On that day, Exzodia will be the third party to Eyica and Arcania...
A blessing upon the Earth...
The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, 'Blessed be Eyica my people, Arcania my handiwork, and Exzodia my inheritance.'
I adjusted the Mana Bracelets I received from Rachael upon my wrist, using them as inhibitors to hold back a vast of my overgrowing potential. I tilted my nose up slightly, my eyes gleaming brightly as I stared at Duran. "You all say I am a Prince with no Kingdom to claim...It's true Exzodia has fallen, and I am a Prince without a physical kingdom..."
"However...My Kingdom was never physical to begin with and that's what I've grown to truly realize. This..." I continued, pointing at the slowly crumbling Department. "This is the Kingdom of Terminus, the god of the World. It's physical for he can not create, only destroy and pervert everything God created."
"Quit spouting your zealous bullshit and get to the point! I'm tired of hearing you go on and on about some parables! Just exactly who the hell are you," Duran barked, sticking his weapons into the ground and cracked his knuckles.
"It's only natural for you to be confused, angry, lost...but that's why I am here. To help you find yourself again. The Virgos are repentant, the Sagittarius are not. I am the Lion and the Lamb, the Apex and the Shepard. I am the road to the true Kingdom, the very gates of Heaven," I said, holding my hand out toward Duran.
"I am Nox Ascea Exzodia, the prophesized Last Hero from August, the Nexus prophesized by Henosis, the King of Kings. You say I am without a Kingdom...but the Kingdom resides in me!" I declared, a floral crown forming over my head as I took on my Sovereignty Stance.
Duran grunted heavily as he shielded himself from the high pressure of my aura, my aura radiating heat from the very fires of Heaven. He glanced up at me, noticing my hair becoming white as wool, my eyes gleaming the color of fire, my butterflies shining a mix between floral yellow and silver.
"Every knee will bow, every tongue shall confess who their true Lord is. Give praises to the Most High for he hath sent the Son of Man to save you all from the transgressions of the Devil," I said, getting into my battle stance then warped toward Duran.
Duran grunted heavily with shock, barely getting his guard up on time to block my attack. He threw a wild straight punch, but his hand struck through my afterimage, his eyes widening with shock. He sensed my presence behind me, quickly pivoting around only to be caught with a vicious strike to his face.
Duran grunted as he flew backwards, recovering onto one knee and looking up to see my butterflies soaring toward him like homing missiles. He held his hand out to his great sword, the sword warping into his hand and allowing him to deflect my butterflies with quick efficiency.
"More reactive than I anticipated, but this is only the beginning!" I called out, striking the air with a punch and launching a massive shockwave toward Duran.
Duran rose his guard once again, grunting heavily as the shockwave slammed against him and immediately broke through his durability, sending him flying backwards against the wall. I warped in front of him with a pulsing dropkick, sending him crashing through the wall.
Duran rolled backwards along the ground, recovering back onto his feet and leaped backwards upon my next attack and deflected another one of my homing butterflies. Warping behind him, I launched a quick strike, but he managed to evade my attack and counter with a wide slash.
I blocked his wide slash, grunting lightly as he launched me across the halls. I extracted my Deep Roots from my back, stopping my momentum and landing onto the ground. 'That Charm Sigil isn't doing enough to fully transform him...he's clearly Obeying Rozalin by attacking me, but Pleasure State is hard to gauge...'
Duran lowered his weapon with a low grunt, watching me carefully with a keen eye, his body on high alert. "Even...the Devil masquerades as an Angel of Light. Terminus has gotten smarter and smarter, who's to say he's not masquerading as the Messiah right now?"
I chuckled softly at Duran's words, nodding at his comment then inhaled softly. "You're right, he could be tricking us in this moment...but he's not here. Not physically anyway. He is here at this institution, spiritually... emotionally."
"Here you go with the parables again..." Duran scoffed with disdain, gritting his teeth with growing frustration, his light blue flames expanding with his emotions.
"Say Terminus is disguising himself right now, why would you think it is me? Because I don't have the Sword of Spirits? Could Terminus do this?" I asked, using one of my butterflies to summon forth a Unit.
The unit appearing before him had light gray hair, glowing light blue eyes, and wore light angelic armor. His appearance closely resembled Kisoo, causing Duran to physically freeze in surprise.
