I, Necromancer Chapter 22 (Patreon)

The tension in the air was so thick that not even a knife could cut it.

Elohim's glowing eyes flicked from God to God, heads of each Pantheon that still stood. That still survived the cruel passage of time, and Humanity leaving them long behind.

Shiva, Indra, Odin, Zeus, the Jade Emperor, Ra, Perun, Kane, Amaterasu- All powerful, ancient Gods.

Not once, in the long history since the creation of their World and Solar System, did they ever stand in the same room together.

Gods – or Deus, as is the actual name of their Race – are naturally arrogant. Born with power, born with domains over certain matters of life, born immortal.

In the past, too used to believe they stood above everyone else, they always refused to acknowledge the existence of other Pantheons. Any meeting was forced, or because of a slight, or just to get a piece of the pie.

Now, age tore down that arrogance. Elohim could see that quite well.

Indra was the same, always trying to get at Shiva, to kill his rival. Shiva had changed since the loss of his beautiful wife, no longer the arrogant, mighty God who would have turned Indra to ashes with a gaze for trying to stand against him.

Odin, no longer the warmonger.

Ra, once the God that hated her the most, now just addicted to gambling at rooster fight clubs. Illegal ones too.

The Jade Emperor, epitome of arrogance centuries ago, now calm and wise, offering words of comfort with a genuine warm smile and congratulating her on her return.

Amaterasu, once an arrogant Goddess… Now a shut-in NEET addicted to anime and dating games.

All of them changed, which is what allowed Elohim to gather them all in the same place, all to show them one thing.

"So…" Odin starts, gripping his cane, the hidden form of his ancient spear, his gaze narrowed and glaring at the thing behind her, "That's it, isn't it? The End."

Elohim turns, all of them standing within the empty void she brought them in, hidden from the senses of anyone. Anyone who doesn't hold a certain Grail.

Within a barrier carved out of reality, a thing stood. It was Eldritch, always shifting, changing forms, devouring itself, and ramming into the barrier.

It howled, it screamed, it cried, it begged, it laughed, it barked, it neighed- It changed to take the forms of their fears, of their evils.

Elohim saw Adam and Eve. Saw Samael. Saw snakes and Dragons. She couldn't imagine what the other were seeing, but Indra murderous scowl and trembling hands told her everything.

"Trihexa." She turns, unable to look at it any longer. The sight of it always made her want to throw up. "The Beast of the Apocalypse. What I sealed away five centuries ago, before my death."

She turns, fingers brushing against the barrier, archaic runes flaring gold at her presence, their essence fading. Another century, and the beast would come loose and ravage across the Universe as a whole, devouring stars and galaxies until nothing remained.

"Like Ophis, who was born from the Infinite, and the Great Red, who was born from the collective Dreams of Humanity and our own… This creature is of our own make too."

The Jade Emperor breathed gently through his nostrils, "Our Fears, I presume."

Odin nods, "And our mistakes."

Indra was next, "And our evils."

Elohim nods, watching them all glare at the imprisoned beast, "I've brought you here to seek an alliance." She starts, drawing their gaze back to her, "To put aside our differences, and fuse our strengths. If we don't… I doubt we have another century ahead of us."

Shiva stared at her. He was always the one who understood her better, for his Clairvoyance nearly matched the one she was cursed with. "There is something far worse than this thing out there, isn't there?"

The other Gods gasp sharply, eyes widening out of pure horror.

Elohim smiles, but it wasn't comforting in the slightest, "The Core of No Man's Land." She reveals, "There are Primordial Class beings there. Beings that make any of us look like ants. Beings who can go toe-to-toe with this-" She waves at the sealed monstrosity behind her, "-beast and survive."

A tense quiet fills the slice of void they were standing on. Eyes glared at the Beast once more, even if they did not wish to. Just staring at it invoked Hate, roused those emotions from the depths of their very being.

It was why she had never told or showed her Children this Beast. Why she had kept it hidden. One look would be all they'd need to Fall due to Hate, or other malevolent emotions evoked by the Beast of The End.

