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Chapter 85: A Crown of Wrath.
🕑 Added 2025-09-20 11:59:50 +0000 UTCAuthor's note: Tried to do something different instead of the usual fight scene in Elias's Pov... It was so freaking hard, like holy hell. It took me so damn long to flesh it out and give it form. No idea if I'll do something like this in the future lol. But I wanted to see how people see Elias's when he goes all biblical. And... it is not pretty. At all.
Damn. I'm tired, arrived home at like 1 a.m., it's almost 6:00 a.m. and I'm barely finishing.
Hope you guys enjoy it, and once more, sorry for the delay. Next chapter is in one or two days.
Also... uhm... yeah. Something bad happened to the British witches. More will be explained later.
Celestial Ascendancy
Chapter 85: A Crown of Wrath.
Sirzechs Lucifer.
Kuoh, Japan.
As the fire retreated, leaving us alone, I finally felt the inky wisp of the power of destruction retreat. I took the opportunity to take a breath and watch what remained of the peace talks… which shamefully, it was everyone of importance bar the Wizards.
How, and more importantly, why did my true nature come forth and refuse to go under my usual tight control against Rias's friend? Was beyond me.
Which brought the question… Did we really make the best decision by staying here? I could admit that I didn’t have much of a connection with my sister’s… lover.
But as strong as he was, and I genuinely believed that he could defeat any member of the Old Satan faction by himself after a bit of trouble, without counting Rizevim, they had the edge in experience. And I didn’t know if all his tricks would work against them. He had defeated Satanael easily enough, even after he was empowered beyond the norm.
The word lover brought an ashy taste into my mouth. At first, I had been surprised by the presence of a wizard of all things helping my dear Rias out of her marriage contract. But I thought nothing of it.
Oh, I knew that something had happened for her to change so drastically.
As much as I loved Rias, I wasn’t blind to her faults. I knew the kind of devil she was, and I, better than anyone, knew how much one’s Sins could shackle one’s nature.
So, imagine my surprise when my parents called for a meeting, with the presence of Agrippa, who had just returned from the mortal world with news about my sister.
I had expected the worst. A fear of mine that my parents didn’t seem to share was that Rias would one day simply… give up. Decided that everything was stacked against her in a way she could find no answer, and simply decided to go on her own terms, that it was better to go with her purity and pride completely intact.
Which, no matter what Father and Mother said, was the truth. I knew that Rias saw the world with rose-tinted glasses, and that, in truth, Riser Phenex was not the worst young devil around. Even if I had to stop my eyes from narrowing, I remembered the words he said during the rating game.
But I digress. That was simply what Rias believed, and she was oh so prideful that she never stopped to think how bad things could really be.
It wasn’t as if she was joining the Phenex as a bride and would be under Riser’s control, no. Riser wasn’t simply important enough; he was just the third son of a wealthy family. But she just never stopped to think.
Like I said, I loved her dearly, but I wasn’t blind. And in a way, I also hoped that the marriage contract would help her grow.
And she did grow.
Grayfia was quite adamant that I wouldn’t believe my eyes when I saw how my little sister managed to improve in such a short time, and… well, my wife was someone who didn’t waste time most of the time, so seeing her all smug and teasing was something I enjoyed when I could, so I let it go.
In truth, I had expected that the wizards would be the ones to tip the scale in her favor by joining her peerage. I wasn’t as old as some beings present at this table, so I didn’t precisely know what happened around the wizards after Merlin’s disappearance. But I had heard of their peculiarities before their… retreat.
Not that I, or any of the other Satans, had even bothered to learn in depth.
They were simply too diminished by the time we rose into power. Well, perhaps Ajuka did, but he never spoke about it.
But that wasn’t important right now. Not really. Rias and her peerage showed how they had grown into their potential. Still, some brat that Rias was obviously crushing on, but I had expected it to be something flimsy.
Something that, in the heat of her freedom, she decided to latch onto him, to do whatever she wanted, however she wanted. But seeing her expression as she followed him to battle against a Satan's obvious displeasure, well, I was left with mixed feelings.