"Kisoo..?" Duran asked in awe, his gaze shifting back over toward me with bewilderment.
"The Kisoo you know is dead, and the one you see now is called a Unit also known as a Hero. Terminus can revive, create, nor heal anyone. Could Terminus do this?" I asked, snapping my fingers and giving Kisoo the command to strike.
Kisoo dashed toward Duran at blurring speeds, leaping toward him for a roundhouse kick, but Duran blocked it with his forearm and grunted softly at Kisoo's enhanced strength. Duran pushed Kisoo back then took a few steps back to create space between the two.
"What...what is going on? Are you saying you... resurrected Kisoo? How did he die?" Duran asked with great confusion, his mind not being able to grasp the current reality before him.
"It's a long story...his death truly, but Kisoo isn't your typical Unit. He's a warning of what you'll become. A Unit or Valkyria is part of Genesis's Army while Monsters are Ragnarok's Army. Kisoo belongs to a Legion...known as Squad XII," I said, closing my fist and turning Kisoo's body into a nest of snakes.
Duran grunted softly and avoided the snakes, his body growing chills as each snake purposely slithered toward him before scattering to the darkness of the Department ruins. He looked back up at me with a glare, a cold sweat crawling down his spine.
"Now, let me show you a real Hero!" I called out, launching one of my butterflies forward with a smirk.
My butterfly began to shine brightly, its body bursting into flames and expanding into the form of a swordsman with fiery hair, a flowing, tattered red scarf around his neck, and a broadsword encased with fire resting upon his back. The man stood up straight, getting into his stance and locked onto Duran.
"No way...that's one of the Exzodian Legends. How did you summon Vargas..? Just who are you?!" Duran yelled, his flames spreading throughout the halls in attempt to burn me and Vargas.
"The answer is already in front of your eyes," I said calmly, using my Iridescent Aura to clash with Duran's flames and pointed forward for Vargas to attack.
Vargas launched himself toward Duran with a blazing slice, but Duran managed to block the attack in time, the force of Vargas's strike sending him sliding backwards along the ground. The two began their dance of blades, rushing through the narrow halls of the P-Wing of the Sagittarius Department.
Dodging Vargas's next slash, Duran summoned his spear in hand, thrusting it forward and releasing a pulse of light using a great force. A shield of light formed in front of Vargas, blocking the thrust of Duran's spear and the pulse of light.
"I have 13 Butterflies in total, so that means I can summon 13 Units and Valkyrias. This is the power of what you all would call a Light Lord. It talks about it in the Book of 3rd August," I said, walking around the corner of a parallel hall.
The Valkyria protecting Vargas had long blonde hair styled in a single ponytail, light blue eyes, and wielded a sword of light in her hands. The shield used to protect Vargas reverted back into a halo, the halo floating back to its position behind the woman.
"First, it's Vargas of Alesund...now you summon Uriel of Le Stratum? Just what are you seeking to prove? All of this that you do doesn't matter when the facts still stand, you're still a murderer!" Duran called out, pointing his spear at me and charging up an attack.
I smirked at his comment and lowered my head, continuing to walk down the halls with my hands in my pockets. "Really? We're on about this again?"
"You may can prove yourself with the Fosters' Incident...but you can't prove you didn't kill your own brother for the Sword of Spirits," Duran sneered, a smirk forming on his face as he noticed me look up at him.
"What..? How did you know Zachary had the Sword of Spirits? No one but me and my mother knew that information," I said, my gaze becoming sharper as I stared at Duran and stopped walking.
Duran smirked at my question, his eyes darkening with a sense of satisfaction at seeing me stumped for the first time in a while. 'Checkmate...you thought you were ahead of us...but now we can finally take you down...'
"It's a simple answer really...the Old Covenant of The Chronicles always pretty much tells a tale between two brothers. Adamiel and Eva's two sons, Adell and Cain, Henosis and Luca the Tyrant, Terminus and Ascea," Duran began, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly with a serpent's gaze in his eye.
"Every story tells the same lesson, Jealousy being the root of evil. Zachary had something you wanted...The Spirit of God! So all your life you've planned your brother's downfall one by one. Spirit Warp, Divine Discernment, Origin Guidance via Butterflies, those were all Zachary's!" Duran accused, chuckling coldly as he noticed my gaze darkening from his various accusations.
