(3rd POV)
"I have a bad feeling about this..." Dino commented.
"Relax, Dino. Michael-sama's plan is infalable" Feldway said, giving reassurance to his worried comrade.
"Well if you say so... it's just, if this goes bad, we're the ones who're going to get it the worst," Dino muttered before turning to his subordinates.
Feldway watched Dino with a wary eye for a moment before shaking his head. 'Even if he doesn't like it, so long as he doesn't screw up like in the Labyrinth mission it's fine.' Feldway thought as he turned to the group behind him. Kornu had just left and Fenn was departing now. Zelanus had departed almost immediately after the meeting and was currently gathering his forces to assault Milim's position. Once they were prepared it would only take them a few hours to arrive on the battlefield.
If all went well then the Giants would be under control by then and marching on the forces of Luminous creating synchronized chaos across the world. With both the world and his family in personal danger, surely Alaster's attention would be divided enough that they could pull off their plan of killing him and swiping Velzard's Dragon factor.
If everything went well then they'd collect everything they needed in a single day with the exception of Veldora. They could take their time assimilating all of the Dragon Factors of the True Dragons while also waiting for an opportunity for Demon Lord Rimuru to let his guard down enough to swipe Veldora from him while also securing their flanks by taking out Alaster and Velzard, the only two people capable of unlocking the Heavenly Star Palace and letting the other Demon Lords like Guy disrupt their plans during the wait time.
"It's time for me to go knock some sense into that older brother of mine!" Fenn declared viciously as he looked to Feldway.
Feldway nodded, certain of Fenn's victory as he saw off his 'friend'. The Titan teleported away with a menacing smile on his face and a confident smirk as he gripped the chains Gleipnir in his hands as he did so.
Feldway then turned to Zalario and gave him a brief nod. "I'm relying on you." He said while narrowing his eyes at the man, his words more of a threat to not fail than a form of encouragement. Zalario didn't respond, simply bowing his head submissively before walking over to Granbell and Mariabell to prepare to decent on Sarion themselves.
"You know threatening your friends isn't good, Feldway," Michael stated, half-jokingly.
"I needed to get the message across that failure isn't an option here. If even one team fails then the entire plan is in jeopardy." Feldway replied.
"It's fine," Michael said, shaking his head. "So long as Alaster dies, everything else is acceptable."
"I see. So that's why it's you and me going." Feldway stated.
"Yes. He doesn't know it yet but Alaster is dancing right in the palm of our hand. The trap is laid, all we must do now is a strike." Michael said with a smirk that Feldway matched, though somehow, somewhere deep inside, the small sense of unease grew.
(Alaster POV)
"No no no. You have to wait until the marshmallows are fully browned before taking them off the fire." I said, scolding Rain.
"But wouldn't they burn? I can't exactly feed Guy-sama something that isn't perfect." Rain stated.
"How earnest of you. I thought you'd just leave everything to Misery." I replied back in a jovial manner.
"I wanted to but Guy-sama ordered the both of us to learn how to make it perfect. I have to follow those direct orders even if they're troublesome." Rain complained.
"You know it's that sloppy personality of yours which is why he thinks your an idiot right?" I said with a sweatdrop on my face.
rain looked genuinely offended by my comment. "That's not true!" She began to pout.
"Alaster-sama, is this correct?" Misery interrupted our conversation to ask as she presented a plate full of delicious-looking s'mores to me for inspection.
I gave it a once-over in utter disbelief. S'mores were supposed to be a messy snack. Generally the messier it looked the better, but somehow the Daemon in front of me had presented me with a plate full of completely perfect-looking treats. I could tell the gram crackers were moist but firm, almost with the consistency of toasted bread. The Marshmellow was melted to perfection, just barely peaking out from the edge of the cracker's edges enough to fill out the space between them with only a whisp of golden brown charring on its edges. On either side of the slightly melted marshmallow was a bar of milk chocolate that looked softer than a baby's bottom while still retaining its shape.
They were the very definition of 'perfect'. I looked Misery in the eyes with shock on my face. Normally Misery's face is very stern and expressionless, but with my enhanced senses I was able to detect the smallest deviation on her lips as they were ever-so-slightly pointed upward.
'Is that her 'smug face'?' I asked myself.
<
'I told you not to peak!' I scolded.
<
'Well...' I tried coming up with an excuse.
