Chapter 90: The Scapegoat

Chapter 90: The Scapegoat

"Well? Pretty awesome secret base, don't you think?"

Karen Yoodle gestured to the base.

The group stood right below the peak of the mountain, outside of the forest and into the vast plains surrounding the base. The cosmic sky was in sight as they stood at the border separating realm and space, standing within Alfheim blue.

A magical barrier domed the entire mountain peak that housed the base, metal and stone chiseled into the base behind the translucent barrier that stretched as far as the eyes could see. Within the dome was the flying great tree that was Ladon, the Insomniac Dragon that guarded the golden apples in the Legend of Hercules.

Although this dragon was much bigger than the last time Azazel saw it. It looked more defined in shape, thick bark grown over the dragon in place of scales, golden apples dangling from the branches that were the creature's wings, roots in place of his arms

"It seems Rizevim has made progress in evolving his minions" Azazel remarked.

"Yeah. The Forced Evolution Process as the boss man said, plus some gene modification and classic training," Karen sighed. "Great power at great risk We take it in stages, the deeper you go, the more likely you'll die, but the stronger you'll become if you survive. The abomination held the record for surviving for a month before Rizevim decided to 'reboot' him."

"A month doesn't sound so great." Vali scoffed.

"You fool. Imagine being at the cusp of death every few seconds. Unimaginable pain and the mind at the cusp of breaking, your will, your pride, powerless. The suffering will never dull no matter how much time has passed, seconds feeling like weeks, minutes to years. That is the Forced Evolution Process, or FEP for short."

Bikou snorted at the acronym, but did not say anything more.

"In any case, we should decide on a way to make our way in." Sirzechs spoke up, "I prefer to just charge in there in order to reach Grayfia faster, but Anyone?"

"Karen?" Azazel asked.

"You'll also be screened for Trihexa genetics if you want passage. Unless you have a spare Trihexa Cell on you, I guess I'll get to see the power of the Strongest Devil in person."

Everyone exchanged glances with each other to confirm whether that was the correct move, then they were interrupted by the sound of thunder.

The familiar rumbling of the heavens was around them, the boom echoing in a different cadence than their ears were used to due to their current high altitude.

"...Wow. So this is what thunderstorms sound like above cloud level." Le Fay commented.

Everyone paused when the light of Alfheim's sun started to dim. All looked up, seeing the black thunderclouds, crackling plasma flickering inside gathering above them.

"...We're above the troposphere, right? Above cloud level?" Beowulf asked.

"And right beneath the ozone layer since we can still breathe," Azazel added.

Everyone covered their ears when the skies boomed, the sound of the firmament exploding reaching out for miles.

The tree dragon within the barrier stirred as it looked up, seeing multiple streaks of lightning lighting the darkened mountaintop.

"What is happening?" Vali asked, noticing the abnormality of the weather.

"Karen, is this normal?" Azazel asked.

"No! I don't know what is-"

BOOM!

Everyone cried out when lightning crashed in the open field, the presence making itself known.

Standing in the center of the burnt, smoking crater, one individual stood.

Rain started to fall, gentle drizzles elevating into a gradual downpour as high winds started to whistle.

This man did not wear clothes and his eyes were weird, eight pupils instead of one in each eye, black scales covering his arms, legs and nether region; a strange tattoo depicting serpents emerging from his chest and wrapping his entire lean, muscular body.

"E-eh?! W-What is that thing?!" The pixies were frightened by the stranger's presence and hid behind the witches.

"You" Surtr, Matthers, Enku, Souji, Beowulf, Bahamut, all of them recognize this stranger's aura.

"What? What is it?"

"...He brought him here?" Karen spoke with trembling fright in a hushed whisper.

"What the actual fuck?! He brought the apocalypse with him here?!" One of the witches lying quiet in the back cussed.

"What do you mean? Stay calm and answer me!" Azazel called out.

"The boss gave an evil dragon to the abomination." Another witch explained. "It was feral, uncontrollable. Then the monster tamed it somehow and made it its servant! That is Yamata No Orochi! It may look human, but we can't forget that thing's aura!"

"That's Yamata no Orochi, huh" Vali regarded the new arrival. "Well, I suppose some of us will have to stay here to keep him busy, at least." he spoke with an eager grin while cracking his neck and shoulders.

"My King" Souji gripped his Katana. "I request that we stay here and aid young Vali."

Sirzechs did not need to ask. He could see the fire in his eyes, along with the rest of his peerage who stood behind the Knight.

