leviathan to counter with her ice manipulation, or demonic power. However, he didn't expect her to use brute force via her hips to cancel his attack.

Zialbes created dogs, cats, and wolves out of his electricity and ordered them towards Serafall. Before the Leviathan could act, [Holes] appeared underneath the creatures and they fell through them. Another [Hole] appeared in the sky, and Latia had pulled out her weapon. One that could change from a grimoire to a sword and vice versa.

She aimed her sword and from its tip shot out sharp lines of demonic attacks that pierced the bodies of the creatures, killing them. Zialbes hadn't expected them to join, nor did Serafall. However, she shrugged it off and pointed her magic stick at Zialbes and fired icicles at the man.

Using his precognition, he dodged the attacks with more difficulty than he thought. The attacks' speed was much faster than he anticipated, so he had to dodge them as soon as he saw them, otherwise he would be injured.

'Even with this Balance Breaker, I'm struggling. It used to be just five seconds, but thanks to Promestein they made it ten…but even still, I can't win this. Should I escape? I doubt that's possible though…what about Leon? Is he alright?'

Many thoughts circulated in Zialbes' head as he didn't see a way out of this, or of him winning. In the short interaction he had with the three female devils, he was outmatched. Even with his precognition—one of the few weaknesses it had was if he wasn't fast enough—even with his precognition he could still be injured.

That's how he lost to Leon. Even back then Leon was powerful. The Leon of now is even more powerful, but with the people they were facing, Zialbes—like the rest of the [Z-Team] knew that they were outmatched, but they still followed their leader, or they risked dying.

Although Zialbes didn't mind, he knew some of their members didn't want that. For one selfish reason or another they all wanted to live. Even after they killed so many people—to them—to him, it was a common feeling, whether he was human, devil, or whatever species, most wanted to live, to keep on fighting for another day.

'I'll keep fighting until they kill me or otherwise—! That's all I can do now. Whatever they do to me afterward…' Zialbes' powers increased even more as electricity poured of his body. His monster-dragon wings expanded from behind him. He already had his electric wings, so now he had four wings in total.

He also summoned various animals beside him. Some were based on real animals, some on supernatural ones, and two were from books he read. He created two short swords in both his arms that were made of electricity and glared at the women in front of him.

"I am nothing, I am a nobody—my name is Zialbes. Leon's reluctant right-hand of the [Z-Team]. Even if it doesn't matter, he's trying to steal the document on the Middleman's hip for the Khaos Order!" he declared.

'…Is he feeling remorseful now? Why did he suddenly blurt that out?' Latia was confused by his sudden change of actions. But she was still thankful for it. "I'll take my leave; can I leave this to both of you?"

"Leave it to us, Latia-chan! No one shall pass this magical girl!" replied Serafall. Kuisha also agreed with Serafall and Latia nodded before leaving.

Zialbes didn't try to stop Latia as he knew he couldn't, so he focused everything he had in for the remaining two in front of him. "Go…" he muttered and the creatures he made ran towards both Serafall and Kuisha.

His own personal battle was going to start and end here. As a hybrid, as someone who didn't belong anywhere, he desperately looked for a direction in life—all his actions prior to now had led him here.

Even though his parents were monster and human, surprisingly enough, he had a happy childhood. But nothing in this world stays the same. Things changed over time, and tragedy wasn't far from him. Both his parents were killed—first his mother, the human. Once people found out she was in a relationship with a monster and had given birth to him, they hunted her down.

Unknown to his mother, her father was part of a mercenary group in the human world. They specialized in killing and hunting down the supernatural. It was a small group that not many knew about. A few of the governments knew and hired them from time-to-time to clear out certain locations of the supernatural.

Once Zialbes' father found out about her marriage and the grandson he had, he became furious and personally hunted her down and killed her in cold blood. Zialbes watched this all from a closet she hid him in. That man waited in their home until his father came home and was also killed.

Even as a monster, his father wasn't fond of fighting, but he could still put up a struggle—and that's what his father did. He managed to injure the man that killed his wife, and as he bled there, Zialbes came out of the closet, grabbed one of the kitchen knives in his home, and struck the finishing blow—ending the old man's life.

