Re: Ascension Rebirth – The tale of two devils, only one can exist

Chapter XV

PART ONE

[Eternum Calendar - Year 989]

A little over a month had passed since the youth named [Morgant Fallon] had left on a small journey in order to train under paladin named [Cedric]. The Fallon household felt his absence greatly, usually during the day he would be helping out the maids or be training with his father in the backyard, however with his absence came a tranquil void.

“Ah~ I wonder what the young master is doing right now.”

A maid around her mid teens spoke to herself as she looked out from the window of the second floor; the young master’s bedroom. A cool breeze seeped through the open window and swayed by the wind her blonde hair glistened in the sun’s rays.

Her name was [Lina], a servant of the Fallon house. That being said the relationship between her and her masters wasn’t so strict that she had no freedom, in fact the opposite was true, she was given free rein as long as she accomplished the tasks she was asked to do. In such a manner, rather than a servant she was simply another member of the family that was asked to pull her own weight; a fair compromise.

She loved her current life style, never wishing for it to change, ever. She had once known the darkness that was the tragedy of life, but she had grit her teeth and soldiered through, thus her current lifestyle was her reward.

A small smile appeared on her face as she laid down on the bed of her young master, it was currently her break period, well in fact every time was her break period, or so she convinced herself. Despite her rather slovenly appearance at times and naiveté she was actually quite a diligent worker, even now she had successfully finished off all her assigned task for the day.

“Sister? What are you doing in the young master’s room?”

The young sister, [Lena] was her twin, unlike her older sister she was much more serious about her job, oddly enough Lina had always managed to finish before her. So in her eyes it may have seemed like that Lina was always playing around and not taking her job seriously.

“I just wanted to smell his left over scent. This way it makes it feel like he hasn’t gone anywhere.”

After casually blurting out a line only a deviant in their terminal stages of degeneracy would say, she started to roll around in the bed of the young master as her younger sister looked at her with a glint of disgust in her eyes.

“This is more serious than I thought, I think we may need a doctor to check up on you soon or else something terrible will happen for both you and the young master once he gets back…”

“How rude! I’m perfectly healthy, thank you very much. I just really~ miss my beloved young master… ah~”

When Lina turned to see what kind of reaction her young sister would have she was rather saddened at Lena’s disapproval. Lena shook her head as she saw such a pathetic and shameful display, thinking that such a beast that was unfit for society couldn’t possibly be related to her, though their faces say otherwise.

After a while Lina finished up with her ‘business’ in the young master’s room and came downstairs to see if anything needed to be helped with. Downstairs the mistress and Lena were happily chatting away while playing with [Ada Fallon] the young mistress of the Fallon family. The sight of Lena pampering and fawning over the small baby with s twinkles in her eyes put a mixed smile on Lina’s face.

‘You’re no different from me’ is what Lina thought to herself in accusation of her young sister’s hypocritical attitude. Noticing Lina’s presence [Rio Fallon] called out to her.

“Ah, Lina? It’s great that you’re here, I left some supplies back in the garden, do you mind getting it for me?”

The reason why Rio asked Lina and not Lena was because Lena was too deeply occupied with pampering Ada.

“Yes, I’ll be right back.”

Lina answered with a smile as she left for the back yard. The ‘supplies’ that Rio was talking about were gardening equipment, they were lying out in the open, though it wasn’t as though anyone would steal them, it was still better to put them away if they not being used.

However before that, Lina noticed some of the flowers were not fully trimmed, thus she took it upon herself to do so. It took her a few minutes but with careful mastery of the equipment Lina was able to make the garden look twice as better than before. She was a girl with many talents but those talents weren’t too useful in the grand scheme of things.

“My those came out pretty nicely. I’m impressed.”

Said a voice that was looking over her shoulders. Looking over her was an elderly man in his early 50s, [Sebastian] another servant of the Fallon house. He was an enigmatic man with a mysterious presence, his hair was white and he had as cleanly trimmed white beard. His posture and movements oozed elegance, and his mysterious background made him all the more unique.

