April 30th, 2012, Castle's Entrance, Afternoon
'Come on, Irumi, you can do this!' the Red Dragon Empress mentally chanted to herself, standing frozen before the immense, ornate gates of Phenex Castle.
The two guards flanking the entrance were imposing figures in full ceremonial armor, their expressions unreadable beneath their helms.
'Those guards look kinda intimidating, though.'
She watched the coordinated patrols of devil soldiers moving with disciplined precision around the castle grounds. 'What were Senpai and the President thinking? I can't do this!'
'Partner, use that brain of yours,' Ddraig's voice rumbled in her mind, pragmatic and impatient. 'Look at the rhythm of their patrols. See how they change? I'd wager a significant amount of treasure that the hand of that Lucifuge woman is at work here, creating a safe, if unconventional, path for you.'
The dragon's consciousness guided her attention away from the main gate and towards a second-story balcony, where a door-window had been left, seemingly by careless chance, slightly ajar.
'I didn't know you were also a master spy, Ddraig!' Irumi replied, a spark of excitement cutting through her fear as she began to stealthily make her way towards the potential entry point, using the shadows of the grand topiaries for cover.
'I am a dragon of many talents,' Ddraig stated flatly. 'And that does not include leading my host to certain death in an unwinnable frontal assault.'
'Don't put it like that, it sounds a bit too pessimistic for my liking.'
With the agility born of Makoto's grueling physical training—the same training she had complained about so vocally—Irumi scaled the rough-hewn stone of the castle's outer wall with surprising ease, her fingers finding holds where none seemed to exist.
'Okay. Now's the time to get inside.' Moving with a silence she didn't know she possessed, the Red Dragon Empress slipped through the open balcony door and into the opulent interior of the castle. The corridor was deserted.
'They've put fewer people inside,' she noted, spotting only a pair of guards stationed at the foot of a grand staircase that presumably led to the heart of the festivities.
'How do I even get past them without being seen!?' Her eyes traveled upwards, towards the enormous, crystal chandeliers that illuminated the corridor like captive stars.
'No, partner. Don't even think about it,' Ddraig reprimanded, already sensing her harebrained idea to swing from the lighting fixtures.
'Yeah, I figured as much,' she conceded with a mental sigh.
Abandoning subtlety, Irumi decided on the direct approach. 'The dance hall should be at the end of this corridor. Okay. One deep breath...' She filled her lungs, mentally psyched herself up, and then committed.
'AND LET'S GO!'
With a battle cry that was silent on her lips but roared in her mind, Irumi charged straight towards the two guards, her fist already clenched, the Boosted Gear beginning to glow with a faint, green light.
April 30th, 2012, Dance Hall, Afternoon.
A hush fell over the assembled nobility as Blazalon Phenex stepped onto a raised dais at the end of the hall.
"Esteemed and renowned Lords and Ladies of the Pillar Houses! The House of Phenex is honored to have you here, present on this historic day!" His voice, magically amplified, boomed through the vast space.
"Without further delay, I present to you the future of the Underworld: Riser and Rias Phenex!"
On cue, a whirlwind of brilliant, peacock-hued fire erupted in the center of the dais. From its heart stepped Riser Phenex, his arms spread wide in a gesture of triumphant welcome.
A moment later, a second pillar of flame announced the arrival of Rias, who stood beside him, her expression a carefully neutral mask, though her eyes burned with a fire of their own.
From his position near the back of the hall, a wide, anticipatory smile spread across the face of Mr. Jun. His eyes, however, were not on the happy couple, but on the quiet, blue-haired boy standing apart from the crowd.
'Shall I be the one to commence the party?' the Crawling Chaos mused to himself. His gaze swept over the key players. 'The Priestess, the Hanged Man, the Devil, the Empress... and that boisterous boy is the Strength? Truly, a marvelous collection.'
His smile widened. The stage was set.
Everyone, including Nyarlathotep, was taken completely by surprise when the grand double doors of the hall were suddenly burst inwards, not with a subtle click, but with a splintering crash that silenced the orchestra and drew every eye.
"Who do you think yo—" Riser began, his voice laced with automatic indignation, but it was cut short as a familiar, soul-deep dread clamped down on his heart, freezing the words in his throat.
'Silence, Mangy Bird,' the voice of the Reverse Phoenix spat, reawakening with a vicious suddenness. 'The Great Masters are amused by all of this. Let the entertainment begin.'
Standing in the shattered doorway, chest heaving, was Ito Irumi.