In a single day, his family was destroyed because of one selfish man's contempt.

For many years, Zialbes wandered the earth by himself, he slowly learned more about himself—he found out he had a Sacred Gear, his latent powers awakened and…he met them—the [Z-Team], he originally wanted to disband them—he made a bet with Leon.

If Zialbes won, Leon would turn himself in to the authorities—or the growing Team [DxD], the anti-terrorist group. If Leon won, Zialbes would either die or join his group. In the end, he lost and was nearly killed, but Leon took an interest in him and his strange power—therefore, he made him his right-hand.

After that day, and with reluctance, he followed them and helped them. However, he knew he was weaker than Leon. He saw his leader rapidly grow in strength, and while he tried to keep up, it was nearly futile, so he resigned to his fate. Both from Leon and from the two female devils in front of him.

— ○ ● ○ —

"I am the supreme devil Ovellia!! Hahaha!!"

Apart from the devil called Ovellia, the area around them was silent. The two ladies that faced this psychotic devil were Azathoth and Velgrynd, both were known to be usually quiet and observed everything with their eyes. The times they spoke were rare, but were generally towards the 'Fated Ones', Aoife, Cindy, Grayfia, Róisín and Aaron himself.

The rest, they would occasionally converse with if they were approached. Aaron had given them a small talk of: 'Try to get along with everyone, even if you don't want to be super close to them, they'd appreciate it.'

Azathoth and Velgrynd's eyes met with each other and they had a silent conversation before Velgrynd stopped an attack that came their way. Azathoth pointed her finger at the devil, but before she launched her attack—

"…Aaron said not to kill them since the DxD Alliance wants them alive," said Velgrynd while crushing the attack that Ovellia the devil fired at them.

Azathoth nodded silently, and a tiny and slow black beam left her fingertip. Ovellia laughed after seeing the attack. He started flexing his muscles in an attempt to show off.

Ovellia was a simple devil. He liked Sairaorg, but he had high demonic power reserves and came from one of the 72 Pillars of the Underworld. Decarabia—a clan in the Underworld that was thought to be extinct, but Ovellia's family somehow managed to survive and went into hiding.

They hid in the depths of the Underworld, never interacting with the current governments or the old devils that sided with Zekram Bael. They were bidding their time, wanting to wait until they had their own [Transcendental] offspring, and they would reemerge into society once more.

However, that never came because all of them died during Lapis' attack, and they weren't brought back to life—except Ovellia. After that day, he randomly chose Sairaorg to idolize and began his strength training. Previously Ovellia had an athletic build, but now his body was nearly identical to Sairaorg Bael's.

He was the only person—or devil that Ovellia respected, not including Leon—and he was the one who thought the mission would be easy, the one who spoke to Hades and the other leaders of the Khaos Order.

Ovellia also tried to copy Sairaorg's look—so he cut his long blonde hair to be short, he had sharp red eyes, and he constantly wore a black and white shirt and pants that were a bit too tight for him and black and blue trainers.

Unlike Sairaorg, however, he was a ruffian. He held no respect for others, except for the other two previously mentioned. He would fight and kill anyone he deemed weak—including the two monstrous ladies in front of him.

Ovellia covered his body in thick touki and demonic aura. He grinned and punched the 'weak' attack in front of him! …However, something unexpected occurred. His right arm, that he had used to punch the weak attack, had disappeared. There was no blood, nor strange sound—nothing, one second his arm was there, the next, after making physical contact with the attack that Azathoth had sent to him—it simply stopped existing.

He brought his stump back and looked at it—no blood, no bone…just a hollow black void was left. "…What?"

"…Isn't that a bit much?" asked Velgrynd.

"I can restore it…but we must defeat him first…" said Azathoth.

Velgrynd nodded, facing Ovellia who had started to swing his arm around and the touki around it began to increase with each rotation. That remaining arm began to shine brightly and the grin. But these two did not care, as Velgrynd appeared in front of him and kicked him in between his legs.

Ovellia stopped and fell over while screaming in pain. Velgrynd walked over and kicked him in the head and knocked him out.