I took my hands out of my pockets slowly, clenching both hands into fists and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly to calm my burning nerves. "You don't know what happened that day. I took nothing of my brother's. All Blessings that were given to me were because of my walk with God since a child!"
"You speak with the devil's tongue and I can see it in your eyes you phony pagan. You think you have me on checkmate? Duran..." I began, breaking out into soft laughter and shook my head.
Duran gulped lightly, his hand subconsciously touching the Charm Sigil upon his neck as it began to glow. He couldn't take his eyes off me as I began to laugh, the air around him seemingly growing colder. "What's...what's so funny..?"
I sighed softly and opened my eyes, staring at him with a smirk. "You're the one who's at my mercy...you're the one at checkmate. Even your body is telling you that you're running out of time for repentance. I've let you all mock me for years...not only me by my Father in Heaven..."
"Do you honestly believe Ragnarok is evil? Do you think the way He judges the unrepentant is evil? Ragnarok is Yuvah's Judgement, His Wrath. Ragnarok is as much God as Genesis is, as much God as Yuvah the Lord Almighty is," I continued, my gaze lowering to Duran's Charm Sigil.
Duran's breathing began to grow heavier as Rozalin's whispers entered into his head, causing him to grunt heavily and grip his hair. His flames began to grow larger, his urge to continue fighting me growing even more within him. The Charm Sigil began to grow brighter, releasing energy around his body to give him great pleasure in battle.
I smirked at Rozalin's handy work and hummed softly, my gaze shifting back up to Duran. "If you don't repent now, Ragnarok will have hold of you...and I think you'd rather have the Sovereign Mother, Genesis, scold you than to have Ragnarok judge you.."
"No...you're a liar! You are a fake!" Duran roared, looking up at me with fury red eyes, his emotions becoming more monstrous.
"Lord, he's grown stronger. We need to defeat him now," Vargas called out to me, looking over at me with caution and noticing my calm expression.
I shook my head and summoned my Steel Buster in my hands, taking on my stance and grinning at Duran. "Not yet...He isn't ready to take him yet. Genesis is still wanting to see if he'll reconsider through me.."
Duran let out a battle cry and lunged toward me with a wrathful thrust with his spear, his spear phasing through my silver silhouette and piercing through its shoulder. I warped in front of Duran, launching him away with a percise kick to his chest, sending him flying across the hall.
Launching one of my butterflies toward him, I toward him and caught his ankle, spinning him around and launching him upwards. I let out a bellow, causing my aura to surge upwards and blast Duran to the upper floors of the department.
Duran grunted as his body was flung through the multiple ceilings, finally appearing in an empty classroom airborne. I warped in front of him once more with a roundhouse kick, but he managed to recover quick enough to block my heavy strike.
"You're not defeating me that easily, Usurper!" Duran declared, pushing me back with all of his strength.
"You still dare to deny Truth when it stands in front of you? Even demons tremble at the name of Nexus! You're worse than a demon it seems...you're a follower of Terminus. A Daemon..." I said, my lips curling into a smirk as I cracked my neck and hopped up and down, my gaze shifting to a ripple next to me.
"Papa! I can still see you using my mirror! Don't over do it! Grandpa Ragnarok said we need a Dullahan for tomorrow!" Rozalin warned, viewing the battle through her mirror as she brushed Scarlet's hair.
I chuckled at Rozalin's warning, my attention shifting back to the Charm Sigil upon Duran's neck while continuing to energize my body. I got into my battle stance, my iridescent energy pulsing primarily yellow. "I know, Rozie... I'll pull my punches.."
"Pull your punches..? Who do you take me f—" Duran began, groaning mid sentence as I warped in front of him with a gut strike.
I began rushing him with a flurry of strikes, throwing him around the classroom as he desperately tried to recover from my initial blow. Finally recovering, he quickly rose upward to dodge my kick then grabbed a chair from behind him and swung it toward me.
I phased through the chair, dashing forward and striking his stomach with my knee to stagger him then launched him in the air with a leaping double kick. Sending him flying backwards with a spinning heel kick, Duran groaned loudly as he crashed through the window.
Duran quickly manifested his wings, his body sensing danger below and flapped his wings to avoid a large root shooting upward toward him from the ground. He glanced down at the ground, noticing Sephiroth taunting him in the Sagittarius Garden. "What the hell..?"
