Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
"So, a terrorist attack." I said lightly as I stood up. I could see Rias's Peerage frozen, except for Kiba, Xenovia, and Rias herself. Issei finally started to move.
I overheard Azazel's explanation as I approached one of the windows. I could see the extra protection the leaders had put in place; it was quite airtight, really. It was pretty impressive, and I wasn't sure if I could replicate it. A barrier created by Sirzechs, Azazel, and Michael was no small feat.
Finally, they were discussing plans to go and rescue Gasper, and I hummed softly before smiling.
"So... you'd say this territory belongs to everyone?" I asked curiously, and everyone stopped momentarily, breaking the tense atmosphere.
"What?" Azazel asked, confused. I shrugged.
"I mean, right now Kuoh is neutral territory, with the peace treaty and all, and what happens with neutral territory is that it either belongs to everyone or to no one, but let's suppose it belongs to everyone, that means it's also part of the devils' territory, and I, as a devil, it's also MY territory." I hummed as I looked out the window.
"Do we really have time to discuss the semantics of who owns Kuoh?" Azazel asked dryly.
"Oh, but semantics are really important." Purring as I looked at Bella.
"Ah... yes, I see." Sirzechs said, letting out a knowing laugh. "I suppose... it belongs to everyone, and by extension, it belongs to you, Lady Prince." Sirzechs chuckled. Serafall laughed softly.
"Oh... I see." Azazel laughed heartily as he finally understood everything. "Yes, I have no problem with it belonging to everyone," Azazel said, amusedly.
"I must admit, I'm confused, but... I suppose I have to agree with you, right? Kuoh is one of the three factions right now," Michael said, confused, yet he had a slight smile. I chuckled.
"Wait, what are you planning? We have to rescue Gasper!" Issei said, confused. I laughed slightly.
"Bella, my dear, you could go and find Gremory's bishop and then... feast, after all, you've been served a feast on a silver platter." I asked Bella with a smile, which she returned, but a much bloodier and more sadistic one; I could feel her bloodlust explode, as if thousands of souls were screaming.
"It will be a pleasure, my love." Purred Bella. Her spear appeared as she approached the window; she pointed it towards the sky and began to shout, her voice echoing throughout the grounds.
"They are savages invading my territory
And they mock us with their arrogance!
We are heroes!
And we fight against despair!
Only death awaits those fools!
Kill them with a smile on their faces!
Impaler Queen's Edict!!!"
The effect was immediate; everyone in the room received a boost of power, even the faction leaders, who looked around in genuine amazement.
"The world will tremble with my every step!
Only a fool would dare defy me!
Will of D.read!!"
Bella's next ability came with force; I could feel the ominous pressure as her Conqueror's Haki spread everywhere, enhanced by her Falna and her nature as a Royal Vampire, more insidiously and dangerously. And finally, she opened her mouth again.
"Come, savages who trample over my territory!
It's time to discipline you!
I'll turn my compassion and rage into red-hot stakes and skewer you all!
And these stakes are not limited, but truly infinite, so despair — and gorge on your own blood!
Kazıklı Bey!"
Bella finally finished invoking her Noble Phantasm, and in an instant, stakes began to grow from the ground in the thousands at the same time, impaling, piercing, and employing everyone in their path.
Dozens of stakes for each person, every single one of them, from those on the ground to those flying in the sky, thanks to their Will of D.read, and the stat reduction, the enemies were unable to escape far from the stakes or even defend themselves against them.
The entire Khaos Brigade army was immediately decimated; even the new ones who constantly appeared were immediately impaled on stakes, all their corpses were impaled, their blood dripping to the ground before they began to move and fly towards Bella, who was still at the window.
She simply smiled in ecstasy as she began to drink the blood of all the dead magicians.
"HAHAHAHA! WHAT A WONDERFUL FEAST! KEEP FEEDING ME!" Bella roared madly, leaping out of the window to join the fray. I could see Bella heading towards where Gaspar was, impaling everyone with her spear or simply with her hands, then absorbing their blood.
"Your queen is scary." Azazel said, whistling in awe as he looked at the hundreds of people still impaled around the building. I shrugged.
