"Took you a long time.", Lass kicked away a group of Shadowers.

"What the hell happened big guy?! How did we get found out?!", Anya assisted Lass.

"Apparently, someone's bickering right next to the royal garden, made Izuko realize we are here.", Lass leered at Yuno.

"Hey, she started it!", Yuno pointed at Terna.

"He's right on this one-", Terna pushed back against the crowd.

"Whatever. At least y'all set up your posts. Shorty! With me. Everyone else better hold these assholes back, else we all die!", Tiki jumped down to the garden's entrance.

"Alright. Lass, hold them back, ok?!", Ikarisa followed Tiki.

"Didn't need to tell me twice—Seya!", Lass followed with a mighty slash, mowing enemies down. "Alright everyone, cave them in! Mutt, you ready for this? It's gonna be hell in a bit!"

Anya smiled. "Right besides you. Let's go!", she took out her weapon and prepared to counter.

"Alright, let the show begin~ ☆!"

Terna smacked all surrounding Shadowers with the power of earth, sending them all to the middle lane.

"Nice, let me control the earth too! How's this?!"

Yuno smacked the morphed great sword to the ground with all his might, shattering it to bits and sending the Shadowers flying to the middle lane.

Lass paused, "Those are...way more than what I had anticipated."

"Game time!", Anya stepped in, "Kill-count rush. You get more enemies than me, you win whatever. And vice versa...", Anya smugged.

"You saw how that went last time.", Lass sweat a bit.

"Better win then.", Anya jumped in.

Lass scoffed. "Game on! Haa!"

Lass and Anya started to work on the massive group of enemies, as Ikarisa and Tiki walked down the royal garden, expecting a battle.

"Few moments of grace before we enter hell...how poetic.", Tiki walked forward.

"Yeah...it's one battle after the other.", Ikarisa sighed.

"Like you would know. Just another goddess acting out to the big life. You don't know neither how this starts, or it ends."

"But I know how it all began.", Ikarisa walked forward, taking the lead.

"Tsk. You sly little shi-", Tiki was stopped by Ikarisa's sword next to her throat.

"I know what I did, ok?! This is neither a way for me to play hero or seek redemption. But...I don't want to be a punching bag anymore! Neither for myself or those that stand behind me. So, for the love of god, shut up, and move forward. We've got a fight to go to.", Ikarisa kept on moving.

"Hmm...like Anya said. Misunderstood and stigmatized.", Tiki sighed. "Let's see what that asshole is all about."

Coming out the thick, dead and dark plant-life that was stuck in the royal garden, Ikarisa first came face to face with the demon king himself. Black hair and red eyes on his royal and decorated black uniform, a tall, muscular man was sitting in the middle of the garden. Legs crossed, one hand in the shape of a fist and placed on his cheek and the other on a glass of red wine, it was as if he almost got bored of waiting for their inevitable arrival. A dark aura amidst, no weapons could be seen on his person or besides him, but the feeling of a huge and immanent threat was at its peak.

"Ah, finally. You almost killed me from boredom.", Izuko chuckled.

Tiki took a step forward. "Wish we had. So...I see you've renovated the garden. Nice, I hate it."

"It isn't the only thing you hate now, is it?", Izuko sipped his wine.

"You were a prominent force to be reckoned with. And no less a warrior proud of his position as king and title...what happened, Izuko?", Ikarisa asked.

"Ah-Risa! It's been so, so long...well, lots of things happened. If you remember, me and the other sentinels were put up for execution...now, my execution was a little bit special, as I'm sure Tiki saw in the assassination records. Did you really think I wouldn't know who and where they stepped foot in this city?", Izuko placed the glass on the side of his chair.

"Whatever did they need Dante killed for? Back then, we were just kids...so why?", Ikarisa leered at Izuko.

"'Kids'. Please, you were merely reborn into a body that didn't even belong to you in the first place. With all that intrusion into innocent peoples lives, changing their fate and their destinies, I constantly have to wonder how you and Mellistar live with yourselves. That said, we did fail the assassination, no? But it doesn't take a genius to find out what happened. Obviously, when you almost died before reincarnated without Cecilia's knowledge, she decided to aimlessly wander around doing whatever she could to help the world that couldn't help itself. Settled down, had a family and all the rest. What she didn't know was that because of her own weapons kill, the soul of Mellistar still remained with her, passed down to her son and treated as an identical copy of the 'Dante' then and now. When Kikaro ordered the assassination on the new Dante, there wasn't any 'passing of the blade' going about, he just wanted Mellistar gone for good."

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"That doesn't make any sense...why did he specifically target Dante?", Ikarisa asked.

"That's when the loophole happens. Not just Dante, but Cecilia too. Both of them and the people they were raised amongst were up for annihilation. The craziest part was the ingenious plan that sealed their fate. While Kikaro said that to me, Makaro was riling up nations, clans and everything around the vulgarity of Dirunon. He knew that the assassination attempt on her own son would force Cecilia to rampage Corosta, and that's what they wanted. They showed the world how volatile the servants of the goddess and the goddess herself was, and since Cecilia was losing her power, it was a one way lane. Either the son to succeed in causing trouble for the gods died, or, the assassination would fail, prompting a rampage and guiding the world to a perspective where they viewed it as a necessity to finish the genocide of Dirunon and its people before they could finish them. As soon as Corosta fell, Direon was immediately assaulted as a result of that. In a single foul sweep, they did everything in their list: Kill Cecilia, destroy Dirunon, disgrace the goddess, religion and it's servants, viewing it as a public danger and of course, spark the Great War since there was an uproar from the rest of the world for what attacking forces have just committed in Direon. Some side goals weren't accomplished, such as capturing you and killing Dante, but that doesn't really matter for all that success in everything else, right? And while there were some unfortunate events, such...well, you know again, they didn't know about that one, tiny truck up your sleeve. The only hard part of this entire story is the grasp on basic details, the rest can be put together with merely no effort at all. And I guess you would know...how long exactly were you forced into a mindless wandering with your captors who...disgraced you abilities and...well, you know the rest."

