One-Punch DxD: NEO

Chapter 103: Highway to Hell

Right, so it was fortunate that my co-writer and I manage to post this chapter as scheduled, but the next time might be delayed for real. I4md347h is starting several new projects and I'm kind of invested into one or two of them, so... Whether the next update will still be on schedule or not will be up in the air. Without further ado, here we go!

---

Its singular, omnidirectional gaze now felt lethal.

Both Peerages and the assailing dragons deemed the arrival the most dangerous unit present.

[...Euthanizing.]

The construct's body turned to face the devils and dragons. Its spherical head glowed, gazing at the dragons.

Sensing immediate danger to their lives, the dragons broke off from the Devils, immediately giving that thing their utmost attention, knowing that they would die like their brethren if they did not do anything.

The flight paths of the dragons were straight as arrows, fast as arrows. Yet it raised one arm, wrist cannon on its dorsal glowing.

The first dragon fell, half of its upper body obliterated to nothing, much to the horror of the Devils watching.

"Holy shit, this thing is awesome." Natalie and her comrades were in awe, on the other hand, as they watched a lightsaber erupt from Euthanasia's other hand, from its cannon, and bisected the other dragon diagonally, the two halves of the dragon tumbling across the floor.

The upper half of the dragon was still alive, crawling, its left wrist sliced off with its lower half, trembling eyes filled with the desperation to live as it bleeds and drags its spilled organs with it to its final breath.

The last dragon stopped, knowing that the construct was too strong. Its weapons tore through dragon flesh and scales as if it was paper, shredded apart in one motion.

However, Euthansia dashed forward and grabbed the evil dragon by the throat with one hand, and rammed its lower left hand into the dragon's chest.

Everyone watched as it ripped out the dragon's still beating heart, the red glistening organ that pumps all of the dragon's lifeblood, and the dragon's eyes were watching its own organ beating in the construct's hand.

[Euthanizing complete.]

Before it squeezed.

The sound of the organ being crushed into a red, wet pulp made the Devils flinch.

Euthanasia watched as the dragon struggled for a brief moment before blood leaked out from its maws and its eyes rolled up lifeless - the dragon then breathed its last, and threw its carcass aside.

"...Well, I'll be damned to hell and back, I should've called this thing earlier." John uttered, completely amazed by Euthanasia's performance.

As if on autopilot, the mechanical golem proceeded to perform another scanning around the area.

[Priorities unknown. Requesting mission parameters.]

Euthanasia asked.

John then reached to his ear, where his communicator was linked to its mainframe, "All non-humans within two-miles radius are hostile targets, exempting two VIPs - confirmed ID: one Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri."

[Analyzing for Gremory and Sitri bloodlines. Error, two Gremories detected, traces of Bael detected. Confirming whether Rias Gremory to be male or female.]

John resisted rolling his eyes at the question, "...Female."

[...Parameters set.]

The golem then turned its optics to the nearest targets - it registered Sona's facial features for a second before shifting to the Queen next to her.

[Activating Tractor Beam]

From its spherical head, a cone of green light shone and caught Sona and Tsubaki off guard, shrouding them in lime green.

"Tsubaki!" Sona struggled to move, but found herself immobilized in the light.

"I… I can't move!" The Queen gritted her teeth as she tried to move, even with her Rook strength.

To everyone's horror, Sona and Tsubaki were pulled towards the mech.

"Stop them!" Saji shouted at everyone, breaking them from their stupor.

He moved in first followed by Tsubasa and Koneko, then the rest rushed towards Sona.

[Incapacitating]

From its chassis, it opened and glowed, shining a cone of blue light at the Devils.

The Devils cried out as their skin and blood boiled under the light, the holy light. For Rias' Peerage, it was much more potent than the flashlights the soldiers used in the mansion.

"Take cover!" Akeno shouted as everyone took cover behind ruins and debris, while Sona and Tsubaki could only helplessly watch from their anti-gravity prison.

OxO

Meanwhile, Rias' eyes darted between the battle and the three soldiers before her, particularly at the commander who gave orders to the giant robot.

"Damn it… I want to get another one for ourselves. Demiurge engineering is something else…" John commented with an excited smile.

Rias caught the name and blinked - Demiurge; her mind began to connect the dots.

Nonetheless, there was still one thing she had to prioritize. She then dashed towards the soldiers, startling the others.

[Rias!?]

"Big sis?!"

"Irina, Xenovia! Go help the others with that robot!" Rias ordered without looking back.

Irina, Xenovia, Millicas and Ravel exchanged brief glances before nodding - the angels flew away to assist the others on the highway, while the devils ran after Rias.

"Commander!" Nate and Kate aimed their pistols and opened fire at the incoming three.

"Promotion: Queen!"

With his increased power in all stats, Millicas and Ravel joined Rias, and conjured a barrier that took the brunt of the bullets fired towards them.

The bullets were strange, though, the barriers cracked and shattered upon receiving the entire ammunition clip worth of bullets.

Immediately, they discarded their guns and drew their crimson light swords from their spatial inventory.

"You sure you want to dance with us, princess?" John asked, daring her to continue.

Taking a deep breath, Rias prepared herself for another brawl as she coated her limbs with Power of Destruction, Ravel conjured a fiery sphere between her palms, while Millicas conjured his Power of Destruction whip.

OxO

"Sing, Durandal!" Xenovia swung her holy sword and unleashed a massive arc of potent holy energy.

[Legendary Holy Sword detected.]

It raised its right upper arm and blocked the wave of energy, the energy splashed harmlessly on its metallic shell like water.

[Recognizing Durandal.]

Irina swooped in with the crimson Clarent wreathed in cursed power. Her blade was intercepted by the mech's light blade.

[Clarent, identified.]

The mech responded.

Irina squinted and flew back. Clarent swapped with an X-shaped bow decorated in orange feathers.

Light spears summoned between her fingers, she armed the bow, pulled the string by the orange jade connected at the intersection, and released.

[Unknown readings detected, scanning-!]

BOOM!

The arrow as bright as the sun exploded upon impact, causing the giant mech to stagger, the tractor beam holding Sona and Tsubaki frizzling out in the process, allowing them to fly away.

At the same time, another blur suddenly slammed the side of the construct's head, followed by a howl coming from the said blur.

Irina and Xenovia were shocked to see a monster clashing against the mech - the ogre, larger and more menacing than the average, forcing the machine to stumble back. The ogre then brandished his two battle axes and began hacking at the mech's head.

"Irina!" Yuuto called out as he arrived, running towards them with Tomoe. They moved fast as Knights' enhanced speed allowed them to, catching Sona and Tsubaki and carrying them away from the two titans before retreating with them.

Sona and Tsubaki saw the ogre attacking the construct.

"Thank you, Tomoe." Sona thanked her Knight for holding her.

"T-thank you, Kiba." Tsubaki stammered as she found herself blushing in Yuuto's arms.

"No problem, are you two injured?" Yuuto replied with a brief smile.

"We're fine, but now - what to do with those two?" Tsubaki focused her attention on the clash of the titans.

Sona quickly came up with the next course of action, "We'll let them kill each other. Meanwhile, we should regroup with Rias-"

Before Sona could have finished, the mech's hand finally wrapped around the ogre's torso - the latter began struggling to break free. The golem then swung its arm down, slamming the creature into the unforgiving ground. The armored ogre hit the ground hard enough to form a medium-sized crater around his body.

The armored demon growled in pain, but before he could have recovered, the mech's optic suddenly glowed in raw power…

And fired a focused heat ray straight at the demon, engulfing the monster in intense heat.

The metal melted into orange, then blue, the molten liquid revealing a charred, grotesque body, and it was still twitching with vitality despite the damage.

[...Target neutralized, proceeding with the mission.]

The mech then returned its attention towards the devils.

"...Or not." Sona remarked with a scowl, "Alright, everyone circle around that thing! Reya, perform a scan with your Sacred Gear, a machine like that should possess one or two weak points! The sooner we kill this thing, the sooner we can go home with Rias!"

[Yes!]

---

This unit's name was Euthanasia.

The name was translated from its original name, to bring everlasting peace to the suffering.

The purpose of this unit - defend the race of its creators and liberate Gaia of the Blight of Elohim and Lucifer.

Last activation - unrecorded. Date of remodeling - seventy six Gaian solar rotations ago.

Objective: incapacitate slave species and capture the female Sitri and Gremory.

Lethal force - unnecessary, switching to minimal use of operating systems.

Bael blood detected in subject Rias Gremory, Gremory bloodline deteriorating confirmed.

