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A Family Business[]
In Principle and Pride[]
"What do you mean you're fighting temporarily?" Mangetsu asked, his voice groggy but presently annoyed. They had come to the arrangement within the Council to gather up the Ten Wizard Saints and one of the Top 4 was Godfried; another was a Councilor, Lucy Heartfilia, but Godfried was key. After Victor was finally letting him through to talk to him personally via Thought Projection, the Master of the Phoenix Guild told him he'd permit a 'temporary' leave to fight for them.
"Exactly as I said, Councilor," He replied, his velvet red chair cushioning him and revealing his straight postured sitting stance to show he was quite serious; beyond the smile of cheekiness armed on his face. "I run a company, and the Guild is a means of defending my company's assets. Through my connections I've managed to help escort and protect the citizens of Stella to safety, placed in specialized bunkers so they are uninvolved in this grudge match of Iceberg's with its sister people's. If that wasn't enough of a virtuous act you demand-"
"We asked-"
"-demand," Victor intoned, his smile slipping for a moment as he raised his voice to intone emphasis of displeasure at their alleged request. "Use of my Guild's Ace, Godfried the Thundergod Saint. As it stands he's ranked fourth of the titular Four Gods of Ishgar and is one of my oldest colleagues from the good ol' days. If it wasn't apparent just how valuable he is to my company, you're demanding I relinquish command over him to fight in your war that you failed to halt proper. Excuse me if I don't sound the least bit thrilled at the prospect."
As Mangetsu palmed his face, stretching it out in front of the rest of the gathered Council, now all seated at the table, Maria was listening in through her bedroom's door by the newly adjacent "hallway office" not far away. She was listening through a cup, trying not to mush her face against it, while she left Morgan to use her sharp hearing next to her as they both squatted near their room's doorway. The conversation had started not but a few minutes after they both woke up, cuddled with one another on Maria's spotless bed; despite the rest of the room restored, the pair hadn't slept separately since their rekindled sibling bond had been mended.
More importantly, the mental imprint of war was now cemented in her mind. She thought war had been established ever since Faer's attack on the Seven Towers during the Noble Tournament. While they didn't know the ranks, the battle lines or the factions, they had been in a war against the faceless enemy for some time. Now that it was realized she could scarcely belief that her father was talking about the Phoenix Guild being employed for battle; that and he was being stingy about his Mages being used freely about the Council baffled her. Didn't he want to help stop the bad guys as much as she did?
The Chairman let Victor air his grievences with the plan, understanding where the man was coming from. "We understand that we're being a tad selfish with asking you to loan us your employees Mr. Alexander, but of all people you know what kinds of people we're up against. You fought the Blood Queen, and those under her are just as dangerous." he said, trying to sway the IMAC owner's mind to align with their cause. And considering what kind of forces they were up against, they needed all the help they could get.
"We cannot guarentee returning him to you in a reasonable timeframe unfortunately. It's not like we can be entirely sure this war ends with just the death of the vampire. Or even if she's really the brains behind it all." Ulric argued. There was no actual intel on the inner workings of the Coven outside the proclomation of the one known as Myst Kagekyo, leaving nothing for them to anticipate should they even manage to topple the supposed leadership of the Black Rosary Axis. It didn't help that the legendary Dark Dragon King himself was still at large, single-handedly turning this from a simple war between two opposing ideologies into a three-sided war, one that even if the two armies joined forces, it would do little to tip the scales away from Jadow's advantage. From what they were told, the only reason Jadow was even wounded so heavily was that he was caught unawares.
All the while, Morgan listened in on the meeting, her dragon-like senses allowing her to evesdrop unaided unlike her sister. She was a bit shocked to hear her father so directly turn down an offer to save lives. It was why she continued to fight for his cause, to ensure that other people had no need to wake up screaming at night, terrified when shadows danced and formed terrible shapes. At first, it had been merely a selfish desire to fight, but after seeing the destruction even the smallest evils could bring if left unchecked, there was little doubt that she could bear knowing that somewhere there was someone like herself who waited and waited for a hero to save them. To hear Victor deny the Council's request for aid made no sense, but from his tone, she assumed he had his own reasons.
"Besides, even if we take out the vamp and her allies, it's likely Black Hell's leadership will just continue from where she left off. Unless we work together and put aside all of this nonsense, we can't win." Tobias continued from where his collegue left off. He sounded bitter and annoyed, still angry at the revealation that one of the most terrible and powerful forces in history had tricked them all. "You can't reasonably expect us to not want to muster everything we can to keep casualties to a minimum, because if we can't stop them, everyone is dead!"
"Everyone except the Pergrande Kingdom and its proxy state," Victor pointed out with a raised brow. "By the way, I'm sure you've been in touch with them recently. You've have better clout than I do in securing connections with our faraway neighbours."
"They've refused to lend military support," Lucy replied with deadpanned stare at him, waving an arm with visible annoyance. "They rather, and I quote, 'Wait to see how this plays out while securing their own borders'. Given the fact Iceberg is right next door, they are in prime position to help us but choose not to risk anything and wait to see who comes out on top. I doubt they'll come in to save anyone, even as the last citizen of Western Ishgar is slain."
"Not that Enca has the same excuse," Mangetsu quipped under his breath, earning a look from Vanessa that he only shrugged at her in response.
"By the letter of the law, the Phoenix Mages under IMAC employ are contract mercenaries and security personnel that serve the betterment of IMAC's customers, its assets and my personal family's wellbeing. If I allow you to take anyone out of necessity there will be no end to it. You'll keep taking what I own and claiming its for the greater good, no matter the emergency. I'm sorry if I don't like having my hard earned wealth and established network of assets utilized by a bunch of robed busybodies that want to rob me out of house and home," Victor retaliated, his smile vanishing and a stoic cold glare aimed at all of them was issued. "You, a Council who was blinded by the King of Darkness himself and allowed him to poison your ranks. How many dealings have you done with his consultation and advice taken to heart? How often did you destroy lives and uproot families out of the noble good with his smile plastered over it? This just confirms my belief why I'd never be one of you or your precious Wizard Saints."
God Serena had to stifle a laugh. Despite the fact this was a Council meeting with Victor, he had let himself in, silently leaning against the wall in full attire. The scarred man's face had nothing but amusement at the proceedings that were going nowhere. Walking across the room he passed by the Councilors, brushing past Lucy and Vanessa, maneuvering around Mangetsu and Tobias to stand directly behind the Chairman, clearing his throat to get Victor and his attention.
"You said you're running a business, yes? Contracturally speaking, how long would you believe a war can be affordably be fought without you losing much of a gross to your assets? Surely, several weeks to a month should be enough for your efforts to not be in vain, yes?"
"And you are?" Victor inquired, his eyes narrowing though he had an inkling who this person might be; his likeness had been put into effigy of historical texts and the design of the ceremonial wheel of blades on his back was significant enough for him to make some connections.
"I am," Making erratic arm gestures, twirling around on his right foot's toe in a pirouette and the other outstretched upward in a twister spin. He'd end, with an acrobatic leap into the seat next to the Chairman, propping both legs onto the table, crossing one over the other while one arm cupped his chin and the other extended towards him. "God Serena, The Strongest Wizard of Ishar and Number One Saint of the Ten Wizard Saints. Pleasure to meet you, Victor Alexander of the Intercontinental Magic Advancement Company."
Furrowing his brows, his expression didn't change much other than affirming what he suspected. It'd explain the enormous pulse of Ethernano he felt not long ago. Apparently they had awakened him or brought him out of whatever sarcophagus they had laid him to rest. Given how old his name is, it'd stand to reason they use a tabboo of sorts to keep him alive or at least in suspended animation.
Tapping the right arm of his chair, he raised another hand to stroke his chin's goatee, looking at the Chairman and back to God Serena, "One week. I'll make an effort to bombard the Black Rosary's lines in one week. And Godfried will be working under me, along with other Phoenix Mages of my choosing. I'll make this a personal mission to ensure they don't conquer Stella and at least allow your allied monarchs to get a stronghold to hold them back. I have more pressing matters beyond this war, so I hope this suffices?" While Tobias wanted to call Mangetsu out for his comment, there were more pressing matters to deal with. Besides which, as Victor had put it so accurately they were all equally guilty of letting Jadow into the Council and influincing their policies. To him, it was something that could never be forgiven.
Morgan backed away from the door, shaken up a bit as the truth about Jadow's infection of the Council was once again brought up. Ever since she had taken a part of his power into herself, just thinking of the Dark Dragon King brought up memories of what she had become, what she had done. She still had trouble accepting that the madness that had been a part of her being brought to the surface. "Why would he talk about it with them..." she complained in a whispered tone, trying to hide how much it irritated and worried her, though it was a marked improvement from her tendency to freak out when the Dark Dragon was brought up.
"We'll accept your terms for now, Mr. Alexander. One week should more than suffice for what we need to do to at least." The Chairman replied, relenting to gain the advantage of having the Phoenix Guild's best even for a short time. Anything would be more than enough to help, and if it blew apart the Black Rosary it would give them hopefully enough of a shot at pushing back that they could captizalize on the one-shot assault Victor would provide.
"Excellent! I shall foot you the bill. Expect us to be on the frontlines in the next twenty four hours," Victor proclaimed almost too cheerily. Cutting the feed from his Thought Projection, it left God Serena smirking and waving his arms in triumph while Mangets sighed, hand stretching his face and muttering about the expenses of using Phoenix's elite over just Godfried and Vanessa just smiled with satisfaction with Lucy sighing in relief. After all was said in done, they got more than they could have hoped for, a legendary man and his best personnel to fight for them for a whole week. Perhaps the Saints wouldn't be wholly needed apart from Myst? They could only hope.
"Girls!" Victor called, already knowing his conversation was loud enough for both of them to hear; even more so for his adopted Slayer child. "Come out here, won't you? Eavesdropping is acceptable on missions but not in MY house."
"Drat!" Maria cursed, pouting her lips and recoiling from the door. Looking to Morgan, she held out a hand for her to take and opened the door to walk out with her sibling. They'd walk in front of him, still in their pajammas, and look ruffled before their more kempt and professional father. Being the one to speak, Maria furrowed her brows and said, "You're going to fight?"
"For a week, darling," He replied soothingly, as if to reassure he wouldn't be gone for long. "I'm leaving Victoria and Christina here to protect and maintain the manor. Apart from that, everyone of importance in the Guild is coming with me to Stella. Diana included, so that means you'll need to be on best behavior while I leave Yui and Maria Streak here."
"I see," Maria said with a neutral tone.
Cocking his head to his side, he looked to the two girls and leaned back against his chair, "You don't approve of me going?"
"It's not that! It's...well," She hesitated, now not wanting to be as critical to her parent's face. But, looking to Morgan she bit her lower lip and looked back at him, now with a slight fire in her eyes as she spoke her mind. "Why are you being so stingy to the Council? Aren't we supposed to help people with magic? Why would you not let the Council take Godfried in the first place? It doesn't make any sense-!"
"Whoa, slow down there," Victor interceded, raising a hand, gently holding it up to motion her to calm down. "I know you're a bit too young to understand the family business, Maria, but I do everything with the best consideration in mind. I know full well the road that would lead me if I allowed people of my employ -yes, even Godfried- be wrangled into any conflict the Council felt 'necessary' would bring me. There wouldn't be an end to it. I treasure my ability to act freely and the Phoenix Guild is exactly my representation of freedom. I'd rather not be a bird locked in a gilded cage, only let out when my 'owner' deems it necessary.
"But I'm sure that isn't the only thing you wanted to talk to me about," The Alexander Family Head continued, looking to Morgan expectantly and folding his hands together on the desk in front of him. "I'm sure you have quite a bit you want to talk to me about, don't you, Morgan?" When they where called out by their father, Morgan grabbed her sister's hand and walked with her out of their shared bedroom, amazed that they were found out despite being cautious and doing everything they could to avoid that very thing. She could only chalk it up to the amazing, almost supernatural perceptions that Victor had, as if he were reading their minds.
She listened as Maria and Victor talked about the latter's reasoning for not wanting to take part in the war. When he said that he was going to take part in the fighting personally, she scowled, not wanting to see him leave and put himself in danger. But what he told them next made her understand exactly why he wasn't keen on helping the Council outright. She doubted that if she were in the same situation that she could do the morally right thing at the expense of her freedom, something she had come to enjoy in the last few months. Being able to live and grow without fearing the wrath of someone else had always been merely a dream to her, and after finding that such a thing was real she was loathe to give it up even if it was required to do the right thing. For that, she couldn't fault her father for it, not when she already knew being entrapped and only treated as a thing to please her captor.
"Why...why did you tell them about Jadow?" she asked Victor when given the chance to speak her mind. "They already think I'm crazy, but now you too...He's got them so wrapped around his finger that they'll never really believe us." she told him, fully aware of what the monster was capable of, spinning lies in ways that made him come off as absolutely in the right, hiding his true nature as easily as a cloud could hide the sun. She was the only one who could see through him easily after all. Even the sob story he told to try and sway everyone to his side was masterfully done, making him look like the victim and her just driven to lash out wildly, further compounded by her showing of Dragon Force and losing her reasoning to the raw instinct that slumbered within her.
Smacking his lips, Victor deadpanned to his child, "About that..."
"The Council has branded you crazy?!" Maria recoiled in dramatic terror.
"No-no," He shook his head, a wry grin now worked on his face as he leaned his chin on one upraised fist. "Jarris Dowery is, after all, Jadow the Dark Dragon King."
It shook Maria's core. The whole unsettling feeling she had and the goosebumps she had about him then wasn't just her imagination. The man was a living devil wearing sheep's skin, imitating goodness to gain a seat of power that'd interfere with the good people of Ishgar. That also meant that Sin wasn't in the best hands, given it was in the hold of the Ragnarok Beast!
"Then, that means-!"
"There's more than that," Victor continued, cutting Maria off in favor of looking directly at Morgan. "Crime Sorciere had uncovered his true identity, thanks in part to you. Your activation of Dragon Force left a solid trace of his magic that Prometheus was able to find. And with some confirmation from yours truly of my suspicions, they tracked him down to Jarris Dowery's Council residence in Bosco; they did battle there. From my report, they forced him to flee with Prometheus as the victor albeit he's not in the best of shape at the moment. It'll take him a while before he fully recovers into prime fighting condition for a rematch but, best of all, he almost killed him.
"Much to their chagrin, I've kept them from continuing after him despite their loss of Prometheus but I promise that, once this week of fighting is over I'll go help them finish what they started," He finished, awaiting Morgan's response as Maria was at a loss for words.
