Following the meeting, Romonus invited Azazel, Baraqiel, Mephisto, and Lavinian back to his home since they were tracking down the Utsusemi Agency together. He even extended the invitation to Suzaku, who agreed because she wanted to speak more with Akeno after years of not seeing each other.
They had been close when Akeno was very young, but after Shuri's death, they had not seen each other since. The knowledge that Romonus had the means to bring Shuri back had given them hope to see her once more.
As for Amaterasu, she had returned to her Divine Realm because, as a goddess, she didn't have much free time. Once the meeting ended, Romonus teleported them all to England at his safe house in the middle of his living room.
When they all returned, Mephisto looked around at the house because Romonus had reinforced the whole thing with his Demonic Mana.
"Let me take a guess: you don't use regular Demonic Power like we Devils, right? From what I can tell, this feels like Demonic Power, but of much higher purity, and I am also getting the feel of Mana."
Romonus smiled as, of course, a Devil like Mephisto would be able to tell.
"Yes. As for how I did that, I will keep it to myself."
Mephisto chuckled as that was just how the strong behaved. They would dangle a tantalizing secret in front of your face but not explain it.
"Now I am really curious what MacGregor and Dormuteth taught you. Regardless, you did say you were planning on tracking Hanezu through the blood he shares with Akeno and Tobio. If you do not mind me asking who Tobio is,"
Instead of answering, Romonus lightly stomped his right foot and teleported Tobio to his location. When the flash of purple was removed, Tobio was currently holding a black scythe as he had been training with Silvana.
He was wearing a black tank top and shorts, but that was not the most surprising thing. Several bleeding lacerations were all over his arms and legs, as Silvana was a brutal teacher. Tobio relaxed as he and Shin stopped circulating their mana.
"Do you find it funny to teleport me randomly, dude?"
Romonus chuckled as he did.
"That I do. I won't keep you long because I know Silvana still has more to teach you. I need this."
Romonus reached out and ran his hand down one of the cuts on Tobio's arms, making him flinch in pain. Tobio covered the bleeding wound now that Romonus' right hand was covered in his blood.
"That all you need?"
Romonus nodded as he turned to Akeno.
"Yes, I will send you back."
With a thought, he teleported Tobio back to Silvana, who was already waiting. Without even giving Tobio a heads-up, she swung her massive scythe at his neck, making him use his scythe to block.
"You can't escape that easily from a Dullahan, Tobio."
"It was your fiance, Romonus; I didn't run."
She just smiled that he had the guts to talk back.
"Show me then."
As for Romonus, he turned to Akeno.
"Akeno, my dear, mind giving me a bit of your blood?"
She shook her head as she walked over to him and held her hand out. He held his bloody hand out as she surged some Demonic Energy into her nails, causing them to extend into sharp claws. Akeno clenched her fist, causing her claw to pierce her palm.
Since she was a Naphalem with Divine Blood her blood was not purely red as expected. Instead, it had a small purple afterglow with shades of silver in it. Romonus caught the blood in his palm, mixing it with the blood of Tobio.
"I have enough; thank you, Akeno."
With a smile, she retracted her claws and backed away.
"Not a problem."
Once he collected the blood, Romonus surged his Demonic Mana into it, causing it to float off his hand. He tossed it onto the ground before he opened his hands and summoned the Ruin Maker and the True Longinius.
Using both weapons, he began to surge his Demonic Mana, causing his entire body to glow with an ominous purple glow. With eyes shining like two purple stars, he began speaking the same cursed language his mentor Dormuteth had taught him.
A massive cursed circle opened in front of him, and it began to absorb his energy and the blood he offered up. As he did so, Lavinia, Azazel, and Mephisto began to study the magic circle that he was using.
They quickly managed to find what it was used for, but the price that it would take shocked Lavinia. By using this ritual, Romonus would lose 2,000 years of his life.
"STOP! If you cast it-"
Azazel held his hand out before she could get in the way.