"…Isn't that normally seen as 'cruel'?" asked Azathoth.

"He's an enemy and I'd rather not let him start telling us a weird monologue or his sad past," said Velgrynd. She brought out the 'pokeball' and threw it at Ovellia's face and captured him. She looked to her right and added, "All that's left are a few people…I'm going to Aaron."

"…I will join you, but what about his arm?" asked Azathoth. Velgrynd glanced at the former ruler and shrugged. Azathoth didn't want to pursue it and left it at that.

— ○ ● ○ —

Win. Those were the thoughts of all four individuals in front of the entrance to the replica of the [Fafnir Stadium].

Falnall Aegwyn and Kysmalis Aegwyn, brother and sister half-elves. Both also had Sacred Gears. They originally came from Alfheim, a sub-realm in Asgard. Aaron hadn't been there before, but he heard some stories from Rossweisse, Brynhildr and the Valkyrie Squad.

These siblings were different from the rest of the elves of Alfheim as they were a lot more violent than others, and wanted to join Vunzor's side, the former Dark Elf King. However, his life was cut short because of Aaron's visit there. With Vunzor dead, the siblings left their realm and wandered the world. They wanted to join the Khaos Order but had no luck in finding them, but they were instead recruited by Leon.

"How…how are lizards stronger than us after we got a power-up?!" Falnall asked angrily.

Like a typical elf, he had long blonde hair, emerald green eyes, and wore a professional green suit. In his mind it made him look like a 'professional elf', whatever that meant. His primary weapon was a bow, but instead of using a normal bow, he used his Sacred Gear, [Staring Green].

[Staring Green] was a common Sacred Gear that took a form of a green bow that fired green light arrows, as such it wasn't special. However, because of the experiments they underwent, Falnall unlocked a Balance Breaker for it.

"Do you know the answer, Yoru?" asked Haru. Yoru shook her head and Haru laughed. Unlike their other previous battles, they were dominating this one and both sisters were enjoying it.

Kysmalis, the sister also had a Sacred Gear called [Gale Reflection]. It had no physical form, but it could control light and wind. She also looked identical to her older brother. However, she sported a short blonde ponytail and wore a green sports bra, black short shorts, and white sports shoes.

Normally these siblings would be invincible because of their teamwork and powers. However, today they came across another pair of siblings who were equally in-sync and it made it difficult for them to defeat, even with their new power-up.

Yoru ran towards Falnall as he fired countless arrows at her using his Sacred Gear. However, like previously, she covered her body in draconic energy and swiped the attacks away. Falnall had been becoming frustrated because of this and decided to use his Balance Breaker.

"Alis, we're using our Balance Breakers! I had enough of these lizards!" shouted Falnall. Kysmalis nodded and both of them shouted 'Balance Break'.

Falnall's green bow transformed into a slightly larger one with more defined features. The main body had become wooden and had gold accents, each end had green feathers with slight gold outlines and it was shrouded in a gold-green glow.

Kysmalis' body was covered in bright and translucent armor. On the left side of her body was gold light-like armor, and on the right was green armor that had wind properties. On her head was a small golden crown with a green gem in the middle. Her chest was also like that as it was a fusion of both elements with the gem's color intermittently changing from green to gold.

Without another word and a scowl on both their faces, Falnall fired green arrows powered by Kysmalis' wind and light. Both Yoru and Haru also activated their [Drives] and dodged the attack. However, a large explosion transpired behind them that destroyed everything there.

Falnall smirked. "Just a single arrow will be enough to kill you. I can't wait to see it…!"

He continued his attacks while Kysmalis created tornadoes around them while also creating a small ball of light that attempted to blind the sisters, disrupting their movements. The light didn't bother the sisters much, but the relentless arrow attacks and the tornadoes were becoming annoying to both of them.

"I'll take out the little sister first. Can you keep the older brother occupied?" said Haru. Yoru agreed and charged towards Falnall who laughed maniacally.

"Are you stupid?!" he roared and created a larger arrow and fired it at Yoru. Yoru in response increased her power and focused it on her left fist. She brought it back and instead of deflecting it, she punched straight at it. "You are stupid!!"

