The wind howled against the jagged cliffs, waves crashing far below.
Arthur sprinted across the crumbling path, his Boosted Gear pulsing with power.
The leader, who was now desperate, was dragging the sacrifice further away from the ruined ritual site, further into the island's edge.
Arthur wasn't letting him get far.
Every few seconds, more stray exorcists emerged from out of nowhere.
They leapt at Arthur like fanatics possessed, screaming mad prayers and swinging light blades.
Arthur didn't break stride.
[BOOST!]
He punched one straight in the chest, the man's ribcage caving in with a sickening crunch.
Another swung down with a blade, only for Arthur to parry it with his gauntlet and respond with a backhand that decapitated the attacker.
[BOOST!]
A red shockwave burst outward as he stomped the ground, sending bodies flying.
One stray tried to stab him in the back, Arthur grabbed the blade mid-air and crushed it with his bare hand.
Then he turned and snapped the exorcist's spine in two.
He kept moving forward.
He was not letting that man escape.
At last, the leader reached the end of the cliffside trail, the ocean wind roared, and the waves sprayed upward.
With nowhere left to go, he turned around, eyes frantic and wild, dragging the cloaked sacrifice in front of him like a human shield.
Arthur emerged from the battlefields, cracking his knuckles.
"Playtime's over, psycho. Hand over the kid, and maybe I'll kill you quickly instead of throwing you face-first towards the jagged rocks."
Arthur said, his tone deadly calm.
The leader flinched. His fingers gripped the sacrificial dagger tightly.
"D-Don't come any closer! O-Or I'll kill him! I swear I'll do it!"
He screamed in panic.
Arthur tilted his head, expression blank.
"What the fuck? Are you even listening to what you're saying right now? You are threatening to kill someone whom you were planning to sacrifice a while ago."
He replied, clearly confused.
The cultist's breath quickened. He started shaking.
"This abomination's life is a small price to pay! A sacrifice... yes! That's all there is!"
He shouted, madness rising in his voice.
"Everything I've done… it was to show the world the TRUTH! If you never showed up that day, if the Seraphs hadn't lied to us, then we-no.. I would've never discovered that God, whom I have devoted and sacrificed my whole life, is actually-!"
[BOOST!]
Arthur vanished in a blur and appeared in front of him.
His hand clamped down on the leader's throat like a vice.
The cloaked kid was shoved aside as Arthur lifted the man clean off the ground, his feet dangling off the cliff.
"GHHK-!"
The man choked, struggling as his fingers clawed at Arthur's wrist.
Arthur narrowed his eyes.
"I don't give a fuck about your little temper tantrum. All I see is a dude who has serious issues with how the world works."
The leader, gasping for air, gurgled through a final whisper.
"I-It's… all... your fault… Why.. d-did I have... to know..."
Arthur's brow furrowed, but he clenched his grip, crushing the leader's throat with a loud snap.
The body convulsed, then went limp, and Arthur dropped the corpse.
It hit the ground with a dull thud and rolled, tumbling off the cliff edge to be swallowed by the waves below.
Arthur stood there for a moment in silence.
"That was pretty anticlimactic."
He muttered, glancing down where the corpse vanished.
(All of this because you showed up and they knew for some reason that God's dead. These fools threw their career and lives away for nothing.)
Ddraig comments, and Arthur nods in agreement.
He turned toward the cloaked sacrifice, brushing off the dirt from his coat.
"Hey. You alright, kid?"
He asked casually, walking over.
But then he stopped and his eyes widened in horror.
Blood poured from the sacrifice's chest, staining the robe.
The kid had stabbed himself with the same dagger the cultist had wielded.
"What the what!?"
Arthur rushed forward, dropping to his knees.
"Hey! Hey, what the fuck did you just do, kid!?"
The hood slipped off the figure's head.
Blond hair, pale skin, and red eyes, dimming with every second.
Arthur's heart froze.
(G-Gasper!?)
His mind reeled.
(That's not possible. That wasn't supposed to happen. Gasper… he was supposed to be with Rias. She was supposed to recruit him. W-Why was he here?!)
Blood trickled from Gasper's lips as he smiled weakly through the pain.
"They… promised… they'd save her… my sister…"
Arthur leaned closer, grabbing his shoulders.
"Damn it, you fucking idiot! What kind of fucked up logic is that?! You didn't have to do shit fo-! H-Hey! Don't die on me, kid! Keep your eyes open!"
Gasper coughed violently, his tears mixing with the blood now streaming from his lips.
"Tell… V-Valerie… I-I'm sorry for… being... weak..."
With those final words, his eyes glazed over, and his body went limp.
Arthur froze, staring at the lifeless form in his arms.
His jaw trembled slightly as he gritted his teeth.
A deep silence settled around him as the crashing waves sounded far away.
His grip tightened around Gasper's small frame.
(Partner? What's going on? Do you know this damphir?)
Ddraig asked, confused at the new development.
"What the actual hell is happening with the timeline? This wasn't supposed to happen..."
Arthur muttered under his breath.
Suddenly, a black miasma emerged from Gasper's body.
"What the-"
*BOOM!*
A shockwave blew Arthur backward like a cannon shot, knocking him off the cliffside.
"Shit!"
