Nabutu had fallen.
The battle had ended.
But as the Blood Disciples bore witness to their prince's tyrannical display, on a not-so-distant battlefield, Akamana traded blows with Caligula—assisted by Elektra, Belphegor and subordinates who hacked through lines of demonic beings.
Akamana's troops had the scene on lockdown, but with two dozen dark gates that spewed fiends like candy bars, the Grand Priestess' warriors got overwhelmed, losing ground as time passed.
Meanwhile, Caligula hid behind a veil of darkness, doing his best to avoid a direct confrontation with Akamana while firing bolts at Sucuria. She ignored them, trusting that Akamana would protect her while she unlocked her last hope to turn the tides.
Because yes, forced by the Heart of Malice, Akamana and Sucuria had now joined hands—in tandem facing the King of Bastards, Caligula di Balarak.
"Hoho! Didn't expect that you'd start cooperating so flawlessly. Annoying. Oh well, hell if I care. Why am I talking if I don't? Mhm..." the madman rambled, his eyes lingering on the black and gold book hovering beside Sucuria, an ancient scripture crafted by the Ancestral Demon to seal the corrupt paradise she'd created to impress her crush, including 72 hand-made Archfiends:
The Ars Goetia!
In the Corrupt Worlds, only the creations of Ba'al Agan and the Ancestral Demon could escape Ahriman's authority, meaning that while Caligula could easily suppress Zagan and Akamana's demons with the Heart of Malice, he had no sway over what Sucuria was about to bring out.
And though that thing would only be able to use a fraction of its full powers, there was a serious chance it could still take his life.
He just wanted to fish for profit on the other battlefield. But now even his life wasn't secure. Akamana was giving him no way out. The time had come to create one!
"Sucuria, you even have the Ars Goetia. Impressive. Looks kind of incomplete but still impressive. I really wish I could have made you my wife. The bragging rights make me drool.
Such an outstanding Guru. The warlock of an era, you forged your Inner Flame. Made your brothers immortal, but they put you in the kitchen. You gave them the power to take over a continent, but they put you in the kitchen. You lost your heart to stand by them, became a bloodsucker to fight for them. And they still put you in the kitchen.
It's not fair. I feel...so sorry for you," Caligula broke into tears, sniffing loud as his words resounded. They hit like battering rams, knocking poor Sucuria so hard that for a split second, she lost focus.
"Sucuria!" Sensing a disaster, Akamana called out. A step too late for when dealing with Archfiends, the word "mistake" is a big no. Mistake equals death.
As the most accomplished warlock in the history of the Purple Dawn, Sucuria could avoid death, but the strain on her Mental left her vulnerable to extra exploitation. A vulnerability that Caligula now took advantage of.
[Mental Desecration]
[Carcinogenic Degeneration]
It takes the demented to touch the divine. You cannot defeat me, for the only true god in this universe...calls me 'dear son!'" Caligula declared, the Winds of Destiny picking up at his feet and coiling in a twister of Divine Power!
The dimensional prison shattered on the spot. Akamana's eyes stretched. Sucuria went livid. And by the time the crew had processed this shift, Caligula was thrusting a spectral dagger at Elektra's soul!
Here, the laws of space twisted once more, sending Caligula's stab flying into another dimension!
'She can also use Spatial Manipulation? Spatial Manipulation with no support of Divine Power or Dark Glory? And at such a high level. That girl is gifted—a real prodigy.
Fuck!' Stunned by Elektra's mastery of spatial manipulation, Caligula vanished, reforming in the sky to reevaluate the situation.
"How to finish them? I'm so sick of this! Going to be late for dinner! When will I get a taste of slaughter?! Let me eat! LET ME GO HOME!"
[Rite of Oblivion: Lunatic Eruption]
Caligula howled at the heavens. Dark lunar markings formed on his skin, a burst of malignant energies erupting as a veil of darkness sprawled at his back.
'Caligula's Lunatic Eruption will be different from the other Fylkirs, Grand Priestess please stop him!' From the other battlefield, Ishtar sent her teacher a desperate mental message.
Alas...
"Girl...I love you but...you should have said that a lot sooner," Akamana sighed, and with a resolute look, fused her half of the Ars Goetia with Sucuria's!
And so, as Caligula completed his transformation, with large pairs of obsidian wings stretching from his back towards his divine wheel, Sucuria unlocked the Ars Goetia, summoning the first of its 72 Archfiends, a gargantuan ebony fortress with a vertical, scarlet eye encrusted in the middle.
The Dark Glory kicked in, permeating the atmosphere with a mass of concentrated darkness.
"When I was young people often told me to curb my hubris. It got me so confused. I am the Weaver's only son. Calling myself a God is hubris to you? What's appropriate then? Demi-Creator?
Semi-Triumvir? Half Master of Destiny? Idiots, just because you can't see the world from my altitude, you declare that I am insane.
But it is you who are mad.
You, not Caligula," the King of Bastards broke into a peal of fiendish laughter, charging into the Archfiend for a direct slugfest.
And to Sucuria's shock, the two sides looked...evenly matched.