A woman with long blonde hair with pink highlights and green eyes approached my Dark Lord Zone, looking up from her phone at the entrance and let out a curious hum. She let out an impressed sigh as she studied it, looking back down at her phone to see a message sent to her from Dahlia.
She turned off the screen of her phone, adjusting her pink handbag upon her shoulder and smoothed out her green skirt. "Ugh...I can't believe she dragged me all the way here to my apparent doom. Some sister she is..."
Without any further complaints, she took a step forward into the Zone, iridescent energy forming a wall behind her once she fully entered. The woman looked around in disbelief, noticing the Virgo Department in ruins and the Sagittarius Department beginning to show signs of ruination.
"What the heck is going on..? Nox did this..?" The woman asked with a light shudder, wandering around the campus to find anyone who was still alive.
As she wandered around, she noticed the Libra and Main Departments were seemingly untouched by destruction, the students of those Departments still going through their daily activities. The Virgo Department was completely abandoned, each student there being forced to migrate to one of the three standing buildings.
"Halt," A voice spoke behind her, the feminine voice carrying a stern tone within.
The woman stopped walking, taking a deep breath and exhaled slowly before turning around and coming face to face with Flynn. The woman gasped softly at Flynn's presence, taking a step back and gripping the strap of her purse tightly.
Flynn paused in her steps, slowly holding her hand up in a friendly manner to ease the woman in front of her. "I'm not an enemy. I'm an ally of the Council here, and I'm not going to hurt you..."
The woman began to slowly calm down, but Dahlia's message replayed in her mind to be careful of my allies, especially Flynn. She gulped slowly, gradually lowering her guard and let out a slow, shaky exhale. "Who are you..?"
"My name is Flynn Winters, a high ranking Hero within the Holy Resistance. You um...you look a bit familiar. Who might you be, and why are you here in the Zone during Total War?" Flynn questioned, her gaze becoming cautious as she scanned the woman before her.
"Her name shouldn't matter, nor should her motives...taken she was most likely told to come here from outside forces," Another voice sounded from above the two women, causing the two of them to glance in the air.
Above them was an impossibly beautiful woman with red eyes and white pupils, her golden hair tied into a singular ponytail. She wore an elegant black dress with gold and red ribbons wrapped around the waist of her dress, the dress also having a low neckline.
Upon her sternum, my Dark Lord symbol glowed upon it, signalling her true allegiance with me. Black wings were visible from her back, each flap used to keep her hovering high in the air. She had the same essence as Scarlet, half monster and half human.
〘Monster: Succubus Girl〙
〘Index No.: 12〙
〘Ranking: 4 Star〙
〘Ability: Love Whiplash〙
〘Ability Desc.: When inflicting damage upon a foe, the whip from this monster can induce Charm. Upon Male targets, the Succubus Girl can induce Obey, Pleasure, and Climax when under Charm. Upon Female targets, the Succubus Girl can inflict Obey, Betray, and Ecstasy when under Charm.〙
Both Flynn and the woman froze at the sight of my monster hovering above them with a sly grin on her face, my Succubus Girl taking delight in their subtle fear in her. The Succubus Girl wasn't focused upon Flynn, yet her gaze was fixated on the newly arrival woman within my Zone.
"My name is Rozalin, and I am Nox's second daughter. I hope you enjoy your stay while you're here..~" The Succubus Girl chuckled, slowly flying away back toward the Sagittarius Department.
Flynn could immediately tell something was off about the woman in front of her, her senses kicking into overdrive as the kept how Rozalin acted toward her in mind. To not raise any suspicion, Flynn took the woman to the Libra Department where it was mostly safe at the moment.
------------------
Anna found the steel doors of Clive's workshop, a long pin and a piece of scrap metal in her hands working the locks to get it unlocked. She could hear the sounds of gunfire from West's firearm in the distance, yet her mind didn't worry about Chester nor Queen.
Finally getting the first lock undone, she began working on the second one, the sounds of combat stopping in the background, offering her a moment of more concentration. Once she got all of the locks undone, she heard an explosion in the distance, her head whipping toward the source.
She could feel the immense about of Spirit Energy within the main halls, her breathing becoming heavier as her concern for Chester and Queen grew. "Is that a Teacher..? Who is that..?"
