Romania.
Hidden by magic, I, Tia, Sarra, and Morgan hovered above Tepes Castle, which was currently the epicenter of a rampage by a huge number of dragons.
The original Evil Dragons in the form of Azi Dahaka, Crom Cruach, and Apophis were fighting in the castle dungeons with Vali's team, Rias's entourage, and Azazel, while their clones, which Rizevim had turned the overwhelming number of vampires into, began spreading out in all directions, destroying everything in their path.
At the same time, I wasn't too worried about it, since the random casualties had already been scared off by my closed fields. Also, the other members of my faction were already on its borders, waiting for my orders.
- "Aaaaaaaa~" Tia sang out, clearly concerned about the situation and wanting to intervene.
- "I know, but not now. It's too early," I shook my head and put my arm around her to calm her down a bit.
- "So you want to make a statement," Morgan said.
- "But you need all the faces you can get, don't you?"
- "And that's why you're here, Morgan," I nodded, "I need Goetia to be present as well. Consequently, I'd like to ask you to lift your spell on the rest of demons Pillars."
- "I could do that, but not for free," she said. "And you still owe me from last time."
- "Yes, I remember," I said calmly. "In return, I plan to summon your Fairy Knights to attend the wedding and keep you company. Is that a fair deal?"
- "I suppose it's bearable," Morgan said dismissively. "After all, I'd have ordered you to summon them anyway."
- "Hey! Give me some freedom, will you?! We're husband and wife, not servant and queen!"
- "Like that doesn't suit you," she smirked and stepped closer to me. "After all, as far as I remember, you liked..."
- "All right, all right! Just don't say anything," I shook my head and sighed heavily. "Even with my stamina..."
- "I'm interested in your lovemaking, but not now," Sarra intervened. "So you want to gather all the available Beasts? What about..."
She didn't have time to finish, for I tossed her the Holy Grail I'd just created. Sarra caught it and stared at me in surprise, to which I nodded briefly.
- "It's disposable while I figure out its local counterpart," I said. "Now..."
At this point, a rift in space opened up near us, and Goetia slowly emerged from it, giving me an annoyed look.
- "The spell is broken," he began, not even looking at Morgan, who clearly found this all very amusing. "What do you want?"
- "Well, given your previous..." I started, looking as smart as if I were a Nobel Prize-winning scientist.
- "What. Do. You. Want?" He came right up to me and practically pressed his forehead into mine, hissing each word separately. And from the side came a distinct and unconcealed chuckle, obviously Morgan's.
- "I'd appreciate it if you didn't get so close to him," she said, causing Goetia, who was trying to ignore her in every way possible, to arch an eyebrow. "Otherwise, I might think you were trying to flirt with my man."
- "Me? Flirting? Do I look like the scion of the first Fallen that showed up in town a couple days ago?" He asked in a gravely icy tone and smirked in my face as I widened my eyes in surprise because he knew about the incident. "I suppose I owe her a debt of gratitude, because now I know how to influence you effectively. You ran away like a little cowardly mouse, didn't you, Romani?"
At those words, I pressed my forehead against his, as I thought of all his previous antics, which had left me with some unpleasant feelings.
- "Wanna fight, huh?"
- "Aaaaaaa~" Tia interrupted our argument by poking our foreheads. "Aaaaaaa~"
- "But he started it first!" I exclaimed.
- "The most obvious lie," he spoke up.
- "Aaaaaaah~" Tia chanted, then hugged both of us, but neither Goetia nor I broke eye contact, albeit silently.
- "I think that's enough," Morgan intervened and placed a hand on my shoulder, still amused. "You will heed the words of your wise wife, won't you?"
I glared at him some more, then clucked my tongue and turned away.
- "Your Majesty, retreating would be a wise decision," said demon Pillar Sitri, whose magic circle lit up beside us. "Magician has already taken much of your time, and doing what he asks is the quickest way to get back to the business of the Underworld."
- "And confronting Beast II is not part of any of your plans," demon Pillar Dantalion added. "It's counterproductive."
After a few seconds of thought, Goetia, apparently agreeing with their opinion, also backed down. And seeing this, Tia smiled a radiant smile and, taking our hands in her own, arranged a handshake as a symbol of the end of the conflict. Except that neither my gaze nor his clearly showed that we would not forget about each other.
- "What an interesting picture..." Sarra said sincerely, keeping her eyes on us. "And equally amusing..."
- "I agree," Morgan nodded and looked at me. "When do you plan to start, husband?"
- "Soon, I think," I shrugged, and just then, one part of the castle began to collapse rapidly. And then, seconds later, Azazel burst out of there, clad in golden armor with purple stones, and a black dragon of the eastern type, more than a hundred meters long, a body studded with gems, shimmering with silver light, and three eyes on his head of the same color.
This scene instantly caught our attention, especially Tia, who was staring intently at the dragon, seemingly Apophis, causing it to stiffen for a moment, but then proceeded to fight Azazel.
- "I guess that's our signal, isn't it?"
-0-
Azazel was having a hard time. He knew that Apophis was too strong for him, but his goal was not to win, but to distract him while Rias and the others dealt with the Evil Dragon clones that the vampires had turned into.
