Stab, stab.
Slash, slash.
Stab, stab.
"[Hold Species] [Open Wounds] [Fireball]" Momonga kept the immobilizing spell up while four of the six angels were stabbing the armored man on the ground in front of him, and two angels were guarding Momonga.
He had stopped chain-casting [Grasp Heart] on the account that the mana drain was starting to build up, and he wasn't sure if the young man had additional 'stages' of fight so he conserved his power.
He had ordered his newly-summoned Angels to start stabbing away at the man who was struggling to get up due to Momonga's barrage of restricting abilities. First it had looked as if the boy could just shrug off the constricting spells as Momonga's power had been reduced to quarter of what it had been, but it seemed that the man's attacks at Momonga were temporary debuffs rather than permanent effects, since his power had suddenly popped back to 'half' from the 'quarter', soon followed by returning to 'full'.
Meanwhile, the man had somehow summoned what appeared to be a variant of a [Powered Suit] from YGGDRASIL.
Yet, since Momonga assumed that the draining touch could only be used in close proximity, the suit wouldn't help him as long as he was getting repeatedly paralyzed by [Hold Species] even if the white-armored man was shaking the effect off with alarming speed each time.
Naturally, seeing the white suit of armor had caused Momonga endless confusion, but also wariness in equal measure. 'That ability of his is quite strong, but he doesn't seem to have many abilities to resist disruption spells... Or is he one-spell wonder who has one or two powerful abilities but not much more than that? The fact he's chosen to don a [Powered Suit] suggests so, since those suits are more or less crutches for low-level and low-skill players... But either this world's [Powered Suit]s work differently, or that suit is actually not a [Powered Suit] but something else entirely because his health went up...'
He kept an eye on the young man's health through his [Detect Life], and the health had suddenly jumped to nearly three times in size despite the damage he had sustained when he had brought up the suit. It seemed that the 'armor-up' had increased his health and boosted his other stats, which meant that the suit wasn't YGGDRASIL's [Powered Suit] on account that the DDVR armor wouldn't actually increase its wielder's health or mana, but would confer extra defense and offensive abilities while all but sealing all of the user's own abilities. 'I may have to experiment with a suit I have in my inventory... Amanomahitotsu bought one and customized it to a great degree, so I wanted it to be with me when YGGDRASIL ended, even if he discarded the suit afterwards. Heh, I never managed to tell him that even though his attempt to make a PvP combat-viable [Powered Suit] build was a failure, that he should feel pride for trying in the first place, and that the suit he made was actually fairly cool... even if Peroroncino obliterated him in combat when he tried to use it...'
"GHRH!" A muted growl of frustration, rage and pain came from the form which was getting stabbed and pummelled repeatedly by the angels, each stab timed so that there were at least one blade in the man at any one time, pinning him to the ground in addition to the paralyzing spell removing much of his mobility. "[Divide][Divide][Divide][Divide][Divide][Divide]!"
The boy managed to grab one of the angel's spears, causing the diminishing spell to knock the angel off its feet as its level was rapidly drained from eighty to level two.
The lion-headed [Cherubim Gatekeeper] let out a roar of anger and frustration while Momonga called it back behind the defensive line of two angels guarding him. 'Hm, the stabs are dealing a decent amount of damage even to his elevated health, but I'll need to switch my strategies before he adjusts, moreover my spell's duration seems to be reduced, which means he's likely a 'high-level opponent'... I'm fairly sure I could use my [True Death] to finish him off now, but I want to find out more about how my magic works here...' "[Maximize Magic: Open Wounds], [Maximize Magic: Dehydrate]."
He was using lower-tier spells to gauge the enemy's resistances now that he had regained upper hand, with [Open Wounds] increasing the damage that the stab-wounds from the Angels dealt on him, and [Dehydrate] dealing severe damage to non-undead non-water elemental creatures. 'Hm, so since [Dehydrate] is dealing damage he's not undead... Interesting, that means he's likely not a vampire either. Yet holy damage seems to deal higher damage than other damage types, so... he's a demon or a devil?'
Momonga didn't have many abilities that dealt holy damage, thanks to his specialization. And the tier-wise strongest holy-damage dealing spell he could use would deal damage in inverse proportion to his karma, which the last time he checked was solidly in the 'extreme evil' spectrum, so it wouldn't do much damage but would consume a good chunk of his mana.
