"Kill them all! Leave nothing but ashes!"
The roar echoed through the streets of Agares city like a death knell.
Thousands of Devils supposedly from Old Satan Faction rushed toward the city in a brutal, disorganized wave of violence.
Their auras flared with the intensity of High-Class and even some low-level Ultimate-Class devils, a force formidable enough to level an entire city full of civilian.
Within the city walls, the civilian population stood no chance. The screams of the innocent were cut short as they were slaughtered in their homes, and the landscape of Agares City began to crumble as buildings were consumed by crimson flickering flames.
The air grew heavy with the scent of sulfurs, ash and scorched earth.
Before suddenly, the sky itself seemed to fracture.
From high above, a streak of brilliant blue light lunged toward the city like a falling star.
It moved with a velocity that defied the laws of physics or even magics, trailing a wake of shimmering mana. In a heartbeat, the light slowed, revealing the Satan Blue, Ajuka Beelzebub suspended in the air.
He looked down upon the burning city with a serious expression, his green robe fluttering violently in the wind of his own arrival.
"What are these people..." he whispered to himself.
His sharp eyes drifted across the battlefield.
Below him, hundreds of Agreas military guards, sent as reinforcements from the floating island were struggling to hold the line against the sheer number of attackers.
Every fiber of Ajuka's analytical mind began to process the sight in front of him, and one nagging question surfaced.
'Are they really from the Old Satan Faction?'
Differentiating between Extra Demons to those fanatics was always difficult, but something about this was exceptionally off.
Ajuka did not wait for an answer.
He launched himself toward the rushing frontline of the invading force like a shooting star, slicing through the air and warping it in his wake.
He plunged into the thick of the enemy ranks, his movements a blur of deep blue. As he drifted past the first wave, he didn't even strike them physically. With a subtle sweep of his hand, he commanded the air around him.
FWUOOSH
The wind, bent to his will, compressed into fine, transparent blades of vacuum, as if the natural laws of the world themselves lay beneath his feet. They whistled through the air, instantly decapitating and bisecting hundreds of attackers in a single, fluid motion.
SPLURTTT
"ARGHH!"
Screams of agony echoed through the now blood-spilled streets.
The sudden appearance of the Satan, enveloped in a terrifying emanating blue aura, drew the attention of everyone in the city.
The civilian devils of Agares City, whose faces had been masks of grim despair only moments ago, now looked up in sudden hope. Even the invaders halted their slaughter, their bodies locking in place as they felt their very existence being crushed into the dirt by the mere presence of Ajuka Beelzebub.
Sensing the overwhelming danger like machines triggered by a threat-detection system, the devils of the Old Satan Faction reacted instinctively and without thought, drawn toward the greatest danger present.
Thousands of dark, deep crimson magic circles manifested in front of them simultaneously.
And a myriad of demonic energy projectiles, from fireballs, ice shards, and bolts of dark lightning lit up the city in a rainbow of destructive power.
With a collective roar and a massive shockwave, the rainbow rain was launched.
FWUOHM
Thousands of projectiles accelerated toward Ajuka at subsonic speeds, a wall of death intended to erase him from the sky.
But Ajuka remained motionless, his eyes narrowed as he looked down at the sea of enemies beneath him.
"Kankara Formula."
The words were spoken with a quiet, terrifying authority. In an instant, the world seemed to stutter.
After that, thousands of green magic circles enveloped every single projectile.
Instantly, each one stopped dead in midair. They hung suspended in the sky, trembling against the invisible calculations Ajuka imposed to rewrite the laws governing the very phenomenon that had created them.
The lazy, laid-back Satan that people often saw was gone.
In his place was the Architect of the Evil Pieces, The Man that Rewrite Laws of Universe, a man who viewed reality as a series of equations to be solved.
And with a gentle almost bored sweep of his hand, Ajuka recalculated the vectors of every spell. The projectiles turned 180 degrees, their tips now aimed directly back at the city streets where the invaders stood.
"Perish."
Like a swarm of auto-aiming missiles, the projectiles accelerated downward.
Thousands of blasting sounds echoed across the city as the rain of various elements descended. Each bolt found its mark with unerring accuracy, piercing through the hearts and skulls of every Devil belonging to the supposed Old Satan Faction.
"Arghhh!"
"Fu—"
Blood splurted across the pavement, drowning the scorched streets in a fresh coat of crimson. Within seconds, the vast army that had threatened to consume Agares was reduced to a field of corpses by their own attack.
The surviving civilians watched in stunned silence as their hero, suspended in the sky with his green robe fluttering slowly began his descent.
In an effortless manner, Ajuka Beelzebub had wiped out thousands of high-ranking to low ultimate-class devils in a heartbeat.