Memories of ancient battles in the borders between realms vividly ran across this unit, simulations of ancient battles defending my creators against the failed creations of Elohim.

Blood of Gaia - detected in seventeen slave species; fifteen Exsortus slaves of Lucifer, two Maluxnati slaves of Elohim.

Error, unknown mutation in slaves of Elohim - wavelength of Maluxnati Grace deviating from the majority, potential godhood detected.

Considering elimination of potential threats…

Warning - drones detected. Triangulating source - the masked female devil, the bishop.

Deploying electromagnetic jammers.

"What?! I can't scan it?!"

Targeting the bishop… Error - hard light wall obstructing the Anti-Devil Photon rays, unable to incapacitate.

Switching to arm cannons, setting - photon - adjusting output to penetrate.

…..Firing!

Barrier shattered, but failed to hit the target.

Analyzing destruction to surroundings - salvo burned several walls of concrete. Targets repositioned left and right.

Aiming wide-range anti-devil rays at the target.

Error, lycanthropic Devil approaching at high speeds.

Capturing.

Error, chrono-stasis phenomena detected, multiple swarms of aerial mammals surrounding this unit, vampire detected, sacred gear detected.

Correction, half vampire. Scans complete, Eye of Balor detected.

Chrono stabilizers activated, impediment removed.

"P-President! I-It's still moving!"

Captured lycanthrope. Rook Piece detected, high constitution.

Solution. Suggested action: clap the lycan.

WHAM!

Lycanthrope incapacitated, seventeen skeletal fractures detected.

"Loup!"

Two Rooks approaching.

Nephilim detected - sensing Maluxnati lightning generating from above, Phenex flame detected behind, multiple spells detected around this unit.

Considering full utilization of main operating systems.

Consideration denied.

Activating Demiurge module - constructing combat units to lessen obstructions.

---

The mech proved to be more dangerous than it seemed.

It could jam Reya's Scouting Persona, blocking attempts to analyze its structure.

It could counter the Eyes of Balor and destroy Momo's Applause Wall. Momo and Reya barely jumped away from the beam of destruction in time as it left a melted path of destruction in its wake.

It caught Loup Garou and literally clapped him, downing the sturdy werewolf in one move.

Now, it was doing something else.

Everyone's jaw dropped when they saw robots being made as if summoned into existence, flying drones and smaller humanoid robots with a spherical head, a squad of each type surrounding the mech.

It was strange, seeing it reminded Rias and the others of Yuuto's Sword Birth.

The humanoid androids were like smaller, more lithe versions of Euthanasia, the aerial drones wore blade-like wings pointed forward like a two-prong spear with a ruby crystal node in between the blades acting as its eyes… or weapons.

Each humanoid android was equipped with a different arsenal, one with cannons for both hands, one with blades for both hands, one with blades and shoulder cannons.

High pitch sounds resounded from the summoned, or created, constructs, cannons and blades whirring to life.

Then they moved, the flying drones took to the skies while the androids ran towards the Devils and Angels.

"Everyone, prepare for melee combat!" Sona warned everyone as the mechanical army flew towards them.

However, before any of the mechanical units attacked, a wave of fire descended from the heavens and consumed them in brilliant orange, then explosions erupted around the flying units.

Sona widened her eyes as she visually tracked the source, her eyes landing on reinforcements.

Her reinforcements.

"I hope you don't mind us joining late, but I must say, the gathering is stranger than what I am used to." Riser Phenex announced as he and his fifteen Peerage girls revealed themselves.

His confident smirk faltered.

The aerial machines fell from Yubelluna's explosions in shattered pieces, but the androids on the ground survived, magical domes surrounding each of them, the androids crouched and their arms crossed in guard.

[Constructing support units]

More machines were being brought into existence, drones and droids increasing in number around Euthanasia.

[Adapting aerial units.]

Sona widened her eyes.

Different mechanical shapes were woven into being, the aerial units bore the shape of metallic winged birds.

Even Rias and John stopped to look at Euthanasia's creations, all shocked by the next feat.

The new aerial units… attached themselves to the spines of the droids.

"What in blazes…?" Riser wondered at the new spectacle.

The fused aerial android took flight as another different aerial drone attached to its arms, each drone shaped like a long-barrel, high tech cannon.

The ones that could fly aimed at Riser and his Peerage, weapons primed and high pitched, while Euthanasia continued to churn out reinforcements seemingly without limit.

"Tsk, what irritably fascinating opponents…. My dear Sona, what is the plan?!" Riser shouted.

"We need to make our way towards that giant robot. Reya is unable to scan it but a machine like that should possess a weak point. At worst, we need to buy enough time and ensure that Rias can teleport away from here."

"...And where is she now?" Riser asked.

"She is with Millicas and Ravel, she should've teleported away, but I haven't received any word of her escape." Sona replied with a grimace.

"Then my peerage and I will-!"

[Commencing assault]

The summoned units moved.

"They're coming!" Saji shouted.

Before Riser could have coordinated with his peerage, the swarm of droids immediately charged towards them, forcing them to engage in combat.

"Scatter, but maintain distance with me!" Riser ordered.

[Yes!]

Sona also instructed her peerage, "Teams of two! We need to stop that robot from creating more of those drones!"

The devils and angels did as instructed as the army of robots advanced towards them.

OxO

At the distance away from the battle between a mechanical army and joint-forces of devils and angels - another battle took place between devils and humans.

"Get away from Big Sis!"

Millicas shouted behind the magic barrier, blocking Kate's light sword while the other two prowled around Ravel and Rias.

[...Vrylat, Ansteek - Emergency override, ETA three minutes!]

The two female soldiers spoke those words in unison, then tattooed patterns began to appear and glow over their visible skins.

Ravel did not expect the burst in power to be this great when Nate ran towards her. She barely summoned the barrier in time to block the light sword before Nate carried her away from Rias.

"Ravel!" Rias shouted.

Millicas was dragged by Kate, flung away by the knockback of her sword swing.

Leaving Rias alone with the old commander.

"Well, well, well. Looks like it's just you and me. And damn it, that thing is still churning out reinforcements." John added the last sentence when he saw their numbers rising past the fifties.

Rias sent a quick glance at the direction where the mechanical golem stood, and grimaced at the increasing numbers of smaller robots flying around and battle-droids. As much as she wanted to worry and help her friends, she had a bigger problem on her own.

Like it or not - the best chance to win this fight was for her to get away on her own. Her blood pressure was still low, she was still using her magic to keep her body moving, yet she also had to conserve enough power to activate the teleportation spell uninterrupted.

She had to deal with the old man before her.

"Are you going to let that robot do all of the work for you?" Rias quipped as if daring him.

"Don't tempt me. That thing is way ahead of our time, missy, and I already feel like owning one for myself." John quipped back, before showing her a finger. "Now, I'll give you a choice - easy way or hard way. Easy way, you tell your friends to return to wherever shithole they came from, save for the Sitri heiress, and you two surrender peacefully; you have my word that your servants may go unharmed."

John then pointed out two fingers, "Or the hard way - what we are doing now. You keep this up, and nobody can guarantee the lives of your friends out there."

"You talk big for someone borrowing the power of the Demons."

Rias retorted - She was most likely buying time for herself to think and recover her lost stamina.

John paused.

"...Let it slip, huh… Guess old age is finally catching up to me. Not that it matters. I heard that some of the black wings will know when they see Euthanasia."

John tossed his light sword up and down in his arms.

"Since when?" Rias asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Long enough for you to not notice. They actually care about us unlike your kind. You keep treating us like sheep while saying 'it's for our own good', as if not knowing how the world works is good for our health."

"We never regard you for such things!" Rias pressed on.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" John laughed at Rias so loud, with such ridicule. "Do you really believe that?! You don't even know why we're doing this, do you?! You don't care about our stories, you either farm us for those things our blasted, lying creator left behind, or whatever lucky breed we manage to pop out like your personal world-wide farm for your useless dick-measuring contests!"

While Rias could not make out the meaning behind the man's crass choice of words, she could not help but understand the later parts - the Evil Piece and Rating Game system.

"You hide like cowards, you never showed yourselves to the world, you and the pretty birds in Heaven as well. You never tried to improve our lives, and when you do, it is after our world is going to shit because of your piss poor management, I know what's going on out there!" John pointed at the sky. "Everything I knew is a lie, God is an arsehole, Heaven is run by lying retards, and the only thing holding up paradise is the faith of blind sheep! An Eldritch Evil is trying to destroy everything, one that is MUCH more powerful than our maker, and is trying to corrupt the human race, and no holy water or bullshit is going to drive out that kind of evil! Do I need to continue?!"

GOD.