The burning need to reclaim their lost honor.

"Wait." Azazel raised his hand. They were without cover, the valley of carnivorous vines were behind them, standing on the open grass, and the stranger was looking at them.

"If he belongs to Djall, perhaps we should attempt to negotiate." Azazel suggested.

"What?" Surtr looked back and forth between the thing that ruined their honor and Azazel.

"You can't be serious, that thing is not here to parlay!" Beowulf pointed out.

"His presence and demeanor speaks of his desire to battle." Souji added.

"But he belongs to Djall if what the witches are saying is right. Besides, I don't think Euclid's forces are aware of Orochi here Asia, I might need your help." Azazel requested.

"Hm?" Asia looked at Azazel.

"You might play a big role in this. After all, even if Stjarna is not himself anymore, he still went out of his way to stand up for you."

Asia nodded in response with a stern face of determination, "Alright, I will do my best!"

"Let's go. If it goes south, you people can still fight Orochi to the death or something." Azazel threw at the others.

"Hmph." Surtr grunted as Azazel and Asia made their way towards the evil dragon.

Thunder and lightning roiled above the dragon in human form. They stood face to face, the dragon tilting his head.

"...You are not attacking?" Orochi asked.

His voice was strange around eight or so voices overlapping each other in one sentence.

"I come to parlay." Azazel raised his hands.

"Parlay?" Orochi tilted his head.

"Yes. I can guess that you're here to stop us judging by your demeanor unless your master is playing a cruel prank and sent you to help us." Azazel guessed with a disarming smile.

Orochi remained silent. The pause went by more than five seconds.

"...This isn't what I was expecting." Orochi stated.

Azazel passed the first stage, "Alright. Will you help us take the Queen from the castle?" He requested.

"...I am here to impede your quest."

Orochi sounded like he had little experience holding a conversation to Azazel's amusement.

"Is there a reason why?"

"It is the will of my master." Orochi stated with his multiple voices.

"His will. But what about your will? Should you not take your agency into account as well?" Azazel sniped.

"The agency you speak of exists because of him. I owe my freedom to him." Orochi answered. "He freed me from my insanity. For that, I am dedicated to his wishes."

Azazel struck a roadblock on this one.

"Would you give us a chance to persuade your master otherwise?" Azazel was starting to have fun with this as he gently pushed Asia to the fore.

"Um Hello, Mr. Orochi." Asia knew what she had to do. "May you help us rescue Ms. Grayfia, please?" Asia pleaded with her natural charm - her googly eyes, and Rassei poked out of her hair and doubled the attack.

Orochi stared at Asia and Rassei attempted to guilt-trip the eight-branched snake into letting them through. Or help them, which would be funny.

"...I will consult with my master." Orochi looked up, his eyes gazing into space.

"...My master is busy at the moment." Orochi then answered. "But he shall grant you a boon. You must wound me once and you may pass."

"Ah so that's how he is playing this game," Azazel nodded as he prepared himself, summoning his Downfall Dragon Spear. "Can you live while decapitated?"

"A blow that would give death to a weak-flesh being would give you victory. And the answer to that question is yes," Orochi answered.

"I see. Well I hope you don't mind what comes next. Let me show you something no dragon in this world has seen."

Azazel grinned as darkness surged forth, spread from his back as his halo made itself known.

Orochi widened his eyes as Azazel's presence made itself known.

"Hey, hey! Boss man!" Bikou stuttered. "You finally did the thing?!"

"Ohhh hooooh yeah. This is going to be fun."

Azazel's grin widened as his power grew, his ascension made itself manifest as his body grew taller, his twelve wings were then replaced with two massive wings of darkness.

His halo was nothing more than a wicked, regal crown of flickering darkness burning like fire.

He was no longer the angel with God's light, he was the angel of darkness, Azazel - the Scapegoat. The bearer of man's sins, a title he now crowned.

XoX

"...Fascinating."

Djall suddenly said out of the blue while fighting Issei.

"Get your head into the game!" Issei roared as he assumed his demonic form and smashed the monster into the abyss' wall.

XoX

Back to the mountaintop plains, Azazel summoned his Golden Dragon Armor, the darkness tainting his form.

"Well? May I make the first move?"

Asia meeped and backed away from Azazel as the two stood face to face.

The others were too curious to interfere and support Azazel.

"You think Azazel can finally take on Sirzechs now?" Bikou whispered.

"Ten thousand American dollars that he'll still lose to my king." Beowulf chipped in.

