Becoming the Strongest Through (Draconic) Racism - Chapter 18 (Patreon)

??? POV:

"So, I suppose this should be sufficient evidence for our organization's commitment and efficacy?" Said the fallen angel woman. She said with her legs crossed, sitting in a business-like manner, yet subtly exuding sensuality.

Yet none of it affect whom she was speaking to.

"He is still contending with the Antichrist." Her childhood friend, Kanzaki Mitsuya, noted as he sat on the couch with her next to him. "Whether this will result in victory or give rise to possibility of True Change, is yet to be determined." He said in a blank note, yet she knew underneath his tone, he was desperate for this new piece on the board, for this Dragon Slayer to win.

"Is that a bit pessimistic?" Said the fallen angel, tilting her head while looking at Mitsuya. "He defeated literally—and not in the hyper-exaggerated use of the word for emphasis—every Evil Dragon there is."

"You can not imagine the amount of times, I've seen a hopeful victory, turn into a bitter, disastrous defeat." Mitsuya said back, in a bored dry tone.

"Hmm, that's fair." The fallen angel didn't disagree, nodding as she focused back onto the TV showing the event, the battle that could truly break that horrid masquerade for good.

"I wonder though," Mitsuya spoke in a seeming languid way. "Do you not consider Caleb Gunnar a threat for the Fallen? For the Grigori?"

The purple-haired fallen angel scoffed in an almost playful manner.

"The Grigori? They might not exist after this whole thing is over. Might not exist after today, if the members that split off to join the Aleistor Organization are too many." The fallen angel woman replied, her bespectacled orange eyes gleaming in amusement. "The Grigori has always existed as a home of convenience for us Fallen Angels, not a place to belong. That is the truth, even if no one professes it. It was always a place where someone like us could get something out of it. And when it's time to leave, they leave. Only those desperate keep holding onto the Grigori."

"'Us'?" Mitsuya asked, while sending a pulse through the unsummoned gauntlets to her. It was him asking for confirmation of the fallen's words.

"The aimless and discarded. Those lost and simply continue walking forward because they know nothing else." The fallen angel smiled.

Mitsuya's posture tensed for a bit, before forcibly relaxing. Shizuka did the same, but didn't think she hid it quite well from the fallen angel.

Shizuka's Sacred Gear told her the fallen angel was saying the truth, thus she sent a pulse back making Mitsuya's right hand feel warm for a second.

Kirino Shizuka sat next to Mitsuya, and away from the fallen angel.

She blended into the background, looking like a harmless helper girl, to her friend, Mitsuya, the leader of their group, Cross Times Kiss.

Their organization, what it was, their goals, all of it should scarcely be known to any in the world, mundane or supernatural.

The only being that should even know about them, was the one being who was there at the conception of their group. The person that was present at the end of the event that birthed Cross Times Kiss, the event known as the 'Denpachi Game'.

An event that changed Shizuka and Mitsuya's lives forever, wasn't something worth even being known by the supernatural world.

A person with a Longinus Sacred Gear awakened their gear in Shizuka's high school and went crazy. The end.

Pitifully simple, isn't it? Almost mundane in how forgettable the whole thing was.

The person that found them at the end of the 'game', and explained to them the truth of what they experienced was the Fallen Angel, Satanael.

Satanael, who was there because the original owner of Innovate Clear was someone he was keeping an eye on from time to time. It's just simply that the one day he wasn't, was the day of that accursed game.

Emil Apis was a Half-Fallen Angel, born with a Longinus of unimaginable power. The power to create worlds with real living beings, or even set rules upon physics or reality within those worlds as he pleased. Satanael discovered this early on and made sure no one else, be it a Grigori, devil or otherwise found out about this, and would monitor the boy every once in a while.

Emil awakened his Longinus, and the rest as they say, was history. Many of their classmates died that day, as the world around them was overwritten with a different world, with different rules.

In the end, only she and Mitsuya survived. Mitsuya due to his determination, and Shizuka because of her Sacred Gear.

Perfect Sentence, Twin Arms that Judge and Claim the Sacred.

Her Sacred Gear was the Urim and Thummim, the Sacred Lots meant to represent Lights and Truth. The left gauntlet was the Urim and the right gauntlet was the Thummim.

In ancient times it was supposedly used to punish falsehoods and wickedness, and reveal truths. Whether the Sacred Lots always took the form of gauntlets, or whether the God of the Bible changed them to such when he remade them into a Sacred Gear, Shizuka didn't know.

The basic power of Perfect Sentence was giving Shizuka the ability to tell if someone lied to her, or if they did something evil. If she can prove that they committed evil, then she can deliver a punishment carried out by the Heaven's System. Punishment can include removing someone's innate power or ability, like a pillar devil's Clan Trait, or a kitsune youkai's foxfire, etc..

