Harbinger of Ruin: Ch.32

'Katerea Leviathan, right? The woman that Azazel fought against with the tentacle arms,' I thought as I floated in the air, watching as Katerea had an amused smile on her face as I turned.

“You still have not answered my question.”

“Right. I don't wish to die, if I must be honest.”

“Then I will ask you once and only once to turn your blade from me and aim it at the false Satans below.”

“That would be a bit rude of me considering I am dating the sister to one of those false Satans.”

“Oh? Why lust for the inferior devils when you have a pure-blooded one as your beloved instead?”, She asked as she trailed a finger down her cleavage and I had to admit that if I was Issei, I would have folded instantly.

Unfortunately, I think with the head above my shoulders.

“That is quite the tempting offer, but unfortunately, I am attracted to more than just looks.”

“Then what? Fame? Wealth? Power? I can grant you any of those three.”

“I want to think that you're telling the truth, but I also know that the Old Satan Faction has the nasty habit of betraying everyone that is not pure of blood so I'm going to pass.”

“Hah, a shame then. You would have made such a cute pet,” The woman spoke with a look of sadness before I shifted to the side the moment a blast of demonic power missed me.

Reinforcement

The world around me slowed slightly as I shot forward, swinging down with Arondight and watching as the woman blocked it with a frown. A shockwave rippled from our impact and I frowned as I continued to push down before pushing to the side.

Getting her arms away, I swung and landed a kick to her neck, sending her flying to the side before I quickly looked up as her witches rained down fire upon me.

To my surprise, light spears shot past me and impacted their spells, looking to the side when Azazel floated up with a smile and a deep purple orb in his hand.

“Now, Now, Katerea. Don't you feel ashamed for targeting someone weaker than you?”

“Oh please. The boy was the one who attacked first so I simply responded with equal force.”

“Oi, this boy right here is not weak and she was the one who attacked first so that's a lie on her part as well.”

“I swear, if it were not for the fact that I found you cute like a pet, I would have torn you to shreds by now.”

“Do you think you even could do that?”, I asked as I put Arondight away, reaching deeper into the portal before pulling the flaming form of Ascalon out.

A smirk spread across my face as I saw the tense shift in her expression and even Azazel raised an eyebrow as I placed one hand behind my back while pointing the tip of the holy sword at her.

“You sure you can handle her?”

“I've been training, Azazel. I can handle her,” I spoke without taking my eyes from her, catching Azazel's shrug out of the corner of my eye before focusing my attention back on Katerea.

She looked affronted and insulted at my words, but I did not care for that. From what I can remember, she was supposedly an Ultimate-Class fighter and while I barely edged into the upper echelon of High-Class in terms of power, I had my skills and my newly evolved Sword Birth to help with that.

'Hah, deep breaths, Yuuto. It's time for you to show whether or not you can hang with the big leagues,' Taking another deep breath before exhaling slowly, I surged forward with Ascalon to the side and a Gremory crest sparking into existence behind Katerea.

'Succubus,' A trio of Succubus blades shot out and upwards from the crest as she fired a barrage of demonic blasts at me, but she looked surprised when her blasts curved away and towards the swords while I sped up.

Swinging down, she quickly created a defensive magic circle to block my clash, but I grinned as Ascalon cleaved through the demonic barrier and cut deep into her left arm.

A pained cry escaped her lips as I pulled away, zooming through the air to dodge the rapid fire of demonic fireballs she shot at me before I frowned as she held her hand to the sky and elongated her arms.

It was not just that as her fingers extended and morphed into arms as well, the fingers of those arms doing the same until she had hundreds of fingers that were all sparking with an elemental spell.

Within seconds, a bombardment of spells rained down upon me, quickly crouching down and gripping Ascalon with both hands before swinging upwards with a roar and a flare of my holy-demonic energy.

The sky rumbled as holy flames erupted from the blade and cut through the spells in front of me, holding my pained grunts in when some of the spells came too close and gave me shallow wounds before I dismissed the flames as the last of the spells vanished.

Enjoying the look of surprise on Katerea's face as I snuffed the flames around me out while intensifying the ones around Ascalon, I grimaced as I clenched my limbs one by one to feel the sharp pain on my left elbow.

'Burned skin with some shakiness in the limb itself so it's most likely a lightning spell that hit me. Good thing I'm used to Akeno's lightning spells, but this does restrict my capabilities somewhat,' I thought as I returned my left arm to my back, tightening the grip my right hand had on Ascalon's hilt while watching the fury dancing in Katerea's eyes.

“You…are a troublesome gnat,” She hissed, but I simply smiled when I saw the deep gash on her left arm as well as the scorched flesh surrounding the wound.

“I'll take that as a compliment, thank you,” I spoke with a smile, watching as her right arm elongated once again before five new arms grew from her five fingers.

It was a bit of a grotesque yet cool ability at the same time, reminding me a bit of Mahito's ability to manipulate his soul, and his body by extension, as he pleased.

