After the spectacle of power, the twins took on their physical form and stepped a bit ahead of their elder brother, who remained still, staring at the scene he had caused.
Devyus, still damaged after having to raise his weapon against his former allies, walked as quickly as he could, hesitating for a few moments on whether he should go back and do something for them.
But it was useless; he would only hinder his mission, and probably end up in another fight once they regained enough strength to lift their weapons again.
The silence of the forest—broken only by the ragged breathing of the defeated captains—was suddenly shattered by a voice dripping with iron determination.
"Stop!"
Devyus halted, his back still turned toward the scene he had left behind. He didn't need to look to recognize Tsubaki Ryufang's tone—laden with a rage that now transcended loyalty and turned into pure obstinacy. Slowly, he turned around.
The sight made him raise an eyebrow in genuine interest. Five figures rose among the dust. Blood, sweat, and pride were the only things keeping them standing.
Tsubaki, trembling, barely able to remain upright. Ohanatsuri, her bloody false smile wider than ever. Medaka Knightly, her childish armor shattered but her spirit intact. Slavy, her cloned face still expressionless but her trembling hands clutching her Reiken. And Sabrina, standing at the center, her Reiken glowing with a blinding psychic light.
"Awararero Morgana," Sabrina gasped, her voice resonating with a strange echo.
A burst of pink psychic energy enveloped her. When the light faded, a figure made of pure spiritual energy, feline in form, stood before her.
Two long mental whiskers extended from her upper lip, and her hair floated as if charged with telekinetic power. In each hand, she held energy rods, glowing with a sharpness capable of slicing through intent itself. Her spiritual power had skyrocketed—dense, focused, lethal.
"Awararero Kinorochi!" Slavy muttered. A huge golden serpent with black markings appeared beneath her feet, swaying unsteadily but with its mouth open, ready to spit its paralytic gas.
"Awararero Jeange!" Medaka cried out. A massive female golem wrapped in a feminine knight's attire emerged behind the little knight leader, raising her katana with visible strain.
Ohanatsuri continued wielding her thin scythe, which now emitted a faint crimson glow. Tsubaki simply took her combat stance, but the leader's aura now flashed in an irregular yet deadly yellow rhythm.
"One last effort," Ohanatsuri said, her voice a hoarse but audible whisper. "To capture our fugitive commander. It would be disrespectful to the time he sacrificed to train us."
"Ha ha ha ha! I couldn't agree more," the incubus laughed darkly.
Devyus watched the scene—a mix of frustration and a strange pride boiling inside him. They were his creations, his elite guard, pushing themselves beyond their limits out of duty.
Then, his sisters stepped forward, twin scythes and pistols ready.
"Onii-sama! Allow us—"
"No." Devyus's command was calm but absolute. "Stay back. This… is a lesson I must teach personally. It is my final responsibility as their master."
Despite their sense of duty and protectiveness, the twins had no choice but to restrain their protest, stepping back obediently though tension was clear in their eyes.
Devyus walked forward toward the quintet of opponents. His coat was swallowed by the shadows, his reddish skin gleaming under the moonlight.
"You impress me, Captains. Truly, you do." He made a theatrical bow toward them, then looked up with hollow, disappointed eyes. "But power born of desperation rarely suffices to bridge an abyss."
"Guardians, CRUSH HIM!" Medaka shouted with childish fury. The giant stone knight swung down her sword. At the same time, the serpent's poisonous gas from Slavy engulfed Devyus's area, while Ohanatsuri dove in, her scythe drinking moonlight as its edge reflected its wielder's macabre grin.
Tsubaki vanished for a moment, then reappeared, lightning bursting from her massive stinger-shaped weapon in her left hand. Sabrina's feline spirit crossed its energy rods, focusing a devastating psychic sphere.
Before the avalanche of power that could erase a mountain, Devyus closed his eyes. In his mind, he knew what was coming next would be excessive—but necessary, if he wished to avoid further suffering for his former comrades.
He had to end this quickly, both to show mercy and to honor the pride his ex-students had shown in this fight.
"Very well," he murmured. "Out of respect… I'll show you something worthy."