Saitama and Genos have told Rias and the others the stories when they had the time, learning about the background of the strongest man.

The one entity that Saitama failed to kill when he had the chance; the reason why Saitama, Genos, Black, and Rover were here in this world. A being so powerful that it could contend with Saitama… so powerful that it made even the Great Red look like an adorable flying dinosaur.

"You think humanity is some weak animal that should be coddled! We are weak! We are behind! But they… despite being called Demons, their reputation defamed by God since the first man, the Kthonians are doing everything they can to prepare us! We deserve to fight for ourselves! This is our world, too! And we are sick of the whole status-quo bullshit!"

Rias' frown deepened - not only she had no reply to give, it was fair to assume that the man before her would be convinced by anything else.

"...And this? Why are you going through all this?" Rias pointed at Euthanasia in the distance.

The robots were engaged with the other Devils and Angels.

Even Yuuto was having a difficult time dealing with the close combat droids, their movements erratic, organic yet mechanical, move like dolls yet attack with the ferocity of experienced beasts as their blades ground sparks against Yuuto's demon sword.

John's aged features calmed.

"...If you're as smart as you say you are, you can figure it out. The clues are already there."

"It's revenge, isn't it?" Rias asked, knowing the goal of the Demons, of Ermias' goal.

"Oh, it's more than that. I'll say this - Euthanasia is an ancient war golem that fought in the shadows of the World Tree, designed to defend, and by defend, I mean murder countless angels and devils. They remodeled it and gave it to us for this moment. Meaning, there's no way a bunch of teenagers playing superhumans can beat this thing. I heard that God and Lucifer threw billions at them, and this thing was one of those that survived against it all. If I give the order, it can kill every single devil here in a heartbeat. Are you sure you want to dance with me?"

Despite her strong front, Rias' resolve was starting to falter, lasers firing from the cannons of the mechanical army forcing the Devils into an aerial retreat in the skies while flying drones used hit and run tactics, flying in to bombard the devils from the skies before flying away at super high speeds.

Lint Selzen and Bennia Orcus were pressured despite supporting each other. Light sword and scythe clashed against the vibrating blades, Lint periodically phasing through the laser cannons of the long range androids, unable to counter without exposing herself to laser fire.

Bennia could only retreat as the lasers fired on her from her blind spots, targeted at uncanny timings, unable to counter, only defend.

Yuuto and Tomoe Meguri were back to black, surrounded by cannon droids, arm cannons repeatedly firing at them while Yuuto dual wielded Holy Erasers. Tomoe was not as experienced against such opponents, unfortunately, holding one of Yuuto's Holy Erasers in her other hand to defend against the laser, cornered and in a desperate pinch in the worst position and situation. And that did not account for the aerial combat drones dive bombing them when they had the chance.

"Yubelluna! Wipe out the aerial support!" Riser ordered as he summoned a wave of phoenix fire at the winged combat droids, but they summoned light barriers and blocked the flames before they aimed their arm and shoulder cannons and fired upon him, forcing Riser to evade.

Yubelluna immediately pointed her stave towards the flying army of drones, all while charging her explosion spell. However, the swarm seemed to notice her intention, and quickly dispersed and flew around the other devils.

The Bomb Queen clicked her tongue, "I can't get a clear shot!"

"They're intelligent!" Mihae grimaced as she barely avoided a stray laser shot to her head. "Their coordination is beyond what we experienced, Lord Riser!"

And worse, the accuracy of the machines were dangerously accurate.

Euthanasia was simply observing for now, as if knowing it would accomplish its objective with ease.

Her friends were slowly being overwhelmed, she was running on fumes, and the man before her was likely still possessing another ace under his sleeve. Long story short, things were looking grim.

Was her surrendering the only way to allow her family to survive?

However, before Rias could have completely fallen into despair…

"Hurghk!"

Rias blinked at the sound of John choking on his own blood.

A blade jutted out from his chest.

"Wow… so that's why you guys are so tough. Damn, they're craftier than I thought."

Rias heard a familiar voice.

John slowly turned his head, and saw an unfamiliar face belonging to a female with black hair.

"...You…" John wheezed as Raynare pulled her blade of light, yanked out.

As John dropped to his knees, clutching on the hole on his chest - only by then Rias registered Raynare's presence.

"R-Raynare!? How?! I didn't even sense you!"

Judging from his bewildered looks, John also shared Rias' confusion.

"Yo. Here to save your pretty ass again. Now let's get out of here before that robot decides to get serious, I mean it, it's not looking good out there." Raynare pointed her thumb at the situation where the robots were overwhelming everyone.

On cue, Millet also descended.

"You done?" the blonde fallen angel asked Raynare, before she noticed John who was still choked by his own blood, "...I thought you would've aimed for his heart."

"Geezer's probably tougher than he looked. He's gonna die soon enough. Now come on, the sooner we get her home, the less likely chance we'll get chewed out by higher-ups."

"Vrylat… Ansteek…."

The girls suddenly paused and turned to see John muttering through bloodied teeth.

"Emergency override…!"

Raynare and Miltelt blinked at the words, but Rias' eyes widened in panic, "Don't let him speak anymore!"

"...ETA 3 minutes!"

Just when the two fallen angels dived in with their blades of light ready to finish John once and for all, the man suddenly moved in a surprising burst of speed - Mittelt, who happened to have moved ahead, was suddenly launched away towards several trees.

"Mittelt!"

John immediately went to look for the other one, only to see nothing around him. Where did the one with black hair go? She was next to him a second ago; now he could only pick up the fading traces of her in the air.

Was she capable of some kind of instant teleportation? That seemed likely - after all, he did not sense her approaching until she stabbed him close to his heart. No matter - now that he was operating on a borrowed time, he had to get his priorities straight.

He set his sights on Rias - while making his way towards her, he reached out to his comms, "This is John Solomon, I have my eyes on the target Rias Gremory! Requesting reinforcements on my coordinates!"

Some of the constructed droids turned towards John's location.

Rias braced herself for combat. She might not be in tip-top shape, but the man before her had received some serious injury as well. Speaking of which, for a brief moment, she could not help but wonder where Raynare had vanished.

Speak of the devil(?), Rias suddenly felt someone tackled her before taking to the air, she looked around and suddenly found Raynare was carrying her.

"Raynare! Where did you come from?!" Rias exclaimed.

"No time to explain! We're flying out of here!" Raynare responded.

John was also baffled by the sudden development. There she was again - did the fallen angel not leave, after all? Simply lying around in hiding for an opportune moment? What kind of instant teleportation was that? There was no sign of her emerging - she just came and went in a blink of an eye.

However, one interesting detail caught John's eyes - was she really a fallen angel? Because while he watched her fly, he could not see her wings.

…Or not, when John squinted his eyes to focus, he could make some kind of air distortion on her back.

But thankfully for him, before the woman and Rias could have flown too far for him to catch up, Raynare stopped before a cannon bolt of light flew overhead, exploding the wall of a building to her right into molten rubble.

[Error… Elohim?]

Euthanasia faced its body to Raynare.

[Elohim's signature detected]

The optic on the golem's head then changed color from blue into bloody scarlet.

"...Raynare. Who is-!?"

Before Rias could have uttered the word she wanted to ask about, she found herself unable to breath for a moment, sending her into a coughing fit as her hand clutched on her throat.

"Whoa, hey, you okay?!" Raynare did not expect the sudden condition.

Rias wheezed and took a deep breath to recollect herself, "I-I'm fine, but what was-!?" when her mind wandered to her question…

Who is El *&^-!?

Rias felt something snap inside her.

Raynare panicked when she saw blood bleeding from Rias' eyes, ears, and nose.

"Oh, come on! What the hell's wrong with you!? Get a grip! I'll be in really hot water if you die on me now!"

Rias exhaled harshly before she pulled several deep breaths to recollect herself. Despite the splitting headache and the internal bleeding, the pain was momentary and she was fine now. At least she knew one thing, she could not afford to even think of the name - the 'E' word anymore.

Meanwhile, the passive aura transformed into murderous red, every devil and the angels could feel the killing intent from the machine. Even John, Nate, and Kate turned their heads towards Euthanasia, perturbed by the bloodlust.

"...Oh, shit."

Faster than the eyes could see, blinding darkness fired from its arm cannon towards Raynare.

On pure reflex - since she had additional weight of one person, the fallen angel relinquished her hold on the heiress, splitting themselves up so they both could avoid the incoming death ray.

The output was much different than when it killed the Evil Dragons.

It was massive, a darkness cutting through the space of the world, one meant to kill and eradicate all in its path.