Zeus, who had remained quiet this whole time, finally spoke up. His voice rumbled like thunder, eyes sparkling with lightning as he clenched the Thunderbolt in one hand, "The Alliance is to prepare us for this thing." The usually dramatic God of Olympus grunts out.

He hadn't changed much, but recent events had brought out the monster that waged war against the Titans during the Gigantomachia. The Beast Tide had taken one of his Demigods, a daughter he was very fond of.

His wrath befall the Beast Tide, and in his wrath he had chased after it even when it retreated, having even come to blows with a beast on par with the Heavenly Dragons before being forced to retreat.

Now, he was visibly eager to return and settle the debt.

"We need to grow in strength." Elohim nods towards the bearded God of Olympus, "Us, and our people. And the Gates are a fine target for… Everything and far, far more."

Shiva hums, cupping his chin in thought, long blue hair flowing down his back, "You propose we bring together all of our resources?"

Again, Elohim nods, "I will bring forth all of my Sacred Gears. The theorized ones, the ones under work, the already made ones- I'll gift them to your chosen people."

"Bring forth your best teachers, your vast armies- Everything." It was time the tide was reversed. The Beast Tide invaded them, now it was their turn to invade and ravage No Man's Land after two decades of simply ignoring the Gates. "We have our differences. We've come to blows before. I've stepped all over your toes for a long, long time… But if there was ever a time for us to put all of that behind and come together, then it is now, when our World is under threat of being annihilated by outside invaders."

Odin lets out a low grumble, "That's all nice a good, but we can't keep throwing bodies at the problem." The All-Father points out, "We take out a Gate, five more pop up in its place. We still don't know how them fuckin' things wo-" His words come to a halt, his lone eyes wide as he gapes at the smug Elohim. "...You figured them out?"

Shiva chuckles softly, "Of course they have. She wouldn't have gathered us without that much." Elohim smug smile just grows tenfold at that.

With a wave of her hand, she conjures a terrain of light before her and the other Gods, "Each Gate disturbs Space-Time, creating fluctuation that help more Gates form. The more Gates, the greater the chance more appear."

"But-" She starts just as Odin was about to speak again, making him grumble beneath his breath, "Certain Gates cause greater fluctuations. Their whole point is to help more Gates form."

"We destroy them, and we lower the chances of more Gates appearing within a massive region by ten-fold, if not a hundred-fold."

Zeus' eyes finally flicker away from the beasts and settle on Elohim. Where once her new form would have certainly evoked lust and hunger within him, now all he wanted was to repay the debt with the invaders. "I will converse with Hades. It is time us brothers stand together once more."

Odin shrugs right after, "It's either this shit, or Ragnarok. We gon' fight either way, so we are happy." Of course…

Shiva hums, then glances back at the Beast, "What about this creature?" He questions, drawing attention back to Trihexa, "How long will the seal stand for?"

Elohim hums softly, "Another century." Soft hisses escape the lips of the Chief Gods, "But… I have a plan for it."

Indra lifts a brow behind his sun-glasses, his frown slowly turning into a wide, glorious grin, "You wanna use it?"

Elohim smirks. It wasn't a pleasant smirk. At least for Trihexa.

"We'll use the Apocalypse to fight the Apocalypse."

Instead of ending the world, it'll help save it. She saw no better way to spite this horrid creature.

~XXX~

"So, what's our battle plan?"

Vali asks, joining me and the two Heavenly Dragons after Rhapthorne healed away his previous aches and pain from his training.

"Each of us will have different objective." I start, motioning towards the table before me. On it was a crystal ball reflecting a bird's eye view of the enormous army of Undead stretching in all directions like a plague.

Vali whistles at the sight, "All the way to the horizon, huh? Must've been around for a while." He states, easily seeing through some clues. The army expands slowly, mostly because they stick within a certain range of the Necromasses.

The moving mountains of Undead and Necrotic Miasma are the backbone of this army. They release potent Necrotic Miasma, which empowers the Undead within its massive range by a great deal, and in turn are there to gather the corpses that are too destroyed to be brought back as Undead.