At one point in time even the master of this house who was a [praetorian knight], the strongest knight in the realm, had acknowledged Sebastian’s combat potential. Why was such a skilled man working as a servant to a lesser noble? That was unknown, not even to the lords that he served.

“Thank you, Sebastian. Little by little, I will win over the young master’s heart with my myriads of talents!”

Sebastian gave out a small chuckle at Lina’s ramblings.

“I haven’t seen master [Mardoc] today, is he with the garrison?”

Lina asked, to which Sebastian nodded.

“Yes, since the young master isn’t here, master Mardoc has been with the garrison a lot more lately.”

“I see, no wonder the house felt a little empty today.”

“Indeed, these days the tranquil peace has been a little lonely.”

The two continued to exchange conversation as they finished up their work in the garden. In the end the garden looked three times as beautiful with the help of Sebastian. When they came back into the house the mistress and Lena had been preparing for tea.

That night Lina slept comfortable on the young master’s bed.

PART TWO

The next day Lina woke up a little earlier than usual, perhaps it was because of the relaxing effects of sleeping on her beloved young master’s bed, but she had a sound sleep last night, even waking up earlier than her young sister who wakes up extremely early.

The sky was still a little dark, with the sun yet to fully rise and the slightly odd looking dark clouds on the horizon. ‘Perhaps it’ll rain today’, thought Lina as she moved onto the back yard to breathe in the fresh air before the rain drenches it.

After washing her face and getting dressed in her usual maid attire she went out into the backyard. Upon arrival Sebastian was also there doing some light stretches.

“Good morning Sebastian.”

Lina greeted with a smile, she had always known to Sebastian to be a diligent and quiet worker but it seemed she had underestimated just how diligent he really was.

“Good morning Miss Lina, you’re up rather early today.”

“Yes, it’s because of young master’s bed.”

Everyone in the Fallon house knew about Lina’s rather deviant quirks and had become used to it, even Sebastian, thus she was able to say some ‘dangerous’ lines and be totally fine with it. Even Sebastian gave a small chuckle at Lina’s response.

Not being completely awake Lina gave out a yawn as she absent-mindedly stared out into the garden, but she found something odd. The shrubs that she neatly trimmed were slightly crooked, thinking that it was the work of the winds during the night Lina went to prepare some gardening tools. She spent a few more minutes trying to get it to like as nice as it did yesterday.

Eventually she got the desired look.

“Hmm~ That’s pretty good, you have skills there young miss.”

Suddenly from behind her came the voice of a young child. Turning to see who it was Lina’s eyes almost span around thinking that her young master had come back, but that was not the case. Though this child and her young master shared a similar kind of aura and looks, the light in this child’s eyes were a little different, whereas her young master had a gem-like green eyes, this child had deep azure ones.

Whilst this could technically be counted as trespassing, Lina didn’t think too much about punishing the young boy as he probably entered out of curiosity and not malice.

Lina crouched down to the young boy’s level and asked.

“Who are you? You know you’re not supposed to enter someone else’s house without proper permission. Are a child from this village? Though I don’t recall seeing you.”

The boy shook his head and returned an almost innocent smile.

“No, I’m not of this village. Hmm, I guess you could call me a ‘traveler’ of sorts since I move around a lot. I’m an ‘apprentice puppeteer’, always looking to improve my art and my name is [Odysseus] though that’s not my real name, it’s just a nickname people call me by.”

“Apprentice puppeteer? Oh, like those people who do puppet shows for money and stuff?”

“Hmm, I do certainly put on ‘shoes’ for my superiors but I don’t think I’m at a level where I could start charging them money.”

Sebastian who had temporarily left the premises to get a cool beverage for the hard working Lina returned. Seeing an unknown child Sebastian made a defeated face, if he had known there would be a visitor he would’ve prepared more than two cups. Having no choice Sebastian offered the two cups to Lina and the young boy.

“Thank you.”

Odysseus thanked as he took the cup and drank the cool beverage inside. Lina too drank of the cup after him.

“Who might our little guest be, Miss Lina?”

Sebastian asked.