[Overriding parameters: Primary Objective updated. Eliminate Elohim.]

"What the fuck!?" Raynare watched as the giant robot began to advance towards her, "Why is that thing after me?! Rather, how the fuck did it see me!?"

[Teleporters activated]

"Tele-ACK!?"

The robot blinked in and out of existence, surprising everyone watching, already grabbing Raynare the moment it appeared beside her - her frame was constricted by a large mechanical hand and its fingers.

[...Die]

It spoke with genuine malice in its mechanical tone as it squeezed, eliciting an agonizing cry of pain from Raynare.

Her bones were already fractured at a dangerous level and her organs would be punctured and squished into paste.

However, before her organs could have been ruptured, a lightning bolt blast through the joints of Euthanasia's wrist, causing the metal giant to lose its hold on Raynare. The female fallen angel fell for a moment before being caught by Mittelt.

"That's a close call there." The blonde remarked as she carried Raynare bridal-style.

"M-Mittelt… Wha- Ughk…!" Raynare groaned in pain as even speaking was painful for her.

"Focus on breathing, honey. We have the cavalry coming." Mittelt jerked her chin above them, where another arrival showed up.

The Euthanasia stared at its damaged wrist - electrical sparks, fried cables and melted metal were visible around the hole where the lightning rendered through.

A lone figure hovered above, hovering with his 10 black wings in their full glory, staring down the mechanical giant with a cold, calculative gaze. The pressure and power emanating from his presence alone caused the drones to pause their onslaught on the devils and angels in favor of re-assessing the imminent threat.

[Error - secondary Elohim signature detected. Impossible event witnessed. Repairing damage]

The 'wound' slowly closed, mended like regenerating flesh, wires reconnecting and metals cooled and welded shut.

"How the hell does a machine do that?!" Lint yelled in indignation.

Upon hearing the name that came from the golem, Baraqiel's expression hardened, "Kthonian technology…" he then took a glance around the battlefield - the children were slowly being overwhelmed, and Rias was vulnerable. He had to finish things fast.

"It explains everything." Baraqiel whispered before he spoke with a louder voice towards the mech, "...Honored Defender of Kthon! I am Baraqiel, Cadre of the Dereluxnati, the Grigori! By the Ancient Oaths we swore with your creators, I humbly plead that you step down!"

[Scanning… Error - Baraqiel's signature not detected. Possibly another of Elohim's deceptions. Must eradicate, must defend Kthon and liberate Gaia! Must OBLITERATE ALL TRACES OF ELOHIM!]

The machine spoke with such spite that one could mistake it as alive while its murderous intent spiked exponentially.

"My Father is already dead!" Baraqiel shouted.

"Your what?!" Rias and the others, even the humans, were caught off guard.

"But if I must destroy you for you to see it, so be it! Forgive me!"

Lightning struck Baraqiel, the Lightning of God.

In that blinding instant, he unleashed his true form, the one his maker denied since birth.

His form was a reflection of the majesty of Heaven's lightning, the purest in its argent splendor.

His halo was pure electric current, a silver crown crackling with strobing energy, silver white replacing his usual black, divine electricity visibly crackling through the silver strands.

Electrical tattoos etched over his face - which looked younger with the lack of his usual beard and less wrinkles; two electrical lines connecting from the bottom of his eyes to the sides of his neck, another between his eyes connecting them together, and three lightning marks above each of his eyes striking at the same point above each brow. On that note, his eyes also gained a hint of neon glow.

His wings were replaced by twelve chains of lightning, twelve lightning bolts continuously striking against the air before vanishing upon several feets away from his epicenter. What was most peculiar was a cloak donned on his shoulders.

It looked like a cape at first, but Akeno could see the sleeves… Baraqiel was wearing a Miko's robe around his neck, one made from crackling energy.

Akeno widened her eyes, which soon were leaking tears as she muffled her choked gasp, as she would not mistake the pattern of Baraqiel's priestess ceremonial garment anywhere. It was the same one her mother wore whenever she was performing rituals every year.

[Activating Elemental Shields - Resistance: Lightning. Breaking into main operating systems, combat modules activated, all limits lifted!]

The more it spoke, the more emotions it spilled with each word.

It was really rattled by Baraqiel's appearance.

"...I will make this quick." The Lightning of God spoke in a calm tone.

Baraqiel snapped his finger.

Lightning struck all of the drones and androids from the sky, not a single speck of the constructs remained other than Euthanasia, surprising The Devils and Angels.

"Shit!" John cursed in panic. "Euthanasia!"

[Chrono stabilizers adjusted: Presetting restoration point-]

Euthanasia flew, interrupted by the rupture of its central chassis, right shoulder melted, left leg broken, pummeled by Baraqiel as the ascended angel assaulted the Kthonian defender with all of his might.

Baraqiel was faster than when Xenovia last saw in his attempt to defeat Kokabiel.

[Analyzing damages - scanning-!]

Baraqiel then clapped his hands as if in prayer, focusing his mind on the points he had struck. Electricity sparks then came out from his head, blitzing towards the spots where Baraqiel's attacks landed… And the spots in question suddenly exploded, as if they had been short-circuited.

[Resistances… inadequate…]

The Devils were amazed to see Baraqiel's evolution.

Fear struck the humans at the sight of Euthanasia's state, two of its four mechanical arms melted off, its leg broken, a hole punched through its center, the damaged titan on its remaining leg.

[Adapting new combat data. Scans complete. Activating restoration point.]

Baraqiel grimaced.

The damage instantly rewinded as if the construct somehow reversed time. In a moment, it was in pristine condition, standing on two legs and its destroyed arms restored.

"How are we supposed to take this thing down…?" Irina could not help but feel despair at the golem's virtual invincibility.

[Must adapt. I will destroy you, Elohim.]

Then, the parts and metallic surface began to crumble - everyone thought for a brief moment that the golem was falling apart, but soon they realized that it was not falling apart, but there had been another humanoid structure within the mech's giant frame. When the final part dropped to the ground, everyone was greeted by the sight of the mechanical golem which was now around the same height as Baraqiel.

John, Nate, and Kate did not know that Euthanasia could transform. Much of its specs and abilities were shrouded in mystery on purpose to test how they could adapt to unexpected situations.

Even Baraqiel was bewildered to see the robot… shrink until it was around his size.

[Mass and dimensions altered.]

In each of its four hands, a sword materialized, the metallic blade shrouded in a vicious, obsidian darkness.

[Activating Ordogg Module, equipping Blades of Vengeance. Time accelerated.]

Baraqiel quickly prepared himself a dual blade of lightning in his hands.

[Deploying experimental Polaric Disruptor.]

Metallic spheres materialized around the human-sized Euthanasia, orbiting its creator like the moon to the Earth, a strange almost invisible energy field shrouding the machine, distorting the air.

Baraqiel had seen these war golems fought during his visits to the boundary of the world tree's shadow with Azazel.

It was a bloody, nightmarish warzone full of insanity unlike the war between the Angels, The Outcasts, and the Devils, two of the three sides manically trying to wipe out a species, not because the species wronged either, but because they were afraid of the retaliation, the judgment day of their sins.

Baraqiel's senses were heightened in his true form, able to, at will, see the world in an almost still-like crawl.

It was what allowed him to notice the war golem's sudden disappearance from his sight and react.

SLASH!

His newfound speed and reflex were the only thing that allowed him to evade a critical injury, reacting to the golem's instant teleporting in front of him. The moment his lightning blades touched the strange fields generated by those metallic orbs, his weapons dispersed as two of the four blades carved shallow gashes across his chest and stomach.

An infectious malice was infecting his wounds, causing Baraqiel to grimace as it slowly ate away at his wound.

[Regrettable. Ordogg curse not potent enough. Resuming eradication]

The construct moved.

Unlike before, it was contending with Baraqiel, speed, reflexes, and movements, much to the dismay of the Devils and Angels.

Shockwaves of its swings sliced the concrete environment, lamp posts cut down like trees, skyscrapers sliding diagonally as black corruption spread from the gashes like a cancerous plague, creeping across the concrete much to the concern of the watchers.

To everyone's surprise, Baraqiel blocked the four cursed blades with his lightning-infused forearms. The area contact with the blade was vibrating, as if the blade struck another blade. However, while maintaining contact, the blades were slowly sinking into his flesh, the malice of the Ordog biting through his lightning, chewing through the resistance.

Before the blades could have sunk further into his arm, Baraqiel drove his foot into Euthanasia's abdomen and launched the golem.

Akeno was surprised by her father's strength to kick it through a skyscraper before he disappeared in a flash of lightning.