Morgan's expression changed, a look of vindication crossed her face. At least the secret was out and Jadow would no longer be in a postion of power to influence the world at large.But when Victor revealed that Crime Sorciere had gone behind her back and directly went after the living nightmare despite her warnings, she grew angry, unconcously tightening her grip on Maria's hand for a moment before relaxing. Those idiots...they were lucky he didn't kill them all or worse, make them into slaves... she thought bitterly.
The most important information was that Jadow wasn't invincible. He could be hurt, even killed. And for the first time, Morgan believed that her lifelong goal of ridding the world of the ultimate evil was no longer a mere dream but in time could be made a reality. She was almost giddy with the idea that revenge was within her grasp at long last. "If they really did make him flee, then I know where he went...he'd go to where he could draw the most strength the fastest....and I won't show you where it is. I can't let you do something that stupid! If you lost...I'd never forgive myself." She knew her father wouldn't be dissuaded by anything, even if she begged him not to go, so refusing to share the exact location was the only option she had left. "Morgan, one thing at a time," Victor replied to his child, fully knowing she was worried about his wellbeing. "This war will take myself and all of Phoenix their best to participate in. Just because I promised only a week, I will give it my all and make sure one week was all that was necessary. If I can end the war in that time, all the better. If not, then at least I bought the people time to escape and the Legal Mages and the Monarch Allies to rally up a good counterattack. I'm not the only amazing wizard in Ishgar, you know?"
"Right! Like the Ten Wizard Saints!" Maria suddenly gushed, recalling the famous group that's predated almost the Council founded nations themselves. "And up top are the Four Gods of Ishgar, beings so wrapped in myth that people mistake them for deities! Isn't that why Godfried has the name Thundergod Saint?!"
"Among other things, yes," He replied unfettered to his bubbly daughter.
"It's okay, Morgan! Daddy's going to help end the war and come back home, safe and sound! Who knows? Maybe someone else will beat him to Jadow and end the nightmare once and for all?!" Maria optimistically assumed, knowing full well she may be asking too much; but she hoped, if only for her sister's sake.
Morgan didn't like it one bit. Fighting a war was one thing, but to fight Jadow? He was her problem to deal with, not Crime Sorciere's, not Victor's. She was the one who he chose to make into a Slayer, and that meant she was the one best-equipped to take him down, and she alone had enough of a reason to risk her life. Recalling every moment he tortured her, telling her that every ounce of pain was her own doing, it renewed her desire to see the Ragnarok Beast slain by her own hand.
Despite all the twisted thoughts in her head, she couldn't help but grin as Maria rattled off information about the Four Gods with a humorously energetic manner. Her sister was well-versed in quite a lot, and her enthusiasm was infectious at times and even the normally gloomy Nighteater couldn't remain in a sour mood around her.
"I hope somebody does." she replied in a hopeful tone to Maria's optimistic words. From the start, she had never wanted her family wrapped up in her personal vengeance, not when she knew the price they'd pay if anything went wrong. "Just...come home safe Father." she said, trying to keep her voice calm despite how worried she was.
"No guarantees," Victor answered bluntly, standing up and walking around the desk. Kneeling down, he placed his hands on both of his daughters' shoulders and looked compassionately at them with a warm smile. "But I will do my damnest to see your faces again."
After that, he pulled them into a tight hug, which Maria returned in fervor. She might never admit it, but she was worried too. Just because she was more hopeful didn't mean she had lingering doubts in her mind. But she couldn't let it show. Morgan was already still coping with what happened recently; she didn't need to worry about two people instead of just the one.
Morgan hugged Victor, trusting his words and that he'd come home to them. One thing she had always been able to trust was that he wouldn't lie. From the start, he always told the truth to her and made sure she could trust him. Even though she trusted him, the worry wouldn't leave. The last time someone told her he'd come back, it took over two years of constant hope before their long-awaited reunion.
And that was the crux of her fear, that one week would turn into two, two weeks would become a month, a month into a year. And that was why she dreaded seeing Victor leave for war. She didn't think she could hold on to the small embers of hope if he didn't come home. "You better." she told him in a mock-threatening tone, trying to break the tension over the whole ordeal.
A Sordid Recruitment[]
Victor knew that, if he was going to do what he promised, he needed all the help he could muster. A war with Iceberg was no joke, it being one of the only nations in Ishgar that could fight singlehandedly against Stella and its allies to a standstill. With the Black Rosary Axis on their side, they can feasibly wipe out all opposition without any wild cards at the IMAC transformed nations of the Council; even Stella's technologically advanced fortification and soldiers wouldn't stand a chance against the monsters at their disposal.
Which meant Victor would have to summon a monster of his own. Several years ago, Victor, Godfried and Noriko -along with a slew of other noteworthy mages- were notified by a man named Rei, someone he only met in passing. The significance was revealed when he was to be the host of Demiurge, a Demonic Lord of tremendous power who also had eight devil generals at his disposal. It took everything they had to quell the threat, but thanks to his innovative genius, he had managed to save Rei's life.
The deal was simple. If Rei kept his emotional state under a state of calm or suppression, he could keep himself from being overwhelmed. He had granted him access to magic suppression technology along with guiding him to the path of meditation and even unintentionally coupled him with a colleague and now subordinate, Noriko Hayate. However, as of late, he had heard that she hasn't seen the man in over a year and the last time she did he was slovenly intoxicated.
He had kept tabs since then and decided, that night he told the girls of his mission for the Council, to see him personally just one on one. It was a rainy night and it was at a local trading post, in the middle of the woods between Fiore and Bosco. The tavern was relatively empty, most people going to sleep for the night or it not being the shift for them to work at the lumber yard or whatever business they had to conduct. Pouring rain outside, the horse riding Victor entered in, his traveling brown cloak drenched but his suit remained dry.
Clacking his sceptre on the creaking wooden floor, he walked a few steps towards the hunched over figure, reaking even from the distance he treaded. Stopping a few meters away, Victor smiled sadly and leaned on the ruby encrusted staff, "Hello, Rei. I see the time since I last saw you hasn't been kind to you; what with you're ass being drunk and the stench being worse than the graveyard I saved you from."
Life had been hard for Rei ever since the Demon Incident. His notorious deeds done in the name of his own agenda had alienated his most worthwhile contacts in the underworld and being a goon of the Council just didn't sit right with him after all the people he hurt. Money grew scarce. Sure, doing the odd jobs here or there kept him out of debt, but even those were few and far between when it came down to needing money in a pinch.
As the years went by, he tried to start over, leaving his past where it belonged, but the things he had done had a tendency to crop up in the worst ways. His time as the Demiurge had been brief, yes, and Victor's genius ploy had mitigated the worst of the damage he could do, but lives were lost all the same. He still felt guilty that the only way to avoid a slow death was to fulfil his contract with the Demon of Air, Beelzebub to resurrect its master, becoming host to the Demon God.
At first, Noriko helped keep the regrets from consuming him, and the meditaton helped to reign in the demon inside, but a few years after the fusion of man and monster, it started to torture him mentally with images of what it would do should his control ever slip, even for a single moment. In the nightmares, he saw his hands around Noriko's throat, crushing her windpipe without a care before turning on the few people who still gave enough of a care about him. Eventually, he started trying to drink himself into a coma or even death, preferring oblivion to having to be a vessel to such a creature. To that end, he returned to his favorite bar and rekindled his friendship with the bartender, Karasu. Ever since, Rei spent most of his time at the bar drinking his life away.
When he noticed Victor coming close, he slowly turned his head to face his savior, clearly drunk and had been for a long while. "D-d-did Nori ssssend you?" he slurred. While he had angrily shut the woman out of his life for her own good, he still cared for her. He wished he could take it all back, but Rei felt as if he burned up every second chance, that he was condemned to be nothing more than a pawn in some cosmic game where the objective was to ruin his life. "I...I-I'm not apologizzzzing for anything..." he continued before taking a swig of the last beer Karasu would let him have for the night. "Oh, I'm sure you have plenty to apologize to her about," Victor answered, not skipping a beat after hearing the intoxicated man slur out a retort only fit for a gaggle of fools to listen to. Leaning his sceptre slightly to the right, he furrowed his brows, hardening his stare to be a bit more critical. "But first, you should apologize to me for going through the heinous trouble of saving your life from the Demon Lord we stopped those years ago. Last time I checked, you were indebted to me and I helped you in the best way I could. I gave you magic suppression devices, taught you how to control your breathing and gave you guides for meditation. You even had the unexpected boon of having an endearing relationship with my colleague -now subordinate- Noriko. I only learned just a year ago that things went sour and neither I or your spurned lover can figure why.
"So, that being said," He approached him, taking a seat with an audible creak on the aging wooden support of the stool, never letting go of his sceptre while eyeing up the man with a hint of a smile on his face. "Why don't you regale me as to when this all went so, as you'd say, "Tits Sideways", hm?" The former criminal eyed the most powerful man in Ishgar. Even drunk as he was, he knew better than to refute the good that Victor had done on his behalf. But it didn't matter. The Demon God wanted out and all Rei could do was hope to do was stall his second rebirth, to fight back against that fate. But that wasn't the only reason he drank himself into an empty sleep like the dead every night. It spared him the pain of losing the person he loved most.
He smirked when his benefactor tried to use his own words, but there was no real joy in his eyes, only the pain of a man who longed to break free of his own vices, to be able to set himself back on the right path. "Vic...S-some peo-people can't be saved. We're too...gone. Nori deserves better. But fine...you want to know? He's coming back! And wh-when he does, he...he..." trailing off for a moment, Rei finished his beer. "He'll kill her. Because I'm not strong enough! I've tried everything but I found that...he can't control me or show me things if I sh-shut down entirely. And I don't need Noriko to see me like this..." he briefly glanced at Victor's cane. Smart man...I wouldn't trust me either.
"I'm sorry you wasted your time trying Victor. If she asks...I died in a ditch, like I deserve." He shook, trying to hide the sobs that wracked through his body. He wanted to cry, to scream, to fight against his fate, but most of all to have a chance, no matter how small to make things right again. But he couldn't cry, he had done enough of that when he first pushed his lover away, when he gave up on all the good things in his life.
Victor empathized with the man. He didn't have the turmoil of having another ethereal being wresting for control, for dominance of his own soul and mind. He performed meditation and exercise as a means of keeping himself in shape, in prime fighting condition for any situation that called for it. He had suggested the practices he lent him for the sake of clearing his mind and keeping his soul pure.
Whatever the Demon had shown him, it must have been awful to behold. Even if they were beyond its control, the lies could be fabricated enough to look genuinely real. As long as he felt that he could give in and give it the power to do as it pleases, the visions might as well be the truth. Still, his downcast attitude towards him and his lost beloved drew a pursed pair of lips that hissed through them.
"Famous last words there, Rei," He began to say, just as the door of the tavern burst open.
A pair of running feet followed a somersaulting leap, an athletic leg raised up and a pair of angry, yellow eyes glaring down at the drunken person till the heel of her sandal covered foot slammed onto his head. The whole of the counter smashed with his body thrusting through it, wooden splinters flying awry with nary touching Victor as he closed his eyes and sighed with a shake of his head. Even as Rei was buried in debris, Noriko stamped on his back, angrily shouting down at him.
"DIED IN A DITCH, MY ASS!" She hollered, grinding her sole on the bridge of his spine. "YOU THINK I'D TAKE SUCH BULLSHIT FROM YOU?! IN WHAT WAY DOES THIS HELP ANYBODY BUT YOURSELF, YOU DIM WITTED MORON?!"
Rei barely had time to register Victor's words before he felt first the draft from the doors being forced open and then a mighty kick to his skull, the shock of going through the bar itself was soon followed by more agonizing pulses as he was stomped on repeatedly.
In his intoxicated stupor, it took him a moment to realize that he was being abused by the love of his life. Though he didn't deny that he deserved it, not after all he put her through, he wasn't just going to take it lying down. Between her stomping him into the floor, the pounding headache and the debris that gathered underneath him pressing against his chest painfully, everything hurt. He pushed up enough to give himself the room to roll away from her foot and stand up, swaying and staggering as he got his bearings.
Karasu's gonna be pissed when he sees this... he thought, though his main focus wasn't even on the chaos that surrounded him. A ruined bar could wait, besides it wasn't his fault that he was literally put through the bar. "Y...you shouldn't be here Noriko..." he issed, trying to keep a cold attitude, though his real feeling bubbled up behind his icy facade. "So what if I want to fake my own death? It's better than both of us suffering. At least with that bullshit story...I hoped you could have been able to be happy without me." he told her, walking over the ruined tavern floor, shards and splinters cracking under his boots. He stumbled and nearly fell, making what he intended to look dramatic instead appear comical. "Oh, so the last year of us being separated was you trying to make ME happy?! What kind of LOGIC is that?!" Noriko howled out, stamping hard enough to make the ground splinter and the tavern shake. Meanwhile, Victor had retrieved a checkbook and began writing out some zeroes to make sure it'd cover the damage and then some. All the while Noriko glared heatedly at Rei, incensed at his choice words were.
"I thought you were better than this, Rei. I thought WE were better than whatever boogeyman kept you up at night. I thought you had faith in my ability to keep you straight, just as I had faith that you'd keep yourself under control. Clearly you had neither, and thought I was just some helpless lamb waiting to be slaughtered. What about the things Vic did for you? OR Godfried?! How often are you going to spit at the hands that feed, care and hold you until you feel like you've made us happy while you wallowed in self pity?! Even in your deranged world, how is ANYONE happy from this outcome?!"
Rei stopped dead in his tracks. Noriko's temper was frightening to behold, and with him being the cause of her ire, he didn't like his position. But he had made his choices simply to protect everyone from something beyond him, something that if let loose even for the briefest second could cause irreperable harm and a leave only a wake of destruction behind it. All the nightmares, flashbacks and fears had pushed him down the path he now walked, one that could only end with him alone, and no matter how hard he looked, there was no escape from that miserable fate.
But where he had given up, others still cared enough to pull him back from that ledge. "I...I don't know how anyone could be happy! But I don't deserve any second chances after what I've done. I don't have that right anymore! So why, why do you even care?!" he shouted back at her before sighing, his next words said in a soft voice. "I never doubted that we could get through this...I never stopped wanting to be with you, but I'm scared, Nori. I'm so scared. And I never wanted to hurt you...I'm a stupid man, I know. Dim-witted doesn't even cover it. I had everything and threw it all away."
"Rei," Noriko replied, her voice less harsh and more empathetic. "I know. I remember you having the nightmares, how you'd toss and turn, how I'd have to hold you tight to help you get through some nights. You think you've always been alone in this, but you're not! I've always been there for you; can't you help me out and promise to do the same? I knew the risks better than anyone after the day; I've SEEN his face! He can kiss my ass for all I care, because you know what? You're a better man than he is evil!"
"She's right," Victor finally interceded, placing a check on the counter -the part that hadn't been demolished- and rose back to his feet, smiling at him with reassurance in his voice. "You're stronger than you think. If you hadn't informed myself, Godfried and the others about what happened, we wouldn't be here to have that conversation. I think you two can mend your broken ties and start anew.