And they are also there to refill the army of any large losses. Each Necromass is made of tens of millions of Undead corpses. They are like my Corpse Stryders, meant to gather biomass and turn it into Grafted Monstrosities, but the Necromasses just turn them into Shambling Undead.

Powerful, tough, diseased, and explode on death. Tens if not hundreds of millions of them, all gathered together.

"The main front will be held by my own army." I start, knowing that with the backing of Rhapthorne and his bullshit buffs and healing my army will have little losses, "This front will be a battle of attrition. Just to gather their attention, and keep it."

Vali nods, crossing his arms, gaze flicking towards the projected figure of a Necromass, "Those things are our target, then?" I make a so-so gesture.

"Theirs." I point at the two Heavenly Dragons, who perk up, "Yours are just as important, though." He raises an interested brow, and I have the Undead Bird I created with the Sephiroth Graal to work as a scout for us turn to gaze at another target.

Further ahead of a Necromass, garbed in torn robes, wearing a rusty crown and wielding a large staff. Malevolent light green flames flow around them as they slowly advance, encircled by an army of armored Undead of all kinds.

"A Lich?" Huh, Vali knows his stuff- Ah, wait, he is a Chuuny. Bet he played Dungeons and Dragons before.

"A Necrolich." I correct him still, "More offense focused, there to direct the armies. The Necromasses are what empowers them, while the Necroliches are the mind of the army."

His eyes widen in realization, swiftly seeing through my plan, "Take out the mind, and the army loses any sharpness and strategy in that area." I snap my fingers, and that's when Ddraig sees through the rest.

"And taking out those giant mountains of corpses will weaken them massively, allowing your army to advance."

I nod again, "The main Necromancer of this Horde will likely sense the losses. We take out enough Necromasses, and he'll likely direct the rest of his army towards us. All we have to do is wait and take it out as it comes."

It was a simple plan, which will be easy to fix in case anything changes. I expect the leader of this Gate to very likely be more intelligent than most monsters we've faced so far, seeing the formation of his army.

A mindless monster would not have come up with a formation as efficient and effective as this.

I just cannot guess what Class the Boss Monster is. Ddraig and Albion are much stronger than before thanks to my changes and support, and because they've also been training and fighting powerful monsters all this time.

Hopefully, it is enough. If not, I'll have to work on other plans, or make them accept Rhapthorne's busted healing during their battle.

"Ddraig, Albion, you two can go wild. Tear those things apart, either together or make it a competition- Just make sure to direct the rest of the army our way."

The two Heavenly Dragons give toothy grins towards each other at the mention of a 'competition', which I did on purpose. I'd feel bad, but not really, I do enjoy seeing them go wild.

"Vali, you also have free reign. Let me know if you want any Undead or specific Grafted Monstrosity to come with you." He opens his mouth, clear refusal for assistance on his tongue, before he holds himself back. A look of consideration flashes past his eyes for a few seconds before he nods.

"I'll think on it for a bit." Huh, now that's surprising, "When will we attack?"

I pause at that, staring at the projection on the table, the Undead Scout still flying and relaying back everything it sees. A vast army of tens of millions that just kept going and going.

"One month." I say after a minute of mulling over it, "You all can clear the surrounding areas and keep training. I'll have to prepare the army, and graft a few things." I frown in thought, then turn towards the White Dragon Emperor, "Albion, can I use your poison as the base for some experiments?" The Dragon nods without much care. He has started to use it more and more recently against the monsters from Gates.

Necrotic Miasma and Necrotic Flames won't do much here, and since I want to bring the Terminids to life, I need a potent form of acid. By using Albion's insanely powerful poison as a base, and mixing it with gastric acid and my potent Necrotic Energies… I should be able to create the most potent Necrotic Acid in existence for a long, long while.

I just need to graft some corpses and insects together. I need to make them able to reproduce insanely fast, within hours, and grow just as fast.

I won't waste time with just fodder. Dragonroaches, Bile Titans, Bile Spewers, the Chargers, armored insects, the Stalkers, speed units- Even units that gather fallen biomass for me.