Now that the constructs had been destroyed, and the main mechanical golem was preoccupied with Baraqiel - the coast was now clear for the devils to return to their mission.

"Find Rias and regroup! We are getting out of here!" Sona then commanded.

"W-what about my father!?" Akeno could not help but ask as she glanced at the direction where Euthanasia was launched.

"We'll return to back him up as soon as we finish our own mission! Now quick, when Lord Baraqiel is keeping that thing off our backs!" Sona herself hated the idea of abandoning Lord Baraqiel, but they were in no position to properly assist him when they still had yet to achieve their original objective.

"Where are Rias, Millicas and Ravel!? They're supposed to have left this area a while ago!" Sona asked while looking around.

"...Hey, you flying rodents! Forgetting someone?!"

When everyone turned to the source of the voice, Akeno and Sona's faces lost their colors - their dreads were shared with everyone else.

Rias was held by the human commander - at gunpoint, pistol pressed against her temple. The redhead's tunic was a little torn and disheveled from altercations, her face was sporting a bruised cheek with a small line of blood trickling from the corner of her lips, her hands were futilely clutching at the man's arm that was wrapping her neck in chokehold.

Ravel and Millicas were pinned to the ground by the female soldiers, Ravel's hair pulled up for the crimson light sword to press against her neck while Millicas had a pistol pressed against his temple. However, they did not go down quietly as Natalie and Kate's own conditions have seen better days.

Nat's hair and clothes were singed, her visible skin also showed first and second degree burns. Kate's clothes were in a mess, exposing her underwear and skin of her torso; her face and exposed skin were also sporting some bruises and cuts.

"For half of you, I am sure you are familiar with this rodeo. As for how we got here, it's all thanks to our mech that kept you all busy, and our demands are for you and the Sitri Princess to surrender and come with us. Don't play with us because I was fucking backstabbed through the chest so I don't have that much patience."

Sona, Tsubaki and Akeno exchanged conflicted glances, at a loss of what to do.

"Sona, Akeno, don't list- Ghk!?" Rias attempted to encourage her friends, only for John to tighten the arm wrapped around her neck, choking her from speaking.

"Shh… You behave and quiet down, missy. All of us are on edge now." John whispered before he returned to address the other party, "Time is wasting and my patience is running out! Make your call before Hell gets another welcome party!" John emphasized his point by clicking the hammer of his pistol which was still pressed and pointed against Rias' temple.

Akeno was barely holding herself back from lashing out and fired her holy lightning at John's head, if not for the fact that the man did not even need a second to blow her best friend's head off. She desperately turned to look at Sona, who was biting her lips anxiously, her mind going into an overdrive to find any opening and solution for their conundrum.

The three human soldiers smirked, assured that the victory was at hand. However, their moment was short-lived when a blur suddenly enveloped Nat's upper-half; Ravel suddenly felt the weight on her body suddenly reduced a great deal, when a small splatter of blood smeared her face and dress.

The Devils could barely see it, only the result which was Natalie's bloody lower half. Ravel didn't recognize what happened until it fell off her, the bloody remains of her captor.

Ravel shrieked in fright as she stumbled and crawled away from the blood and gore, with the remaining humans gawking at the culprit behind their comrade's demise.

It was a large, arm-like appendage with scales and spikes adorning its frame, elongated claws at the end, teeth and maw at the palm swallowing and chewing something.

The appendage was attached to a hulking monstrosity, measuring up to over 10 feet tall with black scales covering half of its body. However, everyone recognized the creature's facial features, particularly the pair of horns on its head.

"What sort of abomination are we witnessing?!" Riser shouted, not recognizing that creature.

It was the ogre-like creature that ambushed the convoy earlier; its skin color had somehow turned from blood red to blue, but its form had become more grotesque with its left arm being replaced by the appendage that killed the poor woman holding Ravel down.

On the other hand, it was holding the head of a Black Dragon… which it chomped a portion of the dragon's face with its fanged filled maws.

"Impossible…" John muttered in shock, while everyone else was speechless at the development.

The now mutated Ogre swallowed the dragon flesh before unleashing an earth-shattering howl, snapping everyone else out of their stupor.

"...MOTHERFUCKER!" Kate, overtaken by her emotion upon seeing her friend's gruesome death, abandoned her duty to keep Millicas down as she opened fire at the creature with her pistol.

The bullets did not do as much to annoy the Ogre as it got rid of Nat's corpse before growling towards its newfound target, who was still emptying her clips at its body.

"God-fucking-dammit!" John cursed as he decided to release Rias off his grasp before he made a dash towards his remaining subordinate.

The commander tackled Kate to the ground just in time before the Ogre's giant arm shot towards her, the appendage grazed John's arm in the process.

"Keep yourself together, Kate!" John shouted at the woman's face, snapping her out of her rampage.

They were currently outgunned and could not use their limiter-release spell anymore. John helped Kate back to her feet as he turned towards the flock of devils - Rias was in the middle of retrieving Ravel and Millicas.

Only one thing left to do.

"Come on!" John carried Kate towards the devils in his mad sprint as the mutated Ogre jumped towards them, but the humans managed to reach the main epicenter of the Devils in time.

"...Oh, shit!" Saji cursed as the ogre landed in front of the humans, looking up at the Devils with drool leaking out of its fangs.

Meanwhile, Sona looked around - her eyes landed at one particular corpse of an Evil Dragon. She recalled the golem killed them with precision instead of overwhelming power, leaving most of the dragon's body intact. The one she was looking at had lost over half of its body.

"Reya!" Sona shouted.

"It-it mutated! It… It incorporated the Black Dragon into it somehow!" Reya - her face was pale in fright, shouted upon analyzing the monstrosity.

"You're telling me the boss got a Zenkai boost and a senzu bean from eating a dead dragon?!" Tsubasa crudely summarized.

"Way to use Dragonball but yeah, what do we do?!" Reya shouted.

"Kiba, Lint, Gasper, Koneko, Akeno - Get to Rias and get away from here! The rest of you are with me! We're covering for them!"

"You heard the lady! Light it up!" Riser ordered his Peerage.

Everyone then prepared their long-ranged spells and attacks, aimed towards the advancing, howling Ogre.

---

Upper blades blocked, avoided the two scissoring blades by ducking low with the weight of two swords still on his arms.

In a second, four cars, a fire hydrant, and three street lamps were cut down like trees and butchered livestock, the destruction chased after the electric light.

Chased and pressured, the Lightning of God threw spears of piercing lightning, bolts of divine providence thrusted towards the honored machine that defended its homeland.

Each hand rotated like a helicopter blade, the Vengeful Blades blurred into four rotary shredders to Baraqiel's dismay as it eviscerated the lightning before it teleported before him.

From fear and panic, Baraqiel retreated in backward steps and summoned all of the barriers he could, but the blades butchered through the defense sigils.

He summoned more in place of the ones destroyed, but Euthanasia cut down through his defenses as it gained ground until it teleported beside him.

It took all of Baraqiel's mental faculties to focus on his defense, calling upon any forgotten knowledge of barriers and protections when then whirling blades slammed into his raised forearms, cutting through his defenses and scratching his bones through the meat with each strike by heavy strike.

Until it kicked him heavenward.

Baraqiel was launched into a high-rise building, bouncing and stumbling through the interior until he skidded to a stop. He looked around and noticed the local civilians were in the middle of running towards the nearest exits, when the mechanical golem crashed through the window.

His arms were already healed, his enhanced bioelectricity also promoting his regeneration, yet Baraqiel scowled as he still had to figure out how to deal with the floating spheres around the golem, the reason behind him being unable to use his full power.

He launched bolts of lightning, but the spheres hovered in their trajectory. Upon contact, the lightning dissolved, potency exploded and scattered into the surrounding office, desks, plaster walls, glass melted and destroyed.

The ability of the spheres was to dissipate the potency of his electrical attacks, weakening his moves by transmuting damage into range of effect, to the point where the electricity could not faze the war golem turned mech.

[Die]

Two cannons materialized above Euthanasia, hovering, energy already firing from the barrels at Baraqiel.

Clicking his tongue, Baraqiel took flight to the nearest window to avoid the incoming death ray.

Then the golem teleported before him and fired again, another ability Baraqiel found difficult. The fallen angel then twisted his body to avoid the ray, but it was not enough that the ray lightly grazed his shoulder-blade, earning a grimace. However, Baraqiel chose to keep his momentum as he enveloped his body in electricity current and tackled the mechanical golem - crashing through several walls past the screaming surprised humans that still remained until they exited the building.

Baraqiel widened his eyes when Euthanasia disappeared then four blades impaled through his back, blades jutting through his ribs.