"Unfortunately, I'm not here purely for alturistic reasons," He contiued, sighing as he clacked his cane and walked over to Rei, standing face to face with the man. "I don't know how much you know about the world but we've entered a crisis that effects every nation west of Iceberg. War has come and its led by the Blood Queen's Coven and the Black Hell Guild; the very same one that smashed the Midnight Giants Noriko and Godfried were a part of. Combined with Iceberg, no less, they're going to raze the earth and destroy everything they can't take by force. I need your power, Rei; the world needs your power, if you'll join me." Rei was stunned. He hadn't expected her to constantly reaffirm her faith in him after all he had done, not when he had done his damnedest to push her away. And no matter how hard he tried to forget how he felt, he couldn't stop loving her. But he couldn't say anything before Victor interrupted their discussion, one long-overdue and one he had longed to have more than anything.
He had expected Victor had more than one reason to track down such a worthless drunkard in the middle of the night, but war was not on the list of things he had in mind. While he wanted to refuse, being a hero was not something he did, the fact it was the man who spared him asking for aid gave Rei enough of a reason to take up arms once again. Learning that Godfried and Noriko had been attacked by one of the parties behind the war only served to rile him up further; he had a hunch that Victor specifically let that bit of information slip to provide just that much more incentive.
"I'll do it. On one condition. If I lose control, you stop me. I don't care how." he said calmly. Are you sure about this, Rei? a voice asked in the back of his mind. The Demiurge had awoken with the prospect of war. The more of my power you call on, the less you can hold me back, remember? How long can you hold your head above the flood? And when you do slip..I don't need to remind you, do I?. it taunted him before seemingly fading back into the furthest reaches of his subconcious mind, simply content to bide its time.
"I cannot stop it anymore than you can overpower it. But you are its master, not the other way around," Victor affirmed, placing a hand on his shoulder and grinning confidently at him. "Besides, there is someone I cannot defeat in this war, a being who is above human perfection. Even still, I will challenge her and I will come out victorious; not because I'm more powerful than she is, but because I'm better than she is in every other way."
"Strong words, Vic," Noriko retorted, crossing her arms and striding over to shoulder bump into Rei, leaning almost affectionately against him. "You think she's just going to let you, given she knows what you have up your sleeves from your little scuffle from before?"
"Oh, I have more up my sleeves than a little smoke and mirrors," The Alexander Head chuckled, twisting on his foot and leading them out the door. "Now come! We've got a war to win; precisely in a week, or else it's up to everyone else."
For Rei, hearing Victor's words eased his mind, even just a little bit. He would need to redouble his efforts to keep the Demiurge contained, even when drawing on it, no matter how much. Flashing a grin of his own, he listened as the man explained there was a being that stood above humanity, something that seemingly had massive levels of power. He would put money on the person in question being the one atop the group calling itself the Coven. Whoever she was, she obviously had made a very dangerous enemy. And briefly, Rei almost felt pity for the woman responsible for the war, almost.
When Noriko leaned on him, his grin softened into a small smile. He had spent a year wanting nothing more than to have her next to him; this time he'd do all that he could to keep her beside him and to make up for his idiotic mistakes. Within a matter of moments, he found himself leaning on her more to support himself as his body cried out for sleep to cope with the alcohol flooding his system.
"That...that's great Vic..." he replied, with a yawn, urging himself onward to follow the IMAC leader. A week's time to end a war sounded daunting, but he was sure with his incredible power and Victor's leadership and resources, they would be done in no time, but before anything, he dreaded the fight to come, a hangover loomed just on the horizon for him.
A Line Drawn In Frost[]
During the eve of the morning, Victor had assembled all of the Phoenix Elites. From himself, Diana Lance, Noriko Hayate, Wess Smith, Godfried and Rei, they've mounted up an elite squad to utilize on the enemy lines. Thrusting off in the Skyhawk -helmed by Diana's steady hands- Victor got in touch via Thought Projection Ring with the General of Stella's military forces. While a few squads of Armed Wizards had arrived to help buffer them, only the magic-tech equipped soldiers and Stella's Legal Mages were all that stood in the way of a massive shroud of obscuring darkness, covering landscape as far as the Skyhawk's viewing shield could see.
"They're hiding their numbers. A clever maneuver," Victor intoned, locking his ring into the map-port where the majority of the standing or seated passengers of the Skyhawk were in wait. "NEST, can you find a gap between the fog to get us a reading of what we're dealing with?"
"One moment, Master Victor."
"I don't like this," Noriko voiced her thoughts, pacing along the lobby of the fighter-transport with arms crossed over her voluptuous chest. "Why haven't they launched an assault yet? It's almost like they were waiting for us."
"Untrue," The Phoenix Master replied, gesturing with one hand while the other fiddled with his sceptre. "Our transaction was very private and very few people know we're on our way. For all they know, we are just another batch of Council forces to reinforce the position. From what I'm told by the General, Stella's national barrier was breached days ago and Iceberg's National Magic: Ice Age.
"It is likely they've been encroaching upon their borders slowly, waiting for the defenders to make the first strike. Not out of a moral quandry, to be sure, but of tactical ability to keep proverbial cards to the chest until their enemy advances first; giving up a defensive position and losing their solid ground."
"So, how do you want to play this?" Godfried inquired, his own chin cupped as he sat on a seat facing the display screen of the battleground and the impending fog; swirling enigmatically frost and snow in its unseen veil.
"I'm wondering that myself. Since we don't know what lies beyond the fog, they could be waiting to strike up barries -if they haven't already- or have a legion of troops equipped with Holder Items and magicians ready to strike. Perhaps there is only a few well concealed but powerful enemies. There's too many factors to consider and the fog grows closer with every passing minute," Victor admitted, confessing his ideas as he looked hard while NEST did its best to penetrate the vision obscuring spell. "I'll wait till my network informs me if there's anything I can pick up. I'm open for suggestions while I think up of a plan if my system fails." Rei had spent most of his night sleeping off his copious alcohol consumption the night before, waking up in an unfamiliar bed, one far better than he ever remembered sleeping in no less, a raging hangover making even opening his eyes quite a challenge. Lights, sounds, even his own pulse seemed to make things worse. Note to self...Stop drinking so much. he thought bitterly as nausea swept through him. After a few hours to slowly urge himself up, he managed at least to greet the day. He looked at himself in a nearby mirror, looking much how he did before the Demon God took over his body, only far more tired and weary. Regardless, he had a reason to look forward again, to keep going and that brought a smile out of him, the first real expression of happiness since he had pushed Noriko away. He had her back, even after all he had done and he could finally repay Victor for sparing him when he deserved death. He just had to keep having faith in himself, his comrades and his love that no matter how terrible things became that they could survive.
The flight to Iceberg was quiet, and for that, he was thankful. The hangover kept him on edge. He had expected Godfried to give him hell for his stupidity; when no such tirade came, the former Dark Mage had a hunch that it was only for the sake of their little strike force that he was spared the Thunder Saint's wrath. While they were discussing what to do, he remained laying on a nearby couch, his arm held over his face to block out the lights.
"I could just drop down and start softening them up. While I handle things from the front, you guys can swing around and hit 'em from the rear. They won't be able to deal with a two-pronged assault from all of us like that." As he spoke, a little clown doll-like being walked across the room, leaped up from the floor and gracefully landed on the back of the couch. The mysterious being had been following Rei ever since he shut everyone out of his life and despite his best efforts wouldn't follow suit, sticking with him perpetually. The Demiurge claimed it was his host's personal familiar, a low-ranking demon that would follow him for the rest of his life. And it sure seemed as if it would; no matter how much he tried to get away from it, the sentient doll would find it way back without fail, teleporting to his side. After a few attempts to do so, he relented and let the being that he named Akuba stick around.
Akuba made a sound of disapproval, it's black eyes glaring at Rei angrily. "Oh, like you have a better plan." he snarked at it. "If I go first, I have the best chance of tearing through them and minimising casualties."
"Dumbass, didn't you hear what Vic said?" Noriko asked with a deadpanned expression, angrily turning towards Rei as if what he said was utter nonsense. "It's a complete fog of war, in the most literal sense! You jumping into the front lines might get you caught in some trap barriers or reflexive Caster Magic! It'd be suicide-"
"For anyone but Rei," Wess countered, smoking while leaning against a wall of the Skyhawk, eyes closed and completely relaxed. Despite the earned ire of Noriko, he exhaled fumes from his nostrils, opening his eyes lazily up at her before looking to Rei. "You saw what this man is capable of, right? Both before and after that incident? He could shred anything a basic offensive force, magic or not, would put up against him. He's perhaps one of the strongest Mages in the world that isn't a Wizard Saint by designation."
"It's still stupid and sloppy!" Noriko barked.
"I'd say, go for it," Godfried stoically affirmed, earning a balking look from Noriko. "I'll strafe overhead, maybe blow away the fog so he can get a clear view. When he drops, I'll provide ground to air support while you guys swing around and flank the frontlines from behind while Diana keeps in the sky."
"It is a plan," Victor affirmed, looking to the NEST and, to no avail, it couldn't pierce the cloud of magic. Looking once more to Rei, acknowledging his grimace of being sober for the first time in months if not the year he went underground. It'd be risky, but perhaps a bit of fight or flight jolt would wake him up even more? "Are you committed to this plan, Rei? If not, I'll try something else..."
Rei expected Noriko to tell him off the moment he suggested his plan. Had anyone told him all those years ago he'd be suggestion such a thing to begin with, he would have agreed that it was stupid, but now knowing that he could force the Demiurge to play along and draw out the bulk of their shared power, there was nothing he would rule out. It was the only plan that could capitalize on his immense strength to the fullest. Even entire armies were like flies compared to him once he got going. His plan was to bury the entire conflict before anyone else even had a chance to touch down and try to regroup, a feat that he believed was within his realm of ability.
"The gunslinging chimney is right Nori. I'm the most equipped for this. They won't be able to do more than annoy me." he said softly. "Besides, with God raining havoc from above, I'll have plenty of cover." he slowly lurched into a sitting postion as he spoke. "If you're worried that I'll get hurt, don't. He won't let me die, you know that." he said, looking directly at his love sympathetically.
He stood up, getting his bearings. "I'm committed to it, that's not a problem. Don't attack for at least ten minutes, let me and Godfried soften them up a bit first." he instructed. Even solo, in the span of ten minutes he could ravage hundreds if not thousands of enemy soldiers depending on where in their formation he struck first.
Akuba squeaked in annoyance, trying to voice how much it thought its master's plan irritated it, "Hey, you're the key to this. If I need help, it's your job to bring them to me." he told it. It scowled at him all the same, but it seemed to relent, feeling important now. "If you're sure about this-"
"I'M NOT!" Noriko shouted loudly, making everyone -but Wess Smith- wince at the decibels of her outraged cry.
"-Noriko, that isn't your decision to make," Victor coolly invoked, bringing her angry face to bear against his stoic stare back at her while remaining emotionless in the fact of her heated emotions. "Leave personal feelings and history aside, for we are combatants in a war. I am your commander, and this war will be fought under my leadership. This isn't a democracy, I asked simply for suggestions, not to give your opinions weight as if they are of higher merit than mine. Do we understand each other?"
Deflated like a balloon, the Burst Mage recoiled and clutched her arm, biting her lip and looking away ashamed, muttering under her breath, "Sorry, Victor. I-I know better than that. I'm just...worried about him."
"I know. But you should know how much I cherish each member of my Guild. Though we are small, we are also mighty and each of us count in spades compared to the dozens if not hundreds of wizards employed in many famous guilds across the globe. We are the Phoenix and we burn all to ash, scooping up the ashes and reborn again in fire no matter what the outcome," He declared, his countenance more assured and his smile returned as a glow of confidence radiated from his body, his Magical Aura being an opaque silver with mingling darkness flaking off his shoulders and hair. "And we will crush the enemy, without quarter or mercy!"
After the speech was made, everyone exchanged looks of steeled resolve and grins of affirmation. They knew that, with Victor at the head of this battle, there was no way they could lose. Still, even with an ominous eerie unknown that the fog contained, they couldn't help but wonder what lied beyond the brink...?
"Master Victor," Diana called out from the cockpit. "We're almost on top of the fog."
"Don't fly into it. We don't know if it has dampening properties that'd effect the Skyhawk," Victor commanded, Diana acknowledging as she rose up until the transport was right over it. The landing bay opened, unrolling stairs and giving a clear chilling howl as they slowed over it. The Phoenix Master nodded to the two, Godfried inclining his head for Rei to follow.
"Rei!" Noriko called for his attention, briefly grabbing hold of him and bringing him into a tight embrace; whispering into his ear. "Don't die out there, okay?" Rei winced as his hangover continued to rage, not helped by Noriko's shouting. But he didn't complain, she just cared about him even after all he had done, after all. But there was no one more suited for slipping into the fog and getting an advantage. Are you sure Rei? Are you really sure you want to fight for them? Aren't you afraid of slipping and losing control? the Demiurge taunted, cackling.
The host ignored his parasitic alter-ego's voice in favor of listening as Victor rallied the group with an inspring speech. They were going to win and it would be a one-sided battle; Iceberg would fall to the Phoenix Guild and in no time at all the war would be won, they could go home and he could finally set his life back in order and this time do it right. He had a goal worth fighting for and nothing in all the world would push him back into the dark corner of his life that he now so desperately fought to leave behind.
When Noriko called for him, he turned to face her and hugged her tight. "I won't if you won't." he promised, conveying how he felt right then in only a few words. He broke off the hug and made his way to the stairs, leaping from them without fear, speeding down to the ground.
As he fell, a white spectral mass began to emerge from the twin cross-shaped scars on his arms, becoming a body length, form-fitting one-piece suit complete with a white cowel that had violet-hued crystals in place of eye-holes. The mostly featureless garb was the only way he could control the Demon God's powers, wearing it like a second skin. Moments before impact, he flipped around and landed on his feet with cat-like grace and looked around, hoping to see what was so terrifying that it had to be shrouded all this time.
"Ah, the first fool has entered my fog," A voice spoke around Rei. What had felt like frozen water had now become increasingly cold around him, as if he was walking into a deep freezer. As the hair on his head began to freeze his suit would be layered by frost, swirling all around like a white-out. Even as the howling swathed over him, words continued to enter his ears as if the fog itself was speaking. "I smell the blood of a man with a hint of demon inside. Perhaps you're not as foolish as I thought? However, entering here won't change anything; you can't see what lies beyond the veil and we can see you plenty."