That was one side to her Sacred Gear, the other was that it allowed the safe removal of another person's Sacred Gear. Either by someone that willingly doesn't want their Artifact of God, or by those who used it for evil. In either case the person who's Sacred Gear is taken wouldn't be harmed, nor die, for Perfect Sentence was designed for such tasks. The limitation however, was that implementing this punishment required Shizuka to touch the user with her gauntlets.

The last ability of Perfect Sentence was that it allowed the wielder to use the Sacred Gears taken as their own, or release them back into the Heaven System.

Mitsuya had held the theory that the fallen angel's abominable Sacred Gear Extraction Device was based off of Perfect Sentence. Based on what they learned about the General Governor of the Grigori, it made sense for one obsessed with studying Sacred Gears. Shizuka wondered when her Sacred Gear was created.

Mitsuya theorized that it might have been made by God and held at bay in the Sacred Gear System, so that in case he died humans would be able to remove the Sacred Gears of bad people.

Shizuka had the thought that God made the Sacred Gear early on and allowed humans to use it while He was alive because he couldn't do everything, everywhere at once, so it would be a way for humans to govern themselves, and punish those who do wrong, without having to pray to god to deal with a bad person with a Sacred Gear. Rather Perfect Sentence and the Sacred Gear would do that themselves.

During the Denpachi Game, Shizuka's fell into despair, and it was only Mitsuya's words that saved her. That resulted in her Sacred Gear gaining a Sub-species.

At that climax of their battle, when it seemed like Emil would best Mitsuya, Shizuka was too far away and unable to use her power on Emil due to a new rule he made specifically so she couldn't touch him. Thus Shizuka's Perfect Sentence evolved... so that she could lend her own Sacred Gear, or rather the gauntlets to someone of her choosing.

That's how Mitsuya came to be the First Dark. The one who took on the shadow to her light, willing to fight in her place.

Now while Shizuka still held the power to identify truth from lies and deliver divine punishment it was Mitsuya that carried it out. Holding her gauntlets and stepping into battles with her supporting him.

Defeating and taking Emil's Longinus ended the Denpachi Game. His... death afterwards was the result of the System of Heaven not being done with his punishment.

After that harrowing event, two months that they spent in that game world, where only a day passed in the real world, Mitsuya and Shizuka thought they were finally free of fighting and the supernatural. At least for a time.

Meeting Satanael after the end, almost made them fall into despair, thinking he was another enemy to fight. Turns out he simply wanted to know what happened and to ask them a question.

"What is your purpose now after surviving the 'Denpachi Game'?"

Cross Times Kiss was started by her and Mitsuya at first as a way to safeguard humanity from the monsters hiding in the dark. So that no one would experience the horror they did, because of some supernatural being's whim.

They stylized their group name as XxX.

...She may have been trying to tell Mitsuya something after all that they've been through, but he didn't get the hint.

I mean, I chose the name myself while joking. Mitsuya looked so excited at the "cool name" I thought he got it. Stupid Mitsuya.

Regardless, her Sacred Gear, along with Mitsuya's encouragement and vision, was what made their goal possible in their eyes.

Then Innovate Clear's Balance Breaker awakened.

Utopia of Absolute Innovation, the Perfected Gardens of the God Who Creates and Remembers.

Where Innovate Clear had the power to create miniature worlds, pocket dimensions as many as the user can sustain, all with their own living beings and rules, the Balance Breaker can create permanent worlds, although only copies of the real world. Attempting to make a permanent world with different rules of reality, like video game rules at the Denpachi Game, would be a difficult thing to accomplish, even if its possible.

The Longinus also revealed to them a hidden message from the God of the Bible. A message in the form of record of history.

The Real Record of History. A simulated world that told the original history of the world and humanity, to be played to the user once they achieve Balance Breaker.

Mitsuya and Shizuka saw the origin of humanity, a beautiful and shining history that they never learned about, and then learned why that was the case.

And from then on, Cross Times Kiss's goal has changed. It stopped becoming about protecting humanity, and became about preserving it.

We lost. Humanity has already lost. The best we can do is a back-up Earth. One that can't be invaded by the Supernatural.

That had been Mitsuya's decision that day, and Shizuka... she couldn't find a reason to disagree.

In essence, Cross Times Kiss was a group about collecting those what wanted to escape the world and its horrors, along with preparing to bring back humanity should an extinction level event where to happen.

They had tried to recruit the holder of the Noah's Ark, yet the Hero Faction got to him first.

The holder of Dimension Lost wasn't someone they could recruit as their personality and wants clashed too much with Cross Times Kiss's goals.

Using Innovate Clear to make worlds that simulated the results of decisions Mitsuya and Shizuka took tended to give them a general view if their idea were good or bad.

Only after recruiting Nakiri Momiji, that with the power of Telos Karma were their simulations near perfect.