The young man managed to break [Hold Species] again and almost grabbed one of the three remaining angels stabbing him.
Almost being the key word, as Momonga interfered. "[Flash]! [Hold Species]"
The woods were suddenly flooded with light, stunning the young man whose grasp missed. The angel who dodged out of the way returned the attack with a swing on the young man's outstretched arm, managing to pierce the spike of its halberd into the joint in the man's armor, specifically the elbow-joint in his left arm.
"[Triplet Maximize Magic: Open Wounds]" Momonga directed the spell calmly to the joint-wound, causing it to worsen severely and let a sickening crunch followed by equally nauseating tear, then followed by the forearm ripping off by the joint as the Angel pressed its attack further and twisted the halberd's blade.
"AARGHHH! DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU ISSEI! MOMON!" The man let out a roar of rage and pain, trying to get up but getting knocked back down by a constant stream of attacks from the angels and interference from Momonga. "FIGHT FAIR!"
"...Hm, no. [Hold Species]. Also, now that we've established a conversation, how about we call off this duel? It was never my intention to duel you..." Momonga remembered that the whole duel had started as a consequence of a miscommunication and now that a spoken communication was established, he figured that he should try to de-escalate. Specifically now that he had gotten a taste of the respective power-levels and gimmicks in the new world. '...I'll need to be more prepared than ever if something like 'halving' is part of every strong entity's repertoire... I'm fairly sure this man is akin to a, hm, level seventy or eighty player, perhaps? So that would mean Serafall and the rest of Maous likely have similar or even stronger abilities... Perhaps something that reduces one's level to one on touch?'
"I WILL KILL YOU! RARGH! I SWEAR THIS ON MY NAME AS WHITE DRAGON EMPEROR!" The white-armored young man screamed in pain. Momonga figured that the pain might be from the Angels keeping up their relentless barrage of blows despite the exchange taking place, but somehow he felt that the pain was coming from the man's bruised ego more than his physical wounds.
The ability to ignore pain to that extent made Momonga suspect the boy had some sort of pain-suppression ability or just didn't feel pain, or he had strong enough mental fortitude that he could just shrug pain off.
'Oh... Did I cause another diplomatic incident? Then again, what was the emperor of, uh, white dragons doing in my forest?' Momonga felt resigned as he cast yet another [Open Wounds], followed by a [Fireball] that incinerated the severed forearm and hand as the white-armored form tried to grab it.
A Angel flicked the burning severed forearm away from the man with its halberd, and Momonga picked up the white gauntlet that was left after the flames went out, putting it in his inventory.
He felt he could end the fight immediately but if worse came to worst and 'death' would trigger yet another 'stage' in the white armored man-dragon, Momonga still had his signature World Item that strengthened him when fighting against dragons.
Yet, Momonga felt rather resigned about using it as he had no idea how it would mix with his human body, or if it would even tether to his 'borrowed' body in the first place or reject it outright. After all, the WCI was tailored to only one 'player', that being Momonga. "I see... Well, I suppose there's nothing else to say then... Or, should I rather ask that you yield? After all, the rules of our duel was that if I won... [Hold Species]... You'd listen to me, and if you won, I'd die?"
"YOU HAVE NOT WON- GHRTHT- YET!" The White Dragon Emperor's words became garbled as one of the angels transformed its halberd to a warhammer and hit the white-clad form's head with it like a blacksmith trying to break a particularly stubborn piece of steel slag. "GRH! JUGGERN-"
"Enough!" A pained, annoyed, and enraged voice came from within the armor, surprising Momonga as the voice was deep and rumbly, akin to the tone of the dragon within Momonga's inventory. "How much more do you plan to disgrace me, Vali?! My worthless Wielder yields. This I decree as Albion."
"NO, NO, NO!" The young man roared in anger as the armored suit disappeared, and Momonga hastily waved the angels to stop before one of them would sever the now-exposed man's head with an executioner's claymore it had transformed from its spear. "DO NOT DENY ME THI- Hurgh!"
The young man turned and vomited blood on the ground, pale as a sheet, and now that the armor was no longer disguising his injuries, bleeding from all over and lacking his left arm from elbow down. He had burns all over, likely from the pinpoint [Fireballs] Momonga had sent his way, and his hair had been burnt heavily to the point it was either gone or stained murky black from soot. Not that his previously handsome appearance was faring any better from the flesh sporting wet burns and puffed due to heat transferring through the metal armor and bruising from blunt hits. His face appeared sunken, like that of a man dying of thirst, which Momonga attributed to [Dehydrate].