Whistling would sound as a slew of ice arrows thrust through the air, barely visible in the dense fog that blew around like a blizzard. Once they'd touch, they'd explode into showers of expansive ice that'd encroach over the body while shattering body parts or shredding them with razor ice edges. As the attacks continued to make their barrage, the layer of smog continued to get closer to the battleground.
"Alright, time to give him a hand," Godfried spoke, his body levitating into the air as his Wind Magic suspended him in the heavens above the freezing fog. Clapping his hands together, he slowly separated his palms, forming crackling electricity of blue hue. Siphoning air currents whirled around his arms, forming at the point of his electricity being generated. A large sigil formed in front of himself in the shape of an elaborate storm cloud with lightning tendrils stretching out; just as he generated a monstrous Magical Aura that expanded over the fog, casting a storm cloud that rapidly expanded and overtook the battleground's skyline.
"Storm Magic!" The Thundergod Saint bellowed, his body imperceivable except for a magnified silhouette -one of swirling wind and lightning sprouting from his glowing blue eyes- in the storm cloud's epicenter. "Violent Storm Lance Shower!"
Howling shrieks tore through the gale of the swirling fog, spiraling wind currents thrust at the speed of the lightning bolts streaking inside and outside the twisters. Impaling the earth, each one will shatter enormous fissures of frozen earth, pulling in the fog and scattering hundreds of electrical tendrils to shoot indiscriminately at the earth. Within moments of the dozens of electrical twister spears crashing into the ground, the fog was eliminated and out revealed shattered to torn ice laid land of the once fertile soil of Stella.
Concealed in camoflauge, soldiers of Iceberg were sent scattering from the blasts, their crossbows smashed or thrown out of their grip as they'd be pulled into proximate twisters and hailed with debris to electrocuted by the countless bolts of shocking light. There had been hundreds if not over a thousand men hiding within the fog, now being annihilated around battleground.
Yet, behold, behind the fog laid a thicker fog still and a marching martial force that approached the desolated and dangerous zone of atmopsheric terror barring their approach. One of them was robed in a thick fur coat of white furred trimming with grey wolf fur sewn into the robe. A staff made out of ice encrusted bone -looking like the spine of an artic bear- he gestured towards the battlefield and caused enormous animated wolf-heads to form out of the encroaching fog beyond Gofried's Storm spell. They clashed with the twisters, crashing vibrantly in a flash of scattering ice that showered the earth with more frozen vapor, dispelling the twisters and the shooting bolts of lightning.
While the barren wasteland was clear, the storm cloud loomed ominously overhead, making the Fog Wizard to crane his unseen face to look up.
"I see the Wizard Saints have sent one of the Four Gods to confront us. A wise decision, if not futile," Lowering his head, he craned his neck at the man in the distance, reaching a hand to scratch his shadow concealed chin, icy blue eyes peering through the hidden visage. "But I don't know you. Best take care of you personally-
"-Right?" Suddenly, out of the frozen ground emerged an ice layered body of the Fog Wizard behind Rei. Swinging his staff around, the bludgeoning would release an explosive release of expanding ice power; vapor and shredding ice released at an enormous scale with unprecedented speed at the point of impact meant to imprison and/or blast him away across the battleground. Rei hadn't been prepared for the cold, but within seconds, his demonic suit adapted. Nothing compared to Eligos at least. he thought, remembering the ice demon's abilities, which were now a part of himself, granting him near immunity to the element. Not only Eligos but all the Demon Lords were a part of him, granting eight magics to use as he saw fit, with the power to use them all effectively. The moisture froze and crackled around him. Without the suit, he would be dead, of that he was sure. A mysterious voice began to speak to him, as if it were the wintery winds themselves spoke. How does this guy know I'm a demon? Doesn't matter...time to fight.
Even as the wind raged around him, as long as his magic power held, he was almost invincible. When the icy arrows began to rain down around him, he remained as calm as he could under the circunstances and merely drew upon the Air magic that dwelled within him, summoning a wall of Airspace that the fridgid projectiles slammed against.
As Godfried rained down the storms and lightning bolts upon the army, scattering them and preventing an effective counter assault, Rei recalled having such a terrible and frightening magic directed at himself. He let out a sigh of relief, glad it wasn't him that the Saint was trying to wipe out.
His senses were alerted by the sudden arrival of the wizard behind the fog and only a timely use of Lilith's aspect, Void Magic, summoning his personal sword, kept him from being struck directly. The moment the blade came into contact with the icy staff, he brought Lucifer's fire elemental magic to bear, surrounding his weapon in unholy flames, being shoved back only cause of the Fog Wizard's power unleashing a hyper-sonic shockwave at the contact, catching even the semi-demonic combatant off guard. Unsure of if the attack was a Caster or Holder spell, Rei decided to play it smart and use his powers to their fullest, tossing his weapon towards the mage, only to use his Void Magic to swap it's location in physical space with the mage's staff, keeping it's momentum, the point aimed at the man's face.
The ice layered Fog Wizard was surprised at the fluent magicks cast in succession of each other. They all had demonic taste in the air, a vapid color coating each one to use to dispel his spell outright. Narrowing his eyes, he saw that the man warped space and ignite his flames to vaporize the ice that he had instantly manifested; the combination of which caused an explosion of two extremes of temperature meeting together. While he himself also skidded back from the blace, he braced himself when he saw the man throw his sword and raised his staff accordingly.
Until the staff slipped out of his grasp, replacing it with the flying sword's edge thrusting straight through his face past the hood out the other side. A sickening crack was heard, following the complete crystallization of the figure along with the blade, shattering into a flurry of shrapnel of shards. The staff, left to impale the ground before him, released a howling fissure of fog that circled around Rei, unleashing hundreds of icy darts while clouding his vision.
"I see you are a true blooded demon, wearing the skin of a man. It seems there are no real heroes on either side, it seems; we all use monsters to achieve our end goals," The Fog Wizard's voice echoed from the freezing mist as the hail continued to assault him all around. "Though you're not very bright...would a real Wizard expose themselves to an unknown so easily?"
Godfried, meanwhile, was delaying the march of the Iceberg forces through a harry of lightning bolts from his storm cloud. Guided by his hand, they struck ice-crusted barriers formed over shield-wearing men and to his grimace there had yet to be a Iceberg magician among them. Their equipment and weapons were enchanted to the point it didn't matter; they all used Holder Items to put them on the level of experienced mages.
But on the other hand, the fog wasn't as thick as it was before. They're less exposed, revealing ranks of hundreds upon hundreds all in file and protecting themselves, reforming after loss of casualties. No demoralization was had despite the thousand plus men that were annihilated earlier by the Thundergod Saint. Gritting his teeth, Godfried kept the storm cloud in place and chose a more direct approach.
Instantaneously, a thunderclap later and he exploded at teleportating speed into a column of armored Iceberg soldiers. The electrical currents carried with them, frying them to the bone and pulsing those not as or completely effected back from the shockwave.Coursing with howling pressure and eyes glowing with sparks coursing around his steely brow. Drawing his trench knife from his Wizard Saint cloak, he flipped it by its ring before holding it in reverse grip, baring teeth and throbbing with magical energy that cast a blue-white halo around his body.
"COME AND GET ME, ASSHOLES!" He howled, drawing the soldiers' attention to the enormity of magical pressure instead of the distant battle line Stella's own troops had formed.
Rei hadn't expected to win easily, so when the fog mage shattered before his eyes, destroying his sword in the process, all he could do was roll his eyes. But that's when the staff unleashed a swirling malestrom of ice fragements and howling wind that any lesser man would have been consumed by. Only his suit made of demonic energy kept him from being ripped apart, although the high-speed shards still stung with enough blunt force that he could feel them despite his protection.
Air Magic...Counter Gale! he growled out, forming a gust of his own, one that spun in the opposite direction and overpowered the ice storm that consumed him. I don't have time for this...every second counts. he thought bitterly. In exchange for the power, he had to leave himself unguarded mentally from the assault of the Demiurge, a fact he had to keep quiet, at least until the war was over. And while God was drawing attention, it gave him the opprotunity to run wild and draw out the mastermind behind it all. If the man generating the fog was dealt with, then perhaps their fortunes would turn around, giving them an edge.
He couldn't pinpoint his target's magic power directly, there were simply too many signatures to sift through and not enough time to track them all down. It would be exhausting under the best of circumstances but with the fear of what could happen. With that madman still on the loose, he knew he couldn't let Godfried be exposed. Teleporting over with another burst of Void Magic, he joined in the fight, wondering if his target was among their number. Running into the horde of charging soldiers, he generated elemental swords of lighting and flames, striking down as many as he could. Godfried noticed a wind of death sweep beside him. As his knife flipped from hand to hand, he deflected and jabbed or thrusted into a number of weak points of his targets, electroctuting with each contact before crunching them with raw force with his free hand, foot, knee or elbow. The sheer scale of the carnage ramped from dozens to hundreds in a matter of seconds and the waves of ice-layered soldiers kept coming.
"Hey, weren't you fighting that Fog guy a second ago?!"
As he asked this, the hooded man manifested beneath him, thrusting his staff up with a frozen spear edge on his rod. Avoiding at the last possible second in a burst of static, Godfried's back shocked his enemies he ran into, automatically deflecting them with his aura as they tried to hit him at his blindspots before he swung an arm to release a blast of air pressure to push more away; this sufficiently discouraged them. Just as soon as he threw his Blitz Rand at him, the Fog Wizard gestured his fingers and his body turned to fog, coalescing around the lighting-magic weapon and dialed it around to hurl it at Rei.
Doing this as a distraction, he reappeared in a surge of ice-vapor behind Rei, both hands covered in fog and unleashing a pair of thrusting palms with the force of a micro-blizzard in a single ice-covered sigil in the air. Exploding ice surged out and formed what looked like a quarter of an iceberg that expanded and shattered into tens of thousands of icicles that surged forward like bullet propelled spears. By the time Godfried retrieved his weapon, he deflected and blasted the ice sent his way, grimacing with anger at being toyed with. "It was a fake!" Rei shouted back over the din of battle. With his magically-made weapons, he mowed through swaths of soldiers, merely cannon fodder, trying to wound them only enough to keep them out of his path, earning scorn from the Demiurge, who's voice constantly echoed in his head. Rei, you pathetic excuse for a demon host...Discard your rules and just stop holding back. We could end this war in a DAY if you would just give in!
Distracted by the parasitic spirit, he didn't realize he was in danger from Godfried's weapon until it was almost too late. "Air Magic: Gale Gun!" he barked, holding a hand towards the dagger, repelling it back towards its owner. Only then did he realize he walked right into the trap, his main target was right behind him, ready to bury him under tons of ice. Not enough time...Shit! he mentally cursed as his body was consumed by the avalanche of razor-sharp icicles. Piercing needles and the crushing weight pushed him into a momentary black-out, a state he was well-aquainted with.
See? I told you, you can't protect anyone like this, can you? The time for holding back is over mortal. If you died here, what then? Give in! Show the world what you really can do!
A raging wall of flame surged into the skies surrounded by hurricane force winds with Rei at the epicenter, the amethyst eyes of his mask glowing as the firestorm dispersed, erasing the entire mass of ice in merely a second, a testement to the power of the Eight Generals and their God. Just..A bit more. He's right there! the host told himself, If I can get close enough, even if this one is a copy too...I'll find him! He broke into a sprint towards the Fog Mage, fully intent on grabbing him.
"Rei!" Godfried cried out, witnessing him become encroached by shards of ice, a magic carved iceberg of jagged icicles jutting out at an angle produced and fired in his vicinity. Snarling, he let loose a wide berth of Wind Magic, throttling himself around in a twister around at an angle towards where the latest incarnation of their mutual enemy was located. Without looking in his direction, the Fog Wizard snapped his stave his way, letting loose a fissure of frozen moisture that took the shape of a large wolf, biting down and pushing him back.
Growling, he let loose a surge of lightning, vaporizing the fog in a broad pulse; simultaneously as Rei had forced out a demonic pillar of flame with his body at its epicenter. Without even batting an eye, the man dropped to the ground and ran pell mell at the Fog Wizard, a mad dashing attempt to get close and personal. From his position, he could see the mage tap his staff, causing crawling fissures of ice rush towards the berserk opponent.
Before they'd reach, Godfried used the Twister Coaster to intercept, landing mightily between the stampeding fissures and the racing Rei in a blast of circling wind that broke the ice and twisted it around him. Stamping on the earth, Godfried thrust a left palm towards the Fog Wizard, a Jet Lance to clash with one of his arms to distract him while his left foot's sole produced a sigil of lightning that snaked across the conductive frozen earth to surge around his body. Constricted by the currents of his Lightning Minefield spell, this held him up long enough for this version of the Fog Wizard to be grabbed by Rei; something that Godfried had caught onto with how insistent his body language was. Rei's eyes widened as he saw the cracks racing along the ground towards him. Even with his ability to walk on air any shards jutting from the ground would still hinder him unless he got enough height. But that raised a different problem, He'd still lose time and speed climbing up. Just before he had to decide on a plan, Godfried intercepted the fissures speeding towards him and buying him the precious seconds he needed to close the gap and latch on to the Fog Mage.
Within seconds of making physical contact, Rei was able to visualize the flow of magic from the copy to the main caster who stood on a nearby hill overlooking the frozen chaos that his magic wrought, leaving him nowhere to hide. Using one more burst of Void Magic to teleport across the distance in the blink of an eye, standing right behind the real Fog Mage in mere moments despite the vast gap between them. "Not so smart are you? Did you really think I wouldn't have ways of tracking you?" he asked as he materialized, placing a hand on the man's shoulder tightly as a warning. If he even tried to flee, the specteral avatar of the Lord of Demons would put him down.
Stop being so nice. You could kill him right now...Or are you too scared to? You used to only avoid harming children. When did you change the rule? the Demiurge asked him, unable to understand the logic of his host at that moment. "I'll give you a chance to end this without any more bloodshed. Surrender. Now." Rei ordered, hoping to stop this battle from becoming more of a nightmare than it already was. He already had enough blood on his hands for his liking. "If you don't do what I say, you'll just be another victim."
To say the Fog Wizard was surprised would be an understatement. He had made good work to keep his true form hidden while using the ice that continued to spread as a means of covering his residual Ethernano. But this man only needed to touch one of his Ice-Clones and he could instantly trace him; no doubt a work of his demon blood that enacted this flawless perception. The grip on his shoulder was tight, painful and brought his hidden visage into a grimace of confusion that turned into a sour glare.
"Ah, a demon with a sense of humor. You want to be a pacifist and end conflict without the shedding of blood? I don't think that's going to happen, with or without my person remaining among the living. However, I don't intend you to walk away so easily!" Rei's hand began to freeze, ice crawling up his fingers over his hand up towards his arm as the whole of the man's body began to exude a damning chill. Smashing his staff into the earth, he made an unseen sign from his left hand's fingers, arching them into an oval before carving a sigil into the air of an unknown design. Within seconds after the biting chill of the ice crawling up Rei's proximate hand, a sudden explosion of freezing moisture let loose from his whole body, soon becoming a palace of ice that shot out and dissipated the fog entirely, leaving the man encased inside with the possibility that Rei would be frozen with him or that he'd be knocked away by the rapidly growing shards of ice and the blast of freezing wind.