Before he could fall, Arthur's six draconic devil wings unfurled
He stopped himself mid-air, hovering above the crashing sea.
Arthur hovered, breathing heavily, then looked down.
The cult leader's corpse was still impaled on a jagged spike of rock far below.
Suddenly, another pulse of dark aura surged, not from the body, but from further inland, toward Balor's Fort.
A massive dome of black energy exploded, surrounding the island.
The clouds twisted above it, dark lightning flashing within.
Arthur's eyes widened.
"Ddraig, what am I witnessing right now?"
(That presence… No doubt about it… That's Balor.)
Ddraig's voice echoed through his mind, deeper than usual.
"Balor…?"
Arthur whispered, his blood running cold.
Everything starts to connect at once: the strays, the ritual, and Gasper, who coincidentally has a Sacred Gear connected to an Evil God.
These rogue exorcists were trying to awaken Balor himself, the Celtic god of death and destruction.
Just then, Arthur's eyes widened as a flood of information entered his mind.
"Shit! I need to reach the others!"
Arthur clenched his fists, wings flapping hard against the wind as he turned in mid-air.
[BOOST!]
And with that, he shot off like a red comet, cutting through the wind toward the ritual site.
DxD
At the ritual site, the scent of scorched earth and steel clung to the air.
Jeanne stood in the center of the battlefield, her rapier glinting under the pale moonlight, now stained red with blood.
Around her, a dozen fallen exorcists lay broken and twitching, some still groaning in agony, most already silent.
Her chest rose and fell with measured breaths as she waved a hand, causing the hovering copies of Holy Swords she had conjured to vanish one by one.
"That should be the last of them."
Jeanne said, exhaling slowly, her tone half-relieved, half-weary.
She flicked her rapier once, the blood flying off as her eyes scanned the destruction they'd wrought.
Siegfried stood nearby, resting the blood-soaked Gram on his shoulder while Balmung still hummed faintly in his other hand.
His coat flapped in the breeze, and he looked utterly unfazed by the carnage.
He chuckled and stretched.
"Honestly? Easier gig than I expected. All that ominous buildup, and it ends with us cleaning up wannabes."
He kicked over a twitching exorcist, who finally went still.
"Bit disappointing to be honest..."
Jeanne gave him a half-smile and shook her head.
"You always say that until something worse shows up, Sieg."
"I hope something worse shows up. This shit was getting boring."
Siegfried smirked.
Before she could reply, the whistling sound of footsteps drew their attention.
A blur streaked toward them, and Arthur's clone arrived, skidding to a stop with Excalibur Rapidly in his hands.
Siegfried tilted his head.
"Why are you here? Didn't you go with Connla?"
Clone Arthur gave a casual shrug.
"Thought I'd check in, see if you two needed a hand."
Jeanne raised an eyebrow.
"You're late."
Siegfried smirked and turned away, kicking one of the stray corpses over.
"Party's over, dude. Try being faster next time."
But before the clone could respond, the ground beneath them rumbled.
The giant black magic circle, the one that had served as the center of the ritual, suddenly pulsed with a sickening red glow.
The temperature dropped, and a low hum filled the air.
Jeanne narrowed her eyes.
"That's…"
The red light intensified and then exploded.
A massive shockwave erupted from the magic circle, blasting through the rubble like a storm.
Jeanne and Siegfried were both thrown off their feet, crashing into broken pillars and shattered walls.
Debris rained down like hail as the wind howled with an unholy shriek.
The clone barely had time to react as a tendril of black energy lashed out from the glowing circle and struck him dead center.
His body exploded into red particles, leaving Excalibur Rapidly clattering to the ground.
Where the ritual once stood, a towering dome of pure black energy now loomed, engulfing the entire central part of the island.
It pulsed like a heartbeat, dark and heavy, with lightning crackling across its surface.
DxD
"That's... not good."
Connla muttered as he looked back at the explosion.
From far off on the other side of the island, Connla had been guiding the terrified villagers through the narrow path that led to the docks.
The large fishing boats bobbed in the distance, lanterns flickering faintly in the darkness.
He pointed down the trail as the people stumbled along behind him, clutching their children, holding one another for comfort.
"You see that boat? Keep going. Stay together. No matter what, don't turn around. You'll be safe there."
Connla instructed firmly.
An older man clutched his wife's hand and turned to Connla.
"But where are you going, lad?"
Connla looked back toward the distant sky.
The black dome had formed, stretching upward like a dark second moon, blotting out the stars above the ritual site.
His breath caught in his throat and a chill ran through his spine.
But then his jaw clenched.
He turned back to the villager, his eyes glowing faintly behind his black shades.
"I'm gonna make a difference."
And with that, he sprinted back up the trail, wind tearing at his jacket, footsteps echoing off the path.
He ignored the cries behind him, the fear in his own chest, the voice in his head that said he was just a nobody.
(No more running away. No more hiding in the dark. Tonight, I'm going to do something right for myself!)
As he vanished into the dark path toward the fort, thunder cracked above the island, and the dome's heartbeat grew louder.
Little did he know that his role in this battle was far bigger than he could imagine.
DxD
Hello readers!
I'm feeling pretty down lately.
Can you cheer me up via Power Stones?
Thank you everyone and see you later!