"One million yen on my lord." Souji raised his hand.

"A chest of gold on Sirzechs." Surtr added.

"Five million yen on Azazel." Vali raised his hand.

Vali's party gawped on his bid. Normally, he would bet against Azazel for the laughs.

"Shit, ten thousand yen on Azazel." Bikou raised his hand as the rest started to chip in on the bidding.

"Um. Is this alright? To make bets on this battle?" Le Fay, being the reasonable one, questioned the situation to her brother.

"Just ignore and let them have it, Le Fay. I, for one, am curious to see how this fight will go myself." Arthur replied while gently patting his sister's crown.

"Move at the thunder's howl." Orochi answered tersely.

Azazel prepared his dragon spear.

He still recalled that loss against Stjarna, that stupidly broken sticky goo attack. He had spent his free time secretly training his butt off with the help of Saitama, though it ended with his ass handed to him in every bout.

Why did Genos have to record every session for the heck of it? Damn that cyborg and his ability to blackmail. And Haruka is using it as leverage to give her husband a massive raise, that witch.

Lightning flashed overhead, thunder howled seconds after.

Without warning, streams of lightning struck Azazel faster than an instant to everyone's surprise.

Vali leaned forward.

"Did he boost the lightning velocity?!" Bikou shouted while blocking the blinding flash dazzling the field.

The lightning stopped.

Azazel was no longer there.

"Yo."

A golden spear thrusted from behind, but caught between pinching fingers as Orochi regarded Azazel with a sidelong glance.

"...Substitution?" Orochi guessed.

Azazel pushed Orochi back step by step, yet Orochi's posture barely trembled. In return, Azazel stopped relying on brute force alone and wrenched the spear off Orochi's fingers.

Then Azazel multiplied.

"Since when did he know the shadow clone technique?!" Bikou shouted at the sight of multiple Azazels surrounding Orochi.

Then Azazel smirked.

His numbers multiplied further as dark, humanoid effigies appeared from nowhere, their numbers much larger than the seven clones Azazel conjured via Duplication Magic.

It was not an easy magic to master, but with how much he was behind, he had to make do. Each of his clones were equal to his power, but they do not have technique unlike the dark ones he created.

They were like golems forged from his powers, made of his new dark powers, and ironically, they could use his techniques while being more fragile.

The dark ones, faceless humanoids with goat-shaped horns sprouting from their heads, summoned spears of darkness as they charged first towards Orochi in a hunter formation, surrounding the larger beast with spears thrust from every direction.

The dragon let the dark spears hit his naked center.

Azazel grimaced when the spears failed to sink past his skin. Actually, it sounded like metal grinding against metal when the dark spears made contact.

"Shit, they still need work" Azazel cussed, mentally noting on ways to improve their attack power.

Orochi raised his right arm and backhanded every dark one around him into black mist.

The Azazel clones moved in next while Azazel summoned more dark ones.

Orochi noticed the dark ones running away from the battle for some reason, while mindlessly blocking and fending off the golden spears of the clones with his arms.

"Hm." Orochi aimed his finger at Azazel and fired a laser beam and pierced through Azazel, golden armor and all.

"He did a Freeza!" Bikou commented

However, a loud howl was heard from the direction where the barrier was erected. Everyone turned to see Ladon clutching and nursing a gaping bleeding hole on his torso. The barrier surrounding the compound became unstable before Ladon quickly reformed them, while his wound slowly regenerated itself.

"...What?" Orochi blinked and returned his sight to Azazel. His cracked armor briefly showed a healthy body before the armor reformed.

"Sorry, but I'm kind of untouchable now." Azazel winked at the dragon.

Orochi simply narrowed his eyes in confusion before he continued firing his lasers at Azazel, a barrage of Freeza-inspired laser attacks piercing through the Ascended.

However, every time, Ladon roared from the sudden pain, Orochi throwing glances at Ladon to see his condition.

"Urgh! What in the Nine Realms is happening to me?!" Ladon roared in the background.

Just in case, Orochi fired lasers from all of his five fingers and swung up diagonally, five hyper-sharp laser beams slicing through Azazel like paper.

This time, Ladon howled even louder as he supported several nasty gashes from his shoulder to his hip, before he had to fall to the ground due to the injuries. The barrier he erected also shimmered before disappearing.

Seeing the wounds on the Insomniac Dragon - Yamata no Orochi connected the dots and turned his wide eyes at Azazel in realization.