Luckily, they won't go out of control. I'll Graft them, but they will be a Hive-Mind. A single Soul linked to all of them, for better battlefield control.

I had theorized this a while ago, for my main army back in New Haven, so this will be a fine test for this Hive-Mind Soul.

The two Heavenly Dragons and their pupil take their leave, flying off to ravage surrounding Gates and any poor victim they happen across, leaving me to descend down the large cave I've had my earth Undead Mages create, where all the biomass had already been gathered.

I already took a trip back on Earth in preparation for this, and used the Graal to study as many insects and animals I could find across the many cities and areas I had left markers on from my previous trips before I started dabbling in Necromancy.

Luckily, the internet helps me find all the location and shops that hold such critters, making me save up time. Hell, I even considered sweeping through the Amazon Forest, but I got all I needed within a few hours.

Grafting is always difficult, but I've gotten a lot better at it now that I do not rely on the Sephiroth Graal to do everything. While it can mix creatures together, it doesn't have the same effect as Grafting.

Grafting fuses, not mixes. It empowers their greatest strength, further enhances them with my Necrotic Magic, and brings forth something new. Then I can use the Sephiroth Graal to mass produce this Grafted Monstrosity with these new abilities.

While, if I had used the Graal from the start, I'd have just mixed these two creatures together. I'd have given it one thing from an insect, and one thing from another, but it wouldn't have been a real fusion in the end, nor would it have received a strengthening effect.

Having talked with Jesus strangely opened my eyes, making me rely much less on the stolen Sacred Gear, which somehow turned out with me growing stronger, instead of losing capabilities.

The first Grafting fusion I go for is between a Bombardier Beetle, due to their scorching, noxious spray- And a Blind Termite, for their stocky and toxic secretion.

It takes a few failures, but the successful creation sprays toxic, sticky, highly corrosive and super-heated Necrotic Acid that melts through stone even with basically no Mana at all.

After that, I mix in the insanely deadly, weakening properties of Albion's poison for the final touch. The end product is the base for the Dragonroaches, Bile Titans, Bile spewers, and any other Terminid that will wield Bile.

In fact, I'll make so all Terminids explode on death, turning into highly caustic bombs, while also giving their mantis-like blades a thin layer of said Necrotic Bile.

The next fusion will be the base for all of their bodies, giving strength and toughness. First is the Dung Beetle, due to being able to lift more than a thousand times their weight, and then Diabolical Ironclad Beetle, for the insanely hard exoskeleton that can survive nearly forty-thousand times more than its weight.

Again, it takes a few times, but small insect that came out could lift and hurl a boulder bigger than I was with enough strength to turn it into powder on impact.

The next set doesn't require Grafting, and instead I just create it through the Graal. A mix between a Froghopper for the jump, a Chameleon for obvious reasons, and a Praying Mantis for the sharp blades.

This mix is then grafted with the successful fusion with a powerful body. The success lets me create Chargers, and highly armored or fast insects that can jump high, move fast, fly, and hide.

I keep doing this, fusing and Grafting more and more. Massive insects that shoot Necrotic Bile projectiles like mortals, massive flying Dragonroaches that spew burning and sticky Necrotic Naphalm.

Mighty and towering insects that are like tanks. A charger survived a punch from Ddraig after I showed the giant thing to the red Dragon before he fled, and the creature survived with barely a cracked Exoskeleton.

Finally, the last Grafted creation is a mix of all of them, but pushed to a hundred, and into the form of a worm. The Hive Lord. Hundreds of them, a kilometer long each, spewing highly pressurized jets of Necrotic Bile that melts through everything.

Once all the bodies and were prepared, I used the majority of all of my weaker Souls that I've gathered after all this time to create the Hive Mind Soul, while feeding it a reserve Soul of a Jiangshi warrior taught by Lu Bu, which was taught a great deal of battle strategies.

I don't place the Soul in a body, but make it the Nursery. A colossal cave made of pulsing flesh and acid to break down all biomass that is fed and brought in here, and that will expand and create tunnels to attack other Gates and bring back 'food' to create more workers, more eggs, more armies- So on and so forth.

