"—Are you awake, Issei?"
A voice drifted through the haze.
Someone was speaking to me, reaching through the fog of my fading consciousness.
"—What? Still asleep?"
It was a nostalgic voice. A voice belonging to the man whose back I had spent my entire life chasing.
"—Rest for now. You've been exhausting yourself, carrying my legacy in my stead."
In your stead… is that it?
"Issei. Was the gift I left you a burden, or was it…"
The voice grew faint, receding into the distance until it vanished entirely. I felt myself slipping back into the depths of a heavy slumber.
[Kiba's POV]
"Evacuate! Non-combatants, get out of here now! Hurry!"
Nearby, a man in a white lab coat was screaming. His face was a mask of desperation as he gestured wildly, ushering other researchers toward safety.
We were in the Fallen Angel territory of the Underworld. Specifically, we were at one of Grigori's most vital hubs—a sprawling research complex dedicated to the analysis of Sacred Gears, the development of Artificial Sacred Gears, and the study of advanced thaumaturgy.
That hub was currently in the throes of total chaos.
The cause loomed in the sky above: a colossal monstrosity. A seven-headed beast, hundreds of meters long, looked down upon us like a god of destruction.
It stood with the hunched, predatory posture of a primate, supported by four massive arms and two legs even thicker than its brawny limbs. Coarse black fur covered its body, interspersed with patches of jagged scales. Crimson, horn-like protrusions sprouted from every inch of its hide. Its seven tails—each long, thick, and unique—thrashed behind it. One was a lion's tail, another a dragon's; the creature was a grotesque amalgamation of every predatory beast imaginable.
The miasma rolling off its massive frame was denser than anything I had ever felt. The sheer wrongness of its presence sent a violent shiver through my spine at the slightest touch of the air.
—The Beast of the Apocalypse: Trihexa.
The mission to reclaim Agreas should have been a success. Issei-kun had defeated Rizevim, and for a moment, it felt like the battle was over. But then, it appeared.
The island of Agreas shook as Trihexa emerged from its deepest reaches. It took to the skies, trailing a legion of Evil Dragons and mass-produced clones of the Red Dragon Emperor in its wake.
And now, having fully awakened, Trihexa had brought the fight directly to Grigori's doorstep.
"I can't believe they've pushed this far inland in such a short time…!"
Rias-senpai's voice, thick with frustration, crackled through my earpiece. Following Trihexa's resurrection and subsequent invasion, those of us in the 'D×D' squad had rushed straight from Agreas to the front lines.
By the time we arrived, the area was already a hellscape. Research facilities had been reduced to smoldering piles of rubble. The wounded were everywhere, and the casualties were mounting.
Trihexa unhinged its massive jaws. In the heat of the melee, someone screamed a frantic warning.
"HERE IT COMES!"
In an instant, a torrent of purgatorial flames erupted from Trihexa's maw. The fire raced across the sky of the Underworld, staining the horizon a hellish crimson.
The Fallen Angel warriors attempting to intercept it from above were erased before they could even scream. The blast was so wide that evasion was impossible; even those who managed to deploy defensive magic circles in time saw their barriers shattered like glass before being incinerated.
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