Clive grunted as he pried the steel doors open with his raw strength, the metal scraping against the openings within the wall. He looked up to see Anna standing in front of him, his brow raising from confusion. "Who are you? Are you an ally of Nox?"
Anna quickly looked at Clive, taking a deep breath and exhaled slowly to calm herself down. "I am, I'm Number 4 of the Council. Nox actually wanted me to come here. He said you had something called the Magic Hammer, Madriax."
Hagu poked his head from behind Clive after hearing Anna mention Madriax, his white orc ears raising from surprise. He glanced over at Clive and adjusted his horned hat upon his head. "Madriax..?"
Duran charged toward Queen with rapid strikes, but Queen's smaller figure gave her just enough agility to evade his onslaught. She slipped through his next kick, grappling his leg and pulling him toward her for a reverse spinning kick, her foot striking clean against his jaw.
Duran grunted as he staggered to the side, recovering just enough to block her next attack then countered with a powerful gut blow, holy energy bursting from her back. Queen groaned as she stumbled backwards, unable to recover fast enough to block his follow up strike.
Queen groaned loudly as she was launched backwards, flipping backwards for a landing recovering, grunting softly as she fell onto one knee. "Damn...this guy's strong.."
Chester looked down at Queen then back at Duran, humming softly then stepped forward, preparing to tag in for Queen. "He's that strong huh. He reminds me of the old King of Spades we had to fight back in Neverland. I guess I'll—"
Queen grabbed Chester's arm, stopping him from stepping forward and smiled with determination at Chester. "Wait...let me get one more round in. I still have tricks he's never seen before.."
Duran laughed at Queen's resilience, clapping his hands with mockery. "Ahh, you couldn't handle the first two rounds...and you think you can take a third? You really are one crazy chick.."
Queen stood up from the ground, using Chester as support onto her feet. She closed her eyes and chuckled lightly, five origami butterflies flying out of her jean pocket and coming to life around her. "I've seen the others use butterflies, so I also wanted to give it a try..."
"Prepare yourself for my Royal Flush. You're about to witness why they call me Queen," Queen said with a confident grin, getting back into her martial arts stance.
Duran chuckled at Queen and got back into his stance, clutching his silver crosses tightly and watched Queen's body language. "You're in for a big surprise, girl."
Rozalin descended from the third floor of the Sagittarius Department, watching the battle between Duran and Queen closely, her gaze shifting to focus purely upon Duran. She hummed mischievously, a plan hatching in her mind as she thought of how to approach Duran.
"Duran the Dullahan..~ A perfect name for his monster fate. Mmm, Papa is gonna be so proud!~ You're so smart, Rozie! I know," Rozalin said to herself, giggling as she rushed into the shadows of the main hall to stalk Duran.
Queen lowered her stance and tightened her body, her movements becoming a blur as she rushed toward Duran at full speed. Duran grunted with surprise at Queen's true speed, unable to raise his guard fast enough to block Queen's devastating gut blow.
Queen unfolded each of her origami butterflies while Duran was stunned, each one opening into playing cards revealing three 4 of Spades and two random number cards. Activating her Royal Three, the 4 of Spades lit up and three spatial blows from invisible forces struck Duran's body.
Duran groaned as he stumbled backwards, holding his stomach and huffing as he looked up at Queen. "What the hell was that..?"
"Royal Three," Queen said, holding up the number three with her fingers. "It activates when three cards of the same suit and number or face is unfolded from the butterflies. Nifty ability isn't it? My Royal Flush Mode has 17 Abilities, each reminiscent of the game Poker."
"It's a gamble, so I can show you better than I can tell you!" Queen yelled, dashed toward the staggered Duran then warped the space around them.
Queen teleported behind Duran, striking his back with a kick and sending him flying. She fired one of her origami butterflies toward Duran, the butterfly sticking to his back and opening into an 8 of Diamonds and activating her High Card ability.
The 8 of Diamonds shined brightly and the symbols upon the card shooting out and sticking onto Duran's body like sticky bombs. The symbols glowed brightly, catching fire and igniting into a Level 8 Explosion, the shockwave of the explosion destroying a portion of the main hall.
Chester quickly escaped from the explosion and dived away from its shockwave, grunting heavily as he hit the ground and rolled backwards into a wall. He watched as the N-Wing of the Sagittarius Department began to collapse, an alarm going off for all students to evacuate the building.