Displeasure, in one part. No, I wasn't like Serafall, but this brat was taking Rias into a battlefield where she could die, and my little sister decided that it didn’t matter what the leaders of her faction wanted. Following him without a second thought.
Although we didn't say anything, it was evident to all that this event would complicate matters. Not exactly the peace talks, since I doubted anyone here would mourn the passing of obvious extremists, but it would make trouble for my faction.
And she didn’t care.
I didn’t even bother squashing the sheer pride I felt in her at this moment. She was just like me before the civil war. A devil, a young one at that, seeking their dreams, uncaring of their expectations.
I was often called a freak of nature, and it was the truth. Ever since I was born, I have been different. But I didn’t care about power, not really. I only wanted to be a musician. But…
War tended to change one’s nature, and I just hoped that she would be better than I. Because war had broken me.
“What…” Falbium opened her mouth from next to her Serafall. The show of his family magic shone around his body. His tense shoulders and furrowed brow showed what he thought.
But nothing spoke as much as his wide, alert look, “What was that?”
“That was the brat being pissed off,” Odin, the old God of the north, snorted.
His eye crinkled in amusement, and I narrowed my eyes in his direction. One never knew what the Old God was playing at, and I wasn’t sure why exactly Elias attracted so much of his attention.
It was obvious that he wanted Elias for something, going to great lengths to be as accommodating as possible, but the reason eluded me.
Asgard allying with a faction with only two brats around Ultimate-class? Absurd.
“But he is weak,” Falbium retorted firmly, “I know that any of us could probably defeat him if we truly wanted. Why… Why did I feel frozen when he simply glared at us?”
“Because you are mortals,” Amaterasu said coldly. I let out a sigh, seeing that her anger wasn’t abated in the least, “Do not think because you are powerful you are the same as us. Be sure to remember that, Satan Asmodeus.”
“The Sun of the East speaks true, Satan Asmodeus,” Odin’s son, Baldur smiled softly at Falbium, “Father has been quite tightlipped about his latest interest, and while I don’t understand what caused his Apotheosis, Elias Black is without a shadow of a doubt, divine in a way you can’t comprehend.”
Azazel finally spoke, and I was surprised by how… serious he looked.
“I believe we need some explanations, Odin, Michael,” he said seriously, “This has gone far beyond anything that should be possible. For God’s sake, he felt just like Father just now.”
Finally realizing that I had ignored our visitors from heaven, I turned my head from the Norse faction, and much to my surprise, Michael was grabbing his head with both hands and blinking confusedly.
The rest of the angels were looking at him worriedly. Still, before anyone could say anything, Amaterasu’s spell shuddered as a fire similar to the one here burst forth from the sky, and the Rias with her friends… family? Appeared there, alerting the attacking devils and allied forces.
The fight stopped, and I was upset that the thin film of divine power didn’t transmit sound. The few remaining wizards and the Sacred Beast wielders looked at the fire with hopeful eyes.
Amaterasu probably disliked not knowing too, as she snapped her fingers and sound came from the film in the middle of the room.
It also zoomed in, and I nodded approvingly, seeing the group divide. First, the divine dividing user jumped against the first poor devil as he activated his balance breaker and cleaved him in half without the poor bastard being able to say a thing.
He then just jumped into the back of the enemy forces and began to go wild.
“So the fake Satans only sent some kids against us,” Katerea Leviathan sneered as Rias walked in front.
Only Rias, Akeno, Iris, and Elias stayed against the hordes of devils and magicians; the rest of their group ran behind to help the remaining survivors.
“Oh, look at her,” Gabriel squealed next to Michael and pointed towards the corner of the film, “She’s adorable. Michael, I want to teach her.”
Everyone’s eyes zeroed in on where she was pointing, and I felt the breath leave my lungs. No matter how much Serafall explained, I didn’t know if I wanted to believe in the existence of a new, living saint.
Asia Argento also activated her balance breaker as she was escorted by the rest of Rias’s peerage, with her in the middle. Her attire changed, as crosses began forming on top of the wounded as well as her allies.
“Wouldn’t it be better for Raphael to take her under his wings, dear sister?” Michael said amusedly, making the most beautiful angel in heaven pout at him. No one else spoke as we continued watching the scene.