"...You're transferring the damage to Ladon?" Orochi concluded.

Azazel simply grinned from behind his faceplate. Sirzechs and the others then used the chance to dash towards the unprotected compound.

"...But this doesn't make sense. I have never heard of this power even from my Master who devoured the libraries of Lucifer. I must know. Why didn't you redirect the damage back to me?" Orochi demanded with more emotion. "...Or is it because you can't?"

Orochi raised his hand towards the group, a wall of earth suddenly grew between the group and the compound.

"Nyaaa, seriously?!" Kuroka looked back at Orochi.

Orochi flicked his finger down, a walling rain of lightning striking right before them, forcing the group to back away from the wall of earth.

"Whoa, don't mind them, bud!" Azazel and his duplications ganged upon the Dragon, one holding his arm summoning the rain of lightning.

"You are playing with me!" They immediately carried Orochi to the skies, Orochi's attention disrupted by the bodies.

Annoyed, Orochi grew glowing bone spikes from his wrist and threw it at the front of the group.

The advance party was halted by the sight of meteoric impacts cratering the earth in front of them, the culprit jutting out of the burned soil.

Then each spike of bone glowed burning orange. It sank into the mountain soil like quicksand.

"...Stop!" Sirzechs stopped the group.

The witches stayed behind with the pixies since they did not want to be involved in this high level fight, though they were at awe by the scale.

For each bone spike, a hand rose from the earth. Dragon claws of bone pulling the rest of the skeletal bodies out of the soil.

Naga-like skeletal constructs rose from the soil, each bearing a serpentine head, two large bone arms with a serpentine lower half; and they were large, each with a pulsing core of bone in their ribcage.

Then each of them flared to life, one covered in fire, the other in lightning, one in ice, one water, one wind

"Seriously?! You can do that?!" One of the Azazel clones shouted, surprised by Orochi's skill.

This one was the shamanic practice of creating golems using Dragon teeth, an extinct practice of magic due to the expensive materials needed.

Orochi responded with black spines erupting from his body, piercing every clone with his god-killer venom, the clones unable to sustain themselves from the damage as they vanished.

Orochi's eyes darted as he sniffed for the real Azazel.

"...There."

He disappeared with Thunder Step, landing on the ground and grabbing Azazel by the throat. Azazel's illusion faded, revealing the golden armored Ascended gagging.

"Ack! Seriously, even though I'm godlike, I can't contend with a Dragon's might?! This is stupidly unfair, you know?!" Azazel complained as Orochi pulled him closer, eye to faceplate.

"What is your weakness?" Orochi slammed his knee into Azazel and slammed the fallen into the earth.

The might behind that was so great the mountain shook and rumbled, Azazel sunk into the earth until only his head poked from the earth.

But Azazel still did not suffer any damage.

Ladon ragdolled every time Orochi smashed Azazel, crying out in pain as his body jumped in random directions before he too sunk into the soil.

Sirzechs and the others could only give the tree dragon some pity at the sight while engaging the elemental dragon bone golems.

Despite that, Azazel grinned, "Why don't you find out yourself?" He then uprooted himself with an aura burst, blowing his earthy prison away and flew back to the sky.

Lightning fell and hammered Azazel back to Orochi at ground level, right into his open palm as Orochi held Azazel to his face.

"...Nice day, isn't it?" Azazel small-talked.

A frost breath was Azazel's response. Rime covered his golden armor and a large conical area behind him, glaciers reaching sizes that could match the firepower of one Serafall.

However, one of the golems suddenly had its face covered in frost before shattering, causing its massive frame to collapse.

Orochi stared at Azazel before looking back at his creations, then back at Azazel.

He grabbed Azaze's right arm and started twisting it into an angle the joint could not bend. However, before Orochi could have torn any muscle, multiple treasures from Fafnir's vault fell atop of Orochi, summoned.

Orochi blocked the weapons with his other arm before Azazel blasted Orochi's face with his dark spears at maximum output.

Orochi's fingers released Azazel's arm, allowing Azazel to retreat, flying away from Orochi meters away.

Orochi's smile creaked at the sight of Azazel flexing his arm and rolling his shoulder.

"Ah. So that is your limit."

Fire, Lightning, Ice, Water, Poison, Light, Wind, and Earth.

However, the crimson power was more condensed. He could feel his scales incinerating and his hide boiling under the energy as the denser power beam of destruction pushed the dragon back.

Then Orochi opened his mouth and fired a piercing beam of light at the sky.