'If I'm going to beat her, I'm actually going to have to do it right here and now,' I thought with a deep breath before exhaling softly, dismissing every blade I had made with Sword Birth that had fallen to the ground before shifting my stance.

Keeping the tip of the blade pointed to her, I crouched low in the air while holding the sword parallel to the ground, my eyes focused on her as I began to flow my demonic power through my body.

'Remember. A Sacred Gear responds to the will and desire of your imagination. Sword Birth is a Sacred Gear where you can imagine creating any sword that you want, but that means that pinnacle of it needs to be something you can't picture with just your regular sword. Now, envision it, picture it and create the impossible! Break the balance of the world right here and now!'

“Balance Break!!”, I shouted for all to hear, flaring my holy-demonic energy outwards and the sound of glass shattering echoed along with my world.

The next moment, a spiderweb of cracks formed around Katerea and I, both of us in shock as the world twisted and warped before I blinked as I found myself standing on a vast grassy plain.

“W-What is this?!”, Katerea asked with a glare aimed at me, but I did not answer as one by one, every blade that I had forged with Sword Birth rose from the ground until the hilt and half of their blades were visible.

Where a sky was supposed to be, I instead found myself staring at a kaleidoscope of others, slowly turning my gaze back to Katerea right in time to see her swinging hundreds of arms at me.

“Rho Aias,” The blade in the form of a buckler shield shot from the ground and floated in front of me, seven large pink petals sprouting from the centre of the shield and blocking her arms with ease.

“Succubus,” I murmured as I pointed at Katerea, watching as the rapier floated upwards before shooting towards Katerea and the demoness quickly created several defensive magic circles to block the attack.

However, I watched in awe as the rapier absorbed the demonic energy from the shields to fuel its own power and stabbed through them with ease, Katerea hissing as the rapier stabbed into her injured left arm.

“Killer Queen,” I chanted as I shot forward, the rapier shimmering in her arms before it transformed into Killer Queen. Katerea's eyes widened as the blade shone ominously before I grinned as it detonated with all the stolen demonic power.

“Lilith's Lullaby,” The sword in question shot from the ground and towards my free hand, holding both it and Ascalon out to the sides as the smoke faded away to reveal Katerea standing in a daze with her left arm missing and severe burns covering her left side.

“Y-You!”, She shrieked as she swung her right arm at me, but to my surprise, Rho Aias appeared in front of me again and blocked the attack. Not only it, I also saw Flame Delete and Repression Calm shooting out from the ground, both blades moving just like how I would cut with them as they rapidly cut through the hundreds of arms blocking my path.

However, I frowned as Katerea's attempts to kill me only intensified with every arm I cut away, immediately dodging to the side when most of her loose flesh bulged out before exploding in a fiery blaze.

The woman was not done as she swung her mass of arms at me once again, forcing me to hop backwards in rapid succession to dodge the tangling mess of flesh trying to crush me into a bloody pulp.

'Come on, you have so many blades. Think of one that would work here,' I thought with gritted teeth as I flipped through the air, Death-Dealing forming a wall of holy-demonic blades in front of me.

Twisting the effects of the blades as they blocked off her arms, I exploded them and watched as the shards immediately turned anything demonic they touched into a toxic mess.

It seemed to work as I watched Katerea cry out in pain before she cut off her extra arms, retracting her one arm that was now missing its fingertips as she gave me a baleful glare.

'I could survive her attempts to kill me and just wait her out, but I think she knows that. Not to mention, I've been trying to hit her dress to try and get that Ophis snake, but I need to get a blade close enough,' I thought with a frown as I took my first step, slowly but surely approaching the demoness.

“Do you believe that will enough to break the will of a Leviathan?!”, She spoke with a snarl, but I didn't answer as I spun and stabbed the Lilith's Lullaby into my side, pulling it out while dispersing the blade as my wounds began to stitch together and fade away.

Reaching into my pocket dimension and pulling out Arondight, both its demonic aura and Ascalon's holy aura flared before I shot forward right as Katerea reached into her dress and pulled out a purple vial.

“Demonic Excalibur!”, The holy-demonic replica of the Fused Excalibur appeared from thin air above her and cut her index and middle fingers clean off.

Ignoring her pained shriek, I caught the vial she dropped with the holy-demonic Fused Excalibur before bringing it towards me, I surprised her as I grabbed it and downed the vial in that same instance.

“Y-You fool!”, She shouted with a gleeful grin and my eyes widened as pain flared in my chest. It felt as if every fibre of my being was being torn apart by something ancient, falling to my knees and dropping both Ascalon and Arondight while clawing at my chest.

'I-If I'm r-right! An Ophis Snake made the three descendants! It made them to be on par with their ancestors! I…I can't lose! Not before I can say I can handle the top echelon of our society!', I gasped for air as I slammed my head over and over into the ground, feeling my demonic power and holy energy crying out as both kept growing and growing.