<
'Oy! I'm not that shameless!' I shot back.
<
'Damn it, girl! You were so much cuter back when I first met you and you couldn't read my mind!' I lamented.
<
'Nah, I'm talking about your personality. You've always been the most beautiful girl in the world regardless of which form, but you used to be a blush bomb whenever I'd compliment you.' I said back earnestly.
<<... I see...>> Velzard responded a bit hesitantly. /1\
I got the feeling I was missing a rare moment of Velzard blushing from my comments again and felt my heart sink. This entire interaction was done using [Thought Acceleration] at over a million times acceleration, so to the others seemingly no time has passed for them and I could continue speaking with Misery and Rain.
"Looks great Misery! If you ever get tired of working for Guy, come on by, I'll hire you in a heartbeat!" I said, having to stop myself from giving her a headpat with how cute she looked.
It was a subtle thing, but Misery's small micro-expressions which showed her true emotions were the most adorable thing I'd seen since Milim and Yumina were still young. It wasn't like I could fall in love with her over it, but it did make me want to protect her like she was an adorable small creature of some kind.
<<... Nice save there.>> Velzard commented and I felt her roll her eyes.
"Well since you made so many, I dub thee a Master of the art of making S'mores!" I said overdramatically as I 'knighted' her using my hands in place of a sword.
"Hey! Since Misery has mastered it, guess I'll just learn the rest from her later." Rain stated.
"I shall teach you back at the castle then." Misery replied in an earnest tone.
"Misery she's tricking you to get out of needing to learn it herself," I commented.
"Ah! Don't spoil it, Alaster!" Rain protested.
"Eh?" Misery looked genuinely taken aback by this revelation.
"Doesn't she often say she'll do something or learn something later then put off the lessons until you forget about them?" I guessed, a teasing and slightly sadistic smile appearing on my mouth.
"I suppose she does..." Misery now looked down in a thinking pose, trying to recall all the other items Rain has procrastinated learning how to do her work in earnest.
"She does it so that she can say 'she doesn't know how and push her job onto yo-" I continued, trying to expose Rain's lazy nature further but was interrupted.
"Ahhhh! Ah! Ah! Ahhhhh!!!" Rain looked around frantically while I was speaking before spotting the plate of S'mores and picking one up and shoving it in my mouth to shut me up. "M-Master Alaster should taste-test the food first! It would do no good if it only looked pretty but tasted bad, right?" Rain said in a complex tone that combined trying to shut me up with bribery, and obviously flawed logic.
"Misery was slightly taken aback by this but quickly regained her baring. "I suppose that's true. A taste test is necessary." Misery commented.
I gave the two idiots a half-eyed stare. Rain was hopeless in her shamelessness and laziness while Misery was hopeless in her naivety and willingness to go with Rain's flow, completely forgetting I was warning her of this exact tactic as she was distracted by something that wasn't important.
I finished chewing the treat, which tasted divine while glaring at Rain who had spirited away Misery and the snacks to the room where Guy, Velzard, and Evelyn were sitting and talking. Guy had dropped by earlier and probably wanted to fight or strategize some more before the big fight that was the Final Tenma War. He was probably also pretty bored of waiting a week for a big fight, so he came to bother me and Velzard.
We were eating S'mores at the time and he rudely snatched one from the plate while making himself at home in my living room. He loved it immediately and asked me to teach Misery and Rain how to make them, which I only agreed to because I didn't want Velzard to murder him for stealing 'her treat' and I used the excuse of making more for everyone as a chance to teach the Green and Blue Primordials.
"These are the S'mores Misery and I made!" Rain said as she presented Misery's smores to everyone present.
"Good job Misery" Guy replied, ignoring Rain.
"Thank you for the praise, Guy-sama" Misery said with a curtsy.
"Ehhh! Why not me!?!" rain cried out by no one replied to her.
"I didn't expect you to be here Evelyn," I said as I walked past Rain and sat down next to Velzard.
"Well let's just say I was in the neighborhood and something caught my attention in your house," Evelyn said looking toward Guy who was thoroughly enjoying his sweets.
It made sense. Evelyn was sort of used to the BS that would occur at my mansion but even she couldn't wave it off as 'typical Alaster Bullshit' when Guy Crimson appears in her territory.
<
'Because it's funny.' I replied without any shame whatsoever.