"Damn...that's a lot of damage..." Chester said in awe, leaning his head back against the wall and looked to his right.
Queen grunted as she had to guard against the recoil of the explosion, the shockwave throwing her backwards into a wall with a heavy thud. She landed onto her feet and lightly staggered, unfolding one of her four remaining origamis into a 4 of Hearts, casting Level 4 Healing upon herself.
Duran grunted softly as he slowly rose from the rubble with a light chuckle, cracking his bones to relieve any stress within his body. "Mmm...that one stung a bit. However, with God on my side, none of you shall prosper."
Queen scoffed at Duran, teleporting toward him by warping space and went for a flying punch, but Duran blocked the strike with the back of his hand, his smirk growing wider with confidence. He spun around into a back fist against Queen's stomach, stunning her while airborne then struck her once again with a holy infused blow.
Queen grunted heavily as she hit the ground, rolling back into her feet and tried to unfold her next set of butterflies, but Duran casted a pillar of light beneath Queen, launching her into the air. He manifested his wings and flew above Queen, striking her stomach once again and knocking her back down onto the ground.
Suddenly, the space around Duran began to distort, Queen warping above him and spiking him to the ground with a double axe hammer. Duran recovered into the air, landing onto the ground upon one knee and grunted lightly.
He looked back up at Queen, noticing the Heart Suit glowing brightly upon her hand. "Tch...how could I be foolish of the Queen of Hearts healing factor.."
Queen held her hand upon her stomach as she levitated in the air, her fractured rib gradually recovering from Duran's onslaught. She glanced over at Chester, noticing him holding up a 10 of Hearts card, a warm smile forming on her face.
'I can Instantaneously Heal or Revive up to ten times...I know how my own ability works, genious,' Queen thought to herself with a soft chuckle, her attention returning to Duran below. 'With his boost in strength and aggression, I would have to focus on Healing...long enough for Chester to fully power up...'
Duran stood up onto his feet, his crosses shining brightly as soft whispers began to enter into his ear, slightly distracting him from the fight. He held his ear, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth as the voice of Rozalin pried into his head.
"I can make you stronger..~ Better..~ Faster..~ I can give you all these things...all you have to do is accept my covenant," Rozalin's sweet words whispers, her invisible form becoming known to only Duran as she appeared in front of him and disguising her monster wings as white feathered wings.
Duran looked ahead, seeing my eldest daughter in front of him as if she were the holy grail of women. She couldn't help but to let out a coy giggle, slithering her way behind him and wrapping her arms around his neck gently.
"So..?~ You want the strength to beat them right..? Herisees right in front of your eyes. Oh...it breaks my heart to see such heathens make a mockery of a god!" Rozalin persuaded with cute theatrics, resting her chin upon Duran's shoulder.
"You're right...they are Herisees and must be destroyed. Those who protect Nox are the enemy of God. I must destroy then and preserve what's left of the Holy Land!" Duran declared, his eyes shining brightly with determination as he looked up at Queen.
"What? I didn't even say anything..." Queen said, looking down at Duran with confusion then glanced at Chester.
"Maybe you hit him too hard in the head when you spiked him down...he's finally lost it. I think," Chester said, his gaze focused completely on Duran, his eyes squinting as he could see a faint presence behind him.
"I'll give you the power you need... All you've got to do is just trust me and say I do..~" Rozalin said, glancing at Duran's hypnotized determination with a grin and bit her lip with growing excitement.
'No...Rozie, you can't laugh yet...not yet,' Rozalin said to herself mentally, calming herself down to wait for Duran's confirmation.
"I do..." Duran said, his glasses cracking under the increased pressure of his aura, a charmed sigil forming upon his neck.
Queen and Chester tensed up at the increased pressure, the two of them getting on edge and preparing themselves for anything Duran had planned. Queen readied her butterflies to unfold at any moment, her focus becoming as sharp as a tiger's.
Rozalin opened Duran's hand, taking his silver crosses and transforming them into a silver great sword with an arched hilt and a silver spear, the weapon shaped like a cross. She began to subtly corrupt Duran's aura, his once light blue aura becoming light blue flames.
Rozalin couldn't hold back her giggle any longer, bursting out into a sadistic laugh that filled the halls, breaking Duran out of his trance immediately. Rozalin became visible for everyone to see, her immese presence catching everyone's attention.