"I am Ito Irumi, member of the Occult Research Club and pawn of Rias Gremory!" she shouted, her voice ringing with a conviction that stunned the silent aristocracy.
She raised her right arm, the Boosted Gear materializing in a flash of green light, its draconic segments snapping into place. The sight of the legendary Sacred Gear caused an immediate, audible stir through the crowd.
"I will strike you down where you stand, Riser Phenex! I can't tolerate assertive people who impose themselves on others and steal their freedom!"
"What is the meaning of this!? Stop this madness at once!" Lord Phenex roared, his face purpling with rage and humiliation.
He gestured frantically to the guards stationed around the room, but they did not move. A subtle, almost imperceptible signal from Zekram Bael, who had been observing the scene with an inscrutable expression from a place of honor, had frozen them in place.
"I thought some additional entertainment would be ideal for my sister's official engagement," Sirzechs said, his voice calm and conversational, as if discussing the weather. He placed a restraining hand on Blazalon's arm. "Please, Lord Phenex, let us see how this unfolds."
"L-Lord Lucifer, what does this mean?" Blazalon sputtered, utterly bewildered by the Satan's endorsement of this chaos.
"Lord Phenex," Sirzechs continued, his tone taking on a subtle, cutting edge, "the Rating Game your son participated in was... interesting. However, against my sister, who lacked experience and had only a handful of pieces at her disposal, the victory was... underwhelming. It lacked a certain... dramatic flair."
"Are you not satisfied, my lord?" Riser asked, his voice strained. He was caught in a torturous vise: on one side, the monstrous presence in his mind was metaphorically breathing down his neck, reveling in the chaos, and on the other, Sirzechs Lucifer was publicly challenging his worth.
"No," Sirzechs replied, the single word dropping into the silent hall like a stone. "After all, it would take but one word from me to make the entire institution of Rating Games disappear. And my former family would be utterly dishonored by such an outcome."
The threat was veiled, but its meaning was crystal clear to every devil in the room.
"I want something exotic for my sister's official engagement ceremony. You there, girl," he said, turning his gaze to Irumi. "I want to see with my own eyes the power of the dragon you wield. The preparations, as you can see, are already done."
"I understand..." Riser began, his mind reeling.
"A match," Sirzechs finished for him, his voice resonating with finality. "A match between a Phoenix and a Dragon."
'Oh, this is truly an unexpected turn of events,' Nyarlathotep thought, his smile becoming a thing of pure, unadulterated delight.
'Is this your doing, Makoto? To use the structures of their own society against them?' His eyes found Makoto's calm, unwavering expression, a stark contrast to the shock and outrage on every other face. 'I should have imagined you would not leave the Priestess to her fate. Fine. I shall play along. How do they say in these situations?'
The smile on Mr. Jun's face became a terrifying thing of beauty.
'It's showtime.'
Screens positioned around the hall flickered to life, displaying a cleared space within the castle grounds, where Irumi now stood facing a visibly tense Riser Phenex.
'Makoto, be ready,' Messiah's voice was a sharp warning in his mind. 'I can feel it. The Reverse Phoenix is stirring, fighting to break free from its seal inside Riser's mind.'
'As soon as it appears, I enter and get both Ito and Riser out of there,' Makoto confirmed, his hand brushing against the concealed shape of the evoker through his suit jacket, the cold metal a familiar comfort.
'Good luck, Makoto,' Mr. Jun's voice, a psychic whisper that only one person could hear, slithered into his consciousness. 'Show me the magnificent results of my experiments.'
Aloud, to the room at large, he said nothing. But within the battlefield dimension, he uttered a single, commanding word that shattered the last of Riser's control.
"Reverse Phoenix: Feast."
April 30th, 2012, The Battlefield, Afternoon.
'Partner, relax. Your part is almost over,' Ddraig said, trying to soothe Irumi's nerves, which were stretched to their breaking point.
She stood facing Riser in the conjured arena, the eyes of the entire Underworld aristocracy upon her.
'I-It's difficult to stand here after making a fool of myself in front of all these people!' she mentally whined.
'Did you mean the words you shouted?' Ddraig asked, his tone serious.
'Yes! Obviously!'
'Then you have done everything you were meant to do. Hold your head high.'
Suddenly, the air around Riser twisted. A burst of light, not the brilliant, life-affirming fire of the Phenex, but a sickly, crimson eruption, exploded from his body.
Its brilliance was blinding and an intense, scorching heat, heavy with malice, washed over Irumi. She gritted her teeth, a pained grunt escaping her lips as the sensation threatened to cook her from the inside out.