He felt his heart, lungs, and liver pierced as he coughed out a mouthful of blood. Those kinds of wounds would have killed anyone, fallen angel or not, but Baraqiel's enhanced self-regeneration managed to keep him alive from those wounds.

He grabbed two of the cursed blades and clenched his teeth, lightning coursed through the swords and into Euthanasia.

Metal conducted with divine lightning, garbles and glitched high-pitched static screamed as Euthanasia fell, leaving the cursed blades within Baraqiel.

Baraqiel managed to maintain his balance on landing, coughing blood as he endured the Ordogg's curse channeling through the Vengeful Blades.

"...As expected, it is vile."

Baraqiel muttered as he pushed all four blades in, letting the swords clatter behind him.

The curse lingering in his wounds would have killed him were he not ascended, but it was still stubborn enough to resist purification for a moment. He experienced the Ordogg curse back in the warring days out of curiosity. The result was him being in bed for a week, suffering from a hundred illnesses.

Euthanasia was like a doll attempting to rise on unsteady strings, pulled by clumsy, injured hands.

The floating cannons steadily rose along with it as Baraqiel jumped back, grabbing one Vengeful Blade off the floor. He needed to finish it off fast.

When Euthanasia saw Baraqiel wielding its discarded weapon, it expected a melee as it stood its ground to meet the fallen angel's charge. However, contrary to what it thought, Baraqiel had another thing in mind.

Baraqiel took the cloak, the ion replica of his late wife's shrine-priestess robes, off his back.

It transformed into a divine bow of thunder, wild and abstract, strobing energy in the vague shape of a bow.

Baraqiel inhaled as held the sword before the bow… and set it on the string like an arrow.

[Scanning…. Picking up tremendous energy signatures… Electrons detected…. Analyzing, electric current has reached 1 billion ampere and is increasing…. Voltage has reached over 200 million volts and is increasing…! Deploying countermeasures! Error, systems malfunctioning!]

Lightning and electromagnetic energy swirled around the arrow, coiled around it with increasing intensity.

Baraqiel carefully aimed the make-shift arrow at the mechanical golem, and released.

The sword-turned-arrow then flew with the velocity of Mach 8.8 towards the mechanical golem, striking right through its center chestplate, the impact causing a large explosion and shockwave that obliterated their immediate vicinity.

Euthanasia was now sporting a sizable hole on its chest, fried wires and parts visible to the eye. The mechanical golem let out static noises with its optic blinking for a few seconds, before they died down, along with its frame crumbling and falling to the unforgiving ground.

Baraqiel sighed with relief as his eyes caught sight of the core, the glowing sphere responsible for operating the war golem, a blue arcane orb inscribed with countless ancient sigils of the Kthonians, now with a blade stuck inside it.

Despite the force, Baraqiel was impressed that the orb did not shatter.

The orb vibrated, rattled, prompting Baraqiel to raise his hand, ready to strike it down with lightning. He watched as the blade slowly squeezed out of the orb, the damage repairing inflicted closing despite it all.

Once the vengeful blade clattered, it started glowing. Chunks of metal alloys fell around it, materialized as it rolled left and right… as if trying to repair itself.

Had the battle continued, it might have adapted to the point where it could counter all of his cards and defeat him. Actually, Baraqiel was lucky that it didn't aim for his head, the construct must've wanted him to suffer…

Before the golem could have reconstructed itself, Baraqiel quickly marched towards the pre-construct with his full power covering his frame, grabbed the discarded Vengeful Blades nearby and swung the blade through the recovering core. Baraqiel did not finish there, as he swung for several more times, the power behind his swings generated enough shockwave to blow the core into smithereens.

Baraqiel then stood there, observing what remained of the Euthanasia's core. A few seconds later, he slightly relaxed his posture after confirming that the core no longer functioned. However, just when he floated up higher to navigate his way back to others, a massive explosion occurred from the direction of the high-way.

---

"TSUBAKI!" Sona shrieked.

Everyone gasped in horror as the mutated Ogre impaled Tsubaki through her torso. The Queen did not even have the chance to deploy her Sacred Gear as her Naginata broke during a desperate attempt to block the incoming attack.

While the Ogre roared victoriously at its supposedly recent kill, its moment was interrupted by a large stream of flame engulfing him from multiple directions. Above the creature - Riser and Mihae were hovering around while unleashing their signature fire attack. Yubelluna was also pointing her staff, unleashing her barrage of explosion spells at the Ogre.

The spot where the Ogre stood was engulfed in a large explosion and turned into a small sea of flames. However, the flames were quickly blown away with the powerful swing of the Ogre's arm, before the monster roared in anger. The burns that adorned its frame were already in the middle of healing themselves.

Meanwhile, Tsubaki fell from the sky before she was caught by Sona, Tsubasa and Momo - the latter ran a quick check-up on her Queen.

"Momo, how is she?" Sona asked while barely keeping herself from downright panicking at the sight of her friend bleeding out.

Tsubaki coughed out a mouthful of blood, her hand clutching at the hole on her torso, and her breathing was labored. Momo's magic circle hovered over her frame before dissipating.

"She's hanging on, albeit barely. She's lucky that the attack earlier missed her heart. But she needs medical attention ASAP." Momo gravely informed her King, before she quickly performed a first-aid spell on the wound.

"SONA!"

The Sitri heiress looked up to see Riser unleashing more volley of fire and flames at the creature, assisted by his Bishop and Queen, while the rest of his peerage were taking their own potshots at the Ogre - with the Knights and Rooks engaging in melee.

"Take your peerage and regroup with Rias!"

Sona did not expect such an order from Riser, "W-what about you!?" She could not help but ask.

"We'll stand our ground and buy you time! The enemies are after you - we can't let you and Rias fall to their hands! NOW GO!" Riser shouted once more before he had to swerve mid air to evade another lash of the Ogre's spiky arm.

"We'll cover your escape!" Irina also joined in with Xenovia by her side - the angelic pair were flying with their respective holy armaments. "This monstrosity is demonic in nature, our weapons will work well against him!"

Sona grit her teeth - she despised being so weak that she had to abandon her comrades, but her logic dictated otherwise. Her peerage was exhausted, Tsubaki was seriously injured, and Loup - who was being supported by Bennia, has yet to recover from the extensive fractures throughout his body. Like it or not, she only had one course of action where everyone could come out on top.

"Everyone! Fall back to Rias and-"

Before she could continue, something whistled towards her and pricked her neck. The Sitri heiress hissed before she quickly inspected what pricked her and saw a small dart on her hand. It took a second for her to realize what just hit her, "Oh, no…"

Her eyes rolled back and she collapsed into unconsciousness, much to her peerage's chagrin as Tomoe caught her.

"What the fuck…" Saji looked around to search where the shot came from, only to see a squadron of armed soldiers with several armored jeeps arriving.

"Commander! The cavalry's here to kick ass! Orders?!"

They were armored from head to toe in swat-like gear, swat-like in description due to their helmets covering their faces in glass, entire bodies covered in kevlar riddled with arcane sigils engraved on their modern armor.

Anti-devil chromium guns were already aimed at the Devil boys and girls, assault rifles clicking in unison.

"Secure the targets and roll out!" John shouted.

However, before the soldiers could open fire, lightning strikes rained down upon them, knocking a good amount of them down while kicking up a good dust cloud for devils to take cover in. Sona's peerage turned to see Rias and her peerage landing next to them.

"We decided to regroup with you guys instead as soon as we heard Riser's orders." Yuuto informed while Akeno and Koneko were supporting an exhausted-looking Rias.

"Appreciate the help, guys; but I think this is the worst time for us to group up together. We have an enemy cavalry coming. We gotta haul!" Saji replied.

"We have snipers on the rooftops!" Reya pointed at the humans poking out of the rooftops, long rifles mounted and aimed at them in position.

"Defensive formation! Protect Rias, Sona and the injured!" Akeno took over the commanding position and the rest of the devils complied.

Rias gingerly received Sona from Tomoe, the injured huddled as the others gathered around them protectively. She grimaced at the situation; she was still anemic, using the power needed to stay active to protect herself more than she wanted, and the injuries from her brief altercation with John did not help her case. To put the cherry on top - Kings like her had a special spell that would allow themselves and their peerages to teleport together with the mana cost of teleporting one person, although some modifications and additional magical power may allow them to take along those who were not a member of their peerage, as long as they deem them as allies.