"I think she's charming." I said playfully, and Azazel snorted loudly.
"Will she really be able to save Gasper?" Rias asked anxiously. I just raised an eyebrow, created a portal, and Gasper shot out of the black mist. I used magic to make him land softly on the ground. "Gasper!" Rias screamed in a panic.
"You could always do that?" Azazel asked dryly as he approached Gasper, took out a small bracelet, and placed it on Gasper. Immediately, Gasper's Sacred Gear stopped trying to affect all of us. I sighed.
"Bella just killed the guards," I said, shrugging. "But that's not important, we have visitors." I hummed as I watched the circle appear behind us. A woman appeared with an arrogant smile.
"How are you, current Satan, Sirzechs?" Katerea asked with a smile. "I am Katerea Leviathan, I who carries the blood of the previous Leviathan," Katerea said arrogantly.
"Khaos Brigade." Azazel spat out the name. "I've been asked why I've been gathering Sacred Gears, and it was for preparation. Because of them, I've only recently been able to confirm where they come from, but they're gathering dangerous members from every faction. Their sole objective is to cause destruction and chaos. They're sick extremists."
"And their leader is the Uroboros Dragon, Ophis." Azazel said solemnly to his fellow faction leaders, everyone else tensing up at the mention of Ophis's name.
"Well, I'm glad you know about us," Katerea said mockingly. "We, the Old Satan Faction, have mostly decided to cooperate with Khaos Brigade—" I ignored Katerea's rambling and rolled my eyes.
I made myself invisible and stealthily positioned myself behind Katerea while she was distracted by the others.
I grasped Cia in its wand form before it extended into its staff form, a long cane about my height, completely black and smooth, austere and almost unadorned, like my wand. The top twisted into a curve before extending upward once more; along its length were a few scattered metal rings.
A rather simplistic design, and I liked it. The staff fit easily in my hands, and I felt its power coursing through me. I lost my invisibility and placed the staff against Katerea's back, the tip gently touching her. Avada Kedavra. The killing curse erupted from the staff's tip and struck Katerea full force, causing her to fall like a puppet whose strings have been cut.
"So, that was easy." I blinked as I looked at Katerea Leviathan's body on the floor. I guess that answers the question of whether a killing curse can kill high-level people in this world—the answer is yes, and with equal ease.
Although I didn't know how, the Killing Curse could be and was amplified by all of Cia's bonuses, I didn't even know that something as definitive as a killing curse could be improved.
"Death magic?" Ajuka asked curiously as he approached Katerea to examine her. "No physical or magical damage, just a faint trace of a curse. The death magic simply shut down all her organs at once, clean and tidy, truly impressive," Ajuka analyzed with just a glance.
"Tch, although it would have been useful to extract information from her, there was also something I wanted to test." Azazel grunted with a pout, more annoyed that I had killed his guinea pig than that I had killed Katerea. I rolled my eyes.
"We still have someone else working for Khaos Brigade." I said dryly, then turned and looked at Vali. Everyone turned to look at him; he was still leaning against the wall before raising an eyebrow.
"What gave me away?" Vali asked without any concern or attempt to hide his affiliation with Khaos Brigade.
"You're terribly predictable, you'll look for any excuse to fight and gain power, and with the three factions making peace, you'd definitely go where you can get what you want." I said dryly, Vali just looked at me.
"Ah... she's right, you're terribly simple." Azazel sighed, ruffling his hair. "Especially when I learned that Katerea and the Old Satan Faction had joined Khaos Brigade, I had my suspicions." Azazel sighed.
"I'm not here for you, or for Red," Vali said, finally uncrossing his arms. "It's really interesting, quite a coincidence that you're also a descendant of the original Satan. We were destined to fight each other," Vali said, staring at me. I snorted.
"Believe me, there's nothing predetermined about this; you're just fooling yourself," I said dryly. Vali just shrugged.
"How can someone who has the blood of the ancient Lucifer know this? It's in your blood, that thirst for power, that desire to fight," Vali said, staring at me. I shook my head.