Evelyn gave me a small glare. I'm not quite sure how, but lately, she's been able to pick up on the fact Velzard and I are talking to one another via our Soul Corridor. Even though she might not know what we are saying, her woman's intuition is sharp enough to know when we are talking about her. I gave a small smile to her before returning our conversation back into the open.
"So what do we owe the pleasure?" I asked Guy.
"Nothing really. It's just that I had a feeling I could have a good fight if I came by here today." He said.
"I'm not fighting you," I replied with half-closed eyes.
"I'll second that," Velzard replied, taking another bite of the S'more in her hand.
Guy frowned for a moment before turning his head to Evelyn. "Please don't even joke about that," Evelyn said, a sweatdrop on her forehead.
Guy sighed. "That's super odd. Usually, my instincts aren't this off." He groaned.
I shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe Rimuru will come by and you can bully him?" I suggested while throwing Rimuru under the bus.
Guy smiled evilly. "That doesn't sound too ba-"
Everyone in the room was suddenly on high alert as we felt a gargantuan amount of magic power arrives above us.
"[Cthulu]!" Velzard called out, raising her hand above us as the roof and floors above us in my mansion were instantly vaporized by a powerful golden light attack.
It briefly reminded me of a weaker version of Milim's {|Drago Nova|} combined with a {Disintigration} Spell. It was several times stronger than the {Damocles} spell I used to use as my trump card by severalfold more powerful.
As the beam of energy hammered against my wife's shield, I briefly turned to look at Evelyn, Rain, and Misery. If I was being honest, an attack of this level wouldn't even scratch Velzard and me, and I doubted it would defeat Guy, even if it would sting a bit, but those three would be toast if not for the shield, which was probably why Velzard threw it up in the first place rather than stopping time or teleporting us out of the way of the attack.
The attack continued for a few more seconds before letting up, and in the air above us floated a very cocky-looking Feldway and Michael. Surrounding them were a host of angels so large it put all the previous Tenma Wars to shame. There were literally over a Million Angels in the Sky and their collective auras were so bright it outshone the sun in the sky.
I was unimpressed. "I always knew you were an asshole Feldway, but did you have to really blow up my house?" I said annoyed.
"You misunderstand, Alaster. It is BECAUSE it was your house that it was worth destroying." Feldway smugly responded.
"You must be Michael" Guy growled.
Michael glanced at Guy for a moment before his eyes returned to me, completely ignoring him. Guy saw this and grits his teeth. I didn't need a skill or magic to see what he was thinking. He was pissed that Micahel was using the body of our friend Rudra already, but ignoring the strongest of the Demon Lords, a being on par with (in his mind), the world's strongest man Alaster, was an insult too grave to let go.
"Evelyn, I think you should go," I said, not taking my eyes off Feldway.
Feldway smiled. "Yes, run along now little one. You won't want to witness the death of your little lover now, will you?" He goaded.
Evelyn grit her teeth in frustration, as she was the weakest one here, but she also wasn't prideful or stupid. the fact she could take lethal damage from just the shockwaves of our battle wasn't lost on her, so she simply nodded at me before teleporting away. I smiled wryly. Even though Evelyn was by no means weak, she'd probably win if she fought against Luminous for example it was a fact that the opponents this time were simply way too strong for her.
We might as well be omnipotent to the average person.
Despite her retreat, I did make sure to check on her to make sure she was alright. I sensed she was back in her castle again, probably trying to bring order to the obvious chaos erupting in the city as they witnessed the host of angels begin their assault.
"Shall we go over there, ladies?" Rain asked Pico and Gracia.
"Sure. Don't want to get in the way of the big guys' fight." Pico replied.
Misery, Rain, Pico, and Gracia all flew away leaving just Velzard, Guy, Michael, Feldway and I in a staring contest.
Michael's eyes narrowed as he glared at me and Velzard, seemingly disturbed by something.
"I'll be returning to give you some support... not that you'll need it," Velzard said as she dissolved into modes of light before being absorbed into my body.
"I see," Michael commented as Feldway's eyes narrowed.
"I want Micahel," Guy stated.
"Good. I wanted to teach Feldway a lesson about not messing with my stuff." I replied.
With that, the fight was on.