My Perfected Corpse Stryder. If this works as I want it to, and can perfectly create all the Grafted Insects I've 'downloaded' within its consciousness… Then this gives me yet another mighty weapon in my arsenal.

All of this is so to create the Ultimate Grafted Monstrosity, but I am still far from it.

Watching as the first set of workers swiftly move to carry the enormous amounts of biomass gathered outside and feed it to the Nursery – while also bowing towards me each time they walk by – I nod at my first successful prototype.

I can already see dozens of way to massively improve it, but for now it'll do perfectly well as is.

In fact, I watch as Ddraig starts crying and running away when the first Dragonroach is born… And promptly starts chasing the Red Dragon Emperor.

...Okay, I didn't teach it that. Guess the Hive-Mind Soul is a little shit.

Shaking my head, I mentally bring up the System menu. I still don't have the Advancement Quest, and I feel like that I'll never get it because I cheated my way into advancing and into Lichdom.

I believe I'll get the Advancement Quest when I truly get a lasting Divine Blessing from a God of Death. I just do not know which one would best suit me, seeing how my type of Necromancy is so… Widely specialized.

Though… I am specialized in Creation, but not in fighting. The reason I want to attack this Necromancer Boss is because I want to devour its Soul.

Recently, I swapped Rhapthorne with another Soul, and now I have three Souls that have mastered all of his Spells. A safety measure I take with all of my Mages in case I lose them.

One of these Souls will be devoured by me, and I will devour the Souls of the Necroliches too so to get a hand on their Spells. The same will happen to the Necromancer Boss of this Horde.

I need Spells in my repertoire. Offensive Spells. So far I have a Spells that massively empowers my army, and a Curse that cannot be removed.

Hmmm… Well, I should go ahead and create my first Offensive Spell for the System either way.

This will take a bit.

….

I never noticed how much Necrotic Miasma reeks.

Mine feels… Nice, soothing. It invigorates me, especially now that the body I am using is sort-of Undead, thus empowering me.

But the Necrotic Miasma of an enemy reeks, and doesn't empower me. It just… Ticks me off.

I hum, watching as the enemy army advances towards us, standing on Ddraig's outstretched palm with Vali. Seven Necromasses advance towards us from the horizon, shrouding the skies and land in a tidal wave of vile green smoke that swept across the earth.

From within that smog, rows upon rows of Undead monstrosities flow out. Both rotten, and made of just bones, like the slithering Skull Reapers, which remind me of that Sword Art Online boss.

Huh, wonder if that series exists in this world. I'll have to ask Rias, maybe watch it with her when I go back. If we even manage to go past one episode before we just start having sex.

Far beneath us, my own army advanced in turn. Land of the Defiled was active and way more powerful than ever, while my own presence empowered the Undead even further thanks to my newest Skill gained to me achieving Lichdom, The Embrace of Death.

The Terminid Army gets that boost too, as they are basically Undead, just piloted by a single Soul, unlike the Jianqshi army. It would be a waste to not let them be empowered even further.

I couldn't help but smirk when the skies were covered by the giant, roaring Dragonroaches. Undead Mages rode on their back, raining down Spells upon the army as the beasts swooped down, spewing out torrents of sticky and boiling hot Necrotic Bile.

Anything it landed on was melted into nothing, carving empty paths through the enormous army advancing towards us.

The armored Terminids barreled forward, not even flinching as Spells rained down on their hard exoskeleton, and just trampling anything in their path beneath their bulky bodies.

Bile Titans stomped forward, colossal beasts that targeted only the strongest among the army of Undead.

I watched as, among the ranks of the enemies, holes suddenly appeared in the earth. Terminids swarmed out, leaping all over the unaware Undead. More holes opened up, spewing out armored Terminids and the cloaked ones, causing slaughter everywhere they went.

"The more I see your creations at work, the more you terrify me, Scaith." Albion muses quietly from beside us, watching as the earth rumbles, and five Hive Lords rise high into the sky. Their massive, armored forms smash down, roll around, rise, then spew the most potent and glowing Necrotic Bile I've created, clearing enormous swathes of the battlefield.