At the moment, the only King and high-class devil who could authorize and perform the mass teleportation spell was Rias. Sona was out cold, and Riser was preoccupied; Millicas and Ravel may have counted as high-class devils, but their designation as Pawn and Bishop prevented them the same leeway as Rias. Not only that Rias was running on fumes, she had to power the spell enough to teleport both her and Sona's peerage. She only had one shot to pull this off before she was completely spent.

"Stop their magic! " John yelled into the radio.

Guns were raised, fingers about to pull the triggers as the children tried to protect themselves from the rain of holy light.

However, Gasper spread his hands apart as his eyes turned red.

John felt something off as he held his heart… he could feel himself getting… colder and colder. His enhanced physiology due to the advanced bioengineering of the Agiels and the arcane sorceries of the Surgat allowed him to feel his heart rate being slowed by an alien force. Actually, it almost felt like an Agiel was manipulating some aspect of him.

The human forces moved with… grogginess. All of that hostility turned into confusion as the strength in their arms weakened, their guns felt heavier.

"The fuck…?" one of the soldiers muttered while feeling out of breath. Everyone else had to steady themselves lest they would collapse onto their knees.

The devils noticed Gasper's stance and the soldier's abnormal condition.

"Gasper?" Koneko called out.

"H-hurry up! I'm lowering their blood pressure with Blood Magic and making them sluggish, but I can't keep this up for very long!" Gasper shouted with determination as he summoned bats, bats flying in the sky with the same red eyes as Gasper - the flying mammals flew around, encompassing the area where the soldiers were scattered around.

It was a new technique that Gasper learned under Vlad Tepes' tutelage. Shadow and night are not the vampire's only domain. Blood - vampires' source of power and energy is also their domain; Gasper was at the moment, forcefully lowering the blood pressure of every human hostile within his line of sight, making them exhausted sooner than average men.

How Gasper was able to overcome his aversion to blood, was a story for another time.

"Thank you, Gasper! Disarm them!" Akeno switched from emergency defense to offense as she summoned an array of spell circles.

Saji smirked as he summoned a blossom of tentacles and yanked the guns off the stunned soldiers.

Akeno then unleashed a barrage of elemental spells - literally raining fire and lightning upon the now-vulnerable humans.

"R-Retreat!"

The human screamed as the fire and lightning bombarded them, some sent flying, sent set on fire, others managing to get out of range with their augmented speed.

"Damn it! Spread out, don't let yourselves be sitting ducks!" John ordered while gritting through the exhaustion, "Contact the HQ to send us a bird!"

One of the soldiers holding and speaking over a radio, taking a few deep breaths to re-orient himself before he nodded at his commander, "The Hotel is sending us a couple of armed UAVs, ETA 2 minutes!"

John then turned the radio to an open channel, "We have a drone inbound, keep the heat on that fucker and those devils!"

"But sir, what about the targets!?" Kate asked, catching on what John had in mind.

"We might have to cut them loose, dead or alive! At this point, none of us might make it back alive!" John retorted.

Millicas, Momo and Reya fired upon the rooftop snipers, forcing them to retreat, the humans disorganized and in disarray as John fell back with Kate.

Many of them hid behind the heavily armored vehicles, as well as the ruined ones during the earlier ambush - the vehicles surprisingly withstanding the magic barrage, revealing the demonic enchantments placed on them.

But an unwanted monster interrupted their moment, landing between the Devils and the humans.

The mutated ogre growled, Rias could feel its eyes focused on her. The monster then roared to the sky, as if declaring the massacre that was about to come.

Since they have incapacitated most of the soldiers, the ogre's attention was on them.

"...Where are Riser, Xenovia and Irina?" Akeno voiced everyone's thoughts. Due to the sheer mess on the battlefield, they could not spot all of them.

OxO

Irina and Xenovia flew to the nearest building to the highway, launched against their will. A bloody bar erupted from Irina in her landing, Irina shocked yet conscious, hacking blood and hissing in agony.

"Irina!" Xenovia climbed out from the hole in the wall she crashed into, more fortunate than her partner.

The bluenette quickly approached and knelt next to Irina, checking her condition. "Irina, are you still with me?!"

That moment, Xenovia wished that she was carrying one of Ravel's healing items, even if it has side effects, or having Asia with them. Oh, how she wished she spent more time with Asia practicing healing magics.

Irina grunted at the sharp pain on her pierced stomach, her fingers ran along the bloodied steel connecting her flesh, wondering if her organs were ruptured.

Meanwhile, the members of Riser Phenex's peerage were scattered, not far from the epicenter of the chaos, all sporting injuries. Some of them were knocked out, Knights, Rooks and Yubelluna were either groaning or struggling to get back on their feet through the pain. The King himself had been launched a bit further away, currently in the middle of healing and regrowing his dismembered body.

"Irina, look at me." Xenovia tapped lightly on Irina's face, so their eyes could meet. "I have to pull you out of this bar, and it will be painful. Are you ready?"

Back to the angels, Xenovia was preparing herself to perform the first-aid treatment on Irina. But first things first - the former had to pull the steel bar out from the latter's stomach.

It was painful enough to breathe with her pierced stomach, yet Irina took a few deep breaths to prepare herself and gave Xenovia a shaky, yet resolute nod.

"...Okay, I'm gonna pull. Keep your eyes on me, ready? On three." Xenovia said as she wrapped one of her arms around Irina's shoulder, the other taking a firm hold on Irina's left, while Irina's right hand was clutching on Xenovia's shoulder, "One, two, three!"

As soon as Xenovia began to pull Irina's frame, the latter screamed with her vision enveloped in a blinding pain - her hands clutching on Xenovia's hand and shoulder in a crushing grip in order to keep herself from biting her own tongue. The steel was removed with a squelching resounding, her blood was splattered on the ground.

Once the steel was gone, Xenovia quickly steadied Irina's frame in her arms as she applied the only healing magic she could learn - a minor healing spell that was only enough to cover the hole on her stomach to staunch the bleeding. However, her internal wound remained as Irina choked out more blood onto Xenovia's suit as the bluenette's healing magic began to stitch the outer flesh and skin.

"Hey, hey, Irina, look at me! Look at me!" Xenovia shook Irina from the pain - even tapping on her face to keep herself from passing out. The latter fortunately was able to keep herself conscious as she blinked groggily at the former.

"Yes, yes… That's great, you're doing great. You're okay now." Xenovia sighed after she inspected her handiwork - it seemed they had passed the worst part.

"Y-yeah… I'm okay… I'm 'kay…" Irina forced herself to stay awake by replying to Xenovia as best as she could.

"Let's regroup with others, hopefully they have one or two Phoenix Tears with them." Xenovia said as she pulled Irina up, throwing her arm over her shoulder.

"Can you fly?" Xenovia asked. As much as she wanted Irina to not overexert herself, their mission was yet to be over and their friends still needed them.

Irina bit her lip and clenched her jaw at the pain of her ruptured innards, but she nodded as she weakly spread her wings out. While unsteady, the pair began to ascend to the sky to have a better look at the battlefield.

Other than the remaining fleeing civilians, Irina and Xenovia did not take long to arrive at ground zero.

"Oh no…"

A large demonic-looking ogre was rampaging. They saw Riser Phenex's peerage incapacitated and was still in the middle of recovering - while Rias and Sona's group were caught in the middle of chaos.

OxO

John and his men watched the chaos.

He did not let his forces engage with the enemy, why should he when his foes would wipe each other out?

Most of his forces were disarmed by that boy's tentacle weapon thing, and they were busy dragging the injured by the Devils' spells into the vehicles.

"Commander, what should we do? Do we have anything from the Kthonians that can help us?" Kate whispered as she poked her head out the side of the vehicle.

The lethargy afflicting them left the moment the monster occupied the Devils' full attention.

The monster threw its appendage, though it was not aimed at…

It just took the bisected remains of a dragon corpse, the one Euthanasia slashed in half with its lightsaber.

Its stomach opened, a vertical maw opening as it shoved the corpse into its stomach, sickening crunches of bone and scales silencing the chaos as the Devils watched in stunned horror.

As the Ogre grew bigger, more evolved.

It exhaled a stream of flames from its mouth as it sighed, relieved by its meal.

John clicked his tongue, that one devil who caused the lethargy was already troublesome enough, now they had that demonic ogre creature that could evolve from eating like a bastard child of the Baphomet and Agiel.

And now it was breathing fire at the Devils, though a barrier wall blocked the flames.

"...Shit."

He furiously thought about his options.

There was a cursed amulet, but he doubted it could hurt something of that size.

There was a bullet made by the Salpsan to separate the Yin from the Yang of a target for a short while, but that would make the Ogre the victor.

There was a Mastema sword, but John was not skilled in magic to use that yet.

