Hell of a Show Ch. 46 (DxD AU/Multi) (Patreon)

(Every character depicted in the story below is a consenting legal adult over the age of 18)

A/N: Lucrezah is unhappy, to say the least.

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“WHO DARES?!”

Lucrezah Lucifer can’t help but be both outraged and shocked as they’re attacked from all sides. The floor-to-ceiling windows explode inwards, the roof collapses above their heads, and even the elevator doors are destroyed as people come pouring out of them.

In an instant, Lucrezah uses the Power of Destruction to vaporize the falling roof chunks above her. This also forces those trying to use them as cover for their descent to abort their initial assault and leap away for fear of being utterly annihilated by her power.

That’s also enough to give everyone else pause for half a moment, allowing Lucrezah to properly identify the would-be assailants with her enhanced, sped-up perception.

… The answer to who would dare attack Huntrix Tower while a Great Satan was in residence turned out to be ‘everyone’.

The ones flying in from above were wizards from Millennium, the organization that had been behind K/DA’s remarkable rise to fame. Of course, knowing what she did now about the abuse K/DA had suffered at Millennium Enterprises’ hands, Lucrezah can’t possibly look at them in a good light.

The ones who came in through the now-shattered windows, meanwhile, are all dressed in black and wearing masks covering their faces. Shinobi and Kunoichi of Akali’s Ninja Clan, they seem singularly focused on the young woman in question.

Those who came out of the elevator shaft are very obviously Yogwae, the Korean equivalent to Japan’s Youkai. Ancient Spirits, Monsters, and the like who have banded together in the modern era to form their own supernatural factions. They look at Ahri with venomous, hateful intent.

And finally, the only group not to destroy part of the place as they arrived… are a bunch of devils Lucrezah immediately recognizes as belonging to the Old Satan Faction. They’ve portaled in over in the destroyed penthouse’s kitchen area, but are already looking like they feel they’ve made a terrible mistake as they lay eyes on her.

Meanwhile… Grayfia is not idle.

“Rumi, get us all out of here!”

The powerful Devil’s call immediately jolts Huntrix’s leader into action, and a fresh set of portals open up under all of their feet. Huntrix, K/DA, as well as Grayfia and Amadeus Valefor. They all fall through the floor and the only ones who are close enough to jump after them before the portals wink out are some of the ninja who came in through the windows.

Everyone else is left behind… with Lucrezah. Of course, this also means Lucrezah herself has been left behind but she honestly doesn’t mind all that much. While it would certainly have been touching if Rumi did consider her enough of an ally to bring her along… Lucrezah would likely have kept herself from falling through the portal beneath her feet anyways.

… After all, there was some trash that needed to be cleaned up and she was just the woman to do it.

Standing there in the destroyed remains of Huntrix’s penthouse, Lucrezah slowly rotates her head, taking in the surrounding forces as the air crackles with her power.

“Tell me… do you know who I am?”

There’s awkward shifting from everyone at that. The Old Satan Devils, the Korean Yogwae, the Japanese Ninja… yes, they all know who she is. And so do those from Millennium. One such wizard, an ancient-by-human standards man, floats down as he raises his hands in a placating gesture.

“Lady Lucifer, you must understand… we did not come here tonight to make war with you or the Underworld. All that Millennium wishes to do is retrieve our stolen property.”

There’s a pause as everyone present processes those words. Lucrezah bristles as she correctly deduces that when the wizard talks about ‘property’, he definitely includes the members of K/DA in that term. She’s not the only one who reacts strongly either.

A Kumiho from the Yogwae steps forward with a snarl, her three fox tails flashing in agitation behind her.

“Like hell you will! You lost that abomination once… we aren’t going to suffer her to live a day further!”

Ahri. They’re talking about Ahri.

Meanwhile, representatives from both the Ninja Clan and the Old Satan Devils step forward as well.

“Now that the contracts have been destroyed, the Heiress belongs with her Clan.”

“We are only here for the Heiress. She will return to the Underworld with us.”

There’s a brief pause that might have been amusing under different circumstances as the two groups look at one another suspiciously. But even they aren’t so stupid that they can’t figure out they’re talking about two different people after a long moment. Indeed, the ninja are talking about Akali while the devils are speaking of Evelynn. Both groups want their respective ‘heiress’, obviously.