However, his face remained grim as he scanned the devastation. With another sweep of his hand, he executed another one of his legendary technique. The crimson demonic flames that had been devouring the buildings throughout the city were instantly converted into harmless particles of light, dissolving into the atmosphere.
Despite the victory, the damage was irreversible. Hundreds of people lay dead in the rubble.
'I was too late...' Ajuka thought, his hand clenching into a tight fist at his side.
As his feet finally touched the blood-stained ground, the people who had been cowering or wounded slowly began to rise.
They looked at the man in green with a mixture of awe and salvation. One man, his voice trembling and his eyes wet with tears, was the first to speak.
"S-Satan-sama!"
A cheer erupted from the survivors.
The people of Agares raised their wounded hands, shouting the name of their leader. They were alive because of one of the Four Satans.
They saw him as a hero, but Ajuka felt only a growing sense of unease.
'What is going on here?' Ajuka wondered, his eyes scanning the horizon even as people crowded around him.
There was no strategy, no plan behind the attack. No clear leader. No discernible motive. Overall, the entire attack made no sense.
'Why would they suddenly attack this city now? Were they simply seizing the momentum from the terrorist attack yesterday? But for what purpose? It was as if they had been sent here solely to unleash chaos.' He thought.
"Something is not right," he muttered, his voice barely audible over the cheers of the crowd.
But suddenly, Ajuka's eyes widened.
He turned his body away from the cheering citizens and looked up at the massive structure of the floating island of Agreas. His heart skipped a beat as his sensory abilities picked up a shift inside the suspended Island.
A terrifying energy was beginning to envelope the ground structure of the island. An old, malicious energy, something that felt like it belonged to a forgotten era of the Underworld.
"That place... what is happening to the seal?" Ajuka muttered, his face turning pale.
***
Deep within the scorched earth of the Eighth Circle of Hell, Maleboge, Jay and Lavinia stood their ground as their attention fixed on the towering pillars of crimson demonic energy that pierced the red blood horizon.
The air was thick with the ancient malice, vibrating with a frequency that made the very marrow of their bones ache.
Suddenly, the brilliant crimson light subsided, and the tremors that had rocked the landscape vanished as quickly as they had begun.
The silence that followed was even more oppressive than the earthquake.
"What happened? Were they sealed back?" Lavinia muttered, her sapphire eyes scanning the now-still horizon for any sign of movement.
Jay remained motionless, his gaze fixed on the distance where the energy had flickered out. His expression was cold as his dark hazel eyes reflecting the dying embers of the pillars.
"Those concentrations of demonic energy... they were enormous," Jay said, his voice low and steady.
"They rivaled the highest tier of Ultimate-Class beings. A few of them even emanated Satan-Class demonic energy."
It was a terrifying thought.
To think that the Original Four Satans had hidden such devastating power beneath the world they ruled, burying their secrets deep underground at the heart of Malebolge.
Lavinia did not deny Jay's assessment.
She could still feel the pressure of that power pressing against her Absolute Demise barrier, even from that distance.
"So these are the weapons the Original Four Satans wielded during the Great War," she whispered, awe threading her voice.
"No," Jay corrected her firmly, surprising her.
"Eh?"
"The Grail told me that..." Jay explained, the black flames of the grail beside him flickering on its rim.
"Though the Four Great Satans used them, they later sealed them fearing their devastating power... As such, none of the Malebranche was used in the Great War, because the Four Original Satans believed that even if the Devil won the war, the Malebranche would later kill them, describing them as extremely crazed combatants. " Jay said.
Jay shifted his weight, relaxing his posture.
As if waiting for the upcoming storm.
He turned his dark hazel eyes toward Lavinia, the red light of the burning sky reflecting in his pupils.
"Well, Lavinia... now that we are facing things the Satans themselves were afraid to use, do you still think it's a good idea to come with me to the deepest part of Hell?" Jay asked.
Lavinia paused for a heartbeat, her gaze locking with his. Then, a wide, radiant smile broke across her face, contrasting sharply with the desolate surroundings.
"Are you kidding me?" she asked, a playful lilt in her voice.
"How could I call this a date if I wasn't coming with you?"
Jay looked at her for a moment before shaking his head.
"So this is officially a date then?"
"It is," Lavinia confirmed with a smile.
Their moment of levity was shattered in an instant as a streak of obsidian light, shaped like a barbed arrow, tore through the sky with a high-pitched whistle.
The sheer density of the demonic energy trailing behind it was so great that it turned the crimson clouds black in its wake.
As it neared them, the single arrow suddenly fractured, multiplying into thousands of obsidian shards enveloped in dark energy. They swerved in mid-air, tracking their bodies as if possessed by a malevolent will.
Lavinia didn't even flinch, as she simply swiped her hand through the air in a graceful arc.