Telos Karma, the History Breaker, was a Longinus with the power to manipulate probability on a global scale. Inversely its Balancer Breaker, Aristeia Karma, the Ultimate Karma, was the power to control absolute probability on the wielder to the point that they can affect god-level beings targeting them.

With both Innovate Clear and Telos Karma, Mitsuya's simulated worlds could account for any actions they or others took, with the exception of divine beings with future sight, or abilities related to prophecy or fate. Then making the simulation was a bit more difficult.

Momiji hate her Longinus as well as the life she's lived because of it. Yet Momiji also knew the reason for her isolation in her clan was their traditional views, so she couldn't only blame her Longinus. In the end, Momiji opted to just stay in Neo Terra, looking after it, commanding the biodroids Mitsuya had made, and to monitor the ongoing infrastructure.

While Neo Terra had been made with buildings already present, it wasn't 100% complete for a seamless transition from current Earth to Neo Terra. Yes, the back-up Earth was habitable and ready to flourish with civilization, but Mitsuya and Shizuka tried to make it contain as many modern utilities as possible to ease the transition on the humans they'll save.

Annoying that we couldn't recruit the holder of Unknown Dictator because the opportunity to do so was before he joined the CIA. Meaning BEFORE ME AND MITSUYA EVER GOT INNOVATE CLEAR!

Truthfully, Shizuka had wondered many times when would it be that a supernatural faction or being, would use Earth as their disputing ground, and cause the end of humanity as a byproduct.

Yes, in theory the gods don't want that, but by now they all had their human adjacent race to ensure their survival should humanity kick the bucket. Like the Norse and their walkures for example.

Basically Cross Times Kiss were magical doomsday preppers.

"You didn't answer my question," Mitsuya insisted. "Do you consider Caleb Gunnar a threat to the Fallen?"

"I suppose I didn't." The fallen angel gave a playful smile, as she took a moment to compose her answer. "...You know, us Fallen Angels are really good at lying." She looked aside, a melancholic smile on her face. "Especially to ourselves. Many of us who Fell over the eons did so because we fell in love, or became angry at our Father and didn't get an explanation other than to hold faith, or just simply wanted to quit it all. Yet the amount of Angels that feel throughout the millennias was usually a whole group that had similar issues. It's always the result of a breaking point, not a steady decline thing.

"...Until, God's death." She said, already knowing this group had known from what Satanael told her, and given their lack of a reaction, this was correct. "Then the Falling became a steady thing, happening bit by bit over time, from those who no longer saw a point in their duties, to those who look at Heaven, see how lesser it is now and thus lost faith. So what do I think of Caleb Gunnar? What does any Fallen that joined our side thinks? Of course we're all terrified. Of course he's a threat."

"W-What?" Shizuka uttered in surprise before she could stop herself.

"Because if Caleb succeeds in carrying out his goal. If he goes ahead and causes the Apocalypse to start and then all the Fallen following him will either die... or ascend." The purple haired fallen angel finished her words with a breathless smile. "In the end, either way the Fallen will not have enough numbers to continus being a faction."

"...Is that why Satanael seems to be in a rush? The way he's using up resources, calling up all his favors seems... reckless." Mitsuya politely said.

"Insane more like, I know." The fallen laughed in mirth. "Satanael simply believes the Biblical End has arrived. Thus the only logical move is to cash in all cheques now." She smirked. "He finally found a light that made him alive once more, and all of us that listened to him, believed him, were moved by him. Simply put, time has stagnated for many of us, and only now had it begun to move again." The fallen angel explained.

"What if he fails? Or succeeds and the world ends?" Mitsuya asked with an undercurrent intense emotions.

"Then finally things could end and meaning can be found afterwards."

"And if he fails? If nothing changes?"

"Our lives are nothing but categorical themes of disappointment."

"And if he succeeds? If the God of the Bible returns? Wouldn't you all be afraid of that?"

"...A lot of us would yes, however." The purple haired fallen angel smiled genuinely. "In the depth of your heart, I think many would prefer He comes back. We just gave up, so if He truly returns... then maybe this world will witness True Miracles once more."

No one said anything for a while as the battle continued on the TV in the background.

So it's finally time, huh. Neo Terra will have to receive whomever we can rescue from the coming end of the world... Or... if against all odds and reason, somehow Caleb Gunnar beats the Apocalypse Dragon, then maybe we can finally fix the world and free mankind from the invisible grip of the supernatural.

The duo of Cross Kiss Time and the secret fallen angel of Satanael watched the conclusion to the battle that slammed and shattered the status quo without any warning or mercy.

===x===

Rizevim made another spear of demonic power and rushed at me.

I grabbed my broke arm—I didn't have the energy to quickly heal it as I was regenerating from zero—and ripped it off.

"What the fuck—?" Rizevim's eyes widened in surprise.