It wasn’t long before they reached the first wave of survivors. I had to hide a wince when I saw Rias’s newest pawn incinerate a couple of devils who were toying with two wounded wizards as the bushy-haired one and the Indian witch turned devil began to heal them at a breakneck pace.
Rias… Rias was inhumanely lucky. She had two Longinus in her peerage without using the methods the… vast majority of devilkind used. And that wasn’t all, every member of her little family was special in their own way.
My eyes returned to Rias, and I felt proud seeing her standing in front of Katerea without an ounce of fear. Less than five seconds had passed, and I was left speechless by what was happening.
“So… who’s the whore?” Iris Potter asked dryly, “I know most devils are hedonist and all that, but to dress like that… she must really have trouble finding someone that wants her. I don’t know, I’m starting to pity her.”
Odin snorted in front of us, and even Serafall couldn’t hide her smirk.
“The lass has a dangerous tongue,” Odin nodded in respect, “Dunno if I should be jealous of the brat or congratulate him.”
“Why not both?” Azazel smirked, his normal appearance returning once he realized that he wasn’t getting any answers from his brothers and sisters, and much less from the God who looked amusedly at our blunders.
“She’s Katerea Leviathan, the only remaining descendant of the original Leviathan,” Rias said drily as she looked at the devil in disdain. “She’s usually more controlled than this, but I’m not surprised that she only attacks people who can’t defend against her. They are pretty pathetic.”
“You!” Katerea screeched, “Don’t you know who you’re talking to? I’m Katerea Leviathan. The true heir of the Leviathan seat, you little bit…”
She didn’t finish her answer as a ball of pure light materialized in front of her cheek before it glinted, expanded, and exploded directly in front of her.
The last thing I saw was her eyes widening as she raised her arms to block just in time.
“Silence,” the almost dead tone of Elias's voice reached our ears, and… it was the only sound coming out of the film. The explosion didn’t make a sound, Katerea’s scream was cut before it could finish, and the sheer carnage left behind by the spell didn’t make a sound.
If we weren’t watching carefully, we wouldn’t have noticed some devils that were near Katerea simply disintegrating into motes of light without even having the opportunity to scream.
Gabriel PoV.
I had seen many wars, and I had seen many faces of wrath, but it had been a long time since I saw something like this.
When Lord Elias spoke, it was not a word, it was a judgment. Silence. A simple world, but the world obeyed.
The flames on the projection dimmed, the cries of devils were cut short, and even the crackling of spellfire from the evil magicians was swallowed.
For a heartbeat, there was only his voice, heavy and absolute, as though it had been carved into creation. Just like our Father when he went to battle.
My lips parted before I could stop them, “Michael…” I whispered, tugging my brother’s sleeve, “What is wrong?”
Michael’s eyes were still narrowed, his hand clutching at his head as though a bell had rung inside his skull. “I felt… Him,” he admitted softly, his voice heavy with confusion and discomfort.
Uriel made a sharp noise, more anger than awe.
He was never the calmest of us angels. The fire of God, and his temper was that fire, “Do not compare this… wizard to Father.”
But I could not help it. I clutched Michael’s hand tighter as he squirmed in his seat, staying silent despite the devastation Lord Elias was wreaking, “But he shines, Brother. Can’t you see? It’s simply divine.”
The projection shifted, showing the battlefield below. Rias Gremory’s peerage had split apart like a well-trained group.
The boy with the sword that wouldn’t exist without Father’s death carved through his enemies, humans and devils alike. The adorable Dhampir, wielding shadows with more confidence than I’d expected from his looks, and sweet Asia, her Balance Breaker transforming the wounded into beacons of healing light. I nearly squealed again.
A saint. A living saint. Something that had not happened since Father’s passing. Something that should have been impossible, but it was there.
“Look at her faith, Brother,” I said out loud before I could stop myself, my hand pressed to my cheek. “Is it not the most beautiful thing you all have seen in centuries?”
Across from us, the Satan Lucifer groaned into his hand, “This is not the time, Lady Gabriel,” he muttered. However, I did not miss the way his lips quirked when his little sister’s magic blossomed across the projection.