Workers are also hard at work, pulling weaker Undead underground and feeding them to the Nursery, or pulling the bio-waste left behind by the Necrotic Bile away as our army advances.

I hum, then blink when a rumble shakes the air. A vast magical pressure reaches us, and I watch as dark green rifts tear open the air far behind enemy lines, but far ahead of the slowly rolling Necromasses.

Roughly a dozen rifts, and each one spews out waves of Undead and a giant Necromass each, causing the Necrotic Miasma on their side to grow much stronger.

My eyes narrow, watching as towering Undead stomp out, followed by countless other monstrosities that I do not recognize, but that are clearly Gate monsters.

"Looks like we already attracted the Master's attention…" I muse aloud, watching as one of the giants swats down a swooping Dragonroach, causing it to slam into the earth and explode in a massive acidic blast that clears the surrounding area.

"Perhaps because it knows we aren't mindless beasts." Vali points out, "We are smart, cunning predators. That means we are worthy to have a bit of its focus on us."

I let out a drawn out hum. He is very likely right. Yet… It irks me.

"Just a bit?" I muse, stepping forward and stretching my right hand out, "I'd rather we have it all."

The Sephiroth Graal appears, all three cups forming a triangle around my wrist and circling around, a deep black light flowing out of them.

My immense reserves of Magic flows forth, turn into Necrotic Mana, then is empowered by the Principles of Death.

The air hums and vibrates. A deep purple blow blooms at the tip of my index finger, glittering like a star and expanding in scope.

The size of my body, of a house, then matching Ddraig- Then bigger than him.

I coldly gaze at the vast army ahead, and point my finger straight towards those massive rifts.

"Disintegrate."

A colossal purple beam booms forward, erasing sound itself and creating a cyclone of air.

My arm slowly slides across the air, the beam slicing a clear line across the battlefield, carving through everything without resistance.

It was like a giant God pushed their fingers into their earth from orbit, and dragged it to the side, carving a deep, bottomless ravine.

Necromasses, Undead giants, Necrotic Miasma- Everything ceases to exist. I only let the beam die down when all the rifts are forcefully closed, the battlefield now split in half, the advancing enemy army falling into the ravine I left behind as they dumbly keep charging ahead.

I wave my hand and spread my Devil wings, "You guys can go wild."

The two Heavenly Dragons and their pupil do not waste a moment to pounce.

Scorching flames and mighty blows rained down from the skies, gouging the earth open and leaving behind immense craters. Necromass after Necromass fell, and my army kept advancing.

[Disintegrate]

A beam of super-charged Necrotic Energies, boosted by the Principles of Death, enforcing high-speed decay and corrosion to anything it touches until nothing remains.

A fine creation, if I dare say so myself. With how massive my current reserves are, I can dare to just dump a lot of Magic into one Spell to make it bullshit powerful.

With a hum, I cross my hands behind my back once more and enjoy the slaughter below- Hm?

Well now…

The Undead Minion made with Ophis' blood has finally woken up.

~XXX~

"Is it just me, or is the barrier around New Haven much stronger than usual?"

Rias questions, turning to insanely powerful Super Devil walking alongside her. Her senses had grown much sharper under Zani's and Fleurdelys' training, making her able to sense and notice such subtle changes with a bit of focus.

Phrolova smiles, her heterochromatic eyes glinting under the light of the fake sun above, "Miss Changli recruited the… I believe they are called Formation Masters?- Either way, Miss Changli recruited and has been spending a great deal of time with the Master who has created this barrier, and she has spent some time to empower it recently. Or so I've been told."

Behind them, the towering form of Hecate followed quietly, drifting across the ground like a quiet yet beautiful ballerina, making Rias forget that it is a mighty Heavenly Dragon Class monster.

One linked to Phrolova by Soul, making them both terrifyingly powerful.

And said mighty monster was now… Carrying their shopping bags. Rias found it beyond amusing.