Lucrezah, meanwhile, just huffs and shakes her head at their audacity. The pressure in the air around her grows tenfold while also expanding outwards as her eyes flash with rage. Everyone freezes like prey animals caught under the gaze of a predator.

“So you do all know who I am. And still you chose to attack me and those who I have put under my protection.”

The Millennium Representative blanches at that.

“We did not know you would be here tonight, Lady Lucifer-!”

“Oh, don’t try to play ignorant. It doesn’t suit you. Or do you really expect me to believe that all of you just happened to make your moves right as Gabriel departed? That none of you knew she or I was present, and yet you still didn’t attack until she was gone?”

Lucrezah scoffs, making it clear what she thinks of that idea. To their credit, no one tries to convince her otherwise. Indeed, the expression on the Millennium Representative’s face hardens up after a moment.

“… You should step aside all the same, Great Satan. The Leviathan would be upset if you caused a major political inci-.”

He never finishes that last word. Mostly because his head suddenly stops existing due to the Power of Destruction annihilating it in an instant. As the wizard’s body flops to the floor of the destroyed penthouse, Lucrezah tilts her head to the side, sweeping her gaze across the assembled once more.

“A ‘major political incident’? Truly? Do you all think so highly of yourselves? No, if I had fought Gabriel… that would have caused a major political incident. That would have been a mess so large Serafall might not have spoken to me for a month.”

Lucrezah smiles as she raises her hands into the air. To their credit, some of her opponents finally have the good sense to try and flee from the scene of their crimes when they see her smile. Unfortunately for them, it’s too late for that… Lucrezah has already used the Power of Destruction to destroy the ability to retreat from this battle.

Portals fail to materialize, flight spells stop working and drop their users to the ground, and those who try to run find themselves running face first into Destruction. Lucrezah lets out a soft chuckle as everyone else looks at her with wide eyed horror.

“You… you can’t do this! If you make us all fight you… you’re surrounded!”

Oh. Oh that was perfect. Lucrezah lets her smile spread into a wide, toothy grin as she sneers and calls upon the fullness of her power. When was she going to get a chance to use a quote like this?

“Surrounded? All I am surrounded by… is fear and dead men.”

She sees a couple of eyes widen in recognition, but she doesn’t give any of them a chance to call her out on it. Instead, the moment the last word leaves her lips… Lucrezah Lucifer attacks.

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You know, it was one thing to know that he was probably stepping in shit by freeing K/DA and committing to keeping them happy, healthy, and safe. It was another entirely to be confronted by the consequences of his own actions.

Admittedly, Amadeus hadn’t been able to fully process who was attacking them in the moment, only that there was no path of retreat available to them save for the Demon Realm. But now that he’d had a few minutes, he was pretty sure it wasn’t a question of who was attacking them, but rather who wasn’t attacking them.

Of course, the strange bit was why he’d had those minutes to process in the first place… after all, a handful of ninja had chased them all through the portals that Rumi had made.

And yet… the ninja had ultimately taken care of themselves, mostly by tripping over their own feet and then rather swiftly expiring from seemingly nothing but the very environment around them.

“… What the hell happened to them?”

Nobody seems to know for a moment, until finally Zoey perks up.

“Oh! I think I have an idea! It was Rumi!”

All eyes turn towards the purple-haired woman in question, who blinks rapidly in turn.

“I… what? But I didn’t do anything!”

But Zoey just nods like that makes all the sense in the world.

“Right! That’s what I’m saying! You didn’t do anything, so they died!”

Amadeus has to admit; he’s as confused as Rumi looks at this point. Fortunately, Mira sighs and shakes her head.

“Zoey, back up a few steps and start from the beginning please. We’re struggling to catch up to where you’re already at.”

Zoey blinks and then flushes a bit.

“Oh, right! Sorry! Well… remember how Rumi kind of sort of ate Gwi-Ma, the Demon King who used to rule over this entire Realm?”

Amadeus nods along with Rumi and Mira, while the four members of K/DA all give Rumi looks ranging from impressed to weirded out.

“And remember how Celine always used to tell us how dangerous the Demon Realm was? How even back before the Honmoon was erected, if you found yourself there as a human, your soul was basically automatically forfeit?”

This time only Rumi and Mira nod along, Amadeus not having heard this part before.

“Well nothing happened to Akali or Kai’Sa when we first brought them here, right?!”

Both Rumi and Mira freeze at that, both of them blanching as they throw glances at the only two full humans currently standing atop the ziggurat. Amadeus also blanches a little bit… even if he hadn’t known, the idea of them meeting a grisly fate wasn’t an exciting prospect.