Just as this moment happened, a familiar triage of people dropped from the Skyhawk cutting off further reinforcements that Godfried was dealing with. Wess utilized his Accelerator Magic to carve through their ranks, dodging and slowing down their projectiles and spells sent their way. Noriko pulverized the squadrons of troops firing their weapons and attacking at close quarters. Meanwhile Victor stabbed his scepter into the ground and let loose snaking tendrils of electricity, shocking dozens to hundreds of men instantly before letting loose plumes of fire from the stave in addition to the stunned troops.
"Looks like you've done your part well, Godfried," Victor intoned with a pleased smile on his face, admiring with grim satisfaction the carnage and wounded left in the Thundergod Saint's wake.
"I'll just ignore how much doubt I sensed in your voice and say you haven't seen me in me cut loose in awhile," Godfried retorted with a snort, taking a breather and pocketing his knife as a chilling calm had returned to the frozen wasteland of Stella. Looking around, he asked to nobody in particular. "Where's Rei?" Rei jerked his hand away reflexively, watching in horor as the ice raced up his white-clad arm, freezing even the skin below. "Son of a bitch!" he shouted, pain lancing through his skin. He was amazed at how badly it actually hurt; until then he was almost immune to almost every elemental magic. To hurt him with something that fell within those immunities baffled him.
In the moment he was caught off-guards, the Fog Mage's last ditch effort to be rid of him sprung and he only barely had the ability to escape imprisonment within the ice, his ivory-white demon form ripped asunder by the rapidly expanding ice that grew out of control. Despite the damage done to his garb, he emerged from the freezing storm relatively unharmed, save for the frostbite that threatened to consume his hand, an injury he quickly remedied by warming himself up rapidly. The left sleeve of his jacket was shredded terribly, as if the cold not only bypassed his demon-form but managed to affect his regular apparal as well. Reduced to his human form, he felt only a slight chill where anyone else would be in shock.
Sensing something amiss, he quickly reformed the complete Demiurge shell around himself, once more stradling the line between man and monster. Seconds ticked by as he became aware of his comrades fighting the army, a good sign, it meant he could cut loose and not worry about them in the cross-fire. "You can come out now. I know you're just waiting." he taunted the icy mage. He didn't know if the tower of ice was a trap or if it was a means to recover. Either way, he was content to wait and exploit any openings once the one inside it brought it down.
Victor turned towards the source of the enormous ice structure, hearing a loud grinding -ice coalescing together- as it slowly compressed and took its expansion of moisture and condensed it. What was easily the size of a castle's keep was reduced to the shape of a man; one that bore immediate recognition when the Phoenix Master saw his face exposed. The frozen staff had shapened into a cross-pike, his body no longer bearing robes but gleaming frozen water armor, gleaming with hues of blue and silver, an emblem of a crown placed on the center breastplate while its arched pauldrons jingled with icicles. Eyes of glowing silver, a narrow jaw with sunken cheeks and a pointed chin, angled ears bearing the shape of daggers while his hair was a frost covered white that flowed in the wind.
"Frozen King of Iceberg," Godfried muttered with eyes wide, taking a step back with caution at the sight of a familiar face. "The Ice God Saint, Romulus Zero!"
"What an honor it is to have the current reigning monarch on the field of battle, in the frontlines no less," Victor intoned with a jovial voice, a disarming smile and twinkling of his eyes as he waved his unarmed hand with diplomatic suave. Such a performance enabled Noriko to spare a worried glance at Rei, the likes of which Wess cleared his throat and angled his head towards their foe. Despite a scowl given to him, she looked once more before returning her sights to the alleged Fog Wizard's true form. Victor strode forward, feet barely making a sound against the tundra earth as he reached a hand outward. "Come, let us discuss the deal you've been giving me the cold shoulder on for the past several years. IMAC can help bridge a reasonable peace as well as stretch your trade influence with the rest of the known world-"
"If you haven't noticed, Victor Alexander," Romulus interrupted, his breath escaping was an ice-layered mist that filled the air in front of him; dropping the tempearture to an even colder degree. "I declared war on the band of Council influenced nations. I have no desire to speak with nations who are beneath mine; both in magic and civilization. You have nothing to offer me that I don't already possess in grandeur."
With that, an enormous shuddering sensation rocked the battlefield. As the temperature dropped even further, the earth splintered and shook with tetonic disturbance, gigantic ice shards cutting swathes upwards and reshaping the frozen, crater and body littered soil into something akin to the jagged surface of a planet's pole. A blinding light of white circled like a halo around Romulus' form, a howling effigy of nature shrieked around his very being as he stood upon the tallest of the ice shards; something akin to a tower, looking down upon his enemies.
Amidst the chaos, Victor took flight into the air, Noriko engaging her Burst Magic to leap and acrobatically dodge the shifting land and the earth splintering ice shards that were slicing and piercing the air. Wess used his Accelerator Magic to either slice through or avoid the oncoming barrage of Ice Magic. Godfried created a circle of Storm Magic, causing a small circle of unaffected ground he stood within, giving him a perfect line of sight of the standing Wizard Saint.
"I'll give you one last chance, oh King of Iceberg," Victor warned, his smile evaporating in exchange for a thin-lipped glare of stoic resolve as he floated in equal latitude to the Ice God Saint. "Bridge peace with me, and your nation will reap the benefits; or suffer the consequences of making an enemy with IMAC."
"Are you done talking?" Romulus asked with annoyance.
"Sure," The Phoenix Master replied, a grim smile working its way on his face. "Though I have a colleague that has a few words to share with you." Rei did't recognize the name Romulus Zero nor did he pay the transformation much heed, but he did know that if he bore a title as one of the Four Gods, things would only get rough from then on. It perfectly explained why the man was able to fight him on even terms, as even as could be expected at any rate. Even holding back as much as he was, the Demiurge's power was virtually unrivaled by any mortal mage in a one on one fight but the Four Gods were said to tread on the domain of something that defied humanity.
Taking advantage of the distraction caused by Victor pleading with Romulus, the Demon God's host knew that in order to combat the ice wizard, he needed to strike quickly and decisively, leaving nothing to chance and wiping him out in one shot. While the others made a beeline right for their target, he continued to ascend, breaching the clouds and gathering the Sun's light and heat energy directly, using the extra heat to generate a ball of red-hot magic held in an outstretched hand pointed directly at his enemy, the sphere created by Lucifer's powers. Alone,the unfocused warmth would do little against arctic temperatures but Rei was nothing if not well-equipped to circumvent his own weaknesses. Drawing on the abilities of Eligos, he generated a crystalline disk about one kilometer in circumference of incredibly thin ice that glittered like a precious gem in the light above.
"Fire-Ice Unison Raid! Inferno Lens!" he called out, leveling his palm with the cylindrical wall, the red energy shooting towards it and being refracted about inside before filling the disk before going through, expanded to the same size and intensified immensely, burning through the fog and if left unchecked would consume the entire tower that the God of Ishgar stood atop with ease. Regardless of what Romulus would do, however, the incredible heat would still warm the area by a noticeable amount.
It was something Romulus had overlooked. He admitted, the demon-man was concerning but his tactics were too direct and he paid little heed to him once he figured out his line of reasoning. A pacifist to a fault and wanting to use brute force with his magic, no matter how unorthodox the talent he may possess. So the sudden escalation of Ethernano in the sky above him gave him pause; especially since it pierced through the skyline's fog so easily. Turning around to look over his shoulder, he saw a glinting prism magnifying the Sun's heat along with a massive surge of thermal energy.
He acted without pause, swinging his staff around and drawing upon the cold of the ice layered environment to surge forth and enchant the sky above him into a freezing sub-zero temperature. The wind of cold produced a tidal wave of fog, the head of a wolf rushing to clamp down on the surging beam of heat that was impossibly wider than it should've been. The moment the two forces collided, he realized his error too late.
The two polar extremes of heat and cold colliding created a catastrophic explosion.
Noriko saw the clouds -both Godfried's and Romulus'- complete sever from the vapor release blast of heat and cold, creating a bath of steam following the shockwave that thrashed the ice-laced pillars scouring across the landscape. The battlefield that had been transformed into the enemy's preferred terrain was vaporized and the blast wave released was enough that all observers of Victor's crew had to use magic to shield themselves from the collateral.
"Rei...you insane, beautiful bastard!" She realized with a Burst Aura wrapped smile on her face.
While both Rei and Romulus were subjected to the kickback of two spells colliding, Victor had collected a barrier of Hard Light around himself that he made sure to remain hidden; precisely the moment the Enchanter's back was turned. Thus, even though he was shaken, Victor used his Sceptre's Lightning Magic to surge towards the stunned Ice God Saint crash into him with enough force to cause a thunderclap. In that instant, he invoked another element to the electrified God of Ishgar.
"Diaboli Manu!" He chanted, his sceptre forming a burning hand that enveloped his whole body, crushing the hyper-compressed ice armor and burning straight through in a vaporous puff of steam. Whipping him around, he'd be sent streaking towards the ground, met with an instantly arriving Victor who swiftly connected a free hand into his face, pummeling him into it while letting loose a surge of lightning while chanting out loud. "Overcharge!"
Even as the others looked on, they saw the proud Ice God Saint was lying in a pile of steam and charred robes. Even behind the knuckles of Victor's, Romulus began to chuckle raspily, his white eyes turning to look over at him with a sardonic light to them.
"It seems that the world I've come to conquer...has more bite to it than I imagined," He laughed derisively, feeling that the nature of his magic was at a serious disadvantage. With the most proximate ground turned into a dry, vapor-ridden steam land, he'd have to waste time enchanting and he didn't have the means to invoke such an art. Grinning, he looked up at Victor. "I thought little of you, squabbling nations. But in all my years it's been ages since I've tasted blood. For that you have my respect...and my sympathies."
High above in the sky, Rei would feel something emerge from the dissipating clouds. A soaring wave of shadows rushed, blotting out the Sun as it came towards him. When looked upon, it'd bear the striking pale face, fierce red eyes and a pair of blood-writhing wings that spanned six meters in either direction. A slash of the sword and a rush of the foul ichor was released, igniting into flame and exploding on impact towards him.
"What the Hell?!" Godfried cried out, suddenly seeing the blast as well as the others did.
"You'll have to forgive my dear Selestia," A voice suddenly was heard as a presumed dead body of a soldier pushed himself up, visibly distorting in ripples -like water across glass- and donned a completely new appearance. Long-cobalt hair sported on this tall, lean man with a long coat of black. Most notable beyond his crystal clear right blue eye was the crimson left eye in the middle of an onyx covering whites; one that had a Kanji letter signifying a number of some sort, but was indinstinguishable from this distance. Placing a gloved hand over his chin, he rubbed it and grinned too sweetly at the Thunder God Saint, Wess and Noriko from a distance. "She's a bit rude when it comes to introductions. But you will receive a better introduction from me," Bowing with a hand placed on the front of his chest, he flamboyantly elaborated before ending on a serious edge with his red left eye glinting a dangerous blood-red gleam. "I am Yashin Shiyonin, a Lord of the Black Hell Guild; though I do recall you three in particular were part of that Midnight Titans group we smashed awhile ago. Pleasure to meet you all, ex-Titans."
A Devil's Game[]
Victor, distracted by all of this, suddenly had Romulus enchant the ground to be accepting of his person, sinking into it and out of his grasp. His voice still echoed while the Phoenix Master grimaced at the turn of events, "Just as the Council has reached out to your kind, I too have come prepared with allies of my own. You won't win this time, Victor; I'll make sure of it." The sudden explosion of rapidly expanding and contracting air forced Rei to fly back even further away from the battlezone, spinning over and over as his body sailed backwards. He managed to right himself a few seconds later, dizzy from the rapid rotation. He hoped the others could capitalize on the openeing he provided them. There wasn't much he could do for them however, as once he recovered from his dizzy spell he saw a great darkness approaching before it unleashed an explosive wave towards him.
He survived the blast thanks to a timely activation of Airspace, sealing the brunt of the explosion away. "Do you really want to get in my way?" he asked rhetorically. In the back of his mind, he could hear the Demiurge whispering a warning to be wary of the winged figure they now faced. To hear it so unsettled sent chills down the host's spine. If the Demiurge, one of the most powerful entities in existence, worried about an enemy, it didn't bode well for any of them. This aura...it can't be. That bastard's here too?! the Demiurge shouted in its host's mind, sensing an impossible presence down below. Four hundred years and he's still around?! it ranted, picking up on Yashin. Rei, considering who just showed up, we can't waste time with this pest. Get to the ground, now!
Not even giving him a second to process what it said, the spirit took control of their shared body and forced Rei to return to the battleground proper. Yashin, how can you still be alive? it growled, speaking though its host. Last time we talked like this was before I was sealed, I doubt you even remember me.
Yashin, turning his head along with the three, looked at the source of the new voice with intrigue. He had briefly felt the air turn acrid and produce a ghostly chill to those of the mortal coil. Godfried looked with immediate alarm, his aura igniting in bright flashing light and Noriko -still clad in Burst Aura- looked on in horror. Wess raised his hand, tense obviously, but understanding that Rei wasn't precisely possessed but acquiescing; for now, that is.
"I'm surprised you remember my name, ol' ancient lord of the infernal," Yashin smiled thinly, waving his hands outward with delight dripping sardonically from his tongue. "How good it is to see you...despite that irrelevant meat sack you've been stuffed in. I'm surprised that you could be defeated, but I guess you know what they say? Out with the old and in with the more improved," He finished with a gesture to his grinning face, his blue and red-black eyes twinkling mischieviously. "Then again, you're just long-lived, not truly immortal. Just as the gods and demons of old, you shall turn to dust within the recesses of time that passes by. I shall see it all into infinity, for better or worse."
"REI! Are you alright?!" Noriko finally bellowed, earning a sharp glare from Godfried while she matched with one of her own before returning to look at the currently controlled Mage of infamy. "Let me know you're not possessed before I kick your ass!"
"Daft woman," Yashin rebuked, his blue-right eye turning to sideglance her with annoyance. "Of course he's not possessed. IF he was, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Isn't that right, Demiurge?" Yashin's exact rememberance of the Demon God surprised Rei. The man seemed to be immortal, if the Demiurge's own words could be believed. Memories that he dared pilfer from the powerful, parasitic pest showed him a glimpse of their last meeting before the fall of the Eight Lords and the sealing of the master of the infernal planes. But there was one detail he caught that the other so-called true immortal was mistaken on; the nine demons could never be killed outright, only sealed until someone stupid enough to break their chains came along, like he had done. With the rebirth of the Eight Lords, their master would be revived as well once they were reunited.