The beam zigzagged across the sky, chaotic traveling with no direction right until it landed into Sirzechs' eyes.

"Ahhhgh?! Seriously?!" Azazel doubled over as his hands covered his smoking eye-sockets.

Asia quickly moved to heal Azazel as he opened his eyelids, showing his charred eyeballs to Asia's mild horror. It would take time to heal the delicate organ, however, as she summoned more of Asclepius' power.

Sirzechs blinked as he rubbed his eyes, feeling a mild blindness in his corneas, enough to stop his beam attack.

Orochi aimed his finger at Sirzechs when his vision returned.

No one expected to see a giant, spectral skeletal head of a giant snakehead hovering beside Orochi. It was flaming red, and power was generated between its open fangs.

"The time for techniques and skill is over. Face my overwhelming power."

And fired a mighty stream of fire that rivaled Sirzechs' ultimate move.

Sirzechs quickly fired his ultimate move, his crimson power clashing against Orochi's firepower, raw power of the elements versus the aspect of destruction.

One would expect the embodiment of 'destruction' to overwhelm the 'elements.'

But the power of destruction must rival or surpass that which it desired to erase, and Orochi's power proved itself more than worthy.

Then another dragon skull appeared above Orochi. Sirzechs could only stare at the other dragon skull opening its maw.

"Grace the might of wind."

It glowed green before it fried a mighty spiraling gale.

It gave power to the flames to overpower Sirzechs' beam.

Wind is not a matter that can be erased conventionally like other more physical matter. It is the force that can only be blocked, dispersed or overpowered, a force that could carry even the Power of Destruction back towards Sirzechs like the flames within it, burning blue and erasing crimson conjoined. And the breath whirled into a piercing spiral, drilling through the crimson energies while carrying the two energies towards Sirzechs.

"Oh no." Sirzechs could not evade in time, and he was not sure how much more punishment Azazel could take at this rate.

However, both Orochi and Sirzechs suddenly sensed another surge of energy coming. They glanced to see Rover's open maws was brimming with power before the monster fired his signature energy sphere against Orochi's combined magic.

It detonated within the spiral wind of fire and destruction, dispersing it to everyone's surprise.

"Interference when I am at the cusp of victory?" Orochi sounded annoyed that his one-on-one was interrupted.

"All bets are already off, moron." Vali - clad in his Scale Mail, hovered on the air and reached out towards Orochi.

[Half Dimension!]

"Hngh?!" Orochi lurched as he felt as if his own body was being squashed by an invisible force that distorted his immediate space.

A mighty distortion technique meant to compress the space temporarily to crush the target(s) within the chosen area.

Orochi summoned a dome of ice around him and expanded it, the extra mass pushing the crushing force back. The result led to an explosion, ice and mist covering the area.

"Okay, Azazel. What's the plan? How do we deal with something that can beat the strongest Devil?"

Vali had regrouped with a fully-recovered Azazel, both of them were hovering side-by-side in the air.

The cold mist dispersed, blown away by Orochi's wind as he glared at them. Asia was flustered, but she was doing her best to stay focused and composed. Her Balance Breaker activated, ready to heal and support her allies at a moment's notice. Her Imoogi familiar was hovering in the air in his matured form, ready to act as well.

Orochi was strong, a bit too strong. Regeneration, Heavenly Dragon Emperor Level in control over the eight elements, Trihexa Powers, unknown weapons in its possession, creative use of its powers, and great physical might.

An unfair combination of the best traits unlike any of the Evil Dragons so far.

"If Sirzechs' full power can't defeat it, don't expect any of us to have the firepower to take it down yet. Vali, if you have any sort of ultimate move, we are open for ideas, otherwise we'll have to rely on you weakening him enough to take him down," Azazel replied.

Vali contemplated for a second before shrugging, "...Well, nothing really new, per say. But I have something that can make things more difficult for him."

"Albion, it's now or never."

[Very well, just keep in mind that this Yamata no Orochi is completely different from the one I once knew in the past.]

"...Wait, what about your ability?"

Before Vali could have uttered the first word of the forbidden move, he realized something interesting.

It would be extremely cheap to abuse it, but now would be the best time to do so.

"Oh, you mean you're wondering if I can transfer the damage to that thing?" Azazel asked. "My [Scapegoat] can only redirect attacks filled with genuine ill-intent."

He explained as if he had practice with it.