Pride and fear in equal measures.
“I cannot believe you all are watching this as though it is a simple matter,” Amaterasu hissed.
The Goddess’s fire burned hotter as her golden hair blazed like the sun itself, “This is my land. These devils slaughter on Japanese soil.”
I tilted my head at her, still smiling faintly despite her fury. “And yet,” I said gently, “You too want to see him in action, no? That’s why you stayed here, Lady Amaterasu.”
Elias was moving now, no longer content with a single word. He walked through the battlefield as though the ocean itself parted for him, his crown burning red, his wings spread so wide the devils burned from the strange, yet beautiful wings.
His third eye opened, and the devils nearest him collapsed without a sound, their bodies disintegrating into motes of ash.
Azazel cursed in Enochian, making me smile as he leaned forward in his seat, “Kid’s not fighting. He’s executing them. I’m not sure I should’ve let Vali follow him.”
“Executing sinners,” I murmured before I could stop myself. My heart pounded in my chest. It had been so long since I saw something like this.
The war between the three factions was cold, and conflicts with so many enemies were something not seen in hundreds of years.
And I couldn’t help but feel giddy. Remembering the times I launched myself into battle in Father’s name.
“Do you hear yourself?” Uriel growled as he slammed his feet on the ground, “He is but a mortal who stumbled into power. An anomaly.”
“He is not a mere mortal,” I said simply. My voice trembled with delight as I looked at Lord Elias burning through the masses, “Mortals do not look like that.”
Katerea Leviathan screamed, her power swelling as she hurled spears of demonic water toward Elias. They never reached him. Each spear dissolved into steam before it struck, consumed by a glow that clung to his body like a second skin.
His hand rose firmly, and a wide beam of light lanced through the air, carving a hole through her forces as though they were parchment.
Dozens of devils fell, incinerated before they even realized they were dying.
The rest screamed and tried to flee, but the light followed them, bending toward its prey as if hungry.
He was so like Father, but at the same time, there were so many differences that made my heart flutter. Once a mortal, with all their faults, but now divine. The red tint on his being showed his mood, something Father never showed.
It was breathtakingly beautiful.
I clapped my hands together, unable to stop myself, “Beautiful,” I whispered.
Azazel turned his head slowly to stare at me. “…You’re hopeless.”
“You are wrong, brother,” I chirped back, clenching my hand around Michael’s hard enough to make him wince, “I’m hopeful, for the first time in a long time.”
Even Odin chuckled at that, though his eye never left the projection. “Aye. He’s lit like your Father, little seraph. But he ain’t Him. He’s something else. Something that could change the direction of the world.”
Michael’s face was pale as he looked at the massacre. I gave him a reassuring tug, but he pulled it away gently, folding both into prayer instead.
“Brother…” I said softly. He was hiding something.
He shook his head firmly, “Later.”
On the battlefield, Rias stood before some unknown devil, her crimson armor blazing with her bloodline.
She was unafraid, her voice calm as she began to destroy anything in her path. I could not hear her words, but I saw her lips move, her eyes burning with conviction. A conviction that I had never seen from any devil. Ever.
Not even during the great war, when they followed Helel against Heaven.
My heart swelled again, “she believes in him.”
A devil, believing so much in a messiah. And I had thought that I had seen everything the world had to offer.
The Lucifer’s knuckles whitened on the table, “she should not.”
“She should,” I argued sweetly, my wings rustling in irritation. “What else is faith for, if not to follow a light into the dark?”
“A devil should not have faith, sister,” Azazel said dryly, looking at the film.
The projection flared again, and I gasped. Elias had raised both hands now, his third eye blazing like a sun as an even bigger sun appeared in the darkened sky. The ground beneath Katerea’s forces fractured, the soil itself turning gold as pillars of light speared upward. The devils screamed as their bodies were torn apart, ripped down to their very cores.
The silence broke at last, but only for him.
“I said,” Elias’s voice rolled over the battlefield like thunder, “silence.”
“You don’t deserve to be heard in your last moments.”