He opened his eyes—the two circles flaring again in the same place as the previous battle. He extended his hands toward the shadow beneath him. Something began to emerge: his own Reiken, a black hilt lined with red veins.
"Awararero, Hrist."
A dark purple explosion of spiritual energy—so dense it seemed liquid—burst around him. All the trees nearby vanished, replaced by a massive barren field stretching for meters.
Spectral bones erupted from the ground in an infernal scene, moving as though crawling from an endless abyss. The bones gathered into a colossal skeletal hand that caught the golem's sword mid-swing with a deafening CLANG.
The bones continued to assemble at terrifying speed—muscles, skin, then clothes forming—a majestic yet terrifying figure.
The sight was hellish: at the center of a cracked and scorched battlefield knelt a giant woman beneath the full moon. Her fair skin, long purple hair flowing with a faint silver glow, and two curved black horns—each adorned with a small skull charm—projected elegance and menace alike. She wore a refined wine-colored eyepatch over her left eye, luxurious and stylish.
Her clothing was a modernized Japanese kimono blending Victorian elegance with traditional design: the top, a deep wine red fitted to her body with long, wide sleeves; the skirt, black, layered, voluminous. Her expression was cold yet regal, radiating authority. Both hands rested upon her thighs.
She was gigantic—making Slavy's serpent and Medaka's golem look like mere toys. Her summoner sat upon her right shoulder, watching the battlefield with solemnity. Her mere presence distorted reality, and Slavy's gas dissipated under the energy radiating from her and the earth around her knees.
Ohanatsuri's scythe struck Hrist's chest and dissolved in a spark of energy. Tsubaki reappeared, striking the titan's ankle with her Reiken, but her technique failed to leave even a scratch—the vibration numbing her arm.
Sabrina's psychic sphere hit Hrist's face. She barely flinched. A second one followed but was repelled by a deliberately slow flick of her free hand, sent flying like a fly—crashing into distant trees that disintegrated instantly.
Still kneeling, Hrist raised her hand toward the sky, where shadows gathered around it. With superhuman speed and precision—despite her size and pose—she executed a series of movements.
THUMP. The energy in her palm tapped the golem's helmet gently, but the shockwave was enough to knock out the little knight, making her Reiken vanish.
PAM. A sweeping motion of her hand merged with the serpent's gas, pushing it back toward Slavy, the mist turning black as it engulfed them. The clone coughed and collapsed after inhaling a bit, falling unconscious moments later.
TAP. The tip of one finger touched Ohanatsuri, sending a massive jolt through her body. The guardian leader smiled, a final glimmer of admiration in her eyes before fatigue and impact overtook her, dropping her to her knees, then into nothingness.
CLAP. Tsubaki appeared before the titan's face, attempting a desperate final strike at her eyes. The titan simply raised both hands and clapped. The impact was so powerful that Tsubaki was sent flying violently, spinning through the air before crashing through several trees—broken, unconscious.
CLAMP. Sabrina, the last standing, screamed as her Reiken charged her twin rods. Hrist focused her single eye on the last warrior. It emitted a purple glow, brighter than the power beneath her. Terrifying visions flooded the psychic's mind, striking her brain directly. No illusions—her mind simply… shut down. Her eyes rolled white as she collapsed like a ragdoll, the rods clattering against the ground before vanishing.
Hrist slowly faded, leaving Devyus standing—breathing faintly—amid the wreckage. His five former captains lay scattered, unconscious but alive.
The twins quickly approached. "Big Brother! Are you all right?" they asked in unison.
"I'm fine," Devyus said, his voice rough with effort, his Reiken swallowed once again by the shadows. "Just… tired of fighting battles that should never have happened."
He looked at the fallen bodies one last time.
"Learn from this. Grow. Protect Hinata-soul. But never follow me again."
With that, the ex-commander and former Sixth Lord turned and walked into the shadows of the forest—leaving behind his strongest subordinates, defeated by the very force they once swore to serve, a monument to a legacy now buried in the Forest of Death.
Devyus watched the last sin committed against his former home burn away in the shadows of his ex-students… as the final spark of hope that tied him to that home faded with it.
© 2025 D.S.V.All rights reserved.No part of this work may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form without the explicit permission of the author.
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