“I’m not entirely sure myself, he said he was a traveler and apprentice puppeteer, perhaps he’s the child of an adventurer or entertainer that’s visiting town? He must’ve entered without knowing, granted this moderately sized manor does kind of stick out like a sore thumb in middle of this rural village.”

“Hmm.”

Sebastian contemplated on what he should do with the child as he stroke his beard. He could report the situation to his masters and the executive decision would go to them but he did not wish to trouble them with minute matters like this. He decided to simply let the child sate his curiosity in the garden and send him off afterwards.

“So where are you from Odysseus?”

Lina asked. Odysseus who had been observing the garden and the mansion stopped and turned back to answer. He pointed towards the sky, more specifically towards the two moons that were starting to disappear.

“The sky?”

Lina asked but Odysseus shook his head.

“Technically I’m from the west, but my current address is at [Tara].”

“T- ara? That’s a place I’ve never heard, what’s it like there?”

“It’s amazing you know! Everything’s so bright and shiny there, though sometimes the amount of glowing objects there tend to get obnoxiously annoying. Still, it’s an overall best place to be called [Heaven].”

“Heaven?”

Lina made a troubled face thinking that the child had been mistaken or was just rambling nonsense.

“Hmm? Sister, has the young master returned?”

A sleepy Lena enters the scene rubbing her eyes, she was still in her night gown since it was not time to work yet. Hearing all the commotion downstairs had awoken her and when she arrived she saw a young boy with similar features to the young master of the house.

Rio, carrying Ada also accompanied Lena.

“Ah, no this is another kid. The young master has yet to return.”

“Is there a young master here?”

Odysseus asks abruptly.

“Huh? Yeah, he’s about your age and he’s really smart. He even took down a duke in a political bout when he was just four!”

Lina started to brag. Unbeknownst to her, a sinister smile flashed across Odysseus’ face.

‘I see, so I got the right how then,’ Odysseus muttered under his breath. He started to shiver with excitement within the presence of his dearly beloved devil’s family, shuddering just thinking about the prospects of the ‘joy’ and ‘merriment’ he could bring, but the best part was that the devil himself was absent which happened to be perfect for Odysseus’ plans.

“Odysseus? Are you alright? You seem to be shivering, it is rather cold after all. Should I get you a jacket? I’m sure the young master wouldn’t mind.”

Lina asked with a worried face, though it wasn’t her young master, with the boy so similar to him she couldn’t help but feel her maternal instincts kicking in, in much the same way it did when the young master was there. However once again, Odysseus shook his head.

“I’m fine thanks. Actually I think this might be a good opportunity, you see I’ve been working on a little story for my puppet play but I want a third party’s opinion on it, what do you say? Do you want to have a listen?”

Odysseus asked, though perplexed since Lina had never seen a puppet play thus she did not know what kind of stories they would be, she gave a vague nod. If it was only for a little while then it wouldn’t hurt, or so she thought.

PART THREE

This is the story of two devils.

Once upon a time, in a land far, far, far away, there existed two devils. Wherever these devils went, tragedy always ensued in their way. They were focused solely on their objective to expand their empire, even to the detriment of others, taking down anyone that got in their way without mercy, leaving countless people in ruins.

However in their relationship a small rift existed, for you see one of the devil held the other in extreme regard, yet the other one did not realize this. To the devil who only sought to expand his empire everything was a tool for him to use, eventually even his partner.

Little did the two devil know that the true test of their partnership would come. One day a great depression befell the world of these two devils, a depression that would put many to ruin and damnation. Even the devils, so cruel and calculative in their nature could not escape the force of this depression, the time had come that one of them needed to be dropped into the abyss. If they did not their empire would’ve collapsed at that moment.

However the devil who admired the other believed that they would continue on as close friends and partners. He believed that no matter what happened they would not ever abandon each other, that if they had to fall they would do so together. Alas that was just a pipe dream of the devil, for the other devil merely thought of him as a convenient tool, when the time truly came he cursed his partner to the pits of hell.

With it the devil was able to create an empire that expanded the world over and was forever cemented in the annals of history. Whilst the devil who was betray was condemned to a life of misery and desperation.