"Hm, right. Well, I've won the duel, so are you willing to honor its conditions?" Momonga asked, and the previously-white-haired man shot him a glare that promised death. "In truth I never meant my challenge to you, nor that I'd injure you to this extent, but you landed the first strike before I could correct my mistake and honestly, you were so strong I had to go all out. I hope we can get along in the future?" 'Well, I didn't truly go all-out, but revealing my trump cards when Serafall is prowling around here isn't exactly wise... if I am found out, she's likely one of the major opponents I'll have to face... Nor was I able to use my signature magic because I had to keep a low profile... good thing [Grasp Heart] is subtle as far as its death magic flare is concerned, I can just mix that into regular combat if I need to...'
"Grrr... Say your piece..." The man coughed blood while sitting up slowly. He undid his belt and then strapped it around his bleeding arm-stump, drawing it tight to stem the blood flow. "And be gone afterwards."
"Well, you are trespassing on my property..." Momonga reminded the man, and then sighed theatherically. He flared his nonexistent cape and adjusted his nonexistent officer's cap, listening closely to the woods around him. 'Hm? No girly squeaks? Serafall is not observing me? Or did she mute herself? Ow, I had to use 'Chuuni' for nothing... No, am I already starting to use it as if it was a power?! No, this cannot be...'
Emotion suppression activated, drawing Momonga away from his internal horror and back to the conversation at hand. "Anyway, introductions may be in order. I'm Momon Phenix, although I imagine you knew that already. Please tell me who you are and what you are doing skulking around in my estate?"
A thought came to Momonga's head. 'Hm, Also... Where's Ravel?' "Also, did you happen to see a blonde-haired girl? Roughly this tall, with hair arranged to two drills?"
He lifted his hand to show her approximate height.
"I have not seen a girl like that." The burnt man spat out, disgusted at Momonga's 'flare'. "I'm Vali Lucifer. I serve Azazel, the lord of Fallen Angels. My mission is to capture Kokabiel, a fallen angel that has rebelled against us and is likely planning to start a war between Three Factions."
He coughed out more blood and held to his chest, grimacing hard. And then let yet another pained groan. "Hgn... What the hell was that... and why are you following him? Were you sent by Michael?"
"I... see." 'It's one of these things again...' Momonga sighed as he digested the man's words. Then he noticed that the white-haired man's words had been directed to the angels which now flanked Momonga.
The angels were quiet and Momonga sighed in relief. 'Good... I thought for a while they'd say something outrageous like 'He's my daddy' and I'd get into trouble again...'
Momonga shook his head mentally to clear it of stray thoughts.
"I created them. They serve me." Momonga told the man truthfully and the six angels nodded simultaneously. "Anyway, why'd you come to my estate of all places?"
Vali paused, then recomposed himself visibly after staring at Momonga for a while, coughed more blood and dragged himself so he sat against an unearthed boulder . "I... see. R-right. Sure. I had long-range wards active to search for high-energy bursts that would alert me to Kokabiel's magic use. I detected four pings from here and came over. I then sensed as you used multiple high-power spells and took cover in the bushes, and here we are."
"Four?" Momonga did a quick calculus. 'Interesting. I'll have to experiment to see what's the threshold for magic detection. I need to be careful if I try to keep a low profile... Hm, I cast a total of three spells before heading out of the mansion... would that [Widen Magic: Detect Life] be the fourth?' "How many bursts did you detect in total, excluding the ones that were released when we fought?"
Vali told the number, and Momonga compared it to his memories. 'That's one burst I didn't cast... was it cast by Serafall? If not...'
"Hm... I may have to go ask her..." Momonga wasn't looking forward to approaching Serafall to ask if she knew what had happened to Ravel. The coincidences were piling up and he didn't like the direction they had taken. "Well, anyway, that's all I wanted to know. You're free to go, Vali Lucifer."
He was quite curious about the man's abilities and his version of [Powered Suit], but if he was the agent of the Fallen Angels then 'Azazel' would come looking for him in case Momonga arranged Vali to 'disappear'. And if the name 'Azazel' belonged to who Momonga had a creeping feeling it belonged to, he didn't want to step on Fallen Angel's equivalent of a raid boss's toes just yet.