(3rd POV)
Guy wasted no time and unleashed a full power {|Napalm Burst|} on Michael who simply stood still and took the attack without any damage. Guy clicked his tongue. "Castle Guard huh?"
"I am invincible," Michael stated as he deflected Guy's incoming sword strike with his palm casually. "You are in the way of our plans. Begone." Michael stated while casting {Time Stop}. Guy froze in place mid-air as Time was frozen. Michael smirked to himself before sending a strike toward Guy, his hand in a chopping motion. Michael expected to decapitate the Daemon Lord in one strike but was surprised when it was instead his arm that was cut clean off.
Michael froze in shock before jumping backward and avoiding another swing of Guy's sword as it narrowly missed plunging itself into Michael's abdomen which would probably be followed up by violently ripping it out again and splitting Michael in half.
Michael was in shock '*How did you bypass [Castel Guard]?*' He asked in disbelief
'*[Castle Guard] is strong, but while time is stopped, no faith energy is passed into it, so its useless,*' Guy said.
Michael clenched his fists. It was true. Unless his believers were also able to move in time stop then [Castle Guard] would be useless. The only person on his side that could still move was Feldway, and while Feldway was loyal, his 'faith' doesn't count towards [Castle Guard]'s defense, as Feldway's true loyalty lies with Veldanava.
Michael decided the only way to win was to unpause time now and accept that his trump card had made him too arrogant and that he had underestimated Guy too much.
Michael's eyes widened. Time hadn't resumed even though he willed it to.
'*do you honestly believe I'd give you back the advantage you had before?*' Guy smiled cruelly as it became clear that he was now in control over the spell and wouldn't let Michael's vulnerability disappear.
Guy charged Michael who responded in kind by summoning a Divine-Grade sword with [Multiple Weapons] and the two began to clash in a world outside of time.
(Alaster POV)
"Really? that's it?" I asked Feldway who was reeling from my first strike.
He was in his true body, the one Veldanava gave him specifically and which was on par with the True Dragons, and yet he still lost in a single swing. His Divine-Grade Sword shattered like glass from one full-power swing from Excaliber. A deep gash mark ran across his chest from where my blade dug into him. I hadn't even brought out Longinus and he was already breathing heavily and desperately trying to keep the disintegration effect from spreading to the rest of his body.
I looked at him with half-closed eyes. "Really? You talked all that shit before but THIS is all you've got?" I asked him genuinely confused.
Feldway gave me a glare, having finally calmed the disintegration effect in his chest. He spread open his wings wide, gathering a large amount of his magic power into them. "Die! {|Quadruple Giga!|}!" He called out
My eyes widened for a moment. I saw the magic power in his wings disappear for a moment before the Great Spirits of Fire, Earth, Wind, and Water appeared briefly and unleashed their full power in the form of a single attack. Each one would be considered the equivalent of a full-power Ultimate Skill-infused Finishing Move. A wall of energy raced toward me at incredible speeds. If I let it hit me, the explosion would scorch half the country.
"That's better but still..." I said as I casually swung Excaliber again.
The pressure wave from my swing cut clean through the attack and was about to strike Feldway who couldn't react in time out of sheer disbelief at what he was seeing. Thankfully for him, at that very moment time froze.
'Well, that's annoying.' I commented as I glanced over at Michael who was about to attack Guy.
<> Velzard commented
'I don't know. If he did get defeated here, he'd have had to go back to the underworld. Then I could have possibly recruited Misery to be our maid.' I argued, ignoring Feldway who was panting in the background trying to recover.
<
'What if I got Evelyn to be my maid?' I said teasingly.
<
'Really?" I asked.
<
I took more damage from Velzard's teasing than Feldway's attack just now. Oh yeah, Feldway just attacked, he pulled a sword out of somewhere and tried slashing me with it only to have it shatter upon contact.
'*How!?! Defenses shouldn't work in {Time Stop}!!!*' Feldway languished as he backed away in fear for the first time.
'*I didn't want to be hurt, so I wasn't hurt.*' I explained.
'*What?*' Feldway was confused but I didn't feel like explaining to him how I'd changed the rules of how time stop operated in the World System just to show off.
<
I turned away from Feldway and looked to Guy and Micahel's battle. It was obvious that Michael was losing, as his sword technique was shallow compared to Guy's and his instincts were sloppy. It was pretty clear that e relied on calculations to fight and the memories of Rudra but never bothered to actually practice fighting himself.