Her bright eyes flick away from Hecate and take in the rest of the street of New Haven. The shopping district was full of activity, people rushing left and right, all Devils. All equals. No Noble Blood or arrogance to bring the mood down.

Since her brother and the other Satans had gathered the Noble Houses and their armies in one location, anyone that wasn't willing to fight yet was sent to New Haven.

With Fleurdelys' agreement, what was born as a refuge for the lower class and the abuse now became a refuge for war. Sometimes, some Devils would pick up arms and go join her brother's side, being put under strenuous training created by the Four Satans and the strongest young Devils.

Sairaorg was among them, same with the former top ten Devils from the Rating Games. Diehauser, the former number one, was already achieving feats on the battlefield, which pushed the others to try even harder.

Rias' gaze falls. She still hadn't talked with her family. Had a proper talk, without the shouting, the glares, the accusations, and thinking about the past.

She couldn't understand how Fleurdelys was able to put all differences aside so fast due to the Beast Tide. Her brother and Serafall had done the same too.

But perhaps, she didn't understand because she wasn't a leader like them. She lacked their mentality, which was to put the people first, instead of their needs and wants.

Perhaps, once things calmed down, they would settle the score. Perhaps they already settled it, and understood that both sides were wrong in how they handled things.

She didn't know. Maybe she never will, unless she asks. She communicates.

"Rias?" The Gremory Heiress perks up and turns her head towards the person who called for her.

She finds Riser, standing beside his Queen, both staring at her in surprise.

Rias blinks, then her gaze flicks to the building behind them. A sushi restaurant. Her eyes flick back down to Riser, and the man… Flinches, while Rias' face is soon spit by a gigantic smug smile.

"'The human world's food is foul and disgusting, same as the air, hur hur hur!' And now look at you! You fake! Fake!" The crimson-haired Heiress cackled, rudely pointing at Riser's flushed, embarrassed face, sheer superiority on hers.

The third son of the Phenex Family grumbles while his own Queen hides her giggles by turning her head away, "T-Things change, alright?!" He huffs out, crossing his arms in a rather childish manner, "Plus, the cook is a Devil!"

"A Reincarnated Devil!"

"Still a Devil-" Blood explodes out of Riser's mouth, staining his chest and orange clothes in it.

The street goes silent in an instant, all eyes locked on the long metallic blade sprouting out of his chest, right where his heart should be.

"Wha-" The air behind him shimmer, revealing a large, humanoid machine. It flings its arm, launching Riser into an adjacent building without looking.

The building explodes. Screams rise, and the alarm starts echoing throughout the whole city, with the barrier soon covering it all in a gigantic dome.

"Lord Rise-!" Yubelluna scream's choked as a giant, metallic arm swung for her head, but the owner was smashed into the earth by Hecate, thin leg pinning the metallic skull into the earth.

"Yubelluna! Go check on Riser!" The Queen nods at Rias and hastily spreads her wings, while the Gremory Heiress calls upon her Power of Destruction to annihilate the weird monster-

"Power over sound analyzed. Deploying countermeasures." The beast rumbled out, stunning her. A sentient monster!?

Her momentary shock allowed the beast to slip away, hard metal turning into a liquid and slipping away from beneath Hecate. It took back its Minotaur-like shape right beside the beautiful monster, giant arm swing booming through the air, aimed for Hecate's head.

Only for a sharp twang! To ring out, blowing the monster into silver-blue metallic droplets… Which gathered together into its original form once more.

"Resistance is futile. The goal shall be achieved." The machine rumbles out, lone eye flickering a calm orange, "Culling of the talented youth; Next target sighted." And its gaze flickered to Rias, making her heart leap to her throat.

Power of Destruction flowed out of her in tidal waves, eyes narrowing and lips stretching into a furious snarl.

This wasn't a random attack. Every faction was likely being attacked by these creatures, to have the talented youth be culled, cutting their power in half and massively weakening their future situation.

Further explosions echoed across the city, which made Rias grit her teeth much harder. How many have died already-

The machine suddenly stills, lone eye flickering a surprised red, "The other Stealth Units have been eliminated?!" It shouts in shock, surprising both Rias and Phrolova, who were biding their time to let the street evacuate.