But to Falnall's surprise, the arrow he had fired shattered and an even more furious Yoru flew towards him with her wings out. Falnall made a strange noise and jumped away. However, Yoru quickly caught up to him and fired an energy blast straight to his stomach, knocking him down to the ground. She followed him down and slammed both her feet into his stomach which destroyed the ground beneath him.

Yoru jumped away and fired another ball of draconic energy at him, but Falnall managed to avoid the attack too. But he was clutching his stomach and was coughed up blood.

"Fucking bitch…!" he barked. 'Fuck…I can't feel anything. Did she damage everything in there? Am I bleeding internally? Fuck, I'm going to die.'

Yoru didn't let him relax as she appeared right back in front of him and punched him in the exact same spot again, forcing him to puke out more blood.

On the other end, Haru was dodging attacks from Kysmalis who was still unaware of his brother's situation as she was focused on Haru. If she did notice, she would go into a berserk-like state, as she—for lack of a better term, was a giant brother-con and would do anything for him.

Haru inhaled and spewed out flames from her mouth towards Kysmalis. The young female half-elf created several magic barriers as well as wind walls to block the attack, but Haru's breath attack blew through them all and hit her! Kysmalis screamed in pain as she received burns around her body.

However, because of her Sacred Gear, her light could provide minor healing. She quickly began to heal herself. Yet Haru didn't stop there. She kept throwing balls of draconic energy at Kysmalis, and the half-elf was forced to avoid the attacks and heal herself at the same time. She had only been forced to do this twice in her life and it only made her angrier and frustrated at Haru.

But everything slowed down for Kysmalis as her brother's body flew past her. She, in slow motion saw his beaten-up face and body—and something in her snapped. She quickly turned around and launched dozens of wind and light attacks at Haru who wasn't expecting this and received some cuts from the attacks. She quickly flew away as Kysmalis kept attacking everything around her for the next few seconds.

She eventually stopped and ran over to her brother who had been defeated by Yoru relatively quickly. Falnall had underestimated and looked down on Yoru. Even though he knew and saw her from the tournament, he still underestimated her, and it cost him. Although Yoru didn't kill him, he was close to dying.

"I'm going to kill—!" Suddenly another person came down and landed on Kysmalis' head. Her face slammed into the ground, knocking her out.

"Hmm? Oh, Yoru, Haru, you're here…hmm?" Latia Astaroth looked down and found someone was beneath her. To her other side was someone else, looking like they had died. "You didn't kill them, did you?"

Dumbfounded by this, Yoru said, "…I think you killed her when you landed on her…"

Latia blinked a few times and nodded. "I didn't think they would nor did I plan for this…how vexing." She brought out two pokeballs and said, "Nevertheless, the battle with these two ended, let's capture them now." Latia then threw both balls at Falnall and Kysmalis. She picked them both up and stored them in her ring.

"Jeez, Latia-san! I was planning on having my first win in a while and you stole my thunder!" Haru complained and started poking Latia on her hip. "Even Yoru won her fight!"

Latia sighed and patted Haru's head. "We defeated them in the end. The only ones left are the two Grim Reapers, the two hybrids and their leader, Leon. Aaron will deal with them, so let's go and join him. I will tell him that you two defeated these two, so he'll praise you, okay?"

"That's what I'm talking about! Ain't that great, Yoru~?" Haru asked happily. Yoru silently nodded in agreement and Haru added, "You're like a mom, you know? Acting more maturely than you should at your age, being serious with Aaron, hehe~"

Latia blushed but didn't deny it. She simply pinched Haru's cheek and started walking away while the dragon half-heartedly complained while her younger sister followed.

— ○ ● ○ —

The Grim Reaper Thanatos was trapped in his mind. He was being mind controlled by Hades to do his bidding, and he couldn't gain control back of his body. He tried time and time again to regain control but couldn't.

'Middleman, can you hear me!?' Thanatos cried in his mind. He didn't know if he could, but to his surprise, Aaron Toole responded.