Even though he truly believed that they were both friends. That they would stick by each other no matter what would happen. In his anguish the devil tried to take revenge many times but was always thwarted by the dog that kept guard. Every time he’d turn on the news he would see just how much the other devil was improving his own empire, as the depression ended the only remaining empire was the devil’s.

It angered the betrayed devil greatly. He tried to remedy this feeling with alcohol but each time he did so he only fell deeper and deeper into the abyss that he was unable to even see the light at the top. Forever fated to live as a failure, the devil’s wife, unable to endure the continuous suffering ended her own life in front of the devil and the devil’s child. Their one white house now painted red by his wife’s blood.

Yet that was not the end of the devil’s torment, this time, drowning in debt his daughter was taken away from him. Pried away from his arms he cried to those who broke down his door to take his only remaining family, ‘Please don’t take her away! Take me instead!’ he pleaded and pleaded but they did not even bat an eye.

His daughter was taken away, screaming to her father for help, but the devil was helpless. With everything taken away from him the devil could no longer even afford to cry, he was all dried up. He spent the remainder of his life as a living corpse.

Like this many years had passed on and one day his daughter had come back to him, having repaid all of their debts through her body. She came home with the son of an unknown man, the light in her eyes completely void, she was more of a corpse than the devil himself. When she returned home she completely broke down, having been tainted by unknown men she could not live with the sins she had committed.

The daughter became rabid and crazed, she took the life of her own son and in the same way as her mother, took away her own life.

More years had passed, it was a miracle that the devil did not take away his own life after all of the tragedy. Yet one day the news of the other devil had come to him, not only had he become the world’s ruler he was just now finding happiness in marriage. Unable to forgive him, the devil sharpened his own claws and tried for the final time the revenge that had been long awaited.

His empire, his family, his entire life, they were all taken away from him by the other devil.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

It was unforgiveable.

An opportunity had come before the devil, the other devil would by traveling to his happiness, so before he could finally be happy the devil needed to act. He rigged the transport that the other devil was on, and thus an ‘accident’ had occurred. In raging flames of malice and revenge both of the devils had perished.

Everything had finally come full circle and the devils known as [Aran Callahad] and [Lewis Reinald] had been erased from their world.

PART FOUR

“That was certainly… a little dark, are all puppet plays like this?”

Lina asked making an uncomfortable expression as she heard the rather disturbing story and shuddering at the prospect that all such stories would be popular amongst puppet plays. She knew that sometimes in life there are times when there are no happy endings but she did not expect to hear a story with no happy ending.

Odysseus stopped to think for a moment before answering with an unsatisfied face.

“I think it’s only my play that has a dark tone, though I thought it was a pretty good story.”

“Aha, maybe if give it a happy ending to it, that could make it a little better?”

Lina suggested as she tried to pat the young boy.

“Oh but there is a happy ending! … sort of, what do you think came of the two devils at the very end?”

Odysseus asked with an anticipated face, smiling as he did.

“Eh? Didn’t the story conclude with them both perishing?”

“Odysseus shook his head, struggling to hold back his laughter.

“The two devils were given a second chance you know. They would eventually be reborn into a different life and as fate would have decreed it their paths would once again come to cross. They haven’t met yet, but I’m sure when they do it will be a surprising reunion, don’t you think?”

“So the other devil didn’t finish his revenge even after all that?”

“No, no. the revenge was completed but a thought came to that devil, even though they can both restart with a clean slate it would be a little unfair if the other devil never found out who or why. So in the end what the devil really wished for wasn’t revenge, what he wanted was the next step, he wanted acknowledgement from the one person who he revered as the absolute.”

“Hmm… I guess? But isn’t that a little shallow? Wouldn’t it make for a much better story if they ended up as friends and started all over again from scratch?”

Lina suggested with a happy face, she would be what was known as an ‘optimist’, but Odysseus was not happy with that response.

“(Sigh) I guess you don’t get it huh? There’s no way either of the devils could forgive each other for taking away their respective happiness. They’re doomed to repeat their cycle of hatred, with each iteration becoming more and more deranged until either one submits, but as headstrong as they both are, it is impossible for now.”