Suddenly, a burst of transcendent frost erupted from beneath her feet, instantly freezing thousands of arrows mid-flight.
The obsidian shards shattered into ice before they could even touch the ground.
Jay stepped forward, the jet-black heaven severing blade of Ame-no-Habakiri and the pale silver cloud gathering blade of Ame-no-Murakumo manifesting in both of his hands.
As he stepped forward, his posture relaxed and his eyes flat.
He didn't even look like someone ready for battle, dressed in ordinary human clothes, a grey sweatshirt and black trousers.
But only a fool would think that what he wore would make any difference.
After all, the Draconic Deus Slayer hadn't earned his title by wearing an armor.
From the horizon, eleven distinct magical signatures flared within the vision of Avesta. The blazing Black Grail floated silently at Jay's side, feeding him the names and natures of the nightmares approaching them.
From the far right, a monstrosity approached. It was a giant hog with a twisted, humanoid body, enveloped in a nauseating deep green demonic energy. Its flesh was a patchwork of old wounds, and it walked with a limping gait, its feet seemingly butchered and healed a thousand times over.
Ciriatto the Wild Hog, Beelzebub's Shield of Gluttony.
Walking in a steady rhythmic stride beside the beast was a man wrapped entirely in a heavy black cloak. His hands were not human as they were encased in jagged demonic claws that dripped with an enormous demonic energy.
Cagnazzo the Nasty Dog, Beelzebub's Claws of Chaos.
Flying high above them was a handsome young man with a manic unsettling smile. Four translucent, insect-like wings flapped behind his back with a frantic buzz.
Scarmiglione the Troublemaker, Beelzebub's Wings of Flies.
Jay's eyes then drifted to the center of the formation.
A massive sea serpent, stretching over a hundred meters in length, slithered across the scorched crimson ground. Dark purplish demonic energy leaked from the gaps between its obsidian scales, saturating the ground with a Satan-Class aura.
Graffiacane the Dog Scratcher, Leviathan's Scythe of Serpent.
Perched atop the serpent's head was a woman in a sleek, all-black outfit as her eyes covered by a heavy blindfold. Long obsidian chains wrapped in dark purple demonic energy coiled around her body like living snakes.
Calcabrina the Grace Stomper, Leviathan's Chain of Envy.
From the serpent's towering shadow, another figure emerged. A woman with violet hair, draped in a tattered black veil and a somber wedding dress, walked toward them with an unassuming, ghost-like grace.
Libicocco the Windy, Leviathan's Veil of Jealousy.
To the far left stood the archer. He was a man with long, raven hair and a face partially hidden by a porcelain mask. He held an ornate, black-lacquered bow that thrummed with the obsidian energy Jay had seen earlier.
"That's the one who just sent that attack…" Jay thought.
Barbariccia the Curly Beard, Asmodeus' Bow of Lust.
Crouched behind the archer was a hideous creature that moved on all fours, its limbs elongated and twitching. It stared at Jay with wide, unblinking eyes that burned with a crimson light.
Farfarello the Goblin, Asmodeus' Ring of Corruption.
And then, Jay's gaze settled on the one that felt the most dangerous of them all.
A woman with snow-white hair and a flat, dead expression.
She walked slowly, dragging a pitch-black weird looking longsword through the dirt. The ground beneath the blade seemed to wither as it touch the blade.
"At least Satan-Class," Lavinia noted, her voice sharpening with caution.
Alichino the Harlequin, Asmodeus' Blade of Desire.
And hovering above the entire group was a massive demonic dragon. Its pitch-black scales were wreathed in crimson flames that flickered in demonic energy. With every flap of its wings, the superheated air around it evaporated into clouds of steam. It, too, possessed a low Satan-Class signature.
Draghignazzo the Nasty Sneering Dragon, Lucifer's Armor of Dragon.
Finally, there is man with a smile of pure bliss. Long black hair flowed behind him, and a red crown, jagged and cruel covered the upper half of his face while acting as a diadem. He wore a long black cloak that seemed to drink in the light of the fires.
Rubicante the Red-faced Terror, Lucifer's Crown of Pride.
Jay's brow furrowed as he did a final count.
'Wait... it's only eleven. Where is the last one?'
The Grail remained silent on the twelfth member, which is said to be the most dangerous of them all.
However, Jay didn't have the luxury of dwelling on the missing weapon. The eleven evil claws in front of them were already closing the distance.
"Illya-kun... are you ready?" Lavinia asked, her Absolute Demise energy flaring to its peak, her eyes glowing with a cold, blue light.
Jay stepped forward, his blades catching the crimson light of Malebolge. The violet flames of the Incinerate Anthem began to lick the edges of his steel.
"Yeah," Jay replied, his voice a cold whisper that cut through the roaring wind of the abyss.
"Let's kill them all."