“So here’s my theory… I think when Rumi ate Gwi-Ma, she didn’t just leave this place without a ruler… she inherited it from him in it’s entirety. And that means she inherited its defenses as well, basically. Or maybe because she’s connected to it, she can spread her soul-sucking across the entire Realm. And so, if a human is unfortunate enough to find themselves stuck here… they lose their soul to Rumi!”

Rumi looks a little stricken by Zoey’s theory and when Zoey sees that she’s quick to wave her hands back and forth.

“Oh but only bad guys, Rumi! Obviously only bad guys! Kai’Sa and Akali are safe specifically because they’re under the aegis of your protection or whatever! So the Demon Realm won’t target anyone you don’t want it to target. But these assholes were trying to hurt us, so obviously they weren’t protected.”

Amadeus tilts his head to the side, mulling over Zoey’s words along with everyone else for a long moment. On the one hand, it was a bit of a crazy, convoluted explanation. On the other hand, it made enough sense to probably be correct… or at least close to correct.

Rumi is looking between the downed bodies of the ninja at their feet and her hands like she doesn’t know what to think… so Amadeus steps over and takes her hands in his, rubbing his thumbs across her knuckles as he smiles at her.

“Regardless of what happened… we’re safe because of you, Rumi. You got us out of a rather bad situation, one that could have easily ended in one of our deaths. So thank you for acting so swiftly when I called to you.”

Flushing, Rumi jerkily nods.

“O-Of course… you’re my King, a-after all.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Amadeus catches Grayfia nodding approvingly and has to resist the urge to sigh. In the end he just gives Rumi one last reassuring smile before looking back to everyone else.

“Right then. Well… we might not be able to return to Huntrix Tower at this rate. I don’t know if the Lucifer would have stuck around or not once we were gone, but those forces that were arrayed against us might sit tight if they think we can’t leave this place and journey elsewhere on Earth. Or at the very least they’ll leave scouts there to alert them if we go back.”

Zoey moans about losing her turtle collection, while Mira grumbles about her makeup. The members of K/DA, meanwhile…

“We told you that we would be hunted. And now here it is. You knew this was coming.”

Evelynn sounds defensive, like she expects him to start blaming them for all his woes. Amadeus just smiles at her.

“I know. And I still don’t regret a thing.”

The instant those words leave his lips, Zoey and Mira stop their bellyaching and griping and adopt more serious expressions as they nod in decisive agreement with his words. Evelynn jolts back as if struck… before blushing prettily.

Amadeus doesn’t comment on it though, instead sweeping his gaze across the rest of K/DA.

“I said it before and I’ll say it again… no matter what it takes, I won’t let them have you. I’ll fight your enemies as if they were my own.”

There’s a pause… and then Akali steps forward.

“Then Reincarnate us.”

Amadeus blinks… but Kai’Sa just nods and steps up to Akali’s side.

“Yeah. At least Akali and I. We can’t fight as we are now. We’re too weak. But if you make us Devils, maybe we’ll be strong enough to protect ourselves… and fight alongside you.”

Before Amadeus can muster up a response, Ahri joins them.

“M-Me as well… I’m sick and tired of being an ‘abomination’ in the eyes my supposed kin because I’m half and half. So I might as well become a devil…”

Finally, Evelynn takes a hesitant step forward. When the others all look to her, she scowls.

“I refuse to be left behind.”

Ahri’s gaze softens and she reaches out, taking ahold of one of Evelynn’s hands before the devil can pull back.

“You don’t have to join Amadeus’ peerage just to stay with us, Evelynn. We won’t abandon you, no matter what.”

Evelynn’s blush intensifies before she huffs and turns her head away to the side.

“I-It’s not about that… we’re going to all need all the power that we can get. That’s the only reason I’m agreeing to this.”

Then, she looks to Amadeus, her gaze sharpening.

“That is… if Lord Valefor is even willing to offer us Evil Pieces at this point.”

Well damn. Way to put him on the spot…

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A/N: Remember to Vote, leave a Like, and let me know what you think!

If you vote yes to Reincarnation Time, make sure to share your ideas for what the members of K/DA should be worth in terms of Evil Pieces!

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Google Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P2OhiISyRn4iScNjhuPuXm-ecJT2shkcfbuieOdJLPg/edit?tab=t.0