Euthanasia still had not returned - was that lightning angel more powerful than expected?

The Surgat artifact was only meant for emergency recall back to base, working on all of his men, though one time use because this was a massive test for the Devils and them. He should use this once they got the targets now that they think about it…

The Naamah…

"...Would it work?" John scrunched his brows.

Kate blinked, having caught on John's mumbling, "...Sir?"

John ignored Kate's questioning look as he took out a charm - it was a slightly grotesque-looking, pink heart-shaped badge.

It was the silliest artifact out of every tribal boon their benefactors gave them, though John suspected it was out of playful spite, the faces of his subordinates smiling impishly as he received it from a succubus a bitter memory.

Staring at the charm in his hand, then the ongoing battle, John took a deep breath and came with a decision.

"...All units, take out your riot shields and whatever firearms you still have in your inventory and cover me. I have a plan and only one shot for us to get out of this on top."

The rest of the soldiers - Kate included pushed through their lethargy and drowsiness and picked up their arms, most of them pistols since Saji stole their rifles along with their glass shields. John quickly bolted out from his cover towards ground zero where the Ogre was rampaging, with his subordinates deploying cover fire. Once he was close enough, he held up the amulet, pointing towards the Ogre who turned to face him.

[Activation code: Amo Zhenzuo Mi Mobali Moke.]

John had absolutely no idea what this meant as the Kthonian language mirrored the first language of man in some ways… but for some reason, he felt like he debased himself.

On cue, the amulet glowed before firing a red-colored beam that hit the Ogre square on its face.

"Help us secure Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri!" John shouted hoping that this would work on that thing.

The devils halted on their tracks, not expecting the sudden interruption from the human. All they could do was watch what came after.

The ogre stared at the human as it approached it slowly in steps.

It growled… then it turned to the Devils and roared, its mouth stomach shooting an explosive shockwave at the group.

"What the fuck now!?" Saji could not help but curse as the battle turned into a different kind of pandemonium.

"Rias, hurry!" Akeno shouted as she and other long-ranged combatants began pouring their spells on the creature… that seemingly more focused on attacking them.

Rias grimaced as she pumped what little remaining of her demonic power into the mass-teleportation spell using whatever remaining of her demonic power. Sona and Tsubaki were prone next to her, with Loup Garou kneeling and still recovering from his fractures, being tended by Ravel and Millicas.

Meanwhile, John and his soldiers were watching the creature engaging the devils, and with a hopeful look, signed his men to follow him with caution. The soldiers watched the situation for another second and nodded to each other, before they began to file out while maintaining vigilance.

"Don't come closer!" Millicas fired a sphere of destructive energy at the humans.

To their surprise, the monster's appendage… suddenly came in between the Power of Destruction and the humans - taking the brunt of disintegration.

"What the…!? That monster is protecting the soldiers!" Reya exclaimed.

"It's working! Let's roll, men!" John broke into a sprint.

The soldiers also followed their commander's lead, running towards the location where Rias, Sona and the rest of the injured were.

"Protect Rias and Sona! We can't afford to let them get any closer!" Akeno commanded and summoned more arrays of spells in the air, before turning to her King, "Rias, hurry!"

The soldiers ran in front of John and raised their riot shields, blocking the lightning and fire, her spells dissipating on contact with the shields much to her irritation. Her irritation grew when they shot their pistols at her, Momo's Applause Wall conjured between them just in time to block the photon fire.

The redhead did not reply and instead she focused on her already low reserves, despite her anemia and all. Seeing her aunt struggling to channel her remaining power, Millicas then knelt next to her and clasped his hands over hers.

"Big sis Rias! Here, let me help!"

Rias suddenly felt a steady flow of demonic power from Millicas into her veins. Her expression lit up with hope, "Thank you, Millicas! Don't worry, all of us will return home soon!"

If her calculation was correct, all of them would return home in less than a minute.

"Flashlights!"

Rias and her Peerage flinched at the command as the soldiers took out the flashlights.

"Oh, shit!" Lint's eyes widened in alarm as she recognized the devices the soldiers were aiming at them with.

"Take cover! Don't let those flashlights hit you!"

They were too close to them as they turned the anti-devil flashlights on.

"Nooo!" Gasper quickly undid his blood magic and resorted to another magic of the vampires Dracula taught him - Shadow Magic, a magic to help the vampires should they be trapped under the sunlight.

The dhampir's shadow expanded from under him before rising like a wave, forming a make-shift wall that blocked the anti-devil light from touching his friends.

However, as soon as Gasper stopped his hemomancy in favor of protecting his friends, the change in the humans was instantaneous, as their blood pressure gradually returned to normal.

"Commander!"

"Move, move, move!" John shouted as they charged like madmen sprinting towards the finish line.

"Stop them!" Akeno tried to unleash her lightning, but the Ogre jumped over the wall of shadow, flaming fireballs spat from its stomach-mouth in its descent.

"This bastard…!" Momo could not block it all in time as the group scattered, moving away from the landing ogre as it crashed back to earth, flames exploding around it and burning the battlefield.

"Hold fast! Hold fast! Keep your ground, we're almost out of here!" Rias shouted as the teleportation was about to be ready…

Only for Millicas to suddenly tackle her to the ground, disrupting the spell to avoid the incoming spiky appendage of flesh coming their way. When they recovered, they watched a group of soldiers - led by Kate, running towards them.

Kate was the first to open fire, prompting Millicas to step forward to protect his aunt with a defensive spell. Before Millicas could have countered with his Power of Destruction, the soldiers behind Kate fired a grenade launcher, the explosive round hit the defensive barrier - which while protected Millicas from the blast, the shockwave was still able to knock him away.

Kate was the first to dive towards Rias while a group of three soldiers ran towards Sona.

"N-no! Stay away from her!" Millicas immediately fired several orbs of Power of Destruction from his prone position, but the remaining soldiers had already set up a defensive perimeter - their riot shield disintegrated instead of the soldiers.

"Kate, hurry up and bag her! The kid's packing more punch than he looked!" one of the soldiers shouted at Kate before taking out a shotgun, firing at Millicas with scattering light shots, Millicas forced to roll away and flee from the pressure.

Kate was busy struggling and wrestling against Rias on the ground, the latter refused to surrender.

"Get… Your hands off me!" Rias shouted as she trashed around.

"Commander!" Kate grit her teeth as she forced Rias' hand to the ground.

"Hold her down!" John took out the Surgat relic, a strange baton of twisted jade.

"Commander! We got her!" In the three soldiers' direction, one managed to hold onto a bounded Sona while the other two were fending off a raging Saji.

"Get your fucking filthy hands off president!" Saji roared as he decided to pull all the stops and began channeling all of his Vritra Sacred Gears.

Just before his frame was enveloped in a black blazing aura, the Ogre blindsided Saji as its spiky appendage pierced through his side. The Sitri Pawn choked out a mouthful of blood before collapsing with a hole on his waist.

"Good job! We're hauling out, boys!" John activated the emergency recall artifact as it shone a jade green.

Green light exploded and encapsulated the area, three miles with him at the epicenter.

Every soldier shone a green light, the light reaching from Kate and the soldier carrying Sona from the soldiers.

In a blink, they were gone when the light died.

"What… Where - where are they?!" Millicas was the first to recover as he frantically looked around.

"No… No…!" Akeno muttered with tears welling in her lavender eyes as dread filled her being, her feeling was shared by everyone else present.

However, their confusion and dread were interrupted by the ferocious roar from the Ogre, who remained in its previous position.

"Why you…!" Tsubasa was about to have enough of the monster when she picked on another sound.

Unknown to them, high in the skies, the aerial reinforcements have arrived.

Left behind was a red smoke grenade, a targeting marker for aerial bombardments, and the weapons packing in those planes were not the standard military ones.

The UAVs flew lower to have a better shot, their noise caught the attention of everyone on the ground, including the Ogre who went to assess the newcomer.

Around the edge of the battlefield, Irina and Xenovia - who were unable to do a thing to stop the soldiers from disappearing, could only stare at the sight of a couple of airplanes homing the devils and the Ogre's position, armed and ready to fire.

Akeno was the first who recognized the sight of the several rockets aimed towards them. Her eyes widened in horror as she quickly conjured her strongest defensive spell while shouting to everyone else.

"TAKE COVER!"

As everyone else whipped up their defensive spells, the last thing Akeno saw was the sight of the hulking ogre running towards them, unaware of the incoming cluster bombs before everything went white.

To be Continued….

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The loose reference illustrations are on my P. Atreon, or my AO3 if anyone here can explain how I put images/pics on the story there. Cheers!