“Ahh… hah...”

As Lina and Odysseus was about to finish up their conversation, Sebastian stood up with a serious face. Not only that the master of the house, [Mardoc Fallon] also came running out with his weapon ready. They both stared out into the distance with intense concentration as their brows furrowed upwards.

“I- is something the matter?”

Lena who was quietly standing next to them asked.

“Something’s coming. Something… extremely powerful.”

Sebastian replied.

“Sebastian…”

Mardoc quietly called out his name as he stared at him. Sebastian gave out a small sigh and nodded.

“If there is no choice then…”

A vortex of energy swirled around Sebastian’s body, emitting blue and white light. Soon he was engulfed in a miniature tornado and as it disappeared a completely new person came out of it. Well, not entirely, the face was similar to Sebastian’s only a few decades younger, his white hair had turned completely black with a single streak of blue.

His muscles were considerable more buff and on his forehead were two small horns. His natural blue eyes turned much sharper, as though it could cut the atmosphere itself, even his butler uniform turned into a military style jacket. To his right hand was a slender oriental blade, with mysterious carvings engraved on them.

This was Sebastian’s true form, a half-demon, more specifically a half-devil(literal). Both Lina and Lena had a surprised look in their faces as they finally experience this mysterious butler’s true identity. Whilst on the side, Odysseys gave out a sinister smirk muttering under his breath, ‘this will be fun, if you don’t come back soon you will once again lose everything… Aran Callahad.’

Though a little less flashy, Mardoc also prepared his sword ready for combat.

A few seconds later something was falling towards them from the sky at great speeds. On closer inspect it was not something but a someone. Causing an earthquake that destroyed the entire backyard, causing a dust smoke, and even destroying the windows in the house. A large buff man stood up with an almost exhilarated smile on his face.

“I AM [DAGDA] AND I AM LOOKING FOR A WORTHY FIGHT!”

Shouted the man, but eventually his gaze fell on two armed people, Sebastian and Mardoc. When he appraised their combat ability he had a small smile on his face, they were worthy opponents for him though only as much as being entertainment.

Sebastian and Mardoc readied their weapons with a stern face, they knew that their opponent was not someone to be trifled with but since the situation had already degraded to such a level it was inevitable. However before they could even stop fighting, from the sky, as though they were rain, a massive number of angelic beings descended on the town.

As they did the angelic beings started to indiscriminately attack all of the villagers. Cries of help and pain filled the air as did smoke and fire razed their houses.

“W- what madness is this?!”

Sebastian asked as his eyes widened with disbelief. Such a scene he could not have imagined taking place, but the reality was far more cruel. The village he had stayed with for the past 6 years was no lit ablaze and slaughtered, but he couldn’t even help as he understood the repercussions of leaving this current scene.

His master, Mardoc would not be able to take on this person who called himself Dagda, on alone. With the two of them, perhaps there was a small sliver of hope, but he knew deep down that the presence of this threat was exceedingly greater. Swallowing his fear Sebastian glared at Dagda with keen sights, ready for a counterattack the moment he made a suspicious movement.

“Rio. Take Ada. Lina and Lena to someplace safe, we’ll keep this man busy until then.”

“B- but honey what about you?”

Rio protested.

“We can’t all go at once, I’ll follow behind you shortly after I deal with this man. For now take them to safety.”

Rio knew in her heart that this could very well be the final time she saw her husband but still did as he wished. It was not because she thought she was powerless to help her husband, in fact it was the contrary, she was also known as a powerful [praetorian knight(magician)] so it would increase the odds if she helped but then that would make Ada, Lina and Lena truly helpless as they really had no power to defend themselves against the threats raining from the sky.

She was their last defense thus it was her duty to protect the family in the absence of Mardoc.

“[Puppet theater - Control doll].”

As the voice rang, Sebastian’s hands started to move by themselves. His body moved in a way he did not intend and for a moment he lost his focus, when he came to a horrific sight befell him. His sword, the sword that was prepared for the protection of the Fallon house was now aimed towards its residents.