'…This is Thanatos, right? What do you want?' asked Aaron.

'I am being controlled by Hades! Although I will admit I had my own plans, I cannot follow through with them now. Defeat me and stop his plans. I doubt he'll stop here with trying to attain those documents on your hip!' said Thanatos.

'Oh, those? Those are just pictures and letters that fans of [Oppai Dragon] sent to me. I didn't want to keep them in my personal storage in another dimension, so I made this instead. I had the girls help with the design, and in the end—a cat design won,' explained Aaron, leaving Thanatos speechless.

'W-what!? T-then what about their intel in it being the documents for creating Artificial Super Devils!?' asked Thanatos.

'…They're already in a place that's unreachable for the Khaos Order. So today, your attack on us was basically useless? Whoever gave you that intel was stupid,' said Aaron. He held back a snicker since he had Daniel, one of his avatars do it.

Thanatos had nothing else to say—it was as Aaron Toole said—their assault, their attack today was pointless. He was angry and relieved at the same time. If Thanatos were to believe what he said, then those documents would never fall into the Khaos Order's hands and he didn't need to worry anymore.

'I will leave this to you and the DxD Alliance's hands then,' said Thanatos and stopped communicating with Aaron. In the meantime, his body, the female Grim Reaper, and the two female hybrids, minus the male continued to attack Aaron.

Aaron had recalled Shin and the [Dogs] and had them wait on the building's roofs.

The female Grim Reaper that came with them was part of Hades' faction and was quite powerful as she was also an Ultimate-class Grim Reaper.

She, like Thanatos wore a black robe over her entire body. However, it was also quite tight on her, so her assets were shown off which indicated the Grim Reaper was indeed a woman. Her scythe was a bit unique to her as it had a shade of crimson on its blade and body.

She hadn't said a thing as she continued to silently attack Aaron. This was the same for the two hybrids. Aaron used his [Observe] ability earlier and saw their names and their strengths. The female Grim Reaper was called Ocaith.

The other two were 'twins'. The hybrid with short pink hair was called Hiabi and the one with long blue hair was called Afyia. All three of them, including Leon kept up their relentless assault on him, but Aaron calmly and easily avoided their attacks.

"Sis, he's annoying, why can't we hit him?" asked Hiabi.

"Drugs?" replied Afyia.

<<Focus,>> ordered Ocaith.

Aaron looked at her and asked, <<Are you perhaps Irish?>> this question surprised her, but she didn't confirm nor deny. <<Your name kind of makes me think otherwise.>>

"Who cares?! Kill him! The [Ultimate Evil] has to prevail!" shouted Leon as he began to laugh manically.

Over the course of their 'fight', his mental state had begun to decline rapidly. In Leon's mind, he had to be evil and since he read many books about the villain winning against the hero, in his mind and in this scenario, it was the only left to fulfill. However, the longer the fight lasted, the more his beliefs began to wane, and his health began to decline.

Most of his fights in the past ended rather quickly, he hadn't had a long fight like this at all. So his stamina was considerably lower than Aaron's' too—the hybrid and two Grim Reaper's stamina were also higher than his.

Leon's entire face was covered in sweat as he continued to use his Sacred Gear and innate abilities to attack Aaron, which were sliced apart or avoided by the humanoid silvery-white figure.

<<What are you waiting for?>> asked Lycaon. Before Aaron could respond, they both felt the energy signatures around the realm had decreased to a particular point, and Aaron knew that his group was the last one left. <<Oh, so you were waiting for the rest to finish?>>

<<…Alright, play time's over,>> he uttered, pulled back and raised his silvery-white scythe behind him. His opponents—Leon, Ocaith, Hiabi, Afyia and Thanatos tried to flee, but they found that they couldn't move anymore.

He magnified his aura and transferred it to his scythe; he then swung his scythe diagonally. What he aimed for were a few things. One, he'd take all the Sacred Gears that they had, he would also take all their innate abilities, and finally, he would 'cut' apart their ability to use supernatural abilities—but he would seal it for the two Grim Reapers.