"He's right. If I were to possess him entirely, you would be dead, all of you." the Demiurge replied calmly, never once looking away from Yashin. Even the most powerful of demons dreading letting him go unwatched for even a second. "Unfortunately, my sudden take-over of our shared mind means he still holds the majority of our body." As it spoke those words, the control shifted as Rei forced the demon to retreat once again but only barely.
"Sorry if I'm cutting your little reunion short but I don't trust that thing enough to let him out for long." he said, annoyed that he had even lost control for such a short time. "I don't know what kind of person you are that the Demiurge was shocked to find out you were still alive but if you're here for a fight, don't expect any mercy." He quickly shifted to a defensive stance, not willing to risk attacking an unknown that could even worry the Demiurge, and with the second enemy up above, there was no safe way to attack that he could see, especially after using so much energy just trying to take out Romulus Zero; he knew his next few spells would be the last unless he dared risk losing himself again.
"Oh, you want to fight me on your own? That's comical," Yashin mocked with a laugh, waving his hand to form dark mist over the air. It'd dissipate and form a black pole handled trident with immaculate trimmings of feathers engraved around the fork of the blades. Clanging the pommel of it on the ground, he gestured with the other hand at him, grinning ear to ear as he looked at all of them. "Honestly, it would be far more fair if all of you fought me at once. At least that way, you'd stand a chance of defeating me; not a high one, but still."
"Stop running your mouth, Yashin," Selestia snapped, dropping just behind Rei, rising back to full height and holding her long blade aloft. Crimson eyes peered towards the man who was Demiurge's vessel, the glare cold as ice with a hidden fire of anger at him disabling her attack so quickly. "We're not here for entertainment, we're here to eliminate the vanguard of the Council's forces. With the Ice God Saint recouperating, we're the only thing keeping this advance in forward movement."
"...you don't need to be serious all of the time, Seles. It's bad for your complexion."
"Yashin!"
"Fine-Fine," He rolled his eyes, turning to face Rei and the others, igniting the trident in a black flame of violet ebbing currents of Ethernano. "Why don't we get started then, Phoenix?" Rei didn't know if Yashin was taunting him to keep him from attacking or daring him to test his luck. In any event, he knew the man was terrifying. Even if all of them charged him at once, there was no doubt in the former criminal's mind that he'd be the only one with anything resembling a chance, at least so long as the second arrival didn't descend upon them. He couldn't attack him and defend against her at the same time.
And much to his chagrin, she did exactly what he feared, lowering down right behind him. Damn it...she's at least as strong as Yashin...But she's looking only at me...maybe I can.... his thoughts trailed off. No matter what, he was going to have to make risky moves and his only hope would be that everyone managed to get away before getting caught in the crossfire. The more sober he became, the more open mentally he was but that also meant he could more freely control the meager amount of his power available to himself before the demon inside could take over, and that was the pivot around which everything spun; either he ended the battle soon or he would play the most dangerous game with the highest stakes imaginable.
"Fire Magic: Twin Starving Dragons!" he barked out, holding his hands toward Yashin, launching dual waves of flame, each made in the effigy of a serpentine beast, jaws unhinged and ready to bite him, but the one from Rei's right hand turned around and instead sped for Selestia. Regardless of his opening attack's effectiveness, he was already planning two steps ahead, priming a burst of Void Magic to release at the instant either he was struck or his fire spell worked. The result would be that one of the two enemies would be warped somewhere far enough away to buy them precious minutes to gang up on the other.
Selestia had in mind that, given the way Yashin had garnered attention, Rei had targeted him directly for a reason. Either she was disregarded foolishly or he had something else in mind. Either way, the moment he fired off the Fire Magic, she took off in a startling blur to cut him down directly. It was only to his surprise that when Yashin visibly turned to deflect the attack, one of the pair had veered off and rapidly accelerated towards her as well on guided impulse.
"A Ethernano Seeking Spell?!" She thought, stopping with a jolt to swing her blade and bisect the spell. Through poise of effiecient precision, she managed to slip the metal of her weapon past and her body avoided being dealt a blow. Simultaneously, however, was within the spark of the fire was a spell that suddenly warped her far away from the fire into the far north tundra. Eyes bulged and she felt instantly cold, realizing she was on the northernmost border, the space around her still rippling with distortion.
"Tch! He hid a spell that teleported me here! Judging by the terrain's makeup, I'm over a thousand kilometers away. It'll take at least fifteen minutes at my top speed to even get back," She snarled, her body radiating a blood-colored black energy that rose off her. In a pyre that disrupted the eternal blizzard of winter in Iceberg, her aura howled while she silently stewed, visibly twitching at the annoyance she felt at this inconvenience. "Bastard! I'll make sure you die slowly; with or without your demonic side!"
While it looked like Yashin's image had burned up and disappeared, a sudden sensation of a cold, vice grip wrapped around his waist up to his shoulders. It'd look like a giant ethereal hand had grabbed hold of him, stringing back to a mirage of ordinary vapor-leaking earth to reveal the real Yashin. Grinning he held his non-trident hand upwards while keeping his weapon erect from the ground up, chuckling aloud.
"I see you intended to send both dear Seles and I far away from here to buy time for your friends. Failing that, you did make her gone for awhile. It shouldn't take her long to return, but," The one-eyed enigma licked his lips, his aura radiating a cold cobalt around his person as he spoke. "That just means I can have more fun."
Wess Smith moved instantly, appearing instantly behind the Black Hell Lord, gun drawn and finger pulling the trigger. As he let loose a space-crackling streak from the magical slug, it passed through him as if he was made of a black vapor. Eyes opened in the back of his head, all of which contained the black-sclera with the red Kanji for "Nightmare" emerging all over his spine. Emerging from a slit -like a grotesque organism- came a shadow laced hand that lanced out quick enough to force the Accelerator Mage to avoid with a ducking motion; but not fast enough to keep his main weapon from being sliced into pieces.
"Take your hands off him!" Noriko howled out, streaking from the ground -kicking up slabs as she did- as she darted out to physically kick him with raw might. Yashin slid on the soles of his feet, swerving out of the way, his features only faintly resembling of the man they saw before now more of a silhouette of dark energy with a multitide of eyes coiling around the surface of his black fiery body like serpents. The pole handle of the scythe crashed into a raised arm of hers, but let loose enough force that she was sent spiraling backwards in a corkscrew of velocity.
"KO SHOCK!" Godfried roared out, causing the air around Yashin to electrify suddenly, pluming it into lightning that bolted up into the sky. When it cleared, Yashin looked unfazed; a disturbing black grin parting the flames over his visage-shape as his plural eyes squinted at him mockingly. Growling, he throttled himself with Twister Coaster and formed coils of energy into a Thunder Fist to strike him. Just as he closed the distance, Yashin pulled Rei back in the way by the tether of ghostly energy. Without seeming remorse, Godfried struck Rei through the jaw, channeling the electricity through his body and fired it out of his back into Yashin's face, releasing a far stronger Thunder Fist that he laced in preparation. "Sorry about that!"
Yashin skid back, part of his flames peeled off and showing burns of minor issue over his host's body beneath. Reforming in a sweeping flash of purple light, he dusted himself off and twirled his trident around, clanging it on the ground again. Looping it around an arm, he clapped, his voice a bit more reserved despite containing the jeering grin on his face, "Well done, Thundergod Saint. Had it not been for your willingness to harm your ally, you might not have landed the blow at all and left yourself completely open. Perhaps the other two could learn a thing from your pragmatism; that and your pacifist host of dear Demiurge as well." Rei felt the woman's magic power fade into the distance, giving him the confirmation he needed that his gambit had successfully paid off, even if only partially. All that remained was to gang up on Yashin and take him down before his comrade returned to the warzone. He had no way of telling how long they had to do what they could, meaning time was very much of the essence. However, his enemy faded from view, appearing behind him mere moments later, tethering him with shadow. He felt a dreadful, terrifying chill, as if he was encased in a deathly chill that defied all logic.
He barely saw as Wes sped around to flank the dark wizard before he was outside of his frame of view but it was Noriko's charge that most alarmed him. "Stay back!" he shouted, sensing Yashin's change in form, to no avail as the woman was batted aside like a leaf in a storm. Rage boiled inside him, it was his own idiotic attempt at being diplomatic that led to her being hurt. Had he just given in and done what he had to, there'd be no fighting left and nobody he cared about would have to suffer.
However, her little stunt had given him a window to break away from the nearly-immortal man but only for a second as he was drug back just in time to take the brunt of a KO Shock right to the jaw. Had it not been for Amon's power within him, he was sure that he'd suffer more than a dislocated jawbone and a mild shock. Regardless, the attack was enough to let him break free entirly from Yashin. As they fell from the sky, he flipped himself right so he could land on his feet. He fixed his jaw with a sudden and violent yank with his left hand. "You're right, I am a pacifist. I'm tired of hurting people. I stopped wanting to be a cold-hearted killer. But you...You want me to go back to that, don't you?" he asked Yashin darkly as a silver and amethyst-hued aura flared around him. "Fine! he growled, his voice a union of his own and the Demiurge's.
He drew upon the aspects of Stolas, the demon of light, alongside Belphagor, the demon of darkness, forming twin spheres in his hands before bringing the two orbs together, cupping his hands together at his side. "Light and Darkness Magic....Twilight Cataclysm!" he shouted, thrusting his hands towards Yashin, the pent up magic in the glowing sphere becoming a devestating laserbeam that chewed up the ground below it, throwing small rocks aside with startling ease as it sped onwards unimpeded. Yashin's provocations and his own rage had finally pushing him into acting without restraint; at that moment, all he cared about was protecting what was most precious to him.
Yashin anticipated a reaction like this from Demiurge's vessel. After all, who would be the easiest to excite than someone tormented by the Dark Lord's shell? He presumed that his life was nothing short of miserable thanks to the provocations of the demon within him. He must have been shown terrifying visions, felt his blood boil without reason and his emotions eliciting nauseous conditions depending on the eight lords that are in conjunction tied to their master.
This magic use was surprisingly controlled. Much like the ice lens that fired a wave of heat that stunned Romulus, he had precision to balance Darkness and Light magic into a harmonious fusion; forming Twilight Magic. The very kind of spellcraft that Victor had used to harm the Blood Queen, nearly killing her. However, since he had discreetly viewed that fight, he had come up with a perfect means of deflecting such a terrifying power.
Raising his staff up, he let it go, hanging in mid-air as Rei fired the intense beam of shadowy light. Crossing his arms, he twirled them both in opposing clockwise motions, clenching them at his wrists, all digits curled except his middle and pointer fingers pointed out. A magic circle was inscribed in the air, and the twilight surged within it, seemingly to evaporate into nothingness.
Before anyone could fathom what happened, Victor slammed his sceptre on the ground and hollered something indistinct as Yashin invoked the curse.
"Black Magic, The Curse of Affection."
Suddenly, an unfathomable abyss surged outward, spreading that familiar chilling sensation that they felt into a tangible maelstrom that fired a pillar into the sky that spread outward, blotting out the Sun and forming a nexus of negative energy all around. Having connected with all those within the immediate vicinity, Yashin realized something went wrong and scowled for half a second before a depraved grin spread from ear to ear. As the darkness receded, he saw the cause of the wrongness he felt.
"I see you sensed my intention the moment I began to gesture," Yashin uttered with sickening glee, waving his hands out as his staff remained suspended in the air. From his point of view, he saw the kneeling Victor, surrounded by a hexagonal wall that surrounded himself and everyone else individually with their own remotely triggered barriers. Each of them crackled with chaotic tendrils, the phenomena seemingly spasming around them while he kept concentration on their defense. "You're definitely one to watch out for, Victor Alexander!"
"You transferred Rei's magic properties into one composited for a dark art," Victor intoned knowingly, his eyes dangerously staring back as he rose up back to full height, glaring through his barrier at the Black Hell Lord. "That was Zeref's Black Magic, one that curses the one its touched to instant death."
"Correct! It's quite a nasty magic, isn't it? It borders on the realms of a demon's Curse, don't you agree?"
"How do we fight something like this?!" Noriko cried out with frustration, banging her fist against the barrier angrily.
"We've fought worse and won," Wess reassured her, his eyes steeled at the enemy not but a dozen meters away. "This time will be no different."
"Is that so, Wess Smith?" Yashin turned to look at him over his shoulder, casting an eerie glare from his demonic eye. "I wonder if this time will be different? Care to prove it?" Rei watched in horror as his spell was ripped apart and repurposed in a matter of seconds. The dread was overcome when he sensed a shift in Yashin's magic power; something was coming and it sent shivers down his spine and he could feel his blood become ice-cold. Whatever it was that Yashin was doing, the tortured mage could only fathom and it didn't bode well.
Acting almost entirely on instinct, he stood between Yashin and Noriko, waiting for the blast. He doubted his own ability to survive it but survival was the furthest thing from his mind right then, not when his beloved was in danger. But the all-consuming darkness could claim his life, even perhaps rid the world of the Demiurge's curse once and for all. a barrier sprung up around each of them, negating the death-dealing spell and leaving them unharmed.
You fool! Are you really so desperate to show her that your feelings for her remain that you'd be willing to damn us both to oblivion?! Instead of gambling with our lives, just kill Yashin! I'd much rather be slain by your employer over that pest anyway... the Demiurge said within Rei's mind.
Then shut your mouth and give me some more power...free of charge of course. After the last five years, you owe me that much. Now, be a good little tenant and pay your rent! Rei retorted mentally, feeling his energy reserves replenish as his parasitic devil gave in, knowing the alternative was to die in the frozen lands. Rei refused to waste even a second longer being toyed with and even the cruel god of demons had a vested interest in taking Yashin down.
He teleported outside the barrier Victor had placed around him before calling upon his Water Magic and Fire Magic in unison to generate a thick blanket of steam that surrouded him and his enemy. The scalding fog would obscure Yashin's vision, as well as the sight of anyone trying to look inside. Not letting up his attack, he released a torrent of electric energy, using the moist air that covered the two of them to bridge the gap in an instant. "Lightning Magic:Infinite Branching Paths." he intoned as lightning forked from his body, splintering off into many trees as each bolt found an ideal path to their target.
Yashin dispersed the majority of the heat with a wave of his trident, the blanket of fog surrounding him in a thick vaporous cloud. Glaring, he looked around for a sign of his approach, ready for a counterattack-
-when he suddenly got caught in a net of electrocuting water molecules.