'*Damn it!*' Feldway called out before charging toward Michael.
I could have stopped him. It would have been easy, as he was wide open for another attack of mine while he ran, but I was curious as to what he'd do, so I let it happen. Feldway arrived behind Guy, giving him a solid kick and imploding Guy's body from the blow. Such a thing wouldn't kill him, but it definitely disrupted his flow of magical power as his control over the time stop was wrestled away from him and time resumed.
My flying slash immediately continued on its course, splitting the sky and then a mountain in the distance and whipping out a huge number of the angels in the host who were still in the air. I even saw Rain, Misery, Pico, and Gracia getting blown away by it, though it was their own fault. They were having girl talk inside an iglue nearby made of some kind of high-level ice magic. I made sure they wouldn't die from this, but they'd definitely be ruffed up a bit.
"Oy! I thought you had my back!?!" Guy yelled at me. It was practically instantaneous, but Guy's body was already healed from the surprise attack from Feldway, even if his magic power reserves were drastically depleted.
"Sorry, he got away from me there," I replied.
"Bullshit! Alaster, I know you let him get past you!" Guy growled.
"Eh~ Don't sweat the small stuff," I replied, brushing off Guy's arguments. That was the only way when dealing with Guy, if you let him go on, he would begin to rant to you constantly about every little thing.
A tick mark appeared on Guy's head. "I'll get you back for this Alaster, I swear to Veldanava."
I looked over to Michael and Feldway again after our exchange. They seemed to be ready to retreat and were saying something about 'relying on the plan' or something but I really didn't care too much about it. They were a non-threat as they were right now and something else was on my mind.
"Can we wrap this up? I've got things to do." I said, looking at my two opponents. It was like looking down at two children after you've spanked them for being naughty. I was no longer angry about the attack and was more annoyed than anything.
Michael bit his lip hard. "What could you possibly have that is more important that our battle!?1" He spat.
"The S'mores are getting cold and my wife will get pouty if we leave them any longer," I stated.
I could feel Velzard blushing in her Manas form again. <
'That mind-reading power fo yours works both ways. I could tell you were keeping an eye on them while I was fighting and used a barrier to protect them from being blown away by my slash.' I replied, catching her wide open.
<<...I don't know what your talking about.>>
'You used [Unlimited Imprisonment] to protect some S'mores.' I replied. 'I didn't even know you knew HOW to use that Skill'.
<
'...' I was speechless.
"I'm sorry Feldway, but it seems I have no other choice..." Michael said as he looked his friend in the eye.
"What do you mean?" Feldway asked.
Michael looked torn for a second before his body began to glow.
"As if I'd let you! {|Demonic Sky Rend|}!!!" Guy shouted and fired off a sword beam which emitted a red light with a red lighting aura surrounding it at the both of them.
It seemed to be a weaker version of the nameless technique I just used to blow away Feldway's attack. Unfortunately, he was one step too late as Michael turned into motes of light and were absorbed into Feldway's body. The next instant Guy's {|Demonic Sky Rend|} struck Feldway and was instantly disbursed.
"[Castle Guard] huh?" I stated as I looked at Feldway.
His head was down and his face was covered by his long silvery hair. shadows obscured his face.
"Hehehe" He laughed lightly. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" An amalgamation of Feldway's voice and Michael's voice rang out across the sky as the two beings, now merged into one, cackled and laughed out loud. The mad laughing lasted for several seconds before coming to a stop.
"This isn't over!" Feldway-Michael said together.
He tried teleporting away but when nothing happened, he looked around confused. "What-?"
I'd simply used [Cthulu]'s [Dimension Lock] to prevent his escape. "Sorry, I'll let you escape in a second-" I said.
"So you'd still let him escape!?!" Guy yelled in disbelief.
"Yeah, but what should I call you now? Like, you seem to be a mix of Feldway and Michael. Is it Michway? Felchael? What about Fael?" I asked.
"Oy! Don't name him!" Guy yelled, genuine fear in his voice. /2\
"Boo~" I replied to Guy
.~.~.~.
/1\:
Velzard blushed due to Alaster calling her the 'most beautiful' so earnestly. She is connected to his soul, so she can tell he meant it with all his heart.
/2\:
Do you think I should name him? He's going to die in the next chapter anyway so it really doesn't matter.