Raphael's PoV.
The difference between wrath and judgment is difficult to explain to mortals. They feel similar. They burn with the same intensity. But one is fire without aim; the other is a scalpel applied to rot.
When the mortal-turned-messiah began, it was wrath. Plain and simple.
The silence, the red crown, the disintegration of flesh. It was absolute. But then something shifted.
I saw it when the two women flanked him, the witch with the black hair, and the red-haired devil. They leaned close, their lips brushing his ear, whispers we could not hear. I do not know what they said. But the red began to retreat.
The projection showed his wings folding slightly, his crown losing its jagged edges.
His strikes became measured. He cut down the devils who resisted, but others he shackled instead. Chains of light manifested from his nothingness, weaving into manacles that wrapped the prisoners in brilliance. They did not harm them at all, unless the captive struggled.
Then the light flared, reminding them of consequence.
“Fascinating,” Ajuka murmured beside me, his eyes locking into the Messiah’s form, “He truly can command his Holy Power to this extent. Impossible… and yet.”
Elias himself said little. His silence remained, but there was a calmness to it now.
At one point he even turned to where the Sun Goddess projection was, with a composure that could not come from a mortal, “Some I will leave for you. Your faction will need them. To quiet your house.”
Serafall sighed in relief as she slumped into her seat. Devils… they were the same, yet different than in the past. I would have never imagined seeing us sitting on the same table with them, much less seeking peace between our factions.
Yet here we were. The new Satans were a blessing in disguise.
Then Katerea moved.
I saw the snake before the others registered what it was, the coiling fragment of infinity itself, Ophis’s essence twining around the false Leviathan’s body. Her aura swelled until the ground cracked, her magic blotting out the ground as she laughed maniacally.
“Oh no,” Azazel muttered, “Just what I feared. They are with the Khaos Brigade.”
“You mentioned them… before the interruption,” I interrupted, my voice clipped as I looked at Amaterasu, “Ophis moving does not bode well for the world. I hope your information is on point, Azazel.”
Elias staggered as her next blast struck, a river of demonic water empowered with the void. His magnificent shield of light fractured, though it did not shatter.
For the first time, he looked as though effort was required. And yet, even pressed back, his movements were precise. His third eye burned, and he answered Katerea’s flood with a rising tide of light, gold against blue, pressing her inch by inch into the earth.
Around them, the battle dwindled. The manacles tightened. Devils and magicians collapsed in heaps, their power bound, their cries silenced.
It was then that the projection shifted, and I saw something Elias himself did not yet notice.
The rest of Rias’s peerage returned. Their faces were drawn and wet with tears. The witches, the bushy-haired one and the half-human one, clung to each other, their eyes wide with shock. The French’s beautiful face was pale, streaked with tears. The other one pushed a blonde witch ahead of her who had a face showing no emotions, but her eyes… her eyes showed the fear and hatred inside of her. And disappointment.
And behind them came the wizards.
Old men cloaked in torn robes, leaning on one another. A handful of children clutching the adults in abject terror. Survivors, not victors. Their eyes were empty.
Then I saw him.
The knight. The one the Messiah had trained, according to our spies.
He carried someone in his arms. Bride-style, limp as a doll.
A young woman with dark hair that glimmered in the fires of destruction. One with hair much like the Messiah’s own. She lived; I could see the shallow rise and fall of her chest. But her eyes… her eyes were hollow. They shifted colors, flickering like broken glass, never settling in one.
Her clothes were gone, and the only thing covering her modesty was the robes from the Indian witch.
And… she was a devil.
I am not one to use profanity. But I felt the word rise anyway, only to be stolen from my lips by others.
“Shit,” Odin snarled, half-rising from his chair.
“Shit!” Serafall echoed, her face draining of blood, “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
And then it happened.
The red returned with vengeance.
The calm the Messiah had found crumbled as the girl was brought forward.
The projection wavered, distorted by the surge of power. The sky above the battlefield curdled into crimson. The sun itself dimmed, then reignited in the color of blood.
Elias froze mid-strike. Katerea’s empowered water crashed against his shield, but he did not move. His eyes, all three of them, locked on the woman in the knight’s arms.