"I already told you, my only interest lies with my family and my magical research, nothing more, nothing less. If people would stop trying to fight me, I wouldn't care at all," I said without any emotion. "But go ahead, you want a rematch? You'll get it." I said easily while looking at the leaders of the different factions; they simply nodded.
Vali snorted before approaching the window. His Divine Dividing wings appeared behind him, and he stepped out. I simply began to float slowly behind him. We both hovered in the air, Kuoh Academy, above the stakes Bella had erected and the hundreds of impaled corpses.
"Do you really want to fight? Last time it didn't go well for you." I mocked Vali once again.
"You're nothing without those swords," Vali said confidently. I raised an eyebrow.
"And you're nothing without Divine Dividing and the blood of Lucifer, but here we are." I retorted, and Vali's expression turned furious. I laughed mockingly. "What? Using the magic and weapons I created is unfair, but you, who were born with something like a Longinus and the blood of the ancient Lucifer by sheer luck, is that fair?" I scoffed before shaking my head. "I don't know how you're so twisted, but I'll play along. I'll face you without my weapons, with only my magic."
"Impress me, Vanishing Dragon," I said to Vali easily. Vali gritted his teeth as his Balance Breaker activated and his armor began to cover his entire body. I gripped Cia between my fingers, feeling the staff's power coursing through my body as I held her, and the thrill of being used in a real fight.
Vali appeared beside me with his fist near my face. I let The Light emerge from my being like a torrent, let it manifest as Void Energy and pass between dimensions to appear beside Vali. I moved my staff and struck Vali in his side. Cia was covered in void energy.
" Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide! " Vali tried to divide the void energy, but even so, when the staff struck his body, a massive eruption of lethal void energy hit him, much of his armor disintegrating and throwing him backward. I used Dark Flicker again to cross dimensions and teleport near Vali.
Cia was once again enveloped in void energy, concentrating it at the tip. Vali tried to move away quickly, but I simply teleported behind him. My staff touched Vali once more.
" Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide! " Vali tried to reduce the void energy again, but even so, the explosion was enough to continue disintegrating his armor and causing him damage. Vali growled, turned around in the air, and reformed his armor.
I moved Cia in a wide circle. Using The Light and its manifestations was magic, so my enhancements and Cia's greatly boosted its effects when cast, and I could use other magic to enhance the final effects.
I don't use a weapon to use the hunters' golden pistol. Still, it wasn't necessary. The Light moved and transformed like an eager puppy in my hands, hundreds of spheres of solar energy accumulating behind me as my staff propelled them.
The Sun Gem especially enhanced solar energy to a terrifying level. I moved my staff and aimed it at Vali just before the spheres began firing solar beams at him.
"Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide." He tried to reduce the power of my shots. Still, Vali had a limit, one that he quickly reached and began trying to dodge the shots, even trying to create shields, but the solar shots passed through said shields like paper, especially when thousands of them arrived in a fraction of a second.
I moved my Cia and created hundreds of small portals, redirecting the failed attacks and sending them back at Vali, this time from different angles. The sheer volume of shots finally overwhelmed him enough that one hit him. Vali's armor simply disintegrated from the overwhelming heat of the solar energy that struck him.
Then the other impacts reached Vali's body, rapidly reducing his armor as he fell to the ground. I moved Cia once more; the solar blasts stopped, but instead, nine void orbs were propelled through a portal.
The void orbs fell around Vali, tiny black holes digging into the ground and creating immense gravity that prevented him from getting up. I could hear him scream as he tried to stand, only to find himself on his hands and knees.
I hovered above him in midair and pointed my staff downward without any emotion. Arc energy formed at the tip of my staff, then a massive beam of Arc energy, several times larger than my body, struck Vali.
I could see Vali summon his armor once more, his wings spreading wide.
" Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide!!!! "
Vali tried to defend himself; he tried to reduce the attack, but I simply kept the arc beam output at full power. Vali finally reached his limit of how much he could divide and absorb to maintain full power. His Divine Dividing reached its limit, letting the Arc energy finally hit him completely.
I held it for a few seconds before stopping and began to descend beside Vali. I looked at Vali, whose armor was destroyed and who had several wounds on his body, trying to stand up; I just hummed.