"Do you like my surprise? Sephiroth was summoned for this very Department. Since you chose to not repent, Judgement has been casted. It's too late for forgiveness," I said, walking on the air toward Duran.
Duran grit his teeth and flew toward me at high speeds with a punch that ripped through the air, his hand smashing against an invisible force protecting me. He looked down at his hand in disbelief, noticing the faint ripples of my aura acting as autonomous defenses.
"It's too late for rebuttals...you were given many chances, we've had conversations in the midst of our battle. I've tried to hand you over to Genesis, but it seems you still wish to just...listen to Terminus," I said, reaching forward and grabbing Duran's wrist.
"Let us begin your trial..." I said, launching Duran away with a flurry of strikes from invisible forces.
Duran stopped himself in the air with the flap of his wings, looking ahead to see multiple blade beams flying toward him. He quickly flew around to avoid my slash projectiles, but I warped above his next position and spiked him to the ground with a double axe handle.
Duran landed upon one knee with a heavy grunt, staggering a bit before rising to his feet and noticing Sephiroth standing tall in front of him. Uprooting her arms from the ground, she began swinging her large roots at Duran, aiming for successful strikes.
Duran rushed to evade every swing of her roots, grunting heavily with every exertion of force to dodge. "These damn monsters! I've had enough of this!"
Duran dodged Sephiroth's next slam then summoned his great sword into his hand, slashing down and cutting off parts of Sephiroth's roots. She groaned loudly in pain, taking a bit of damage from Duran's weapon.
"So, your weakness is...the Holy Affinity huh..? Heh, so you aren't so invincible after all!" Duran laughed, dashing toward Sephiroth and leaping toward her with another slash.
Sephiroth swung her second arm, smashing her roots against Duran's body and sending him flying, a thread of aura appearing upon his body and applying Chained Status upon him. Duran landed onto his feet, coughing lightly from the heavy blow and stood up straight.
Rushing toward her once again, he decided to stay on the ground for a heavy circular slash at her legs. Sephiroth rooted her injured arm and generated an earth barricade in front of her arm, blocking Duran's heavy strike with vines protruding from the barricade to counter Duran.
Duran quickly leaped backwards, releasing his sword to avoid the vines, but couldn't react fast enough to my Chain Strike, my attack dazing him lightly and causing him to stagger backwards. "W-Wha...who.."
I cracked my knuckles as I walked toward Duran, charging toward him with a running knee to his face then a chop to his neck. Duran groaned in pain and held his neck, looking up and rolling out of the way of my neck attack then summoned his spear.
Thrusting his spear forward, I quickly dodged the jab and grabbed his spear, pulling him toward me for a powerful shoulder strike. Disarming him with my strike, I began rapidly striking him with jabs with his own weapon then knocked him away with a powerful swing with the blunt end of his spear.
I tossed the spear aside, walking toward Duran and scoffed with disgust at him. "You Daemons disgust me... disgusting yourselves as humans to later take advantage of them.."
Duran chuckled softly as he sat up against a boulder, looking up at me with cold eyes. "Right...and that's what Vance did to you and Zachary right..?"
"Papa, don't listen to him! He's trying to distract you!" Rozalin warned, grunting softly as she put down her brush to listen closely to our conversation.
My eye twitched as he mentioned what happened at Exzodia Church, my attempts to control my growing anger becoming a harder challenge. "What..?"
"Oh? You didn't think we'd know? Vance...killed... Zachary. He was aiming for you...Prophesized Messiah, but we rejoiced in your brother's death nonetheless," Duran laughed, staring me in my eyes as he mocked my brother's death.
I grit my teeth heavily, storming toward him and crouching down to grab Duran's collar and stared into his soul. "You dare mock the death of my brother..?"
"We were all there to see...his death and Vance's death. That Black Giant you saw that night...it...it was me," Duran revealed with a mocking smirk, watching the light slowly leave my eyes.
"Papa, you have to stop listening to him! I don't know what he's doing, but...he's using the raw truth to provoke you! Listen to me Papa!!"
My mind began to fall back into the night the Black Giant appeared when Luciel, Fleur, and I fell into grief, that traumatic night replaying in my head as if it happened yesterday. Duran smirked at my shocked state, pushing me off him and stood up from the ground.
