A quick portal, and we were now standing a few meters outside of the barrier. I tossed the devil onto the ground outside of the building. Pretty easy to tell he was a Devil, something I could notice from just touching him.
"Y-you, how did you!?" The Devil – doctor, scientist, whatever he was, started pointing at me with a shaking hand. "Those barriers should be able to withstand a barrage from a group of Highclass Devils! How did you bring us out of there without triggering the defenses!?"
"Really? That's the question you want to ask? Not 'hey, why'd you take me outside here, and why does it feel like my life is hanging by a thread'?" I rolled my eyes at his antics. "Oh well, final requests and all that. I was able to overcome your defenses, because your defenses are absolute garbage."
The Devil opened his mouth and closed it again, his legs shook as he stood up. "Do you have any idea who I am? Who I work for!?"
"No, I came here completely by chance and decided to do all of this for shits and giggles." I said dryly. "I'm surprised you don't know who I am." I went to straighten my tie and realized I was still in the kimono. "I have become a little famous recently."
Then again, he'd probably been here for a while, with little to no contact with the outside world.
"You ignorant buffoon! I bet you're one of those fake Satan's lap dogs!" He shouted with a snarl. "I work for the true Satans, the ones that will take back their thrones!"
"Oh really?"
"Hah! Do you see now? You're doomed. Once everyone knows I'm missing, they'll come for you! I'm too important, too critical."
"Uh huh." I scoffed, rolling my eyes again. This base was in the middle of nowhere, and I barely saw it manned. Critical was not a word I would use to describe this person. Oh well, delusions of grandeur weren't exactly rare among devils, especially those who toted the 'pure blood' motto of the Old Satan Faction. "How about, you answer some of my questions, and then we can talk about if you get to live or not."
"Cretin! Do you think I'm scared of you?" He began laughing. "An ignorant dog like you has no idea about the powers backing me."
Ah, he's in need of a little demonstration then.
"Hey there, boy." I held out my arm as Sir Wiggles jumped right into it. "You finished scouring the base?" I rubbed his little head.
He sent me images of everything I needed to know. All the Teleportation Circles were destroyed, and he ran around nearly every corner of the base looking to see if there were any prisoners. Besides a….cold storage, there was nothing to note here. Just the normal grunts of the Old Satan Faction.
"A rabbit!" The Devil began to laugh louder, clutching his gut as he hunched over "Is that your familiar? Oh, Satans below, this was worth the delay in my work."
"It looks like you're out of lightning after doing the other thing I asked of you." I zapped Sir Wiggles, refilling his semblance a tad.
I looked back towards the Devil who seemed a bit more casual towards me even though I was technically holding him hostage. "Well then...nameless mook. It's about time to answer my question, my time and patience is running thin."
"Did you not hear a word I spoke before you ignoramus? As if I would tell a dog like you anything. My backers –"
I held my hand up as lightning crackled above us. "Pop quiz, when's the last time that storm clouds appeared in the Dimensional Gap?" I shot him a smirk.
He blinked, tilting his head upwards.
Sir Wiggles had done a good job helping me to create them overhead. It was a bit annoying since the Dimensional Gap didn't naturally produce Storm Clouds, but it's not like they couldn't exist.
On a side note, I needed to have a talk with Sir Wiggles due to the fact that he can use Divine Lightning now.
"W-what is that….?"
"A demonstration." I said evenly followed by a snap of my fingers. "Thor's Hammer."
The Clouds swirled together, the massive amounts of Divine Lightning woven into them all gathered together and took the shape of a humanoid silhouette holding a hammer. It wasted no time, this towering behemoth of lightning swung down its hammer onto the building, discharging all the accumulated power.
A gigantic pillar of lighting exploded upward from the impact, blinding everyone looking directly at it. The force of it blew away all the floating landmasses, the very air around the area was warped and chaotic. The Devil would have been blown away had I not created a barrier around us at the last moment.
The Devil for whom I had yet to hear a name from, forced himself back to his feet as the dust settled. He was silent, his mouth opened as he surveyed the surroundings. "That's…..impossible….." He squeaked out, looking at the crater that had once been the base he worked in. "Y-y-you're an Ultimate Class Devil!?"
I couldn't help but grin viciously towards him. "Now. I believe it's time to answer some of my questions."
His eyes widened, a clear sense of fear washed over him as he now realized I wasn't some young upstart, but a genuine, threatening, entity that had my sights narrowed down on him.