His expression was empty. His aura was not.
It roared outward, a tide of red flame that made even Amaterasu gasp, her hand snapping to her mouth. The chained devils writhed, their manacles glowing brighter, as the bound devil tried to scream before they turned to ashes.
Serafall whispered, her voice shaking as she pressed a hand to her forehead, “That’s… she’s Elias’s cousin.”
The blood-sun pulsed, and every leader present felt the world hold its breath.
Azazel
The room cracked into panic the moment the sky turned red.
Serafall snapped her fingers, her circle blazing under her feet. Nothing happened.
She tried again, her voice shrill, “No, no, no! He’s going to kill everyone!” The spell fizzled into nothingness.
Odin shook his head darkly, “Outta luck, lass. That weird magic of his? Doesn’t play nice with space. Believe me, I tried.”
I noticed too, as my magical circle vanished, and I stayed in the same place.
It wasn’t a barrier in the usual sense; it was like the air itself refused to bend.
Things had been interesting before, but now, I was really starting to regret allowing Vali to join them. This was a mess… and I could only see it getting worse.
Ajuka staggered, his hands glowing with symbols I couldn’t even parse.
Sirzechs caught him before he collapsed, looking worried. But the green-haired devil ignored him, his eyes shining in fascination as the magic circle in his palm twisted and warped.
Then he looked at Odin, “You’ve lived longer than any of us. Do you know what this is?”
We all turned to the old one-eyed God.
Odin shook his head, his smile gone for once. “No. Never. Not in all my years. The closest thing I can compare it to is infinity.”
He shook his head amusedly, “And even that doesn’t feel the same.”
Amaterasu leaned forward, her eyes bright as her sun, “Explain, devil.”
Ajuka swallowed, which I’d never seen him do. That was something Ajuka never did, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know or hide somewhere else.
His voice was calm, but his eyes weren’t. “He is… a vessel. He is not the origin of his magic. His body is tied, by some dimensional breach, to a source beyond comprehension. An infinite dimension of pure magic. So pure…” He shook his head disbelievingly, “So pure, I don’t know how to explain it.”
Ajuka turned to Michael and the others, “It is more pure than anything I have ever witnessed. More than your light.”
“Impossible! Blasphemy!” Uriel slammed his fist on the table, “We’re Father’s creation! He made us just as he was!”
I grimaced. For once, I agreed with the uptight featherbrain.
He was right. Something like that shouldn’t exist.
Our Father had been more, but not different than us. Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, and I. Our power was cut from the same cloth as his.
I knew that. They knew that.
So where in the hells did this boy’s magic come from?
The projection gave me no answers. I didn’t know what to think of this.
Elias had stopped shackling. He wasn’t leaving prisoners anymore. His light was no longer clean. It was jagged, tearing, and rending anything in its path.
Devils shrieked as they were flayed by the radiance that ate them piece by piece. Magicians burst like overripe fruit, their spells unraveling into dust before their bodies followed.
Sirzechs and Ajuka both tried to force their way in. The crimson embodiment of destruction against that magic not even Odin knew, and he failed.
“Ajuka, can you teleport there?” he asked seriously.
Ajuka shook his head as he said curiously, “Not soon. I can break it, but not in time. We… we must hope his women can reach him.”
Hope. Yeah, right. Faith. This was absurd.
Elias’s hand wrapped around Katerea Leviathan’s throat. He didn’t kill her outright. He melted her eyes first. The golden light seared them into sludge. He stitched her tongue shut with strands of light, then severed it with a casual flick. Her screams were silent in the projection, but we all felt them anyway.
I even had to hide a shiver.
She writhed. He did not stop.
The magicians began to drop in droves. The devils, too, even the ones throwing down their weapons, begging, groveling.
He didn’t care. His eyes were dead, and his light was endless.
Gabriel was right. It did bring back memories.
And the worst part? His girls froze.
They couldn’t even move, paralyzed by fear of the very man they loved. Only the little nun broke the paralysis; the little saint dropped to her knees, her hands folded as she prayed aloud something we could not hear.