"I get your point. Honestly, if I had known that Father locked away such a fun ability away from me, I would've cut my wings off sooner. I've experimented the limits of my ability to their limits. One, I cannot redirect damage back to the attacker. Two, [Scapegoat] won't trigger from friendly attacks."

"Friendly as in?" Vali asked.

"You'll have to hit me with the intent to kill me. Knowledge of using my ability to hurt others won't work, it has to be completely focused on harm to my well-being. Otherwise, I'll have to transfer the damage to my clones or dark creations under me. Why do I think I made the dark shadow warrior things in the first place other than to be my minions?"

Vali pondered for a few seconds before another idea popped into mind. It brought a massive smile to his face as he turned towards the resident monster dog.

"Rover!"

The overgrown rover turned to Vali with a small growl.

"Azazel is planning to take all of your personal treats for himself! Sic 'em!" Vali pointed at Azazel.

Everyone turned to Vali and Azazel at the sudden accusation.

Rover yelped in shock before he growled at the Scapegoat, buying into the white lie.

"Eh?! What- Oh, shit!"

The fallen in question was about to ask what Vali was about before his eyes quickly widened in realization.

Rover roared before he ran to Azazel. Everyone watched the dog leap high and snatch the golden-armored pigeon from the air.

Fangs grew longer, harder, sharper, burning with energy as his jaw muscles tightened and expanded as Rover started to chew on Azazel mercilessly.

Fortunately, Azazel felt none of that.

Orochi, on the other hand, felt all of it as he lurched and coughed out several mouthfuls of blood.

"You!" Orochi grunted as punctures filled Orochi while Rover chewed on Azazel.

"...Wow." Vali and the others were impressed by how viciously defensive Rover was in protecting his favorite foods.

Rover's jaw strength multiplied as he clenched his teeth as much as he could.

They watched Rover's mouth move up and down, mercilessly chomping Azazel in its meat grinder of a mouth.

"Oi! Rover! Are your snacks really that important to kill me for them?!" Azazel shouted while Rover started swinging left and right, growling.

Orochi's body jerked along Rover's swinging motion, his scales and muscles were slowly torn apart.

Roven then bobbed up and down, slamming Orochi to the dirt repeatedly.

"Kuhahahahahaha!" It was getting so ridiculous that even Surtr was laughing heartily at the sight.

Rover continued to chew on Azazel until he found that his chew toy became harder to sink his teeth into.

Rover bit down harder, but for some reason, his fangs would not sink in.

Azazel also felt something was wrong this time. He looked at Orochi from Rover's mouth, squinting at the dragon man.

Rover tried again. Azazel saw it.

There were indentations sinking into Orochi's dragonhide, but it did not pierce into him this time. Orochi walked towards them, his face wincing every time Rover tried to chew into Azazel.

"...Well" Azazel was surprised. Orochi somehow reinforced himself enough to resist the damage.

He learned that the target of his newest most favorite skill could resist the damage to the point where harm would not befall the user as well.

"This might complicate things." Azazel muttered, noting to run some more tests as everyone else interposed between Orochi and Azazel and Sirzechs.

Orochi faced them with his sharp, resolute mien, until he fell to a knee and kneeled before them.

Everyone tensed at this strange action, wary of his next move.

"...You have fulfilled the conditions."

Until his words confused them. They exchanged glances, unsure why he said that until they remembered Orochi's conditions for letting them pass.

"Do you mean?" Asia spoke up with hope.

"...Go. I grant you a rite of passage. May we meet again for battle or otherwise."

Lightning struck Orochi from above and took Orochi with it to the heavens, the dragon no longer here to impede their quest.

Leaving them with silence and their quiet thoughts.

"...That was an interesting experience." Bikou commented on the encounter.

"...I'm a bit annoyed that I didn't get the chance to fight that snake." Vali added.

"You're not the only one." Enku sighed.

"Hopefully, we won't have to face him again soon." Sirzechs sighed with relief.

This was one of the most intense fights he ever had. It showed him that he still had a long way to go to reach the level needed to stand with Saitama against the new threats.

"Yeah so, can someone calm Rover down for me?" Azazel asked as Rover continued growling while chewing into him. Blood was seeping out of Azazel despite his calm mien. "I'm going to die at this rate."

"Rover." Asia called out to her friend as Rover whined. Rover looked at Asia, seeing her pleading gaze as she walked over and hugged his foreleg. "...We'll give you treats when we get let Azazel go."

Rover whined and panted, dropping Azazel to the dirt.