"I don't know anything." He fell back on his butt. "I just experiment! I haven't even talked to my bosses in months." He cowered before me.
How quickly the arrogance was dismantled. "So, you haven't heard about any kidnappings lately?"
"Kidnappings? I only get people to give me more materials, I haven't heard about any kidnappings!" He quickly blurted out.
As I thought, but I had other things I needed to know. The whole reason I was wasting time with this show was to get an honest answer. It was better to waste time now, than to be led on a wild goose chase.
"Bob, can I call you bob? I'm going to call you bob." I tapped my finger on the armrest of my chair.
"My name is – "
"Bob." I punctuated. "I'm going to be honest, the more you talk, the more I don't want to let you live."
"I-I know many other things, please!"
"Hmm, other things? You don't seem like you mattered much, Bob. Some no name researching in this backwater place with barely a goon to answer your calls." I waved my hands around. "What exactly could you know, when you were shoved all the way out here?"
"I know things!" He raised his voice as I played on both his fear and arrogance. "Haha, I wasn't always forced out into the middle of nowhere! My research was stolen once upon a time and my treacherous assistant got all the credit that I was due! When I complained, they forced me out here to continue my work in shame. But I know where he's at."
"Impressive, so you know the coordinates to their base?"
"Of course, I do." He puffed up proudly. "If you let me go, I would be willing to hand them over."
"Hmm, how do I know you're telling the truth?"
"Look, I'll even show you!" He created a spell circle, a miniaturization of a Teleportation circle. They worked by connecting to another that was anchored at another location. It was clear to see that it did in fact connect, meaning that something was on the other side. "I'll give you the coordinates if you let me go." He dismissed the spell, looking rather proud of himself.
"Hmm." I tapped my chin. "My counter offer." I waved my hand through the air, following the path of distorted space that he had just created a moment prior. My Portal opened up, another base in full view. "Die."
"W-what?" He looked confused again.
Mirage appeared in my hand, and I swiped it to the side, and his head rolled across the ground.
"Goodbye, Bob. Know that the world is a much better place without you in it." There was no reality where he left my sight with his life intact after finding out he experimented on infants.
****
I was starting to get annoyed.
"Today has been a strange day." I let out a sigh, feeling a little warm as the fires raging on around me. "I saw a Goddess's panties….then I heard about a kidnapping of people I am...interested in. Talk about emotional whiplash."
"Fuck you!"
"Quite." I nodded towards the tied up man as he spit on the ground in defiance. "So, as I was saying. There are some people I'm looking for, hear anything about that?" I swept my gaze across the little crowd I had gathered.
Six people, all bound up tight with several magical bindings on them. Behind me, another base of the Khaos Brigade was on fire and reduced mostly to rubble at this point.
I felt like I was getting close because this was the first base out of the several I had worked through so far that had non-devils running around.
"Fuck you, and fuck your fox bitch!"
Speaking of, my head slowly turned to land on the single Youkai among the bunch. A Kitsune of all things, a six tailed, so rather strong in his own right. These lot had recognized me, and knew who I was. Which included my relationship with Yasaka, and he had a few choice words to say about her.
"I hear you, and here's my response." I jerked my hand forward, and Whisper impaled him through the knee.
"MOTHERFUCKERRRRRRR!" He screamed out, writhing in pain. "FUCKING SLUT, WHORE OF A YOUKAI LEADER. SPREADING HER LEGS FOR – " Another of my swords swept down and cut off one of his tails. He actually shrieked at that one, tears falling down his face as he contorted in pain. I slapped a Talisman on his face, stopping him from letting out any more noise.
Don't know why he had such a hate on for Yasaka, but at this point, I really didn't care. "Alrightly, so, kidnapped people, anyone got anything to say? Because I've been through five bases before this one already, and I'm still not hearing what I want. Are you guys going to make me push for Seven?"
I looked around and no one met my gaze, yet they still didn't speak.
"Alright." I stood up fully. "I guess I'm forced to more barbaric means." I started pacing back and forth in front of them. "And if no one wants to speak up, I guess I'll have to pick someone and go from there. Lets see….eenie meenie miney, you." I stopped in front of a Devil, he looked a bit more timid than the others. I held my hand up as it crackled with my divine lightning. "Ever wonder what it's like to have your brain cooked? Well, you're about to find out." I grinned.
"No, no nono! I'll talk, I'll talk!" He cried out as my hand got closer.
"LITTLE BITCH!" The one next him shouted as he fought against his bindings.