"But why exactly?! This doesn't make any sense...if they wanted me, then why did they cause all this mayhem?!", Ikarisa yelled.

"Wait...Magi seriously didn't tell you? Or was she too drunk to do so? She has been a heavy drinker ever since what happened to Decanee. Anyway, yes, you were their main target. But since your first death at the War Of Zero without anyone's knowledge besides Cecilia's, up until today that is, you went completely under the radar. Having no sister left in this world, supposedly, Kikaro especially went into a blind rage. It wasn't just about getting his sister back, it was about revenge. Revenge for the world that had her suffering such fate. Their aim is merely capturing you now. They will destroy this world, and everything surrounding it."

"That's impossible. Zer-Riza isn't a world in of itself. You know that...", Ikarisa fixed her wording.

"Yes, I do. But what happens when the link between so, so, so many worlds get severed? So does the connection between those worlds and their initial existence. There's a long history that relays all the way back to Riza. And then Riza itself has a long history to boast for...all can be, however, gone in an instant."

"Goodness...this is...", Ikarisa stuttered.

"Completely insane. Just because they can't get their hands on this shorty they will just blow all of us up?!", Tiki pinned her axe down. "What the hell is that gonna fix?!"

"You tell me. The world and its people have gone completely haywire. But, that is to be expected, in a world filled and basically created by imperfections."

"Dante survived...so how did they not get to him when he started emitting his own Obsulyte aura? There's a lot of inconsistencies.", Ikarisa asked.

"Simple, he hid it, like with himself. Needless to say, you forced that kid into running, and with whom else...Gladeon."

"Wait, wait...Gladeon of Bane? Dante ran away with a Sentinel?!", Tiki screamed.

"Well, yes. Magi and him made a deal to raise the child to the best of their abilities to face what was ahead. They treated it as their sole purpose in life to do so, having snapped out of the gods control and now aiming to save and retain Dirunon and Draganovs before their complete extinction. Needless to say, a fine young man he has become...he will surely live up to the expectations of the worlds he bares the burden for...right? The echo of those before him now screams louder than ever."

"You bet he will...I will make sure he lives the life he deserves.", Ikarisa proudly said.

"Excuse me a little bit...Izuko. You don't really sound...that crazy. How come it's come down like this?"

"Ah...yes. You'd think that I'd assault you with the only intent to kill...and you'd be right. But here's what actually happened. I'm not under the god's control...entirely, that is. I can't bare to say, this is a hell and a half. When Magi found me in the state that was after the Corosta incident, she helped me snap out of the god's control. Partially. My mind is that of my own, but my body moves against my will. The only reason why I kept myself alive was to transfer what little information I had back to the struggling goddess. I'll tell you one thing. Cecilia tried to kill me, specifically. You're solely mistaken if you think she did all this."

Tiki jolted. "What?! But...I saw her-", she was stopped by Izuko.

"No. That day, you protected me inside the castle from her assault, merely failing before the Black Knight showed up. You took a peek over the window, only to see the city up in flames, as you got blown off the castle. It was a mere assumption that you thought Cecilia did all this...I did. After failing the task given to me by Kikaro, my body was forced into turning this city into a farm for their mindless soldiers called Shadowers. That was the biggest price I paid for my actions."

"There's no way...", Tiki paused. "My comrades and the city...you took them from me?!"

"Like I had a choice! You think I wanted this?!", Izuko sighed. "Never-mind that. Now...listen to me, before this ends. There's a very specific way to bring Neker back from the seal. Not only his soul, but entire body is stuck in there. Grace of Cecilia for trapping and not killing him in an instant...the only way to do so is with the hands of the blood that sealed him in there. Bring him back if you want Corosta and the demon faction of this world saved."

"And what about you, Izuko?", Ikarisa asked.

"I've run my course. Kill me."

"What? Why?!", Ikarisa yelled. "It's so pointless!"

Izuko chuckled. "Little sweet goddess. I was forced into signing away my flesh and blood into a cause dedicated to murdering a child. I forced an old friend and an ally to betray and lose all she had. I destroyed a nation, killing everything and everyone in it, men, women and even the children. It...doesn't matter anymore. Even the mere thought of seeing acquaintances such as Tiki, had I done what I did, terrified me. And I'm still, even now, terrified just by looking at you. I can't even fathom what looking at the face of those once close to me, like my son, would be like. I've killed and murdered without any reason...wether you kill me in the coming battle...whether you free me after this so that I may take my own life away by becoming the monster I've been creating. Death only awaits the Sentinel of Death.", Izuko took his fighting stance. "Forgive my words and my actions...and this selfish act of death to myself...shall forever deal my sins."

Ikarisa took her fighting stance, tears rolling down her face. "I'm...sorry. For everything."

Tiki took her fighting stance, frowning. "I'm sorry too...Izuko. I'll tell Neker what you did...the good side."

"Both of you needn't be sorry. And all I want is for my son to hear everything I've ever done. Don't cloud his judgement with mere lies of positivity by hiding the harsh truth...and Tiki. You have my blessing, for whenever you chose to complete the promise you made with my son."

A tear rolled down Tiki's face.

"Thank you...Izuko."

They all looked at each other's eyes. Judgement day had come for the king brought forth by his unwanted sins...and it was about to be what he always wanted...