Her Balance Breaker spread across the field, keeping their allies alive in the storm of biblical proportions.
Rias and Iris were the first to move. They hurt themselves to do it.
Probably the only way to do it, using pain to cut through the terror. They stumbled forward with shock-filled eyes.
Barakiel’s daughter forced herself after them, shuddering with each step.
The latest ones were the recently turned devils who looked frozen, but even they moved through their fear.
Love… Love was something powerful.
Their skin blistered from the heat, their lips cracked, but Asia’s power wrapped them in a fragile cocoon of survival. Step by step, they closed the distance.
Elias did not notice them at first. He was busy. He reached into Katerea’s own element, twisting her water against her, blessing it. She thrashed as the torrent wrapped around her body, dragging her down. A devil of the sea, drowning in her own gift. Her lungs filled. Her struggles stopped.
And then Iris touched him. Rias too. Their tears streaked their faces, their hands gripping his arms.
“Elias,” Iris cried out, “stop.”
“They deserve it,” he snarled, his first words in what felt like forever.
“Yes,” Rias choked out through her gritted teeth, “They do. But not like this. You are not like this, Eli.”
For a heartbeat, he said nothing. His crown flared, his third eye burned, the blood sun overhead pulsed like it wanted to descend.
Then he wavered. Just slightly.
The others reached him at last. Hermione. Fleur. Akeno.
Elias looked at them all.
The tears, at the pain they bore just to touch him, and for the first time since the carnage began, something human flickered in his eyes.
He let Katerea fall. But he did not spare her. His light surged, not clean or pure, but crushing. She convulsed as her own element drowned her, her body consumed until nothing remained but ash and water.
I sighed in relief.
But the silence he left behind was worse than any scream.
Then Elias turned.
His eyes burned red as they locked on something scuttling through the ranks.
A fat devil trying to hide. His golden robes were torn but still ostentatious. His magic sputtered around him.
I heard Serafall hiss before his name even left her lips, “Shax.”
The air in the chamber went rigid.
Ajuka sighed, the sound weary, but his blue eyes gleamed with something far more dangerous, “So. The Great King faction begins to play their games.”
Sirzechs’s hands tightened hard enough to crack. Even Amaterasu’s flame dimmed with disgust.
Serafall slammed her fist down. “Those bastards. That’s the leak. They sold the Wizards out.”
On the projection, Elias did not hesitate. His hand rose, and Shax froze mid-crawl, dragged screaming into the air by chains of searing light. The fat devil’s pleas were cut short when Elias’s third eye opened wide, blood streaking down his cheek.
He didn’t incinerate him. He plunged his hand inside his chest.
Elias pulled not just the body but the soul, wrenching it into his grasp like it was nothing more than cloth. Shax shrieked soundlessly as his essence thrashed in Elias’s grip, the flesh below already blackening into sludge.
And then Elias burned it.
A devouring light that left no remains. For an instant, I swore I saw chains wrapping around that soul before it vanished, chains that sank into Elias’s own body.
The boy staggered as blood continued dripping from his third eye, but he did not falter. His gaze swept the field, daring any other enemy to rise.
None did.
The field quieted at last. The few devils alive groaned as they were bound.
Wizards sobbed in relief. Children clung to one another. Rias and Iris still held Elias’s arms, their tears soaking his sleeves. For a heartbeat, I thought maybe it was over.
Then Elias turned.
And I felt my heart skip a beat.
Elias’s voice rolled across the field, “Vali Lucifer… I spared you last time because you were just an idiot. But this? I can not let go of this. Did. You. Know?”
The chamber froze as my lungs locked. For the first time in centuries, I felt something close to terror crawl through me.
Not for myself, I was beyond fearing death. But for my son.
The projection’s silence swallowed everything, save for Elias’s hollow gaze and the way Vali’s smirk trembled at its edges.
Comments
Bishop7053
Yaaa, Old Satan's and Great King faction arent going to exist soon. Welp at least Serafall won't have to worry about them screwing up her diplomatic job after this cause they are all going to be dead.
LothWolf
It looks like that Uriel might to be shown something really undeniable from the System in Heaven that Elias is the messiah