"We should have killed you years ago. Cowardly little fuck." Another growled.
"Quiet in the peanut gallery." I flicked my wrist, hitting them both with bolts of lightning, making the others cower.
"Now…" I turned back towards the one who begged for mercy. "Do you know something that'll make me happy, hmm?"
"I-I know where they're at." He whimpered. "The Nilrem have the Gremory woman and Lucifer's son."
"BASTARD!" A shout reverberated. My head snapped to the side to see a larger built Devil break through the bindings I had on him. His Demonic Energy exploded out and I didn't know where he got that sudden burst of power from. "YOU DARE BETRAY LORD LUCIFUGE?" He swung his fist at the Devil who had spoken up.
I yanked the crying Devil back, raising my hand up and flared my Aura. His Fist covered in his Demonic energy slammed against it, to no avail. Not to say it didn't dip a little, but I didn't feel the force in the slightest.
"Even that wasn't enough….?" The Devil who had attacked me looked shocked.
"Not even close." I snorted, Dawnbreaker flying into my grip, I gathered my Magical Energy and swung through his torso. I wasn't quite sure what his durability was like after powering up all of the sudden, so I figured I'd not waste unnecessary time.
The two halves of him fell to the ground. I was about to turn back around to the Devil who was going to give me information, but I abruptly stopped, staring at the two halves of the devil I had just killed.
I saw a black snake-like creature wiggle free from its inside.
I slammed down Dawnbreaker on its body, it let out a silent hiss before it stopped moving. I knelt down, getting a closer look. It wasn't an actual living creature, but a conglomeration of energy. An energy I didn't recognize.
"Curious." I muttered, watching it dissipate. Even more curious was the fact that it looked extremely similar to the tattoo that Uther had on his arm which was used to facilitate the resurrection of that snake monster. "Oi, what was that?" I looked back towards my new friend.
"I-I don't know, I've never seen that before, I swear!"
I pursed my lips, giving him a once over. Then I swept my gaze around the others. They looked….confused as well. I didn't think they were hiding it either.
Oh well, something to mull over later.
"So, what's this Nilrem you spoke of?" I walked over and leaned against him, playing with Lightning as it jumped between my fingers.
"N-Nilrem is the Magicians faction of the Khaos Brigade." He stuttered as a stray arc of lightning barely missed him. "It's mostly made up of h-humans and run by L-Lord Euclid Lucifuge."
Yeah, that other guy mentioned him. Lucifuge, that name did annoy me. I couldn't help but picture a scowling maid with silver hair when ever I heard that name.
"And you would know the location?" I felt a tug at the corner of my lips. I was finally making genuine progress. I wondered how long I had been here, considering that time wasn't really a solidified factor in the Dimensional Gap. Moreso something that bled through from Earth and the other connected realms.
"Y-yes, I know the coordinates!" He blurted out. "I-if you let me live, i'll give them to you!"
"Very well." I withdrew the Staff of Magnus from my Ring and held it, pointing towards what remained of the structure I had procured these individuals from. Sir Wiggles, realizing what I was about to do, jumped onto my head as he liked. "Fires of Muspelheim." I called out as a massive torrent of fire was unleashed towards the remains, washing over everything with an unbearable flame. The pillars and walls that held it up were reduced to slag, and everything else was but ash drifting in the ensuing winds.
"Would you kindly hand them over?" I smiled innocently, taking away his bindings, allowing him to act freely.
Without another word, he created a Magic Circle, linked to another unknown location.
I threw a few more Talismans on the other prisoners, causing them to convulse and fall to the ground, eyes rolled back, hearts no longer beating. I glanced back at the one cooperative one. "If I see you again, I won't say anything and immediately sever your head."
"I'll be good, I promise!" He cried out, "I'll leave and disappear."
"See that you do." I nodded before tearing open another path through space and time and jumped through.
***
Either I'd been played, or this is some kind of karma.
I certainly found another target, but it was not quite what I had expected. All around me were dozens of people who were in the middle of eating their meals. The layout was reminiscent of a generic cafeteria with various tables and people scattered about.
I admit I had been a little impatient, but I think that was understandable at this point. Seven bases I had been to, counting this one, and six of them were nothing but scrap heaps or craters when I was finished with them.
There was a deathly silence that filled the previously noisy room. People who were right in the middle of eating, dared not even swallow or chew.