Then used my torn arm like a club and smashed it into Rizevim's face. The Antichrist cried out as he got a gash on his face from the exposed bone.

Pain was too loud in my mind, but I ignored it with practiced ease. I thought to close the wound and save up on healing energy to regenerate my arm back all at once... Only for my arm to automatically do that, without the need for healing energy. Oh, right. Antediluvian body.

"You know, if you had a modicum of intelligence you'd have tried to escape by now, rather than make this pitiful attempt to take me out." I spat out. "I mean, it wouldn't have made a difference, since I won't have annoying reoccurring villains that keep returning like cockroaches." I said as his spear kept getting blocked and parried by my dismembered arm.

"I'm going to enjoy ruining everything you ever loved. I'll make sure you live but wish for death. You're going to be the ur-example of what I do to cocky arrogant humans like you, that think they can taunt The Devil." He cried out and tried to slash or stab me, only to keep getting slammed with limb or body hits by my torn arm.

"Wow, I could hear the capitalization in that. You really eat up your own hype, don't you? Too bad for you, I'm the worst enemy for your type. I have nothing to lose, and I'm not afraid to die either." I said as our weapons locked in place, as we pushed on one another.

Rizevim trying his hardest, even while trying to look relaxed and me... actually not feeling pushed that much as my strength recovers. Should I stall for time?

"You all say that, yet I've never seen a human that doesn't beg for someone else's life with the mere smallest of bonds. You creatures are so predictable for your want to connect to someone, you can't live alone." He said through a gritted smile.

"...You've never actually fought someone who could no longer be affected by fear or doubt, did you? Or at least not someone like that on a level to successfully oppose you? You probably killed them and told yourself, if you actually tortured them they'd break..." I began to chuckle.

"What?" He said, sounding offended.

"I'm not sure why I'm entertaining talking to you, even to buy time." I met his eyes letting the rage overtake my smile and carefree attitude. Rizevim flinched. "You're a joke. Your existence is a joke, your dreams and wants are worthless, you're not even a good adversary. Everything about you is so utterly forgettable with how cliché you are. A manchild so desperate for people to take you seriously."

Rizevim roared as he flew up and launched hundreds of demonic bullets, basic energy attacks of just gathering and firing demonic power at an enemy. He was trying to overwhelm me with the sheer number of attacks, each of which would be dangerous to the average warrior, even High Class ones.

But I was weaving between attacks without a problem, without much effort. Heck, I wasn't even going sub-sonic speed, and I was still dodging his attacks. I really can't see this mustache twirling Saturday cartoon villain as a threat. For fuck's sake he even has a goatee to distinguish him as evil.

"You worthless ape! You don't even know what kind of being you're speak to! You are nothing but worm food. You belong in the dirt!" Shouted Rizevim, losing his cool. Not that he managed to have that much of it either way. "You think there would be no consequences for you for fighting me today? That even if you win, you'll just be on your merry way, and no Devil will act against you for slaying the image of Devilhood that is me? You lose either way. You will never know peace! I swear it!" Rizevim shouted with renewed will and determination.

The Antichrist raised his demonic power shaped sword.

A̸n̶d̸ ̸t̵h̸r̴o̶u̷g̶h̶ ̴d̵r̸e̷a̷m̴s̷,̶ ̷t̷h̸e̸ ̸s̴t̸o̸r̴y̶ ̴c̸h̴a̸n̶g̴e̴s̷.̶ ̴

"Hmm, violet light?" I muttered.

Rizevim looked at the sword made of his demonic power that changed from it's normal form to a violet-white color, glowing with... holy light?

"This is... HehehahahaHAHAHAHAHA! To think I'd awaken it here? Even destiny itself seems to be against you, Dragon Slayer." Rizevim said laughing in pure joy. "Demonic Brilliance of Evil Light. Before had you somehow survived this battle, even my old worthless comrades of the Old Satan Faction, would have had to see you and potentially humanity in turn as a threat needed to be taken seriously. Your existence would have resulted in the Old & New Satan Factions to working together, because for once they would have had a unified existential threat.

"Because if you have the powers you do, can grow so strong and somehow have even the possibility of replicating that power, then mankind itself would be seen as a new player on the scene to take seriously. A player woefully unprepared for the kind of war we would bring." He wielded that energy sword made of a new power unlocked within him. Something I feel wouldn't normally have.

"He was never meant to. Lucifer wouldn't have allowed that power to propagate outside of his control, or those he didn't trust." The Dying Wrath told me.

And of course he didn't trust his loser son.

"But now, with the true power of the Great Lucifer, I will rip your delusions of power with mine own HANDS!" Rizevim raise the energy sword and swung down at me.

A beam of energy that mimicked Holy Light, while powered by demonic energy fired at me. The beam was made by the Lucifer Clan Trait, the Denial of Miracles, something that no Lucifer sans the Original once held.