'Haah... I have to let so many chances for experimentation with corpses go because of politics... well, no use crying over spilled milk.' Momonga sighed. "I can carry you to the gate if you can't make it yourself..."
"I can... move by myself..." Vali ground out, wobbling onto his feet. "I... don't need... your pity... "
"It was no pity, but an offer made with good intent." Momonga noted, shrugging his shoulders. 'Well, I think my relations towards Fallen Angels are about to take a hit...'
Before he could get out much more or try to convince the burnt man to allow himself to be carried out, a pair of people entered the still smouldering and partially burning clearing in the forest. The Angels beside Momonga instantly took defensive position in front of him, extending their wings to form a barrier to stop anyone trying to reach him.
'Hm? So the two woke up... Did Rias let them go? Why isn't she here with them? Or... did they escape? They're clad in pajamas... Why'd they come here and not escape through the front gate?' Momonga's eyes widened as he saw the pajama-clad blue-haired Executor he had 'recruited' charge Vali and punt the already weakened, soot-and-wounds covered man in the head, knocking him out instantly.
"Die, die, die, you worthless wretch!" The blue-haired girl screamed, enraged, while kicking the unconscious and mutilated man. "Die for defiling me and Irina! Die!"
Momonga blinked.
Xenovia kicked the quivering sack of worthless meat one more time. "Suits you well for defying God-ow, that a wretch like you would be struck down by Angels of His- ow, Kingdom!"
It wasn't a stretch to deduce who the mutilated and nearly unrecognizable body belonged to, on the account that 'Issei Hyoudou' was a huge pervert that would only recruit women to 'his' Peerage, not to mention that the Angels had cornered and attacked him for defiling the two Agents of the Church upon him trying to flee the scene of his crimes.
Irina didn't kick the downed man, whose face had been mutilated to nearly unrecognizable extent. Instead she prayed.
"I'm... sorry I couldn't save you in time..." Irina told the unconscious boy quietly, tears falling down her face. "I'll pray for your soul, may God-ow, forgive you for your sins, and myself for not being with you to guide you, and for not being with you to protect you from Rias Gremory's wickedness."
Xenovia turned towards the six angels who stood in a row, having closed ranks, suddenly forgetting what she had wanted to say. The lion-faced angels were emotionless, and facing such divine beings made her heart waver. "I... I pray for thine forgiveness."
She fell on her knees in front of the angels and raised her hands in prayer. She felt Irina do so as well beside her. "I was corrupted against my will, please forgive us. Please save us! We have never doubted you!"
The angels raised their spears to point at the two, causing Xenovia's prayer to halt. 'I... I see... There is no salvation for Devils...'
A shape moved from behind the angels to the front of them, placing its hand on the shafts of the spears and forcing them down, speaking simple words to the Angels. "These two are my people."
Xenovia felt tears start to fall down her eyes, and Irina let a hiccup as she realized the identity of the form which was cloaked from the view by the Angel's light shining from both sides of it. "T-thank you, my lord..."
She felt no sting in her thoughts from the name and from the faith she directed at the form flanked by Angels, and rejoiced in realization. "T-thank you! I pledge to forever follow you, and obey you in all things forevermore! This I swear as your follower now, past, and forevermore!"
"Ah..." The form seemed to hesitate, causing Xenovia's blood to run cold with fear, but flood with warmth with the next words. "Very well, I accept your pledge and contract, and in turn pledge to be a good master to you. But, umu, I feel that your words are directed to someone else... Umu, nevertheless, we should return to our house and talk."
The form took one more step before Xenovia could re-pledge herself, revealing his form as it left the blinding radius of the Angels.
Issei Hyoudou was standing in front of the two girls.
Xenovia could hear something breaking, and realized instantly what it was.
It was Irina's mind.
"ISSEI!" Irina launched herself at the boy, hugging his waist with desperate grip. "You were sent back to me! You were cleansed! The monster inhabits your soul and body no longer! Thank you, God- ow?"
Xenovia flinched as well as she heard the word, causing a dreadful epiphany rise in her head.
She wanted to run away again, seeking help from the Church.
But as soon as she thought about it, the thought felt heavy and unpleasant, as she had made a pledge- a devil's contract to follow the... The...
She heard something break again.
It was Xenovia's mind.
She felt her body crash on the burnt ground.
.
.
Rias stalked the forest, flanked by Akeno, Asia and Xuelan, both of the latter having wondered what the ruckus was about and joined the two.