I cleared my throat. "Do you have time to talk about our lord and savior –"
Every single person in the cafeteria moved. Some slower than others, but they all moved with precision and experience. Spells actualized at the slightest movement of hands, barely flashing a Spell Circle upon their casting.
Others had jumped away, pushing tables up and cast defensive spells.
I could have let them all hit me, all these spells that fill my vision. My Aura could easily defend against these cantrips that were thrown out in a rush. Hell, my Magic Resistance would no-sell anything of this level with ease. However, I knew if I started getting into that habit, Scáthach would kick my ass.
I ducked and rolled to the side, letting a large fireball pass by and a massive spike of earth shot up from my previous position.
A blood-like rain suddenly surrounded me as it latched onto my Aura, trying to dig its way through to no avail. It wasn't a normal spell, not something that could be traditionally dodged. I jerked my head to the side to see a hooded Magician wielding a wand with a skull on the end, a baleful aura surrounding it.
"Did you just try to curse me?" I expected no answer, instead I cast my own spell in response. "Lightning Arrows." Divine lightning coalesced and fired off towards the hooded magician. The arrows/spells pierced right through him, only for his figure to shatter like glass.
But the effect didn't end there, the entire room suddenly filled with cracks that worked their way through every surface. The entire room shattered, illusionary shards falling down everywhere.
It wasn't hard to guess that someone cast a massive illusion over the large room. Funnily enough, it wasn't directed at me, but the surroundings, so my Magic Resistance did squat against it.
Immediately, a Magic Circle filled the space in front of me, three Magicians extending their hands to actualize it. An ethereal Dragon's Head emerged, and its massive jaw opened up with a torrent of fire spraying out.
Raising my Staff of Magnus, I cast a Greater Ward, absorbing the brunt of the damage and I continued. "Shatter." I cast, creating dozens of illusionary copies of myself at every Magician in the room.
They all 'attacked' and the Magicians reacted accordingly, though one in particular grabbed my attention as the space in the room visibly fluctuated.
A women held an orb-like catalyst in her hands. With her direction, the various Magicians began Teleporting out of 'harms way'.
A Sacred Gear? I couldn't only assume so, but it could be one I hadn't heard about before, which wasn't that surprising. It provided nearly unlimited short-range teleportation.
It might seem rather unimpressive on the surface, but this group of people were utilizing it to be a very effective weapon.
Their teamwork was astounding. They had a large variety of schools all crammed together, yet they weren't stepping on each other's toes. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it easily told a history of experience and preparation between them.
They were all at least High Class and worked extremely well to the point where they could most likely threaten the lower end of the Ultimate Class. With enough preparation, possibly extend further than that.
I glanced to the side to see an older man with a bear? An actual Bear? Bear hat? Bear Pelt? start casting a Runic spell. I flicked my finger, inserting an Ansuz Rune into his sequence at just the right moment, causing his spell to fail catastrophically. That part of the room erupted in a burst of Ice, freezing everything.
"Bindings of Gaia." I slid my Staff against the ground, drawing the runes for my spell. The Large roots burst out of the floor, whipping and launching at anyone nearby.
The downside of the girl's Sacred Gear was revealed, she needed line of sight. One of the Roots blocked her vision of an ally, and he got impaled on its tip.
I snapped my Fingers, a dozen Runic Circles appeared around me, my Divine Lightning charged within before a volley of lightning bolts shot off towards my foes. The majority of them dodged or blocked the bolts, if with a bit of effort. A couple couldn't react in time and fell to the ground, hearts no longer beating.
My Swords burst out of my Ring once more, flying to intercept more Spells shot my way, and to attack again. Behind me, a Magician was stabbed through the heart, to the side, another was impaled to the wall by Mirage. The Sacred Gear girl started teleporting every second she had the time to process, which began to annoy me.
I reached out with my hand, and pulled on the spatial fluctuations she was causing. I reverberated them throughout the room, and the next time she teleported, she fell to the ground, coughing up blood. She was whole on the surface, but I basically tripped up her teleportation, making her lose something along the way.
I swiped my Staff across the air, and a torrent of Lightning whipped out along the path, taking everything along with it and turned all to ash at the crackle of my Divine Lightning.
The commotion died down again as the Magicians were routed. Some were impaled onto the wall, others didn't even have a whole corpse. And some, they were trying their best not to die at this specific moment. And there's no need to speak about the piles of ash that now filled various places.