The Sacred Gear Canceller felt like a guided effect that needed to be consciously used but Spirit World showed me that was only for long range use. Up close, it was a passive effect that was always on in a radius around Rizevim.

I found myself launched away from where we were fighting by miles, slamming into whatever rocky formations that survived my fights thus far.

The beam of Demonic Brilliance of Evil Light seemed to not only have holy properties that would make it effective against devils. Likely why Lucifer made it, so as to hold complete dominion over his created bio-weapon race, but also to mock God.

The Demonic Brilliance of Evil Light also suppressed the divine, as I could feel it from energy residue, trying to shut down my Sacred Gear and Blessings from the exposure. It seemed to try to weaken and suppress even the Dying Wrath of God.

And honestly as I laid there embedded in the stone hill I was in, I could only think...

Is that it?

That attack hit like Marius Rahab at best. Strong, violent, but... not really much else.

As for the holy suppression effect?

"You have already surpassed what possibilities either of them, the Antichrist or the Loathsome Red, can reach for." Said the Dying Wrath.

I stood up, stone cracking as I broke out of them, and dust falling off of me.

I said before that I was trying to use magic like breathing. Right now...

I Stepped, and was in front of a shocked Rizevim.

Magic, breathing, movement, it's like a simple limb now. How much I can move it, how much I can carry, like doing a set in the gym... my 'arms' are burning and the weight is light. And my stamina keeps returning, regardless of the pain.

I swung my torn arm.

CRACK!

And his Lucifer Clan powered sword started chipping and breaking.

"Do you think I see you or the Devil Race as an enemy? And to clarify, I don't mean I don't hate all of you, I do, but... do you think I consider you important enough, or enough of a threat to go after?" I laughed at the self-importance he assigned himself and devils in general.

"...What? What in the blasted hells, you actually mean that?" Rizevim gritted his teeth as he fixed his energy sword and begun to swing it at me, to which I easily dodged or parried without much effort. "How much are you gonna keep looking down on Devils? How much are you gonna keep looking down on me?"

"That's your problem." I weaved through another godspeed slashes, before Rizevim flew into the air, and began a bombardment of Evil Light, each of which exploded with the force of a nuke. I began to fill my torn arm with enough Elan that it shined with Holy Power. "You think I place you as some important villain for me to defeat. No, you're just the last on the check list of this cage match, so I can move on. I dislike unfinished tasks you see."

I swung and cut through the exploding Evil Light explosion blasts, outright splitting those explosions in half and dispersing and deleting the energy.

"You, you, yooooou—"

A̸n̶d̸ ̸t̵h̸r̴o̶u̷g̶h̶ ̴d̵r̸e̷a̷m̴s̷,̶ ̷t̷h̸e̸ ̸s̴t̸o̸r̴y̶ ̴c̸h̴a̸n̶g̴e̴s̷.̶ ̴

"Ouroboros."

D̶i̴d̷ ̵y̵o̴u̵ ̶j̷u̵s̵t̴ ̴f̶u̸c̷k̴i̷n̴g̷ ̵t̶a̴t̸t̵l̸e̸ ̷o̸n̶ ̴m̸e̴?̴ ̸D̷o̶ ̷y̶o̸u̴ ̸r̶e̸a̷l̸i̵z̶e̶ ̵w̵h̵a̴t̷ ̴s̷h̸e̶'̸s̸ ̷g̷o̵n̵n̶a̸ ̷d̴o̵ ̴n̵o̷w̸?̶

Stupid, idiot, annoying, Baka Red. How dare you try to interfere with my Slayer?

Where Great Red's 'voice' seemed subtle, to come from behind reality, and the Dying Wrath was grand, pure and divine, it held a quality of restraint within it, even as he spoke to me. Anger that was held back to be directed appropriately.

Ophis' 'voice' was like a can of exploding waterproof fireworks thrown into the pond of reality.

N̷o̴w̵ ̷s̸h̸e̵'̵s̷ ̷g̶o̶n̶n̶a̷ ̷d̵o̴ ̴t̷h̴e̶ ̶t̸h̸i̴n̷g̶ ̷w̴h̵e̵r̴e̷ ̷s̴h̷e̸ ̷b̷l̸o̵w̴s̴ ̶e̴v̷e̶r̷y̸ ̷p̷o̶s̸s̴i̵b̴i̶l̷i̷t̴y̵ ̷u̴p̵ ̵a̸n̴d̸ ̴w̶e̷ ̷b̷o̷t̴h̵ ̴l̴o̵s̴e̴.̶

Domain of Chaos.

I witnessed it through the string paths of fate, what would happen.

Great Red's influence was blasted completely apart and away. But in turn the barrier locking this dimension would shatter and through it the Hindu God of War would immediately arrive and face me, demanding my surrender and forcing me to fight him, while Rizevime escaped. Many of Hexennacht, maybe even Walburga would be lost in the celestial crossfire, or by the forces of Indra that would fight them.