Specifically his sword penetrated through Lina’s abdomen, blood oozing as Lina started to sweat and turn pale. Her mouth opened and closed but due to the pain she could not speak out verbally.

“Lina?!”

Rio and Lena shouted in unison as Sebastian muttered something under his breath and drew out the sword whilst backing up with pure terror in his face. As Lina fell she was caught by her sister who applied pressure to the stab wound as per Rio’s instructions. Lena started to tear up, shouting at her sister not to die.

“What… have I done?”

Sebastian dropped his sword and fell to the floor. The one with the most annoyed face however was none other than Dagda, who was ticked off that his opponent had become limp due to someone’s interference.

“What do you think you’re doing Odysseus? Do you know how boring it is to cut down a defeated opponent? Now I won’t get to have as much fun.”

Dagda reprimanded Odysseus who started to laugh.

“Ahahaha, sorry, sorry, I just couldn’t help themselves. It really gets to me you know, that look on their faces when their bodies turn on their loved ones. That look of pure horror, it exhilarates me so.”

“Tsk, mental manipulation, huh. And that kid was part of the enemy team as well.”

Mardoc said with an angered voice. In just a few days his son was going to come back and everything was supposed to go on peacefully but everything took a nosedive so suddenly. Enemies suddenly appeared and his village was going to obliterated, he knew that the town garrison was not going to be any match for the angelic monsters that rained down.

He remained calm despite knowing that Lina was injured because he knew that his wife was a capable person and a single stab could easily be remedied by low rank healing magic.

“Sebastian, come on get up, we have to fight and quickly get Lina some help.”

Snapping back into reality Sebastian nodded to his master’s words. He now stood back to back with his master with his blade pointed against the small youth, Odysseus. However Odysseus threw up his hands.

“Ah, don’t worry I won’t interfere anymore. I don’t even want to fight someone I’m not sure I could win against, I’m really only barely at a higher level than you are. I just wanted to stop them from escaping.”

“Hmph, looks like that guy has gotten back his motivation, don’t do something like that again, Odysseus. I’m warning you.”

Dagda scowled at him.

“Now then, let’s start.”

Dagda announced and suddenly disappeared before reappearing next to Mardoc and Sebastian. With a small palm thrust both Mardoc and Sebastian were sent flying on the opposite direction. Such agile and speedy movements were not expected from someone with such a huge build.

The first one to return to position was Sebastian with his extreme speed, he lunged at Dagda with his oriental blade. He made 8 precision strikes at blinding speeds but they were all deflected and dodged with Dagda even taking a hold of the sword at the end of the 8th strike. Dagda squeezed his hands, expecting to shatter the blade but oddly enough things did not go the way he wanted.

“Hmm? What’s this? This blade is incredibly tough, impressive!”

Whilst distracted, Mardoc also came dashing back with a strike of his own, but Dagda also took a hold of his sword, doing the exact same thing with Mardoc’s blade, this time the blade shattered into tiny pieces.

“Yeah, that’s the appropriate reaction, but why does your sword not break?”

Dagda asked Sebastian. However the response he got was a swift counter-kick from both Sebastian and Mardoc. It was a direct hit but there was no damage, or rather there were signs of damage but it was instantly healed by some kind of magical force.

Sebastian retracted the blade, cutting at Dagda’s hands, blood did ooze but likewise the wound quickly healed in a matter of seconds.

“What is he? A monster?”

Mardoc asked as he got back into a defensive posture.

“Hahahaha! You think I’m a monster? No, not a monster, a god!”

As Dagda announced he disappeared once more and reappeared behind Mardoc, Sebastian who was anticipating this quickly counterattacked, managing to get a successful stab into Dagda’s skin. However that attack didn’t even phase him as Dagda continued his assault on Mardoc. A heavy punch to Mardoc’s abdomen put him onto the floor.