The group of four reached the clearing and saw the group of Angels, and Momon who was being hugged by one of the exorcists, and in front of him lied the unconscious body of the other exorcist, and the wounded body of someone else.
"It's happening again... ARGH!" Rias growled as she grabbed Asia, who was starting to droop from lack of sleep, and dragged her forwards to heal whoever Momon had decided to brutalize this time.
Just in case, and before Momon could 'recruit' him as well.
.
.
Ravel Phenix was starting to wake up, groggy and sore all over.
She felt a sudden surge of panic as she had been stuffed into a claustrophobically small space where it was difficult to breathe, her hands had been tied behind her back and her legs folded under her so her thighs hurt from flexing too much.
She tried to scream as the small space moved, and she realized she was in a moving square container of some sort, but found that her mouth was gagged so she couldn't scream and there were multiple sealing wards all over her to keep her pacified and keeping her from using her powers.
Ravel heard someone speaking outside her container, but couldn't pick up the words... until the container she was in was swung up and placed on something elevated like a table.
A series of clicks was followed by the container's lid opening, giving Ravel a good look at her captor, and made her realize she had been stuffed into a large carrying case. 'Is that... fallen angel? Kokabiel?'
She knew most of the 'major players' among all Three Factions, as knowledge of families was part of her training as a noble devil. 'Yet, why did he capture me? The Truce is still active, right? Mom would have told me if it had been broken, right?!'
"Ah, and consider this to be my humble gift for the 'Supreme One', alongside my best wishes. I heard thine faction might be looking for something like this." Kokabiel's expression was sickeningly, blood-curlingly subservient and pleasant, and utterly fake, making Ravel want to vomit. "Indeed, I hope this gift finds him in good health, and our factions may look forwards to long and fruitful cooperation in the future."
Ravel analyzed the words she had heard.
She felt sick.
The case was turned around, giving her a view of who had been on the other side of the table.
"Ah, this will do nicely... I thank you in place of the Supreme One... I had been looking for one of these for my research..." The growly, hissing voice of the creature in front of her invaded Ravel's ears, before a floating cloth moved towards her and lifted her tied body from the case. "Yes, this will do nicely..."
Ravel's eyes were wide as saucers as she looked at the desiccated condition Riser's body was in, then at the black cloak around his body, and then at the nightmarish decor of the cave where the exchange was taking place.
Her eyes rolled back on her head and she passed out.
Maybe it was for the best.
.
.
Serafall was feeling odd, even as she lied low in her stalking spot on a high branch of a tree, darkness of the night and cover of leaves cloaking her from view, even though the person she had stalked had left the clearing a long time ago, flanked by Angels and hounded by Devils.
She felt really odd. She hadn't even reacted to the cool flair Momon-kun had performed after defeating a gallant literal white-knight hero who had come to slay an evil mastermind that Mo-kun was.
Normally Levi-tan would be squealing like a rat in a vice or teenage girl in love after seeing such a despicable display of power and coolness.
However, she was completely still, frozen in spot, and utterly motionless.
'Wha- wa-wa-wa-wa-wa... Mo-kun... wa?' Serafall felt incredibly conflicted.
On one hand, Mo-kun was a cool evil mastermind pretending to be a cool black knight pretending to be a harem protagonist.
And then he had almost lost to the white knight-hero.
Serafall then realized that Mo-kun couldn't display his 'cool hidden secret dark power' because he didn't know Serafall was looking at him, making her feel ashamed for holding him back by not being there when he needed her the most.
But on the other hand, he had just created Angels when the lack of Serafall's visual presence had forced him to do something he clearly hadn't wanted to do.
So, Serafall was incredibly conflicted.
'Is he, actually, you know, really... But, didn't he die in the last war? I thought I fought him... Or, is... did he fake it... wait... could it be... but surely he didn't... what if... but she wasn't even born back then? But Gods are omniscient, so... could it be he knew about her before she was born... wait, since he's Sona-tan's boyfriend, and doesn't seem to hold a grudge towards me, and was acting friendly towards me as well, so could it be...' An epiphany came to the magical girl-maou, and she almost passed out.
'Is this... a forbidden love triangle between two devil sisters and... him?!'
Serafall didn't even feel the sting as her revelation flooded her thoughts with really mixed feelings.
.
.
Somewhere in Kuoh a black-haired girl woke up in her bed, covered in cold sweat.
Sona Sitri had a sudden, bad feeling.