And that's when they felt it. A pressure crashed down upon the city like a mountain, or perhaps with the weight of the whole ocean itself.

Yet Rias and the other inhabitants felt nothing, while the machine was smashed into the earth, hard metallic exterior cracking and splitting apart with laughable ease.

"This signature-!" The machine forced out, while Rias saw Yubelluna drag Riser out of the rubble. His wound wasn't healing, for some reason, but he was still alive. "The Infinity-?!"

"I awakened at the right moment." A deep, powerful, yet warm voice boomed over the empty city. Rias blinks, finding a towering figure standing beside the downed machine when she was pretty sure no one was there a moment prior.

Pitch black robes, a long veil cascading from the top of his head down to his chest, a glowing purple Infinity symbol marked upon the veil, right before his face.

Long white hair flow down his back, in perfect contrast with the pitch black robes, while from his back sprout fourteen giant wings. Twelve were a bright, glowing white… While the others were of the blackest black Rias had ever seen.

"To find mine Lord's home invaded by vermin's… 'Tis best I exterminate you lot before joining his side." A large, black spiked staff appears in the towering being's grasp, his head tilting towards Rias and Phrolova after a moment, "Ah, my Lord's lovers." Phrolova flushed shyly at those words, "Such daring…It appears I must send the rest of your filthy kind a message."

The machine keeps struggling on the floor, mechanical eye flickering orange and red over and over again, "Undead signature!? Angel signature?! Devil signature?! Monster signature!? Living signature?!" It kept rattling out, as if glitching- Until the bottom of the Undead's staff smashed the mechanical eye apart.

The monster twitched… Then turned into a liquid that burrowed into space itself, causing it to ripple.

The robed Undead snorts and flips towards Rias, his towering figure standing beside her faster than she could blink. His gloved fingers pinched a sharp blade burrowing out of rippling space- Then yanked, pulling the giant machine out of hiding, its repaired eye flickering a sharp red.

"Deploying countermeasures-" The monster exploded with a flex of the Undead's magic, leaving nothing but particles floating through the air.

"Countermeasures? Against me?" The Undead snorts haughtily, "You overestimate yourself, filth." His free arm swings through the air, and Rias gapes when said gesture punched a hole in space, leaving a gaping wound in Reality.

Beyond it, she only saw twisting currents of all kinds of color- The shattered Dimensional Gap!

"I shall hunt down the rest of this filth, ladies." The Undead bows towards them, "Rest assured, you shall be attacked no further with me around."

And with that, the robed being stepped through the hole in space, and within the spiraling, chaotic currents of the shattered Dimensional Gap.

"Now then…" A veiled face rose, looking into the depths of the void, and staring straight at the millions of mechanical eyes locked on his form, flickering red and orange in surprise. "Do you truly think you can escape me?"

A low, amused laugh.

The cracked remnants of the Dimensional Gap start quaking.

"Deploy countermeasure-!" Machines explode like fireworks, dragged out of the void they were hiding in and crashed apart by pure, dense, Infinite magical pressure.

"I hope mine Lord does not mind if this one keeps him waiting." The Undead floated forward, as if taking a stroll through the park, while all around him machines exploded and crumbled like tissue.

"But alas… This infestation truly runs deep, it seems. But… For what reason-"

Tilting his head, the Undead stops his slow walk through the Dimensional Gap and takes in the sight before him.

Slowly drifting past him, and across the shattered Dimensional Gap… Were two continent-sized corpses.

A crimson one, and a pitch black one.

"Ah… Now I understand."

The Infinity and The Dream.

A.N. Are they dead? Are they alive? Who knows… I do.

Also, I haven't forgotten about the Fallen Angels, in case y'all wondering.

I am putting their first appearance so far back to show just how unimportant they are in the grand scheme of all that is happening right now.

Am still thinking about other smart monsters to add to make things more… Challenging. If y'all have monsters from other series – not 40k preferably – that feel like fit the bill, do let leave a comment.

Either way, hope y'all enjoyed this!

Toodles!