"NGH!" He jolted and spasmed from the pain, caught in the center of a flashing trap of lightning that stopped him short. Even as his flesh got scorched and his muscles spasmed, his right eye changed shape, revealing a different Kanji than before. Still caught in the smoldering currents of Rei's magic, Yashin blurred through the fog, lancing his trident through the mist directly at the source of his discharging frame of electricity.
"Disappear," Yashin whispered, revealing a familiar black-violet flame from the edge of his forked bladed weapon. Unleashing in a howling plume of superheated tongues, he intended to eradicate him to ash with the demonic element of fire, hoping the change of tact would be enough to at least do significant damage. In his haste to charge, he felt a painful kick connect with the right side of his face, coiled with energy that exploded from its bare sole and sent him bouncing across the tundra-esque soil.
"That last attack...my senses aren't in top condition at the moment," He fathomed, his head now ringing from Noriko's Burst Magic kick to his skull. Blood ebbed from his scalp and he had to close his left eye less it leak ichor inside. Standing up slightly, he was then confronted by Godfried -coiled by Wess' Accelerator Magic- who machine-gun punched across his torso, face and abdomen that let loose powerful electric discharge. Finishing with a teeth-shattering uppercut, Yashin was met with the sight an airborne Victor, whose scepter glowed of several spells all blended together. "I underestimated them..."
"Elemental Fusion," Victor began to intone, following up with an instantaneous arrival in front of Yashin, unleashing a fissure of lightning, fire, wind and water that detonated with an enormous colorful thuum in the sky. "Nature's Ravage!"
Crashing to the earth, the battlefield seemed to still, and all that was left was a charred corpse; resembling the shape of the man who was the catalyst for Yashin's timely arrival.
"Rei!" Noriko, after confirming the threat had passed momentarily, rushed to his side to check on his condition. "Are you alright? Say something you dumbass!" Rei could see Yashin through the haze with ease and when he saw the man's trident ignite. His eyes widened in shock as he saw the deranged man charging towards him though the fog. Before he could do much in the way of countering or evading, Noriko, Wess and Godfried intervened and started attacking their foe, thrashing him senseless, but it was Victor's massive spell that caught even the Demiurge's attention. Such a display by a human reminded the monster of how and why it was defeated so soon after its rebirth on the mortal coil. The multitude of colors belied the absolutely devastating force it held and not even with all his resistances to the elemental magics did either the demon god or its host desire to ever be on the receiving end of such a thing.
It never fails to annoy me, seeing that man's power...but considering it's Yashin of all people, I'll enjoy this for once. the demon mentally said, almost sounding to Rei that it was happy to see the immortal scourge being so severely defeated. But it's not over yet. That woman's still out there, and she's heading this way.
When Noriko came over to check on him, Rei smiled. "I'm fine Nori. I'm still me. But we can't relax yet. That woman that was with Yashin...she could be here any moment. And I don't know how much of a fight you-know-who will let me put up before he tries something funny." he replied to her, his words calm despite the panic that gripped him. It was always a gamble, one that if he lost, would be a disastrous thing indeed. "Maybe we'll get lucky and with his old enemy down for the count, he'll be too busy celebrating to notice." he joked, knowing it would be impossible to do anything without his parasite's noticing.
"We should prepare for her encounter," Victor implored, his cloak flourishing around as he descended to the earth and began walking to a point of the ground to begin marking it with runes. Godfried clapped his hands together and began to catalyze his energy into forming a new storm cloud over their heads, while Wess looked around for a suitable replacement for his gun. Noriko just kept close to Rei, relieved that the corpse was-
-standing upright, trident in hand and one unruined socket gleaming with the red kanji on black sclera orb glaring back at them.
"I LIKED this vessel!" Yashin snarled out, hefting the weapon up and throwing it with startling speed, aimed straight at Rei. While Noriko managed to pull him out of the way, part of the trident scraped her shoulder and back in a gash of blood that made her grimace. Even as the weapon disappeared, Wess bolted over to his position and landed an Accelerator punch, detonating the skull and launching its remains across the battlefield.
"Why doesn't he just stay down?!" Smith spat, wiping the ichor off his hand.
"Uh, guys?" Godfried announced, his eyes looking at a looming horizon of darkness rushing towards them; with Selestia, blood-red wings of fire stretching for almost a kilometer in diameter and her body in a silhouette of similar burning texture and substance. The mere glance in her direction made him sweat and he grit his teeth in anticipation. "She's coming back, and she looks pissed!"
"Barrier Magic!" Victor intoned, slamming his Sceptre of Subjugation onto the ground,.creating a vibrant palace of many colors and detailed panes enamoring it. "Vibrant Palace!"
Just as soon as the large structure had begun to form, a bolt of crimson lightning lanced out from the distant broad figure. It lanced out, crashing into the barrier's surface, cracking its webbing and blasting it apart with fierce piercing efficiency. Thrusting out in a wild angle, it sprouted out and shot out blood-flamed blades that aimed to attack all of them simultaneously. Victor deflected with his Sceptre, forced back on his heels that kicked up slabs of earth and made him grunt with effort. Godfried whipped out Blitz Rand, parrying it with a projection of sparks, barely keeping his stance where he stood. Wess pulled out a combat knife from his belt and used Accelerator magic to slow the blade, pushing it aside to bury into the earth. Noriko, despite her injuries, employed Burst Magic and swirled her body to kick at the pair of blades meant for her and Rei.
As quickly as the attack transpired, Selestia stretched across space and warped into the opening of the Vibrant Palace spell into their midst. Retracting her blood-fire wings, she regained her pale vampiric appearance but looked positively incensed. Golden eyes burned a ring of red around the pupils, turning to look at each of them with a level of anger that was only contained through sheer will. Raising her sword, she made a casual swing-
-cutting the whole barrier in half, following with a buffeting shockwave that leveled the land by several inches by mere contact.
"I warn you, Rei Mokuzai and Victor Alexander. Try what happened like earlier and I shall kill you where you stand," Selestia Rasputin III intoned, her voice a dangerous whisper as she glared at all of them, the feeling of her eyes boring into their souls from on high present thanks to the wisps of dark shadow flowing off her form. "Do not mistake me as akin to Yashin. I do not like to play with my food. I will swallow you whole, given the chance." Rei could have dodged the trident with ease but Noriko had pushed him out of the way. The moment her blood oozed from the gash that tore though her, a flash of rage and anguish tore through his mind and in that instant, the Demiurge took hold of their body once more, this time drawing on the man's own emotions to force his way through. Don't worry Rei...I won't do anything you wouldn't. Call it repaying my debt to your friends. Just this once. the demon remarked, catalyzing a new transformation that for the time being was kept obscured by the white garb comprised of sheer demonic might.
The process would take a few moments more, leaving Wess to deal with Yashin's vessel once and for all, the knowledge that it was a mere puppet souring Demiurge's mood slightly, but he would keep his promise to target only the strange woman that had come along with the centuries-old foe of his. Selestia's little stunt, sending energy blades towards them made both host and parasite mentally panic, the change needing just too long to finalize, forcing Noriko to save them once again lest they be wounded.
What are you doing Demon God?! If she does anything stupid and gets hurt because you, I swear to you, I'll find a way to kill you for good! Rei snarled mentally, his rage only emboldening the Demiurge that much more, the transformation finally finished. The cowl flaked away, revealing Rei's hair had turned golden and his eyes scarlet-red, signaling the total switch of personality. "Rei can't answer you right now, but I'll be more than happy to pass on the message. You know, after I kill you of course." the possessor said, a small smile on his lips. Within seconds of the awakening, what was once a restrained portion of the devil's power surged to the surface now that there was nothing holding him back.
The ground cracked and the skies above darkened, as if to signal the rebirth of one of the greatest evils known to mankind, coupled with howling winds and a slew of lightning bolts that only barely missed anyone still living. "Unlike my hapless host, I won't play around and there's no reason for me to end things quickly either." he said in a rather casual tone before creating a massive fireball, one a few meters across. "Fire Magic:Hell's Ending!" he uttered as the sphere splintered into a countless number of small ruby-red orbs that rained down upon Selestia, each one exploding with enough force to crater the ground when they missed, small fires spreading from the epicenter of the small blasts. Eventually the ground would look as though a sea of flame drowned the area.
Not content with just that, he raised his hand to the sky and clenched his fist, summoning fragments of earth that had been thrown aside by his fire spell and with a swipe of his arm sent the rocks hurling towards Selestia as well like razor-sharp meteorites that flew with incredible speed, like stone bullets.
Noriko cried out and leaped back from the intense chill of death that swept from Rei's form. Victor looked on with wide-eyed alarm, Godfried glaring and Wess keeping a surprisingly neutral expression. The worse menace they've known in the past has assumed direct control over Rei's psyche; thankfully, the sight of his mortal coil intact meant this wasn't a true rebirth and despite evidence of the heavens darkening, lightning spraying and the earth quaking, he wasn't at his full terrifying power.
Still didn't make them any less wary of his presence.
Selestia was readied for this eventuality. Ever since she approached him in the sky she felt that daunting power, buried within and being tethered to the surface by the host's whim. Now, the host has been submerged and the source is now in control. It wasn't a complete domination of the will but rather an exchange of hands was made; either way, this fight wasn't going to be easy as fighting the host was.
Seeing the countless fireballs rushing towards her, she began to avoid them with rapid steps, blurring in and out of view from the primary offender. Each time they stuck, a magnificent explosion of hellfire was released, bringing a level of understanding from the vampire. As she kept avoiding the blasts, she pulled back her blade in a readied pose, closing her eyes as she listened to the whistle of the fireballs heading towards here. Once the spheres were within proper range, she slowly opened her blood-red orifices and let loose a burgundy coated swing of her blade.
"Cutting Stroke Style," She intoned, leeting loose a bleeding streak of opposing tongues that wiped away the Demiurge's flames, diffusing its volatile energy and snuffing it out with a cutting wave that aimed to cut towards him. "Bleeding Horizon!"
The sudden sight of the flying debris made of earth caught her sight, shooting at her like bullets. While a few skimmed past nary enough to cut her clothing and nick her cheek or neck, she managed to avoid them with enough dexterity as she withdrew her elongated weapon to curve around and impale through each and every stone in a single motion that seemed impossible for a sword to perform. A flick of the weapon and it was back in its normal state, the vampire bending her knees in a coiling motion before thrusting her weapon in a bloode-hue shadow that sought to engulf the Demiurge-
-along with creating a host of a thousand piercing blades of bleeding fire towards him.
"Piercing Style, One Thousand Burning Stakes!" The Demiurge watched as his multi-faceted storm of elemental chaos spread far around, leaving the ground scarred and smoldering from the repeated impacts of rock and flame. While he was still only toying with his enemy, seeing her as a small improvement over Yashin's pesky deception, the fact she was able to cope with his opening attack so deftly impressed him, at least a little. She quickly proved that she stood on a level above mere mortals, perhaps treading just a bit closer to himself or what Yashin would be in person. Her incredible swordplay caught his attention, performing a feat any master would be proud of, striking a number of stones in a single move.
Before he could even attempt to continue his maelstrom of magics, the bloody swordswoman struck out at him over a not-inconsiderable distance. Under normal circumstances, the demon god would have simply laughed but the storm of flaming blades actually made him cautious as they flew towards him like a tidal wave of infernal devastation. A timely use of Airspace was able to divert the flow of a majority of them, allowing him to emerge relatively unscathed, save for a few of the piercing specters impaling his torso, having slipped through the instant his spell had formed, striking dangerously close to both his host's heart and the demonic core that had overtaken Rei's Magic Container during their fusion. Damned woman, had she done that...best not think about it... he thought.
Paying his injuries little mind, it would be his hopeless vessel that would have to suffer any ramifications after all, he smiled darkly at Selestia. "Don't think this makes you special..." he growled before unleashing his magic power once more, drawing on the surrounding icy wastes intent on maximizing the use of his abilities. "Ice Magic:Final Winter Beast!" All the surrounding ice levitated and was drawn to a singular point in front of the demon, crashing together and breaking into tiny fragments that whirled around him, feeding on his aura to grow larger and larger until all the ice reforged itself into a massive, crystalline wolf's head. The figure's jaw widened as it barreled for the vampire to swallow her whole and simultaneously freeze her solid. But that wasn't the only trick up his sleeves, the wolf carried a second spell that was triggered upon taking damage. The spell was known as Divine Storm Retribution, blasting the unaware victim with nearly fatal currents of electricity as payment for their sin. Either way, the Demiurge was certain of his victory with this, but he kept himself stoic so that his plan wasn't discovered readily.
Selestia noted the use of Airspace was seemingly a derivitive of the Host's power, rather than his own mettle. That bit of information intrigued her and she began scheming even as her attacks were largely deflected. The injuries that she did inflict upon him, however, seemed to only enrage him. It was just as well; if a handful of strikes could slay someone as powerful as Demiurge she would be incredibly disappointed and underwhelmed.
The sudden rush of frigid temperature winds drew her attention to the coalescing ice particles. While her other periphery targets used Victor's timely use of Barrier Magic to brace themselves, she withstood it without flinching in the slightest. Transmuting the Ethernano and elements into a giant wolf's head of ice she was reminded of the Ice King's magic in a way; that being said, the pattern of this demon and the host is that they have multiple blows captured in a single attack, meaning the ice head served multiple functions.
The Vampire then sought to do the unthinkable. As the howling wolf-head soared through the air, carring a blizzard wind of biting cold as its crystalline teeth aimed to crush her with its pseudo-jaws, the white-haired and red-eyed warrior raised her blade to divide her face perfectly with both hands on the hilt. Once the ice was about to fold over her completely, she opened her eyes and her body erupted into a black-burgundy aura of magic, vaporizing the wolf and catching the charge of the hidden Divine Storm Retribution Spell.
"Her Aura is growing!" Noriko cried out, her eyes widening with alarm. "It's...even higher than before!"
"Look!" Godfried noted, pointing to the lightning that was trying to catch the vampire's skin but only flowed around the fiery aura of insidious energy that flowed from her. "She's protected by that mantle like some sort of armor. Just how strong is this bitch?!"
"Selestia Rasputin III, wielder of the Cursed Blood Blade, the Burning Fang," Victor intoned, his eyes recognizing her as large wings spread forth from her back, comprised of flowing blood that burned of Hellfire whose eyes became a deep red with black pupils as the burning fiery Aura thrummed strongly off her rivuletting frame. "It's said that she had cannibalized her whole coven once she came into possession of the cursed sword. It enhanced her powers and also multiplied her hunger. The blood she uses is those damned into the abyss and forever links her into oblivion should her life come to an end. Unable to die and unable to be wholly satisfied, she's Black Hell's elite swordsman and Red Queen."
"...did I ask for her backstory?" Godfried asked sardonically.
"No, I was just educating the rest," He replied straightforwardly, without a hint of sarcasm.
"Tch, smartass!"