"["But all things should be done decently and in order."]"

And just as the energy of Ophis exploded in omnidirectionally, even across dimensions and reality, the Dying Wrath of God shined and the energy of Pure Chaos was directed.

The last thing I heard from Great Red before his presence was gone for good was baffled confusion.

T̵h̸e̵ ̷f̶u̷c̵k̷?̷ ̶T̸h̷i̷s̷.̸.̶.̴?̶ ̵A̶r̶e̸ ̶y̵o̴u̴ ̷i̶n̸s̵a̴n̷e̸?̷ ̶C̵a̴n̴ ̷a̵ ̶F̷r̷a̷g̷m̸e̷n̸t̷ ̴o̷f̵ ̸H̷i̶m̵ ̴b̷e̶ ̵s̵u̸i̷c̴i̴d̵a̸l̴?̴ ̶Y̴o̴u̴ ̴w̸e̴r̴e̴n̸'̵t̸ ̵m̸e̷a̷n̵t̸ ̵t̴o̸ ̵u̴s̴e̷ ̷t̸h̴a̵t̴ ̶k̷i̵n̴d̴ ̶o̸f̶ ̸f̵a̸t̸e̶ ̶w̴e̷a̴v̷i̷n̴g̸?̶ ̸Y̵o̷u̷ ̵j̵u̴s̸t̸ ̷s̵h̵r̶u̸n̵k̸ ̴y̷o̶u̷r̵ ̶e̵x̶i̶s̵t̷e̴n̸c̴e̶ ̸f̸o̸r̶m̷ ̴l̷a̵s̷t̴i̷n̷g̵ ̸c̷e̴n̶t̶u̷r̸i̴e̸s̴ ̵t̴o̵ ̵m̴e̵r̴e̴ ̵y̷e̷a̴r̵s̷!̶ ̸W̷H̸Y̸?̶!̷

"Begone, Blood-Handed Wyrm."

Not a moment after that, I felt Walburga flying in my direction.

"CALEB!" Walburga shouted, as she cast a spell to launch something at high speed towards me.

It was a sword. To be exact, it was Future Gasper's sword. Where the hell did she get that?!

"Arondight II." The Dying Wrath spoke and I immediately knew what He suggested, and I was of the same mind.

Before Rizevim could react, the sword reach me and I caught it with my reformed hand.

I merged the demonic sword with my arm filled with Holy Power.

And then the Fragment of God within me, infused His own energy into the blade.

Arondight II shined, groaned and whined... then almost seemed to sing. Sing as it remembered what it originally was, what it was meant to be.

Not just returning into being a holy sword, but a divine one on the level of the complete Excalibur and Caliburn combined.

"WHAT IS THIS?" Rizevim shouted in rage and horror.

The blade's design was extremely simple. Just a greatsword, white in color, with a golden cross cover most of it from the blade's tip to its center.

"Once a sword fallen to madness and darkness as its knight, now returned to the light; A Holy Sword once more. Arondight Redemption." I said, and swung the blade, making an energy arc of Holy Power.

Rizevim fired a beam of Evil Light enveloping the energy slash, only for holy crescent aura wave to shine, cutting through the Evil Light and kept going till it cut through Rizevim's arm.

The Son of Lucifer screamed as he held his deeply cut up arm. I frowned as something felt off. That should have cut his arm clean, not only leave it with a gash.

Spirit World and the Dying Wrath resonated once more and showed me the concept of... Luck?

Ah. Some last gift by Great Red to be an annoying shit. He upped Rizevim's luck by several orders of magnitude.

"But only what is probable." The Dying Will added.

So nothing impossible. Alright, I'll leave him no chance, not even a single point of a percent of a chance to win or survive.

The Dying Wrath chimed once more and I felt a warning.

I stumbled once, as I stabbed the sword onto the ground to use it to stand. I was tired, the Dying Wrath told me I was strained.

All the massive amounts of physical regeneration, for far too much of my body, coupled with pushing my mind and spiritual energies—before they became singular—to the limit and beyond over and over, and regenerating my reserves after devouring large counts of them, before filling them up again. All those repeated physical, mental and spiritual strains were adding up.

Yet it was fine. I could endure it and keep going. Some true rest after this fine and I'd be right as rain once again.

The problem was with how I ended the fight with Crom Cruach.

The Domain pushed Spirit World to the limit and helped it grow. Good and further straining, but still in acceptable, and honestly insane, range of what I can operate at.

It was that last step of breaking my own Elan to cancel Crom Cruach to bring us both down to normal, and turn it into a slug match, that stretched the limit of my being and broke it.

It was like someone feeling like they can do way more than they thought on their first day at the gym, not realizing when they hit their limit. They will crash and not be able to replicate their feats on the second day. Rather, they plainly injured themselves and can't go to the gym again, till they heal.