Duran turned around quickly, looking at himself and his slowly corrupting form with a mix of terror and anger. "You...what did you do to me?!"
"Fools like you going against my Dad without any repercussions other than Death. No, them killing you would be too easy...you sinned against the same God you claim to represent. The Father, the Beginnings, the Creator of All, Yuvah," Rozalin retorted, crossing her arms with unflinching superiority.
"You demon...you say you're Nox's daughter?! I knew he was worse than a Herisee! He's a Blasphemer!" Duran roared, his flames beginning to grow with his escalated wrath.
Rozalin clicked her teeth and wagged her finger in front of Duran with a giggle, shaking her head slowly. "I'm not a Demon..~ I am a Monster with my original ancestor being the Worldly Dark Lord, Lilith. She is the Judge of those who give into Lust like you...but today, I am the Judge and Executioner upon her and my Papa's behalf!"
"You dumb child!" Duran roared, lunging toward Rozalin with his spear ready to strike.
Rozalin flinched as Duran prepared to strike, using her arms to shield against his incoming stab. "Papa! This man is about to hurt me!"
Just as she called upon my name, I warped in front of Rozalin, a burst of Spirit Energy throwing Duran back from my eldest daughter. Duran grunted as he landed onto the ground, sticking his great sword into the ground to stop himself from sliding backwards.
Duran looked up slowly, noticing clear iridescent energy flowing around the main halls. He looked up quickly, noticing me standing in front of Rozalin in a protective manner, my Deep Roots slowly extending from my lower back and both roots shimmering with a floral green light.
Rozalin looked up from her arms with a toothy smirk, sticking her tongue out at Duran and stood up straight and wrapped her arms around my waist, looking up at me with teary eyes. "Dad, he's crazy..! I was just telling him about what he did wrong and he suddenly went ballistic!"
"That dumb whore is lying! She corrupted me and dared to call out in the Most High's name! I don't know what kind of show you're running here, but Messiahs...don't birth demons..." Duran scowled, his grip upon his weapons tightening.
Queen and Chester sharply inhaled at Duran's words, the two of them glancing at each other and collectively agreed to make their quick escape. They both quickly slithered away from the main halls, knowing judgement was coming upon Duran.
I looked back at Rozalin, giving her a warm smile and gently pushed her back. "Go to the Libra Department, and find Luciel, Fleur, and Effie. Stick with them for a while...play with your sister and distract yourself."
Rozalin smiled back at me, nodding with excitement then ran off, her heels clicking against the ground in a swift rhythm. She stopped by the entrance of the Department, looking back at me without a single worried thought in her mind, knowing everything would come out alright then rushed out the doors.
"Professor Duran...a respected teacher at this establishment. I'm sure you're quite knowledgeable about The Chronicles. Archer was known as The Betrayer of August's Disciples, do you know where he betrayed him at?" I asked, raising one of my roots for my butterflies for land on.
"It was right here at this very institution V.J.I... previously known as St. Meishi Academy. Sold him away for 30 pieces of copper to Exzodia Captial to be crucified by Cetus aka Chaos...also known as Terminus. That is what started the Years of Darkness within the Second and Third Books of August," I said, turning my gaze toward Duran with a calm gaze.
"Tch...what are you getting at?" Duran asked, his body growing tense and uneasy at my very presence.
"Genesis cried that night...The night he experienced his first death. The light was no more and all that remained was Darkness...and all there was left was Judgement. No mercy for the unrepentant, no mercy for the sinners," I answered, my Holy Fire emitting from my chest and my eyes glowing an amber light.
"For the first time in history, Yuvah allowed August to become Heaven's First Avenger, the Hero of Origin who was allowed to fully weild His Wrath. August became Cipher the day he rose, the Wrath of the Nexus, the Anger of Ascea," I said, my Holy Fire burning brightly and illuminating the halls more than the sun ever could.
Duran grunted heavily as he guarded his eyes from my bright light, the heat from my aura growing by the second, slowly melting the tiles I stood upon. He looked up from his arms, taking a glance at me and his eyes widened slightly.
The high winds picked up my shirt slightly, a glowing tattoo in Exzodian Language becoming visible on my stomach. Duran read the tattoo upon my stomach, his heart skipping a beat with confusion and subtle fear at the words, "Lord of Lords".