But before the heat could inflict lasting harm, the world around her blurred. She was whisked away from the arena in a flash of blue light, finding herself safely back among the rest of the Peerage in the main hall, gasping and disoriented.
On the screen, the timid light of the artificial sun of the Underworld, a magical construct designed to comfort reincarnated devils, now glinted coldly on the tip of a sword.
Makoto Yuki stood between the vanished Irumi and the transforming Riser, his dark suit making him a stark silhouette against the rising inferno.
'I wonder how a Reverse Persona fights,' Odin mused, his single eye keen with analytical interest.
'Just flatten iiit, Universe!' Fafnir screeched, a raw, metallic killing intent radiating from him. 'Crush it into scrapyard!'
'A Reverse Persona is a fundamentally different entity from a common Shadow,' Izanagi's stern voice chastised the dragon. 'Recklessness will only exacerbate the situation and cause greater collateral damage.'
The Reverse Phoenix thrashed into existence, a grotesque perversion of its mythical namesake. It was a giant, puppet-like avian construct of carbonized bones and funereal black feathers.
Its ribcage was a literal prison, trapping within it a flock of tiny, desperately chirping birds, each one composed of a flickering, agonized fire.
Above its skeletal head, a crown of burning orange thorns levitated with malevolent intent. It moved in a furious, uncoordinated frenzy, its massive form twisting and rolling as pure, undiluted rage consumed it.
The sheer speed of its movements ignited the air around it, spiraling into a roaring tornado of fire that raged with unrelenting fury, a blazing testament to its wrath.
"Mangy Bird! WHERE? WHERE ARE YOU!?" the Reverse Persona's speech was devolving, losing all reason. Its sunken, hollow eyes scanned the barren landscape, not for escape, but for something to devour, to obey the last command it had received. To Feast.
A shower of brilliant sparks exploded around Makoto as he barely managed to bring his sword up to block a taloned strike.
The Reverse Phoenix had moved with indiscernible speed, diving towards him and aiming its razor-sharp talon directly at his neck. The force of the impact sent a shock up his arm.
'It's fast,' Makoto thought, his mind already shifting into the hyper-focused state of combat. 'Faster than any Shadow I've ever faced.'
Once again, his steel clashed against the monster's talons. Following another deafening, mind-screeching cry, the bird-like monster attacked with a relentless, savage flurry, beaking and clawing at him with terrifying speed.
Thanks to Yoshitsune's transcendent swordsmanship, inherited through their bond, Makoto managed to parry and deflect the majority of the onslaught.
The few attacks that slipped through his guard were harmlessly dissipated by the everlasting, absolute defense of the Omnipotent Orb that shimmered around him.
"Bufudyne!" At his mental command, Jack Frost's power surged forth.
A massive, beautiful statue of pristine ice erupted from the ground, slamming into the Reverse Phoenix. The construct shattered on impact, but the blistering cold seared the creature's fiery form, covering it in a crackling layer of frost.
The monster crashed to the ground, letting out a shrill, pained squeal as frostburns marked its feathers. The reprieve was momentary.
Almost instantly, the injuries began to mend, the icy coating melting away under a surge of crimson flames that erupted from its body, healing it with terrifying rapidity.
'It heals far too quickly,' Kohryu observed, his voice grave.
'You must obliterate it in a single, overwhelming strike, Universe,' Izanagi instructed. 'A protracted battle only plays to its strengths.'
Makoto's hand went to the evoker concealed in his pocket. 'Which one?' His mind raced through his arsenal of Theurgy, the ultimate attacks of his Personas. Few possessed the raw, annihilating power required for such a task.
'Don't even think about using Martyr's Doom, Makoto,' Thanatos chastised, the memory of the near-catastrophic fallout from its use against Shadow Azazel still fresh. 'The backlash here, in the heart of the Underworld, could be catastrophic.'
'Alright. I can only hope no one gets caught in the crossfire.'
The Reverse Phoenix, enraged by the cold, threw itself at him once more. But the interference of the Omnipotent Orb created the split-second opening he needed. He pressed the cold muzzle of the evoker to his temple. The sound of shattering glass was a sharp, definitive report.
"Armageddon."
The two halves of a shattered god, Helel and Satan, answered the call. Their voices, one of fallen light and the other of primordial rebellion, joined in a dissonant chorus that announced the final sigh of Creation itself.