"Impressive, you really survived." I said playfully as I approached. He glared at me, his expression turning furious, and finally stood up. "Why the long face? Are you planning to use Juggernaut Drive again? Is that the only thing you can trust? " I mocked Vali; he gritted his teeth, about to open his mouth.
"Hey, Vali!" a voice shouted as it fell from the sky and landed between us. Bikou. My eyes scanned him quickly. Literally, I could feel the Youkai Mono template being created in my Reality Marble, at the same time as Ruyi Jingu Bang, Sun Wukong's legendary staff, was being replicated and projected. Or at least, a replica of it. Basically, I could project a replica of a replica; it wasn't the best, but it was something.
"I've come for you, Vali." Bikou said with an arrogant smile.
"Bikou... why have you come?" Vali asked with a grimace. Bikou sighed.
"How cruel, on top of making me take a long trip-"
"Yes, I don't mind." I interrupted Bikou's conversation; he just stopped and looked at me curiously.
"So she's the succubus you lost to, huh? " Bikou asked with a mocking smile. Vali just grunted. "I really feel like fighting you, Serena Prince," Bikou said with a grin. I raised an eyebrow.
"So what's stopping you?" I asked casually. He just shrugged.
"I came to find Vali if the mission failed. Katerea failed, so we have to leave," Bikou said without any concern.
"So it's time, huh? " Vali grumbled before letting out an annoyed sigh.
"Yes, it's time for us to retreat, Vali." Bikou said as he struck his staff against the ground, and the magic circle appeared beneath him. I simply projected Rule Breaker into my hand and stabbed the air. A small portal appeared, and the blade of the ceremonial dagger passed through it before appearing a few centimeters above Bikou's circle, behind them.
The tip of Rule Breaker touched Bikou's circle and tore it apart as if it were paper.
"And... who told you that you could leave?" I asked with a wide smile. Bikou finally lost his smile.
"Oh? You really want to fight, Succubus? " Bikou asked, sounding excited. I chuckled.
"Fighting would imply that you were a challenge enough to warrant a fight." I said mockingly, Bikou's expression froze, and he stared at me.
"You really have confidence, Succubus, I admit it." Bikou finally said, readied his staff, launched himself forward at terrifying speed, and tried to hit me with the tip of his staff... head-on.
I just stood still and created a portal in the path of his staff. The portal appeared next to Bikou, where his staff emerged, and struck him in the cheek with its own tremendous force, sending him flying to the side. I snorted and raised an eyebrow.
"Did you really fall for that? You're worse than Vali." I said dryly. Bikou stood up and blushed slightly.
"That's cheating! Who uses portals?!" Bikou shouted in my direction. I raised an eyebrow and looked at Vali.
"Doesn't he even know what I'm capable of?" I asked Vali incredulously. Vali had a conflicted expression on his face before sighing wearily.
"Bikou, let's just... go." Vali grunted, running a hand over his face. I snorted. Bikou growled in conflict, but finally approached Vali once more and recreated the circle while eyeing me cautiously. I scoffed; I could block his magic in a dozen different ways, but I simply let them continue.
"By the way, Vali, you still have a contract to fulfill and a series to film." I told Vali with a broad smile. Vali stopped and looked at me incredulously.
"You must be crazy," Vali finally said, and I snorted.
"Sanity is overrated, and you should know it," I said dryly. Vali scoffed, but smiled. "And I mean it. Come on your own, or I'll come looking for you, and it's actually quite easy to find you," I said playfully. Vali looked at me incredulously.
"Never." Vali growled furiously, and I chuckled slightly.
"What if I sweeten the deal? You can enter Pentagram City without any problems, without anyone chasing you, and if you come, sing, and record without complaining, you can fight my Peerage or me whenever you're in the city. What do you say?" I asked Vali with a huge smile. Vali stopped and stared at me, his eyes wide. "Think about it." I mocked Vali, and finally, they both teleported away. I hummed, moved between dimensions, and reappeared once again in the meeting room.
"That was a good warm-up," I said jokingly as everyone looked at me.
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