Rover shrunk to puppy size, allowing Asia to pick him and nuzzle her cheek against his, while Azazel groaned to his feet. Asia smiled as she took out Asclepius with one hand and started healing Azazel's injuries.

"Alright, unexpected obstacles have been overcome. And" Azazel looked at the stronghold.

Ladon seemed to be groaning in pain for taking much of Azazel's beatings for him.

"Ahhh, thank you for taking my pain for me." Azazel sent a quiet thanks his way.

When the dragon saw the group advancing towards him, he struggled to regain his bearings and prepared to intercept them

Only for Rassei's form to descend upon him with a barrage of lightning strikes hitting Ladon's frame, scorching his tree-like body.

"Ahhhhgh! Stop! Haven't I suffered enough already?!" Ladon cried out pitifully under the assault. At this point, the dragon was effectively retired from the action.

"...Feels like we've been forgotten" Karen muttered.

"Should we leave?" Her friend asked.

"Mhm! We've done our job! Let's go girls!" The pixies with the witches flew off, not wanting to be here anymore. They managed to hide far enough to spectate the legendary battle of the strongest of the nine realms.

"I think they no longer need us let's go before Euclid can-"

A block of the stronghold exploded, alarming the witches and the advance team.

Sirzechs and the rest readied themselves for battle when they saw something flying out of the smoke and fire.

Souji appeared to have recognized the figure that came out from the mayhem, "M'lord, isn't that?"

"That's Grayfia!" Sirzechs replied with a relieved expression.

There was no mistaking that silver hair. Sirzechs quickly flew towards his Queen, leaving the others behind him.

Although

Now that the distance was closing between them, Sirzechs noticed that Grayfia's current outfit was Off. She had some kind of cloak wrapping around her by her neck, but the cloak had no any sort of clasp that Sirzechs could see a clear opening that his wife was wearing some kind of skin-tight leotard underneath the fabric.

"Sirzechs!"

Grayfia shouted in relief as she wasted no time to fly her way towards her husband.

Revealing her stunning red dress to them.

"...Grayfia?!" Sirzechs squeaked at the sight of the revealing crimson leotard.

His peerage stammered and looked away from the revealing Queen.

"Whoa. Uh wow. What a daring way to reward a husband's hard efforts to rescue his damsel." Azazel could not help but insert his comment.

"I would say that this isn't what it looks like, but it doesn't matter." Grayfia rolled her eyes as she strutted towards the dazed crimson devil.

And grabbed his cheeks with both of her hands.

"And what took you so long? Hm? Taking your time fighting that dragon? Do I need to discipline this useless husband of mine some more to get you back into fighting shape?"

"I'm" Whatever defense that Sirzechs wanted to say for himself, died on his throat at the sight of Grayfia's red orbs boring to him. She was scowling, yet the flustered look on her face heavily implied that she was just as happy as he was that they got to see each other again.

"I'm sorry, Grayfia." Sirzechs sighed nodding, his eyes ended up staring at Grayfia's get-up.

Sirzechs found himself staring at the outfit that clearly emphasized his wife's curves and frame; honestly, he missed the sight already.

And she was not missing for even a month.

Everyone was so distracted by the heartfelt reunion that they did not notice an interloper among them.

The sound of footsteps approached Sirzechs from behind. Everyone turned towards the thing melting into existence, breaking from invisibility without sensing an iota of its intent, hand raised, a malicious smile facing Grayfia over Sirzechs' shoulder.

Sirzechs only noticed why everyone suddenly went dreadfully silent, when a sudden jolt of pain burst from his back.

"...Eh?"

Everyone failed to notice the monster appearing until it was too late, even for Azazel to redirect the damage somewhere else.

Djall smirked and his third eye gazed into Sirzechs.

"Pardon the interruption, but let me grab something for a moment. And congratulations on your freedom, Grayfia."

The last thing Sirzechs remembered was the voice of Grayfia screaming his name before his world exploded with new, transcended agony.

Roots burrowed under Sirzechs' skin, muscles, digging into his bones and further into the metaphysical, into the very fiber of his being.

Something was torn from him, ripped, before Djall threw Sirzechs behind, right into the arms of Beowulf who caught his King. It was a sensation of loss at such a fundamental level that he knew that if he didn't get it back, he would forever be incomplete.

"Djall!" Grayfia shrieked at the monster aghast. "What are you doing?!"

"Hehehehehehehehe." Djall started giggling maniacally as he gave a wide, almost unhinged grin at Grayfia.

Grayfia nearly bit down a shudder at the sight.