The colossal silvery-white slash hit their bodies and passed through them, confusing them all, but also making them all feel strange. Once that was done, Aaron clicked his fingers and cuffed them on their arms and legs. He brought them to the ground and sighed.

He undid the mind control on Thanatos and the Grim Reaper seemed shocked, but also relieved. He put his head down and said, <<I thank you, Middleman.>>

Aaron left his Balance Breaker and Shin jumped on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it. So? What will you do now? I can pardon your actions slightly because you were under mind control. However, whatever you do after will be up to you and if you go to war with us, the same thing will happen. Although I did seal your abilities, just like Ocaith."

— ○ ● ○ —

Aaron Toole's Soliloquy

— ○ ● ○ —

Looking to Thanatos and Ocaith's left side, Leon had gone completely limp as he stared at the ground in shock. He would occasionally put his hand on the ground in an attempt at activating his powers, but nothing happened.

The shock of having them taken away from him must have been too much. He looked like a lost child, but I'm sure it'll change soon enough into anger, but in the meantime, I'll speak to these two. The two hybrids had also stopped moving.

In a way, from what I understood, they were like Regulus, but also humans. If I could describe them, they were 80 to 90% Sacred Gear and the rest was human. My previous actions 'stole' them, so right now they were like de-powered robots with an energy source—unmoving just like puppets without a string.

"Well, you can think about that while you're in one of the Alliance's prisons. For now, we'll have to clean up," I told him. As I did, five people joined us. They were Azathoth, Velgrynd, Lavinia and Yashina, with a passed-out person over Yashina's shoulders.

"Yo, my future husband. I caught a hybrid. I knocked him out just in case," said the Russian woman. I nodded and she handed him over to him. I removed the Artificial Sacred Gear from him and he also went limp like the other two, so I placed all three of them together.

All of their abilities were stored in my [Inventory] for the time being and I'd deal with that later. Lavinia came over to me with a worried and apprehensive expression. As she was about to speak, she was interrupted by a certain person.

"Quit shitting me!! Give me back my powers!!" roared Leon. Everyone who had shown up was a little startled by his sudden shouting and stared at him. He started to crawl his way towards me even while handcuffed.

"I…I was meant for greatness goddammit! I'm a demigod! Give me back my powers—I have a right to them!"

He had arrived in front of me and tried to bite my foot, to my surprise. However, my [Infinity] stopped him, and even if I didn't have that activated. My clothes were enchanted, so nothing would have happened to me, so I kicked him away.

"Your plans were to hurt people and use it for evil—just like you said, I, the [Hero] stopped the [Villain]. Isn't this how stories go?" I asked which only made him even angrier. I had no idea what he said as he angrily spouted out nonsense that didn't make sense and a few racist insults were fired my way.

Turning my attention to Lavinia, I asked telepathically, 'Is something wrong? Did Yashina say something to you?'

She stared at me and nodded while explaining what Yashina had told her which made her worried about the future. I was angry with Yashina, but I also understood where Lavinia's worries came from—the things brought up by Yashina were legitimate, but I also knew bringing them up would give the girls things like that to worry about. So I didn't, for their own sake, as well as mind.

I debated. I debated in whether or not to show her the future, or at least a small part of it to ease her unease. Glancing back at Leon, he was still rambling about random things that he was frustrated about. I think he mentioned something about agree with Hitler or something which came out of left field.

Sighing again, I tapped Lavinia's forehead and showed her a glimpse of the future. I let her process it for a few seconds and she stared at me in shock, before she blinked a few times and hugged me.

'Is that fine?' I asked.

'Mmm!' she replied and I turned back to focus on Leon. I also noticed that more and more people had showed up during that short time, Zialbes, the right-hand was frozen in ice as Serafall carried him around with her.

"…You didn't grow up. You've lived in a weird delusion for far too long—and I doubt Eris, your mother would want to see you either, because she's an Evil God, she won't care, maybe she has already forgotten about your existence?" said Velgrynd.

She asked me about the mythology and the history of this world when she first came here, and I gave her the information I knew. After my evolution, I gave her more access to it—as well as letting her us [Food Chain]. The other three (Lavinia, Suzaku and Danu) had access to it too.