It was a power that transcended simple concepts of good and evil, a force that existed to unmake, to return all to the void from which it came.
April 30th, 2012, Phenex Castle, Afternoon.
On the dais in the main hall, Riser Phenex collapsed. He fell to his knees, clutching his chest and head, his body convulsing as if he were undergoing surgery without anesthetic.
A strangled cry was torn from his lips, and he immediately vomited onto the pristine floor, a shocking, visceral display of agony.
"Riser! Lord Sirzechs, I demand an answer for this!" Blazalon Phenex shouted, his face a mask of fury and paternal fear.
The screens around the hall had gone black the moment Makoto summoned his power, a deliberate act of censorship by Grayfia. No one was watching the fight anymore; all attention was on the writhing form of the Phenex heir.
Lord Phenex then turned his rage towards Irumi, his eyes burning with a promise of retribution. "What have you done!? What has a worthless, low-class devil done to my son!?"
"Lord Phene—" Sirzechs began, but Blazalon cut him off.
"This is an insult to our most sacred customs! This was all planned, a conspiracy against House Phenex!" he roared, his voice echoing in the stunned silence.
'It seems you did not anticipate the Reverse Phoenix would manifest so completely, or that its exorcism would be so... violent,' Mr. Jun thought, observing the scene with the detached interest of a scientist.
His gaze then shifted to Riser, who was slowly, shakily, pushing himself back to his feet. A subtle, intrigued smile touched his lips.
'An awakening of the heart? Now, that is interesting.'
Medics from the Phenex household rushed forward, surrounding Riser, trying to ascertain what was wrong with him. But he waved them off.
"Father, stop," Riser said, his voice weak but clear. He stood to his full height, facing his father with a newfound, sober courage that seemed to emanate from him in waves.
"R-Riser?" Blazalon was taken aback by the tone, the authority in his son's exhausted voice.
"The Red Dragon Empress has nothing to do with what is happening to me," Riser declared, his words ringing with conviction. "I swear it on my name as a Phenex."
The proclamation caused a collective, sharp intake of breath from the assembled nobility. To swear on one's House name was the most solemn, unbreakable oath a devil could make.
"What are you saying? What happened? Riser, tell me!" Blazalon demanded, confusion now warring with his anger.
"It seems young Riser needs a moment to collect himself, Lord Phenex," Sirzechs interjected, his voice firm, re-establishing a semblance of order. "This display has been... enlightening for us all."
"Thank you, my lord," Riser said, nodding gratefully to Sirzechs.
He then turned, preparing to walk away, ignoring his father's continued, sputtered demands for an explanation. But before he left the dais, he stopped and turned to face Rias. He bowed his head deeply, a gesture of profound respect and apology.
"Rias Gremory," he began, his voice carrying throughout the silent hall, "I offer you my deepest and most sincere apologies. This contract between our Houses... I see now that it is tantamount to spitting on your right as an individual to choose your own path. Our current society is built upon repeating the same errors of arrogance, clinging to traditions that strangle growth and happiness. We are devils, yes, but that does not mean we are incapable of change. It does not mean we cannot strive for something better."
The words were spoken with a wisdom and clarity that shocked Rias to her core.
The childish, boastful, insecure boy was gone. In his place stood a man. A man who had stared into the abyss of his own soul, had been possessed by a monster, and had emerged scarred, but fundamentally changed.
A Riser Phenex who had learned from his catastrophic mistakes and now possessed the courage to speak a painful truth in front of the entire ruling class of the Underworld.
"Riser!?" Rias whispered, her hand coming to her mouth. She was utterly floored. She didn't know how to process this, how to answer this stunning renunciation.
"Thank you," was all she could manage, the words filled with a complex storm of emotions—relief, shock, and a dawning, fragile hope.
"If I were you, I would brace myself," the voice of Mr. Jun cut through the moment, calm and conversational, yet carrying an unnatural weight.
Every head turned towards him. And then it came.
First, a deep, groaning rumble, as if the earth itself were in pain. Then, a violent earthquake shook the very foundations of the castle, causing crystals in the chandeliers to chime frantically.
This was followed by a deafening explosion that seemed to originate from the castle grounds, a blast of such force that it shattered every window in the grand hall, sending a shower of glittering glass down upon the screaming, panicking aristocracy.
And then, a voice was heard. It was not through the speakers or any magical device. It was a voice that resonated in the very soul of every devil present, a frequency that called to their blood, their history, their deepest, most ancestral memories.
It was the voice of the Progenitor. The voice of Lucifer.