"Trust me, he is fine."
"But-"
Without bothering, Romonus cast the spell that vaporized the blood of Tobio and Akeno. He felt his Life Force drain out of him rapidly, which would have left a normal Devil looking gaunt and weak.
For him, though, because he was a Demon, his Life Force would have regenerated in time, especially after the Sephiroth Graal modifications. He even had Vampire and Werewolf blood in his genes, meaning he had three races of immortals.
His Life Span and Life Force were nearly endless. He focused his Energy and life Force fuse with the Himejima blood into a glowing mist. The mist flowed toward him, and he breathed in through his nose.
He closed his eyes as the ritual began to tell him the location of every person related to Tobio and Akeno. Specifically, the Divine Blood of Akeno made it so only true Himejima members were counted.
He was bombarded with hundreds of locations and individuals as several exiled members of the Himejima clan had married civilians. They had given up their revenge, so he ignored them.
He quickly found a massive gathering of Himejima, specifically Hanezu Himejima, in Japan. When he got to the location, he opened his eyes with a grin.
"Found them. They are in Japan in a sealed realm. That is where they took the students and where they are doing their research."
Azazel began to rub his hands together.
"Give me the location, and I will send a massive force of Fallen Angels to deal with this."
Mephisto felt the same.
"I will cooperate with Grigori in this. The danger loose mages represent can't be underestimated."
"Be my guests."
Romonus telepathically sent the location to both of them. When they had the location, he saw them both start to make calls to their organizations to prepare an attack force. As for Romonus, his shadow began to grow, with several purple glowing eyes in the darkness.
'Archaon, are you up for a solo mission?'
'My Armored, I much prefer to fight as one with you, but if I need to lead your forces, I shall make the sacrifice and lead from the front.'
'Then go. Take Ruin Maker with you and lead my Shadows.'
'At once.'
In front of everyone, Archaon jumped out of Romonus' Soul. When the giant Profane Armor emerged, Azazel was instantly stuck in research mode. Suzaku, through her Vermillion Bird, felt that Archaon was an offense against life because of the souls used in his construction.
Mephisto and Lavinia, as mages, observed the Living Armor who stood in front of Romonus. Romonus tossed Ruin Maker over to Archaon, who caught the blade in his right.
"Go and crack them open."
With a bow, the caped armor swore an oath of victory.
"At once, my Armored. Come, Shadows, we leave at once."
From the shadows emerged 500 Cultivators, which were mostly high-class Cultivators. Only the former Azure Dragon Sect Patriarch and Son could be considered Ultimate Class, but even that was a force to reckon with.
The Shadows jumped into Archaon's shadow before the Living Armor teleported to Japan. Romonus smiled at his guests.
"I am leading the first attack, it seems. While my force holds them down, send yours to ensure we don't get any stragglers."
Romonus looked at his left hand at the True Longinus as the Will of God was still fighting him. However, he could safely say the Spear itself was corrupted beyond cleansing.
Even now, it radiated a vast Demonic and Divine Aura, which made it a weapon fit for a Demon God. He let the spear rest on his shoulder as he sat in his chair and synchronized his senses with Archaon.
When the Living Armor teleported to Japan, he did so at the location of the hidden realm, which was formed in a cave. They had painstakingly crafted it to serve as their hidden base where they could complete the research into the Utsusemi.
However, they did not expect someone like Romonus to be able to track them down because they were Himejima. When Archaon teleported outside the Cave, he turned to Ruin Maker. Unlike him, who formed sentience from birth, his 'siblings', the Shield on his left gauntlet and Ruin Maker, had not.
He always wished for his siblings to form their minds so he would have family. He knew that Romonus was not his Father, meaning he, as a Living Armor, had no family unless his siblings could be that family.
'Let us fight together, my brothers.'
Archaon received a response of intent from the Ruin Maker and the Curse Shield. As he walked forward, Cultivator Shadows began to materialize behind him, as they had received instruction from their Romonus.