They were extremely lucky that neither Crom Cruach nor Azi Dahaka refused to fight in view of their dragon pride and simply left with Qlippoth. But with her departure, Rizevim also took half of the Holy Grail with her, awakening into a special Balance Breaker that split Longinus in two.
Azazel quickly shook his head and dodged several Darkness clots released by Apophis, which instantly made the Fallen One focus on the battle. But at that moment....
...he, no, ALL of them felt it.
A wave of power, containing a concept already familiar to Azazel, was sweeping over not just the entire country, but the entire planet, as the data in his phone confirmed.
Human Sin.
Like the messenger of Death in the folklore of any nation that by its mere appearance heralded the end, each of the three waves made every supernatural being on the planet freeze and feel to their very core the inherent end that would surely greet the world.
The blood in Azazel's veins froze, his body began to shake involuntarily, and his armor cracked and crumbled as Fafnir, whose power the Fallen One had used like a frightened little snake rather than a majestic dragon, hid in the depths of the artificial Sacred Gear.
And as if that wasn't enough, Azazel felt all the mythologies around him begin to appear: Greek, Egyptian, Celtic, Chinese, and so on. One by one, a new god or goddess appeared in the sky that was in full uniform and battle ready to face the enemy.
At this moment, everyone felt another wave, but this time one that contained the power of the Biblical God that had long ago left their world, according to them. This worried the gods even more, for his return meant a great deal, and not all the deities were happy about such news.
And, as if to answer both their thoughts and their feelings, the sky was pierced by four pillars of light of great power, which raised storms and made everyone experience a new wave of shock and deepest horror.
Three of them had the color of the darkest night, but each of them was distinguished by the colored spots circling around them like smeared ink: blood red, dazzling gold, and sky blue. At the same time, the latter had a snow-white light, the same light that was associated with Heaven and directly with the Biblical God.
Azazel's eyes, as well as everyone else's, were fixed on these four pillars of light, but only the Fallen knew who was the instigator of all this. Only he knew who was hiding behind all the pillars, and from all the power that Beasts and Romani were emitting, his condition was many times worse than the other watchers.
After a few moments, as if making sure that all attention was focused on them, one by one the pillars of light began to disperse. But instead of bringing a sense of relief, everyone present fell into an even greater stupor, as the creatures that had revealed themselves subconsciously only increased the terror and awe at the same time.
Azazel's mind, frozen like thick tar, recognized Romani in the form of Solomon, but the creatures?
He had never seen their full form, and so he had often wondered if they resembled anything as horrible as the Beast of the End mentioned in the Bible. And now that they appeared in their true form right before his eyes, his heart skipped a beat and an impenetrable lump appeared in his throat.
The cause was not horror, fear, or anxiety, for those were emotions he felt because of the creatures' aura, but not their appearance. Azazel felt true, genuine awe as he examined every detail of their appearance.
Goetia, the Demon God King, was truly majestic. Gleaming scales of ivory and pure gold, sprinkled with precious stones that shone with their beauty and power. Branch-shaped massive horns, embraced in mystical flames and giving the impression of a crown. A massive violet eye in the center of his chest, as if seeing the truth of the world itself. All of this gave the impression of not a demon, but something greater, something beyond the humans' concept of demons and their existence.
Control.
Tiamat, the Goddess of Life and Beginning, was appealingly terrifying. Her usual appearance of an extremely gifted looking woman, replaced by a massive monster the size of a mountain. Long hair the color of sea azure, replaced by a mane the color of a swamp topiary. Horns, tail and limbs embraced by scales resembling the bark of an ancient majestic tree. The veins running along her entire body, pulsing an ominous scarlet color. And dragon wings embraced by feathers in an intricate pattern. A goddess that gathered traits of both fauna and flora.
Nature.
And the final Beast, whose appearance hadn't changed much from the others. Her slightly obscene nun's outfit was replaced by a dress, as if woven from fresh scarlet blood and revealing vast stretches of perfect snow-white skin, and a golden corset was held on her stomach as if by the power of thought. Two massive wings opened from behind her back, their bases showing golden ornamentation and the color of their feathers ranging from ash gray to royal bard.
But Azazel paid special attention to what hovered above her head. There, like a halo, floated a twisted version of the Holy Grail with pointed edges, gemstones, and a frame that resembled the wings of a bat or dragon. And out of this cup were literally billowing puffs of black dense acrid smoke, as if they were all the low desires that drove people to seek it. A being with the collective image of the darkness of humanity in its guise.
Desire.
And, in the midst of these horrible yet majestic monsters, hovered Romani, who had his hands behind his back, his expression surprisingly regal and enlightened. He, who looked like an ordinary man, looked out of place against them and was attracted to them because of this incongruity.
Azazel knew of Romani and the Beasts, so he had no questions about this scene. However, he understood the speculation of those who were unfamiliar with the inhabitants of one traditional Japanese house in Kuoh. Either he was another monster... Or he was commanding them...
-0-
A/N: How's the chapter? Give us your opinion. You may well be able to influence future chapters.
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