Sebastian tried to take advantage of the situation and deliver more blows to Dagda, whilst they all appeared to do damage and made him bleed, in the end they were all ineffectual. Though it was not his strong suit, Sebastian in his half-demon form was capable of rudimentary magic, thus he launched a flurry of [fire bullet] spells in order to do as much damage as he could. If physical damage was ineffective then perhaps magical damage would be, was Sebastian’s thought process but as the dust from the fire magic cleared, an unwounded Dagda appeared with a smiling face.

“[High speed regeneration] it’s one of my innate abilities you see. Most, if not all the damage I sustain gets healed immediately. Unfortunately, even if I wanted to turn this ability off I can’t, such a shame because I enjoy a more challenging fight, but I guess this is my curse.”

The completely abhorrent regeneration rate of Dagda put a face of disgust on Sebastian’s face. Mardoc slowly stood up and backed off, even without a weapon Mardoc was still capable of unarmed combat.

“Come on, I was expecting a little more from the two of you. Especially you, aren’t you the student of the one they call [Morgant Milis], the legendary warrior?”

Mardoc spat out some blood that was rolling around in his mouth, he held his stomach as he was not completely recovered.

“How do you… know my master?”

“Well, isn’t that obvious? How do you think he died?”

Dagda replied with a sinister smile.

“B- bastard…”

Mardoc clenched his fist and took a few steps forward but fell down, unable to keep his balance due to the internal damage he took from Dagda a few moments ago. Even though he just found his master’s killer he was powerless to even avenge him, against this monster… against this god it seemed like all hope was lost.

Of course Mardoc wasn’t the one to give in so easily, he did his best to stand up once more but Dagda quickly dashed towards him and delivered another heavy punch pushing him back a few meters through the walls and into the house.

“That’s enough!”

Sebastian shouted as he glared intently. His steel blue sword emanating a dark aura. The blue parts and the engravings turned a malicious black color, this was Sebastian’s special ability, known as the [cursed blade]. It was a skill that increased the wielder’s attack damage tremendously in exchange for also dealing damage to the user with each attack.

If used carelessly, such an attack was would break the wielder before the opponent, thus it was only used as a last ditch move. Not only Sebastian’s attack damage but his movement speed had increased dramatically, delivering 20 precision strikes this time.

Dagda sensed the ominous aura coming from the blade and merely dodged them as opposed to blocking them. However he was not able to dodge them all as a few deep wounds did manage to penetrate through Dagda’s skin.

The damaged parts of his skin started to emit dark smoke as they healed at a slower pace than before, despite this the healing rate was still exponentially fast.

“Tsk, are you sure you’re a god and not some monster? Those wounds from this sword are supposed to be permanent yet you’re healing them like they were regular damage.”

“Hahaha! Well, this is the first time I’ve seen such an amusing attack. I must repay you now, shouldn’t I?”

Dagda started to gather up energy and small orbs of light started to swirl around him. Eventually a burst of energy was released and with it Dagda’s appearance had somewhat changed. His physical bulk remained the same but now he had large white, feathered wings attached to his back and his eyes glowed gold.

“As a sign of respect I will end you with one of my favorite attacks. Take this demon!”

Dagda cried as he flew up high into the sky, escaping their sight. Noticing what he was going to do Sebastian ran to pick up his master but before he could do that Dagda finished his attack.

“[Meteor Drop]! AHAHAHAHAHA!”

With a fiery presence Dagda fell from the sky causing a massive explosion, completely destroying the house, Mardoc and Sebastian in the process. it would’ve been impossible to escape such a blast no matter how powerful they were.

Watching from the side with pure terror was the rest of the family.

“W- what did you… do?”

Rio asked, tears starting to trickle down her face.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure they’re in a better place now.”

“You monsters!”

Rio stood up and started to charge her own magic, intending to launch a powerful [fire ball] attack but it was intercepted before she could attack.

“[Puppet Theater - Control Doll]. Sorry, but I can’t have the remaining family members die here, you’ll be nice leverage against him after all.”

Putting the rest of the family into a deep hypnotic speed, Odysseus called for them to be taken back to base. They were the precious family members of his beloved devil, he would make sure to treat them ‘nicely’ as Aran Callahad had treated his.

“I wonder what kind of face he will make… [Morgant Fallon].”