I walked towards the Woman with the Sacred Gear or whatever the Ord was. She looked up at me, a hint of fear in her eyes, blood flowing out of her mouth. I dangled a healing potion in front of her, and I could see her face light up in understanding, even if she didn't know the specifics. "Lady Gremory and Millicas, where are they?"
She looked….hesitant. Her eyes flickered around the room and a sense of defeat clearly washed over here. "Down hallway...right, right, left right…boy. Same Hallway, left, right….. left…. second right, woman." She barely managed to get out, coughing up more blood as she finished.
Separating them, huh? A smart move. This place was already several steps above the others.
I set the Healing Potion down, and picked up the Orb she was using – her Sacred Gear or foci, something for later study. I didn't bother to even register her emotions anymore, the defeated had no right to question the winner. Letting her live was more than she deserved, along with those that would walk away from here. Call it my token of appreciation for a direct answer, or just my uninterest in caring about them.
I didn't have any doubt that whatever alarms were present had already been rung, so I set off to find my Half Brother, and my biological Grandmother.
***
"No, no! Stay away from – huughk" My Ascalon slammed into one of another dozen roaming guards and or Magicians of this place. There were many more here than the other places, probably more than all of them combined.
And the quality was much higher.
Having followed the directions, I arrived at a very sturdy door with an absurd amount of protections woven around it. It would take me quite a while to merely unravel them, if I were so inclined.
However...
My Sword of Destruction became coated in my Power of Destruction and slashed into it, eating away at the protections.
Inside, I saw a red-haired boy, laying down on a cot.
He was motionless, and I even paused for a moment, looking at him.
My….brother.
I eventually regathered my thoughts and walked up to him. He still wasn't moving, but I could see his chest rising and falling as he was still breathing. However, there was a little bit of sweat dripping down his forehead.
I quickly grabbed his hand, taking a measure of his heart beat and cast my diagnostic spells.
"The fuck is this?" I muttered, looking at his body. He'd been drugged by a concoction of things I had no point of reference for.
In a horrific way, I suppose it was a smart thing to do? A kid like him might make irrational decisions, combined with the mystical powers at his disposal, that could actually do harm to himself or his captors. And he's being used as a hostage towards Lady Gremory, so if he's not doing anything, that's the best-case scenario.
I lifted up his shirt, and began to draw a Primordial Rune on his chest with a Runic Circle around it to help focus the effects. I was going to detox him, flush everything out of his system in the safest method I had available. It's not like Avalon was within reach at the moment but give it a few hours and he should be good. Thankfully, it didn't seem to be as persistent as the taint from Yomi that Kunou suffered.
He looked…peaceful, all things considered.
I picked him up, holding him to my chest, being as gentle as I could in the situation. My Swords hovered around us protectively, and even Sir Wiggles perked up, on guard.
His Grandmother should be a fair distance away, so it was a brisk walk to her cell.
I wasted no time leaving the room, but it looked like some people were prepared for us. However, Sir Wiggles moved first. He jumped off my head, and turned into a streak of lightning, slamming into a Magician at the front, shattering his spell sequence. There were two others that turned to look in utter befuddlement, which gave the Rabbit enough time to erupt into another burst of lightning that surrounded him, burning the other two with ease.
"Good boy." I smiled, sending my gratitude through our link.
Retracing our steps wasn't hard, and even finding the other cell wasn't difficult either. There were a few dozen enemies that stood in our way, but they were nowhere near the level of that group I met earlier in the cafeteria. They tried to fire off their own spells, some of them even decent, the others clearly needed work. It was enough that I could respond with just one hand, casting a Greater Ward, and absorbed them all.
With a Mental command, my Swords all short out, tearing into their lines, Magicians screaming as body parts were lopped off.
I paid them no more heed, they wouldn't get any continued mercy after finding my half Brother like this. Regardless of my current feelings for his family, I wished no harm upon him. I didn't know what my current feelings towards him were but I would make sure he was okay.
Once more, I kicked open the cell door to see the person waiting on the other side.
A woman with brown hair sat calmly on her little cot. She looked back, and her eyes widened as she properly processed who I was.
"So….uh…I got your letter?"
***
So, a warning, I made some insinuations regarding Venelana several times. I was not at all subtle about it before, so i'm not going to say anything else after this.
Also, Just a heads up to everyone, i'm under a hurricane warning right now. It should be coming about midday tomorrow (Wednesday for me) which is a day I don't post, but it's supposed to be here through Friday. And this is advanced warning in the entirely likely chance I lose power and can't post. I apologize in advance if that happens.
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