In my case, the strain was mitigated by the Dying Wrath of God. It was handling both the 1st and 2nd Blessing, along with divine interventions or fate manipulations in the background.

Now I could keep going as I am but I didn't like that I won't have the Dying Wrath aiding me for a while, after this battle. Going in further blind or without his help—as he had provided it, even without me knowing—might lead to my enemies blindsiding me, and slowing down my journey.

It could be worse, as they might get smart enough to think on just sealing me, like Trihexa with the isolation field. Yes, Ophis is still there, but I don't want her to be a crutch, and I don't want my enemies to consider her a factor.

They would focus on me so much, and forget about her in the background, that the one time I would call upon her would blindside everyone.

If I remove the strain on the Dying Wrath, then I'll start to feel it. I might even start to drawn on my lifespan, which while it was extended massively, would be a shock to the body, that would leave me out of it for days.

The Dying Wrath echoed a feeling of reassurance once more, and I blinked.

You'll take care of it?

"Yes."

Alright, I know my path forward.

The only thing left is to beat Rizevim while he has improbable luck.

I saw the Evil Light cover the Antichrist's frame and flicker. I immediately understood what was about to happen, and I sent my brain into hyper acceleration.

Rizevim was about to move at lightspeed. Unlikely, shouldn't be possible, but might explain how Lucifer survived the Great War, enough to not be insta-one-shot by God during it.

Spirit World analyzed and the Dying Wrath outright predicted how this new power would function. It would be like Kizaru from One Piece—No, like Legend from Worm.

He can move at lightspeed but would have to get out of it to attack or react. If he goes lightspeed at me, he'll pass through me, and slam into the ground, while breaking out of that state and only cause minimal collateral damage from the momentum.

Anime bullshit physics once more.

A plan formed in my mind.

Rizevim disappeared in a flare of light.

I shut down Heroic Second Wind and Spirit World, using my own skill version of them, feeling a small bit of a headache. Yet that was fine, I freed the Dying Wrath of God to act without restrictions.

I slashed forward diagonally.

Rizevim with a joyous, gleeful, malicious smile appeared behind me.

The slash went through space, appearing through his back.

Rizevim cried out in pain, as I completed the down swing, twisted my hips to turn, and make a rotation to swing upward, at Rizevim's head.

The Son of Lucifer in moments of panic, and his brain actually running fast, noticing what I did, and his impending death, overcharged all the Evil Light he could generated and released it as an explosion outwardly.

I roared and called on my Elan to cut through it. I focused all my will and determination, even stopping my skill version of the Blessings, to put my being into this one slash.

Had I kept up with my focus divided, Rizevim might have escaped with all that luck by letting the explosion carry him away as I cut through it.

With the act of all my being as one, my blade shined and cut through the explosion of Evil Light, and the probability that wanted me to fail at pushing all that energy away, or Rizevim escaping.

Evil Light and Fortune battled the Holy Dragon Slaying Aura.

The Dying Wrath of God shined.

I cut through the Evil Light that rejects all that is Holy. My blade began to cut into Rizevim's throat.

My fingers twitched.

All of Rizevim's Luck poured out, all the fatigue that I was pushing through by willpower fell upon me, my body's nervous system trying to adjust and adapt to everything, all of it caused my fingers to twitch and freeze for that one instance, less than a tenth of a second.

The cut began further down in Rizevim's collarbone rather than his neck.

So I abandoned Arondight Redemption, letting the sword fly from my hand, as the wave of Evil Light dispersing wasn't erased completely slammed into me, burning me but I pushed through it.

And with reddened skin, I in turn used that chance to make a fist and reach the Son of Lucifer.

BAAM!

"GAAAH!"

And punch him in the face.

And energy and wind divide away from us, making both our vision clear to one another.

Like a cornered animal Rizevim turned to light and lunged at me, only for my fist to break him out of his lightspeed state and slam him into the ground.

"Im-Impossible! HOW!?" He shouted as he stood up on shaking limbs.

"Same way you can get shot and cut the bullet out of the sky. Just trace the path where it's going to be." I said back and dived in.

"How much are you gonna keep mocking me?!" He shouted as he punched at me. It was the easiest thing to let his fist pass by my head, and slam into his stomach.

Rizevim Livan Lucifer was never a fighter.

"Your existence itself is a joke. It needs no effort on my part." I said while moving to evade, only to feel the heaviness of my limbs, and adjusting to blocking in a way to disperse the force of his hits.

"You think there will be no consequences to all you did? If you kill me, all you're proving is that humanity is a danger that can't be ignored. You'll open up a path to hell upon mankind as gods and monsters take you all seriously." He shouted as he punched forward, punch take and pushed aside by my arm. "The worthless humans themselves, living in ignorance, won't thank you. No one will be grateful. You'll become the enemy of the world, hunted down by all factions! YOU'LL NEVER BE ALLOWED PEACE—"

"SHUT UP!" I took a body hit from him, just to drive my fist into his face. He cried out in pain, as more blood spilled from his face. "I told you I don't care! Not about you, what you represent, or about the Devil Race! Do you know why?! Because none of you matter anymore!"