"The First Seal is released," She informed the Demiurge, her darkened eyes burned strongly as the blood-filled flames that encircled her whole frame, including the additional wings that spanned three meters in each direction."I hope you prove a worthy distraction until my colleague returns. It isn't every day I fight one of Zeref's biggest mistakes."
As she said this, she swung her blade in a horizontal and vertical direction instantaneously, as if it was one motion. Creating a blood soaked cross of fire, it tore through the frozen tundra and turned it into ash, reducing the atmosphere into soemthing akin to a desert's as it howled forward with incredible momentum. Aiming to stain him with eternally burning flames, Selestia watched with a seemingly bored expression as her assault roared towards connecting with him, calmly allowing any chance for a counterattack; so she may crush it with this level of strength. Watching as Selestia's incredible magic power rapidly grew beyond what he was expecting, the Demiurge could only worry that perhaps she was stronger than he had given her credit for. Even anticipating for a logical defensive measure, he was at a loss for words as her sheer magic aura was able to negate the second spell so readily. Her words to him shortly after, however, caught his interest. The first seal, hm? Wonder what it could be? he pondered as he transformed slightly in front of him.
He had no retort to her referring to him as one of Zeref's failures. As gleaned from his host's mind, the people of the era had unfortunately and incorrectly believed that the Demon God was merely a product of the Black Wizard's machinations when in fact he predated even the immortal master of the fake demons of Tartaros, existing as a force of nature before being sealed away and broken into eight parts. Even if he could speak to refute her claims, he had to first deal with the crucifix of flames barreling towards him. Even without seeing his opponent beyond her attack's blazing form, he could hazard a guess that she was prepared for him to do something reckless and brash, and had he been at the height of his powers, perhaps he would have but as it stood, the imperfect hybrid state he shared with the painfully lovesick drunkard limited his powers still, leaving him around the level he displayed five years prior.
"Void Magic:Reverse Fortune" he uttered, and at his command, fissure in spacetime opened up around both the combatants and before either could do anything, their locations instantly swapped, leaving the Demiurge behind the flaming cross and Selestia in front, becoming the new target of her own offensive. Without awaiting to see of she survived or not, he continued to attack, opening a number of Void Magic portals behind and to her sides, each four meters away from her, and unleashed an omni-directional attack; From some portals rained shards of ice, torrents of water that were pushed onwards by winds capable of slicing even steel from another set, massive bolts of lightning that glowed with incredible heat that flew from the remaining gates. There was nowhere to run or hide from the onslaught of elements.
This, Rei, is the kind of power you could wield, lording over even that insufferable Victor...if only you would allow it. None would challenge you. Just like you dreamed. To be above all so that to even fight us would be a sin.
Victor knew this was the kind of situation he unleashed when he sought out Rei. In a way this was a test of the man's mettle in how he can cope with a tense firefight and holding the Demiurge back. Just enough that cataclysm wouldn't be unleashed, but also throwing down against powerful enemies. The longer he kept this vampire at bay, the more chance he and the others can recover, plot and then aid him when it matters most. So through his Thought Projection Rings, he ordered everyone to stay away from the battle until he said so.
Noriko may not like it, but she dealt with it admirably. Godfried focused on coalescing more storm clouds after the others burst away earlier, readying to bring his full power upon them again. Wess had to make do with a substitute pair of pistols while they awaited further action.
The one known as Selestia Rasputin III reeked with magical energy on an entirely different scale than before. While she didn't use the transformation her energy entailed when countering Jadow's full power attack, this strength is comparable to that moment. Red eyes foresaw the demon possessed holder that it was becoming annoyed at her persistence. It was fine, she wasn't operating at full capacity either; she just wanted to see just what was so terrifying about the demon god from the stories.
Feeling her tugged into a warping space hole like before, she acted on readied instinct. Her enormous blood-flame wings twisted back and spiraled in a corkscrewing pair of drilling lances into the hole that had swapped their locations, intending on bludgeoning and grinding him with immense pressure and momentum. The flaming crucifix she had made was dispersed with a wave of her hand, letting a black ashen material slop to the crumbled earth. The sensation and sight of multiple wormholes of spells spewing at her gave her reason to raise her sword upward, its tip scattering outward like a tree shooting branches of jagged razor edges ebbing the same bloodied-fire as before.
"Bloody Eden's Branch Razors!" She intoned, deflecting ice projectiles, cutting through jets of water and distorting the air before it could latch onto the fiery mantle of blood coating the metal. Connecting into the earth, it dug through the soil, allowing her to remain perfectly still as her weapons - after she had attacked with her drilling wings - sprouted from the earth in fiery blood covered spears lined with barbs that spread outward like porcupine spikes; all with the intention to slice and impale him like hungry snakes that sought his movement and energy for purchase, all while her eyes stared imposingly from the distance. "Bloody Eden's Thorn Thicket!"
The Demiurge sensed Selestia's first counter attack crossing into his space, through his own spell no less. Twin drills of flaming blood impaled the demon through his chest with ease, having only barely missed vital organs before he slammed the vortex shut, severing the wings instantly, ending their threat. The breast of his jacket soaked up the tainted blood before he sealed the two wounds with ice. Damn...I can't believe I was that stupid...Rei, let me use more power...or else we're both dead! You wouldn't leave her out of spite, now would you?!
During his inner plea to his host, the Demiurge caught the sight of the swath of flaming tentacle-like spears zipping towards him. Before they could impact, he dodged with a quick leap, landing on the very air itself with ease to survey the battleground below. When the lances of blood rose after him, he merely looked down at them and pointed towards them and they were incinerated with bright blue flames that came from his outstretched finger. With the direct threat reduced to ashes, he turned his gaze back to Selestia. With a moment to take stock in the situation, he could feel that much more of his sealed power had been returned to him, perhaps enough to decimate the vampire below.
"I commend you, child of the night, for lasting so long against me...However, all good things must come to an end. " As he spoke, his body seemed to shine with an unholy glow. As the glow formed, an ice-blue sigil appeared under Selestia and within seconds she was frozen from the knee down with the iceblock trapping her weighing far more than it's size would suggest, limiting her ability to fly or run away. Seven other sigils formed around her, each representing the other seven elements, "Septete of Desolate Tyrants!" he called out as the seven dragons rushed down towards his enemy, each capable of vast destruction on their own, but united the carnage was beyond compare. He intended to give her a swift, if somewhat painful demise.
Selestia admired the scope of power this demon's energy possessed. Even when she struck him, she could feel vast reserves that were drawn from a maelstrom of an abyss. When her wings were severed, she felt a modicum of pain at the artificial appendages were detached by the closing of the rift in space. Her own bladed attacks may not have connected, but she felt the taint of bloodfire that scorched and entered his innards from the previous attack. By the time he remotely sealed her legs with ice that felt dense enough to be considered on par with a mountain's roots, she chose to cut even from this engagement.
"You're stronger than I am, Demiurge, that much is clear," Selestia intoned coolly, watching him create seven spectral dragons with chaotic power that even one of them had the capacity of turning her body into some dissolving substance. Raising a hand, she clenched it into a fist, as her red eyes glowered with her voice becoming guttural to proclaim boldly to his person. "But I still win this time!"
"Unholy Blood Maiden!"
From within Rei's guts would have blood-fire metal that shot out from his abdomen, crawling about like thorns to pierce and slash across his arms and legs in a simultaneous shredding, scorching maneuver on his body. On the inside out, the damage being as severe as possible. To her own chagrin, she didn't have enough blood infused into the demon king's host to strike at the respiratory system, but she made do with what she had.
Slashing her legs cleanly, she propped her weapon on the ground and propelled herself away from the impending spectral dragons that aimed to strike the ice laden earth. In her released state, she had the ability to use blood-fire substitutes for legs in exchange for a longer wait on regeneration. Looking at the others, she chose to depart, spreading her wings and flying back to her line where the Iceberg army was bound to regroup and march onto the defensive perimeter of Stella.
The Demiurge watched as his dragons sped towards Selestia, but before he could bask in his victory, he felt a sharp pain ripping across his abdomen as blood spewed forth and lacerated his body. He let out a deep growl as his mind registered all the pain coursing through him, but he would deny her the victory of hearing him scream, That bitch...she struck where I'm vulnerable... he thought, glaring at her as she escaped by severing her own legs, which were obliterated in an instant as the seven elemental effigies crashed into the block of ice. Once the smoke would clear, nothing of the discarded limbs would remain, not even ashes. But it infuriated him to watch her fly away virtually unharmed, like she honestly bested him and that he was inferior to her. It was an insult to his nature as a living, breathing force more than a living entity, an insult that he regretted being unable to rectify at that moment. He, or rather his mortal host, required nearly immediate medical care before they bled out.
Lowering himself down to the ground, he tried to land as carefully as he could, streaks of purple appearing his hair and his left eye returned to metallic-grey. "You idiots better take good care of my host...Got it?" he rasped. Blood dripped still from his chest, arms and legs. Nothing fatal, even to his human half, but still, the pain would be incredible. He could tell that his time was growing short and the two aspects, mortal and devil, would soon switch dominance and his other self would have to bear the burden. "Don't...let him die."
It was at that moment Rei once again took back control, the physical changes to his appearance reversed entirely. Letting out an anguished scream of misery, he collapsed due to his injuries and the stress of allowing something so powerful to physically manifest in reality with so much of its might being brought to bear. As if taking pity on him, the Demiurge used lightning magic to interfere with his senses of pain, dulling the agony that coursed through him. It was still unbearable but it wasn't nearly as mind-breakingly devestating as it had been. "Vic...Nori...Sorry I couldn't win." he said quietly, unable to vocalize too much.
Akuba appeared out of nowhere, teleporting to its master's side. It looked around frantically at the others before teleporting all of them back to the Skyhawk instantly, Once they were safely aboard again, it ran around squealing and crying, trying to articulate the fear and sadness it felt to the humans who could not understand it. Only Rei could comprehend what its wailing meant, Unfortunately, between the exhaustion and the pain he was in no condition to translate.
"Rei!" Noriko rushed to the man, hearing the last of the demon's words before he vanished and left the host to its own devices. Clenching his wounded frame to him, everyone seemingly gathered around him, soon finding themselves whisked away into the aerial dancing Skyhawk. As she held him close, her eyes watering up, Victor put a hand on her shoulder and ushered her away, placing a hand that emitted a barrier that encompassed his being; immediately going to work on emergency first aid on his body.
"This isn't an ordinary wound I can fix," He admitted, though kept his voice low, trying not to alarm Wess or Diana from his speech. His eyes drawn to the insidious vapor of black and red smog being funneled out into the barrier before being dismantled on a molecular leve. Simultaneously, he knitted back flesh, fixed ligaments and restored damaged muscles while pushing away excess blood from the innards. "He'll have to naturally recover for the next day or so before we can safely return him back to the front."
"B-But he's going to be alright?" She asked, almost out of character for her usual smarm and witty dialogue.
"Don't worry, he's in no danger of dying, thanks to our immediate withdrawl-" He cut himself short, looking around and seeing one missing. "Where's Godfried?"
The Thundergod Saint had vanished into the heavens the moment the Vampire had withdrew herself from the battle. Even as her bloody winged image was flying at high speeds, it was no match for the velocity of his storm-force he rushed across the firmanent. In a thunderclap, he'd flash down, his body a halo of electricity and wind, impacting a surprised Selestia whose hand instinctively raised a blade to deflect the majority of the blow; though was left to be bludgeoned and electrocuted by his salvo of magical power.
Flying back across the icy front, she'd find herself smoldering in thick steam, her body hunched over and the blade rattling in her grip. Raising her head to send a scowl of intense vitriol at the Wizard Saint, Godfried's own face was constrewed into a visage of stoic wrath. With his body coiling with howling winds and golden light, he smashed his fists together, coiling a thunderous force of light and energy that disturbed the soil of the earth, kicking back the incoming frost and blistering around in a cyclone of Ethernano; enough that Selestia's eyes widened with surprise at the sheer volume of it that was condensed into his fists.
"I'm not letting you walk away scott free, bitch!" Godfried snarled, pulling back his right arm and firing a violent bolt of lightning-coiled wind, forcing the Vampire to brace herself with her blood-flamed wings in an arched coil of her back's appendages. Thrusting her sword in return, segmenting the blade into a shower of seeking tendrils of fiery-bloody spears, Godfried's body disappeared in a flash-
-reappearing right beside her, lariating her midsection with an effigy of a blue lit-hammer constructed around his arm. An elliptical shockwave of high voltage shrieked out, drowning out Selestia's hoarse cry of agony as the elements of Victor's magic seared through her defenses, vaporized the blood and throttled her across the expanse back towards the line of soldiers beyond his scope.
"SECRET ART, MJÖLNIR!" He bellowed, sending her careening out of sight in a distant blast of crackling tendrils and steaming, formerly frozen water vapor. Hissing with a gritted effort, he propelled himself back into the sky and lassoed himself around the Skyhawk, entering in the form of brief electrical interference before he rematerialized in front of them. With all eyes looking at his crackling, human state, he'd grin with weary satisfaction as he gave Victor a thumb's up. "I bought our boys some extra time; she isn't getting back up anytime soon."
"Hotheaded as always, eh, Godfried?" Wess murmured while Victor rolled his eyes and ordered Diana for them to pull out; it's time they restrategize in the coming week against their enemy.
Rei had to lie there and let Victor heal his wounds. "Nori, I'll be fine. I'm not gonna die...not when it'll make you cry. Besides, Victor's here...there's no one better." he said. He wanted to reach out to her, to prove that he would be fine but with his sense of pain mitigated, he could barely even feel his limbs as an extension of himself, leaving his mind separate from the bulk of his being. When it was brought up that Godfried was still out there, he stretched out his sixth sense, feeling that his comrade was closing in on Selestia; for revenge or to finish the job, he wasn't sure but he still worried until the Wizard Saint reunited with them moments later, worn out but still alive despite who he had fought.
"You idiot...She fought the Demiurge and I to a standstill..." he rasped, his words laced with worry as well as a bit of self-loathing. Had I stopped holding back...would this have even happened? he thought bitterly, expecting a mocking rebuke from his psychic "roommate", who for once remained silent while the former criminal was beating himself up, perhaps out of pity or even a begrudging respect that wouldn't last. No matter what urged the evil god that slumbered within his mind to shut his mouth for the first time in the last half-decade, Rei took the peaceful quiet over the annoyance of his alter-ego with a bit of happiness.
Looking at them all, he smiled despite the pain. They still cared, they still fought alongside him and now they were trying to save his life. Not just because of what he could do, but because of who he was to them.
All he had to do was survive until his natural healing and Victor's magic could ensure he would survive his injuries and he'd be fit to fight once more. But if this set the tone for the rest of the war, he had no reason to doubt, it'd be a long week ahead.