So Velgrynd was quite knowledgeable about this world now too—all she did was spend time traveling after the war to experience it more and now she wants to stick with me during my job.

"Fuck—!"

Velgrynd walked over and kicked him in the face. Leon was quite durable and tough, so he didn't pass out, even when Velgrynd was holding back. She continued to kick him over and over—on his stomach, face, ribs, head, legs…just about anywhere. Eventually Leon only groaned and stopped his verbal assault.

"Vel, that should be enough," I told her. She looked at me briefly, nodded and walked away. "Alright, let's get everyone to the drop-off zone and leave this place."

Everyone agreed and we made our way there. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to watch the game as it ended.

— ○ ● ○ —

Once we were out, and after sorting through various things, they were sent off to Grigori and other bases of the alliance to be interrogated and imprisoned.

"We'll take our leave then, Jin," said Jeanne. She and Leonardo had joined in the operation for today.

"Yeah, good work today. I'll send those things to both of you later on tonight," I replied. They both smiled and left.

Zhang Mei left earlier as she was too embarrassed to face me. Rixia, the leader of the 8 Divas approached me.

"[The Tiles of Dog City], we have cornered them and Lady Ningguang has given me this—it's a formal request to the Middleman. She also left this message: He knows the right choice, what he does with them, I will support—the same with the [Boundless Dragon's United Front]," said Rixia.

"When?"

"Within the next two weeks if possible. But the sooner, the better," she replied and I nodded.

"Alright, I'll set out for them in China's as soon as possible. I'll go with my own team, but can I have some of you guys on standby?" I asked.

"I will discuss it with Lady Ningguang, and once I have the answer, I'll contact you."

I nodded and the rest of her team left. Finally done, the rest of us made our way back into the stadium, including a few members of [EXE] like Vanaria and Koharu as those two had already dropped their opponents off with the others.

The closer we got to our room, the louder the cheers were in the stadium. Once we got there, Azazel, who had left earlier was already there, but he looked surprised, but was also grinning.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked. He looked at me and pointed directly at one of the screens. We looked at it and a few members gasped, but not many were too surprised by the outcome of the match.

[The Winner of the match is [Team Rias Gremory]] That's what showed on the screen. On the other monitor was Vali—heavily injured on his hands and knees along with Crom Cruach who had been healed and Rias in her [Forbidden Invade Balor the Princess] in front of him.

[Incredible!! It was a one-sided match! [Team Rias Gremory] dominated Player Vali Lucifer's team! It was still quite incredible to see though! One by one Player Vali's team members were eliminated and the last to stand was Vali Lucifer himself!!] explained the announcer.

[Indeed. Even when both Vali Lucifer and Crom Cruach fought, it was clear that the descendant of Lucifer had the advantage—but the Evil Dragon held on until all of Player Vali's team was slowly retired, and then Princess Rias joined him and the two of them fought which ended in his defeat.]

"Vaa-kun lost…" Lavinia said with a voice full of pain. "I'm going to see him."

However, I stopped her. "No need. Vali and his team have already left to go meet up with Rias'," I told her, which surprised her. "We'll go meet with them all. That image on the monitor is just a still image from a few minutes earlier."

I turned to Azazel and said, "You didn't come back, but opted to go back here?"

He just awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "Well, you guys were handling it pretty well, so there was no point in me going back, you know?"

Shaking my head, I looked back at the results. In the novel, these two fought during the preliminary stages, and in the end, Vali won because Rias surrendered because her time limit on [Forbidden Invade Balor the Princess] was running out and if she pushed it, it would end in disaster for her.

However, if you look at the result of the match—Rias won in the books because the rest of Vali's team lost to hers. But in this universe…she won by winning in their fight and of course, the rest probably won their fights too. I wonder what Vali wants to say to her?

"Let's go," I said and left the room.

— ○ ● ○ —

In the giant hallway of the [Fafnir Stadium] were both Vali and Rias' team. Various reporters and cameramen were already there as they waited for both of them to speak to each other. But Vali didn't look that down about his lost.

"Well played, Vali. Did you need something from us?" Rias asked.