“You just drank the blood of the Ouroboros! Even us Satan descendants would struggle somewhat to contain its power and you, a boy, believe that you are able to do so?! Ha! You will be torn apart like the weakling you are!”, She cackled, but her words were little more than background noise to me as I kept my breathing steady.

“Chants are how most devils focus their abilities, Kiba. Why do you think most of the magicians and devils say the names of the attacks out loud? Saying the name of the attack helps them visualize the effects of the attack.”

“I am the soul of my sword.”

“And now you're resorting to prayer? Oh, you're a disgrace to all devils.”

“Demonic is my body as the taint of holy blood flows through it,” I whispered, forcing my hands away from my chest and grabbing onto both Ascalon and Arondight right as their respective auras flared.

“What?”

“Through countless battles, never once fleeing nor being victorious. I alone bear it on this hill of swords and iron,” I murmured as I stood up straight, stumbling to my feet before focusing my glare on the shocked Katerea as my blades slowly rose from the ground.

“Yet my heart's flame will never cease. Thus, as I pray…”, I whispered as I held both Ascalon and Arondight to her, watching as the blades all shimmered before Katerea's eyes widened when copies of myself formed behind each sword and took them in hand.

“Balance Break: Reflection of Infinite Blades,” I declared to the dimension, my copies landing before all of us crouched in unison as Katerea looked around nervously.

That look did not last as rage and resignation danced in her eyes, the Satan descendant snarling as her tentacle hands writhed around her form.

“Do your worst, vermin!”

Sandanzuki: Kuzuryusen

The final round of the battle ended as quickly as it began, Katerea no longer a threat to me especially after I had devoured and assimilated Ophis' Snake to my very being.

Before she could even swing her arms, the clones and I were already at the opposite side of where we started, the dimension around us shattering while I dropped to a knee as Katerea's body fell to pieces behind me.

“Hah…hah…Fuck,” I cussed as I could still feel the damage from eating Ophis' Snake, taking deep breaths before looking up as Azazel knelt beside me with a smirk.

“First the Holy-Demonic Blades and now the Subspecies Balance Breaker. You just love to surpass expectations, don't you?”, Azazel spoke with a grin and I gave a tired shrug, wanting to stand up only to gag as I felt something coming up in my throat.

Folding over and feeling fluid spewing from my mouth, I vomited for what felt like minutes before it stopped, grimacing at the foul bitter taste in my mouth.

“That…doesn't look good,” Azazel murmured as we looked at the vomit and I frowned as I saw the hints of blood in it.

“I may have drank an Ophis Snake that Katerea was going to use against me.”

“…You know what? That's not my problem. That's your problem as you and your girlfriends are going to talk about that,” He spoke with a grin as he helped me up, to which I grimaced as he helped me walk over to where the other leaders were watching the skies above.

“By the way, you need to know that the activation of your Balance Breaker created a shockwave that killed almost all of the witches above, but Vali still got more.”

“Hey, bitch!”, Vali spoke with an eager grin as he floated in the air and I just gave him the middle finger as I plopped on the floor next to Sirzechs, who looked concerned before smiling in relief as I gave a thumbs-up.

“Don't worry. I just ate an Ophis Snake, but other than that…I'm good.”

“I…see? Why would you do that?”

“You were the one who said I needed power,” I said with a smirk and he just looked at me before shaking his head with a sigh as Grayfia slowly turned her gaze to him.

“In my defence, I meant that he needed power through training, not through devouring a snake that could kill him.”

“…I will still inform Lady Gremory.”

“Of course, dear. Anyway, it appears that Katerea was the only one so-”, Sirzechs stopped talking as he immediately turned around, with me looking up before I frowned slightly at the silver-haired figure in the air.

“Y-You…you're supposed to be dead,” However, it appeared everyone else knew him as Sirzechs looked shocked while even Grayfia looked pale. I couldn't help but notice the similar facial structure of Grayfia and the man in the rather formal butler outfit as the man simply adjusted his gloves with a soft, eerie chuckle.

“Many think that, Sirzechs Lucifer, but not many saw what was hidden right in front of them.”

“If you're here…oh fuck,” Azazel cussed softly and I was still confused as Michael grimaced while Sirzechs gritted his teeth.

“If you're here, that means he's still alive too, isn't he?”

“Who knows? I am only here to deliver a message to you all.”

“And what message is that?”, Michael asked and the man smirked as he spread his arms wide and created dozens more magic circles in the skies above.

“Welcome to hell.”

A/N: Like I said, this was going to be the point where canon is no longer a thing we need to worry about and I meant it. From here on out, it's nothing but chaos and anarchy.

With that said...BALANCE BREAKER IS HERE!! Do you like it? Do you hate it? Do you like the name or not? Let me know.

Next chapter: Is this Hell?

As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one…

Ba-Bye~!!