This was not the same Djall that kept visiting her spontaneously.

The thing facing her was a predator, something hungry and unpredictable.

"Something I always wanted since I saw him. You know, Euclid promised me something good in exchange for not killing the Noble meats besides, I never did show you this trick, didn't I?" Djall said as he pointed his finger at Grayfia.

To be Continued..

Omake: How I Met Your Mother

"Waaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh"

Saitama yawned drowsily as he made his way towards his new job, walking down the moonlit street, passing under the streetlights with his baton resting on his shoulder.

Honestly, it had been a while since he last worked as a security detail. Genos was busy doing his own thing while trying his best not to get caught for having most-likely illegal weapons built into his cyborg body. Or being caught as a cyborg overall.

Securing an apartment for cheap was nice. Especially after he saved some guy from being eaten by this monster-looking thing.

The guy introduced the cheap apartment, one without any elevator but not something he could not handle. It was large enough for Rover and Black, though Black was complaining about the food stuff.

He just hoped Rover did not destroy the place down when he got back.

The real trouble was not trying to get lost getting there as he held a map in his other hand.

"Let's see uhhhhhhhh this way." Saitama muttered as he turned right towards another shopping district where business was in the middle of closing shops for the day.

XoX

She sighed as she sat on the sidewalk, having finished a bottle of water.

Despite it being night in the summer, it was hot despite the lightness of her school uniform. Her kneehigh socks were already soggy, her feet within her plimsoll shoes felt damp, and her white blouse was already soaked with some sweaty, damned heat wave.

She wondered if she should cut down her side-ponytail, but she needed to look stylish to earn more cash.

She picked her wallet out of her bag and exhaled at the amount of contents. The last guy was surprisingly broke despite his looks with immaculate suits and all. Honestly, if she could find someone dumb enough to share his credit card details to her, she would turn to buddhism.

The dazzling lights of the commercial district bustled with many un-savories.

Though one guy stood out a baldy with his face glued to his map with an expression that screamed 'I am lost.'

He looked a bit dangerous, in law enforcement uniform but then again, look at him.

His face looked so plain to the point of stupid that it must reflect his intelligence without flaw. Not a single strand of hair Probably some jocks graduating from public school.

"...Fuck it." Haruka cussed as she rose to her feet, checking whether her face was still pristine and pretty with her pocket mirror; and approached her newest mark.

XoX

Saitama was at his wit's end and about to ask the nearby pedestrians when he noticed a girl approaching him.

"Hey, mister~ Need some help?" the girl asked with a cute smile and friendly tone.

Saitama blinked and smiled at his apparent savior.

She had brown hair tied to a side ponytail, and she looked a bit younger than he was.

In short, a native.

"Uh, yeah, I'm a bit lost at the moment. Need some help getting around to here." He asked while showing her the map in his hands.

The girl leaned in, her body was pressed against his side so she could get a better view.

"...Oh, the new museum? That's not far from here, actually. Though, what are you gonna do there? I'm pretty sure it's past closing time."

The girl looked up, angling herself to make sure the man could get a view of her cleavage exposed by her unbuttoned blouse.

"It's my night shift Can you tell me where we are? I'm really lost."

The girl blinked when the man was not even flustered. Was she not obvious enough? Or did he seriously not notice?

Nonetheless, she replied, "Well, you just have to go down that direction, turn right on the second intersection and keep going, you won't miss the building."

When Saitama nodded in understanding, the girl pushed forward, "Say, mister Maybe I can show you around myself? You're new here, and I know this area well~" she made sure to wink demurely upon eye-contact.

To her surprise, Saitama simply stared at her with an impassive face.

"...Sure, why not." Was the word he used with a shrug.

Was this guy for real? The girl barely suppressed her face from twitching. Her eyes made a quick look at his lower-half.

He still had the shape of a manhood underneath it, but it showed absolutely no reaction to her presence whatsoever.

No matter - after all, she had dealt with straight-laced men before. This guy was just another fish in the pond. It was merely a matter of time until she got him on the palm of her hand.

She then gave him a bright smile while taking her cell-phone out, "Cool! Let's exchange contacts for now, yeah? What's your name, mister?"

"It's Saitama." The man answered with an even tone, "...You?"

The girl kept her smile on as she took a step back to pose with her hands linked behind her back, "The name's Haruka, nice to meet you, Saitama~!"

Per popular demand, I have posted a prequel: Rise of The Furious Fist. First chapter has been posted in my P .atreon