With his usual defiant smile on his face he said, "We lost today in the preliminary rounds, but…we'll make it to the main stage—you better make it too, and when that happens, I expect a rematch."

Rias smiled at his declaration and nodded her head in agreement. "Very well. I can' back out of a rematch from the heir of Lucifer. We'll see you on the main stage then." Rias put her hand out for a handshake and Vali shook it.

The crowd that had built up around us exploded and they started cheering and asking questions to both [Kings]. They also asked me a few questions even though I had nothing to do with them right now…

— ○ ● ○ —

Minutes later we were free, and Lavinia walked over to Vali. "Vaa-kun, are you sure about that? A lot of people are going to have expectations of you, you know?"

"Hmph. That's fine, I've always blown those away, so I'll keep doing that even now. One loss in the preliminary stages doesn't matter—we'll just keep winning the rest of our matches," replied Vali.

Lavinia patted him on the head. "Good boy, good boy~"

Even though that was Vali's attitude, the rest of his team seemed frustrated. Especially Arthur. I knew he would have his rematch with Vasco Strada during this, but it seems like he stood no chance with this version of Vasco Strada. Crom also looked satisfied with himself.

"Well, let's go home."

— ○ ● ○ —

Nighttime, I was in my office and was looking at the other results of the Rating Games that happened today. The other notable game was [Team Shooting Star] vs [Team Moon Rabbits], and their game type was [Dice Figure Game].

The one who led [Team Moon Rabbits] was Kurousagi along with Vera and a few other rabbit youkai and monsters she recruited. They were against Shooting Star and his team. He had the [New Longinus], [Star Buster Star Blaster].

The match ended with Kurousagi and Vera winning. It was a tough match that came down to [King] vs [King]. The stadium they were in was in the Egyptian realm. The Egyptian gods also had a team, but didn't take it too seriously as they only had fun, but were still doing well too.

Shooting Star's Sacred Gear was powerful. Its longsword is able to cut all things in its path with relative ease, damaging even Sairaorg's [Regulus Rey Leather Rex], despite it being able to fight against legendary beings.

It was powerful enough to crack his [Breakdown the Beast] armor, which grants power surpassing Satan-Class. Its rifle can release massive aura blasts, with power and range rivaling Satan and God-class beings, even Issei Hyoudou's Infinity Blaster, eliminating several islands and non-combat Gods, in addition to being able to change their course.

Well…that was what happened in Cannon. How powerful he is in this universe remains to be seen. However, from what my shadow soldiers gathered, Kurousagi didn't struggle that much—the same with Vera, but the rest of their team which ranged from Ultimate-class to Satan-class fighters were overwhelmed by Shooting Star's team.

So that means they were around the same power and they have even more potential in this universe. Maybe it was influenced by me, but it's interesting to see others being more powerful than they should me. It makes me wonder, if I sat back and didn't do much, would they be like this? And if so, how would the invasion of the Evie be like?

Well, I can't think of 'What Ifs' constantly. This is reality after all.

"Aaron?"

When I looked up, I saw my mother coming into the room along with Aoife. Cindy and Grayfia were already with me, so she wasn't with them. "Hey, mom, Aoife. How can I help you? I was just looking through the results of the games today."

Mom looked at Aoife and nodded. "I heard you're traveling to China to deal with something?" she asked.

"I am. It's a request from the Chinese Pantheon. Why do you ask?" I replied while dismissing the results of the game.

Both of them came over, and mom grabbed my hand and with a cute and teary-filled expression on her face, she asked, "Can I come with you?" Aoife joined in and did the same thing while grabbing my other hand.

The door to my room also slammed open again and in came Lavinia and Suzaku. They saw the strange scene happening and giggled at my mom who blushed. 'What a strange reaction. Did something happen between them?'

"Well, I don't mind. You're both strong now, and I'll bring Cindy along. I plan on going there with my own group after all, and not just with [DxD] or [EXE]," I told her. Happy with my answer, both of them hugged me.

A few days later, we made our way to China, to confront the last strange group called [Tiles of Dog City].

— ○ ● ○ —