Archaon's word is law. Archaon remembered how his Armored fought, and he surged his energy into Ruin Maker. The sword normally would only work with Romonus' Energy, but Archaon was the exception. Using the sword as a mage's focus, Archaon formed a massive Bounded Field in the area to keep the Himejima and other Principle Clan members from fleeing.
Once the Barrier was up, Archaon charged into the cave, followed by Romonus' Shadow Army.
'FOR MY MASTER!'
---
Inside the secret realm, Sae and the other Ryoukuu High School students were in cramped and terrible cells. To normal teenagers, this kind of treatment and the sight of their teachers being slaughtered by evil mages was traumatizing.
There were 233 of them, and they only received a single bowl of rice to keep them alive daily. Occasionally, students were pulled from their cells by monsters or mages to be taken for further study and research.
When the students returned from the testing, they would sometimes have blank looks as the magical experiments were agonizing. Sae and her fellow female students huddled together in the cold cells.
In situations like these, it was the females who suffered the most. The fear of potential rape or sexual abuse caused them to always be on edge. They barely got any sleep because of the patrolling monsters, mages, and deranged Principle Clan members who gave particularly pretty girls dark looks.
Unlike what the girls thought, these mages had no desire for their purities or bodies but something much worse. Virgin girls were the best sacrifice materials in their rituals, and some of these mages would like to drain their Life Force.
Even Romonus, a Demon, lost massive amounts of Life Force when he used Forbidden Magic. Human mages often used humans, especially young girls, as batteries to supply their dark magic with the Life Force it required.
Sae and her friends hugged each other to find support in this dark place. It was terrible as they had not bathed since they were captured, and they felt their was no hope. One of the girls snapped and started to pull at her hair.
"WE ARE GOING TO DIE HERE!"
Sae wrapped her arms around her and tried to calm her down.
"SHHHHH! The wizards will hear you."
Suddenly, they heard the voice they were dreading—a deep, distorted voice of a gaunt Dark Mage holding onto the bars of the cell.
"And I have."
They all turned to gaze at the mage dressed in dark robes. His face seemed to be aged like a mummy, his eyes glowed like red coals, and his breath was rank and poisonous. In particular, he was looking right at Sae.
"You are next. Get her."
He opened the cell, and an abomination moved forward. It was a massive ape walking with a scorpion lower body. His familiar moved its hand to grab Sae, causing her to close her eyes.
'Someone, anyone save me.'
As if answering the call, Archaon swung Ruin Maker and slashed open a hole in the hidden realm. The mage and his familiar turned their heads as they saw Archaon using his bare hands to rip open the dimensional wall.
Archaon tore the dimension wide open with silent efficiency and allowed the Shadow Cultivators to move in. All of them held their shadowy swords and spears as they rushed in.
The Dark Mage took a few moments to snap out of his shock. He grabbed his staff and was about to cast spells, but Archaon noticed him and teleported in a blaze of Chaos Flames. He swung his left arm and used the Curse Shield to slice the mage's head off.
'Drink, my brothers. Drink their blood and souls.'
In the same movement, he swung Ruin Maker and cleaved his monster in half. Sae and her friends looked up at Archaon. He didn't look heroic, but he looked like their hero at that moment. The Living Armor looked down at the students.
'My Armored, what do I do with them?'
Romonus, in England, was looking through Archaon's eyes and telling him what to do.
'Keep them safe and save them. Tell the Shadows to start getting them out. Remember, there are a few people of note. Hanezu, Walburga, Agusta, and Satanael. Agusta has the Longinus Incinerate Anthem; if you kill her, it will choose a new wielder. Catch it.'
'And if I find Walburga and Satanael?'
'Catch them both. If you can't I will teleport in. If they are not there, forget about it.'
'Your words are my will Armored.'
'Good. Happy hunting.'
Happy hunting it was, Archaon was having a blast.
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