He looked down at me as I stared up at him in disbelief, his lips stretching into an even colder smile. "I guess the Messiah truly is...half human as they say. Look at your face...you thought I died that night, but Lament...had other uses for me."
I stared at the grass, remembering Duran said 'We' and my mind began to flood with questions. "We..? Who else...who else was at the church?"
Duran looked up at the blue sky with a hum, crossing his arms and chuckled softly at my question. "Well...there was Lament of course, me...and a few others like Leonidas, Dahlia, oh...and Merin of course. We saw the entire performance.."
"Leo...Leonidas..?" I asked, gripping the grass tightly, red lightning crackling around my body.
"Of course, we had to be there to help Vance defeat the vanguard of God Marked Nuns. Ahh...and of course there was the leader of them. The Warden, Luciel Genessi. She's your spiritual wife am I right?" Duran asked, looking down at me with a smirk then walked around to stand in front of me.
"Merin took special care of her...not without teaching her a good lesson about respect. Something you need to learn, kid! I'm sure she learned though...she's rather affection toward you right? You can thank us for teaching her a woman's place!" Duran goaded, stepping upon my head with a sneer and forcing me to bow down to him.
My body shook with anger I could barely contain within me as he talked about Luciel in such a negative manner. The lightning crackling around my body began to slowly shift into purple, my breathing gradually slowly from my increasing anger.
How much longer will you avoid becoming The Sword?
You wield my power, yet...
You still show mercy without backbone.
It's time, Son.
It's time to bring Victory...
Hearing the voice of Ragnarok speaking into my ears, I gripped the grass even tighter and caused vines to sprout from the ground and wrap around Duran's leg. Duran looked down at the vines around his leg then looked back at me to strike me, but my vines began sapping energy out of his body violently, getting his foot off my head.
I stood up slowly, glancing up at Duran and glancing at his Charm Sigil and summoned my Steel Buster in my hand. "Duran...your time is up. It's time for you to answer for your sins!"
Duran quickly summoned his great sword into his hands as I dashed toward him, blocking my first slash and groaned heavily from the overwhelming force behind my attack. My next slash got him down onto one knee, but it wasn't enough...not nearly enough.
Sephiroth uprooted her arms at my command, rapidly and wildly thrashing about upon Duran's back, each strike feeling like a thousand whips lashing against his body. Multiple threads of aura appeared upon his body, each one allowing for continuous Chain Strikes.
"It's time I finish this!" I roared, charging toward Duran and launching him in the air with an uppercut.
I began rapidly warping around him with a flurry of Chain Strikes from various directions, leaving him no room for breaks or recovery. I continued my merciless onslaught upon him until the very last thread, grabbing his head and warping to the ground with a slam.
Duran groaned in pain, slowly rising onto his hands and knees then felt roots around his wrists and ankles keeping him in place. "What is this..?! What—"
I rested the blade of my sword against the back of Duran's neck, preparing to execute him and looked down at him with cold eyes. Onlookers of the battle watched from the distance, their phones out to record the incident while the news helicopter lingered over the institution.
I gripped the handle of my sword tightly, readying myself to kill Duran. "Just tell me...one thing. Why was Leonidas at Exzodia Church on the day of Zachary's death..?"
Murmurs amongst the students began to spread as they heard their dean was at the crime scene, many of them gossipping amongst themselves. Duran chuckled lightly at me and kept his eyes on the ground, wanting to not answer but wanted to since he knew his life was over.
"For you. Since he's a descendant of Ryoma Miyazaki, he's part of your lineage...and he wanted your Crest, the Lord of Lords Crest. The others want something from you as well...it's all to strip you away of your status..." Duran answered, keeping a smirk upon his lips as he closed his eyes.
I read Duran's body language for a moment, knowing he wouldn't answer anymore of my questions regarding Leonidas. I took my sword off his neck, walking away and reverting to my normal form.
Duran smirked as I walked away until feeling the blade of Uriel's sword upon his neck, his body freezing as he realized I set someone else to be the executioner. Before he could protest, Uriel rose her sword and severed Duran's head off his shoulders... completing his Dullahan transformation.
A silver helmet began to form over Duran's head, vines overtaking his body as Floria began the process to transform him into Dullahan. The students quickly left the scene, each of them retreating back to the Main or Libra Departments, all now skeptical of Leonidas.