"Y-You're insane. You think you can take on the world single-handedly!?" Rizevim shouted in an disbelieving tone at the surrealness he was witnessing.

"Get it through your head, the Devils—No, the Three Factions don't matter anymore!" I took a hit to the face, to punch him in the stomach bending him around my fist. "Not you the Devil, hell, not even the Fallen Angel, or even the actual Angels!" Uppercut, his head went back up. "Not after I learned the truth of this world. The real history of how that fucking red serpent ruined everything! How the Apocalypse already happened and befell us humans! Oh, 'we'll be at war with every supernatural being'?

"We already are!" Haymaker, blood and teeth flew to the side. "So I say this to you, and to every god of every pantheon! From here on out, the history of Earth is no longer a record of your mythologies!" I pulled my hand back, gather the last bits of my power and will, shaping it toward my fist. An indomitable attack that can't and won't be stopped by luck or misfortune.

Then the Dying Wrath of God blazed and shined in my body, as I felt my energy and His intertwine as a star formed within my palm.

I grabbed the newborn star, taking it's power and properties into my clenched hand, and used up my own lifespan to make it burn brighter, grow a heavier mythical weight upon reality. An undeniable power that won't be denied by fancy tricks of probability.

"No, I don't want—"

"History is mankind's!" With all my might, I punched forward. Through the Dying Wrath I heard the cries of all who died at the Antichrist's hands. Those who suffered, begged and prayed hoping for salvation. From Rizevim and from devils. I can't grant them that, but here and now I will grant them retribution. All that anger, all that wrath moved with my own, pushing me forward, delivering my fist as the judgement of god. "THIS! IS! OUR! STORY!"

The impact was heard and felt throughout the dimension as my fist slammed into Rizevim's face.

Chaoskampf Ordained shined, acting on the Dying Wrath's and mine's will, instantly taking all of Rizevim's negative emotions from that single moment of contact, hollowing him out and turning it all into Holy Dragon Slaying Aura, further feeding it into the star.

In that moment, the star's glow and power grew exponentially.

Then I completed the punch, pushing all that momentum, slamming the Antichrist into the ground.

Even with God's death, destiny and fate had circled Rizevim so his death would come in the days of Revelation.

Yet here and now I pushed that destiny forward and completed it.

The ground shattered, as we went through layers of it, then finally with all that accumulated damage upon the pocket dimension, it's walls cracked, the miniature realm shattering and all at once broke.

Idly I noted a proud and smiling Ophis gather all our allies in a bubble shield of hers, and float away.

Rizevim and I fell through the Dimensional Gap, then through the sky of the Underworld.

Maybe in another time and place, Rizevim might have been lucky enough to survive. Allies helping him at the last moment, an intervention by a different entity allowing him to run away, fate conspiring for him to survive what should have killed him, body doubles, emergency spells, shapeshifting, something.

Yet here and now, with me and the Dying Wrath of God acting as one to fulfill a divine act of slaying evil, his death had come. A forgone conclusion.

We slammed into the grounds of the underworld. By then Rizevim's head had evaporated, his body incinerated, with only his legs left, and even that was beginning to turn to ash from the sheer Holy Energy radiating from him, and burning him.

It was done. The fight was over. I had no energy left, yet jubilation roared within me. A feeling of pure glory at finally grasping victory.

And even if I had no voice left to shout, I pushed my trembling fist up to the sky on bend knees.

I won.

And I didn't care if I looked silly to all the baffled looking, mouth agaped grim reapers, or the shocked, dropped jaw pope dressed skeleton.

Unknown to me, this is when Ophis ended her broadcast.

End of Arc 1: Rise of the True Dragon Slayer​

===

AN: YYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAHH!

Am I basically stealing this scene?

YOU'RE FUCKING GOD DAMN RIGHT I AM!

WOOOOOAH!

Damn does writing all that feel good.

And with this Arc 1 is complete.

The next two chapters will be interludes showing what Satanael and the gang were up to. What the Hero Faction is doing defending Romania, along with the "dreaded"--for me-- PHO chapter.

I won't be posting anything else for this month, and it will take a while to get the next two chapters done, but I should get them both done in September.

However I should also say that I'm not starting after Chapter 19 & 20, as I will take a break.

To work on Asterios SI and build up chapters for that one.

Anyways, I hope you're all doing great, I hope today is a good day for you, and I'll see you all later!

Edit: Oh and one last thing, this is now Caleb Gunnar's faceclaim:

Just without the star scar. That's it for real.

Bye.