101)Hell

Serafall cursed as she had felt a monstrous presence arriving next to Isaiah just as she felt Creuserey's energy dissipating, her spell to disrupt & destroy the created dimension around them cracking slightly before she gritted her teeth as she fuelled more demonic energy into the spell.

“Lady Serafall, do you need us to help?!” Tomoe asked as she stood behind the Satan, to which Serafall turned & looked at both Tomoe & Asia before looking in the direction of where she felt Isaiah's energy.

“Yes! I felt a new energy appear near Isaiah and he's going to need my help! Asia, fuel your demonic energy into the sigil to the bottom left!”

“R-Right!” Asia nodded as she quickly walked forward & placed a hand over the sigil before a gasp escaped her lips as she felt the rune instantly latching onto her demonic energy and began sucking it out.

“Fuel it for the next ten seconds and the dimension will break! Tomoe, protect her while she's busy!”

“Will do! Lord Isaiah's sword should he-!” Tomoe was cut off by the sound of metal shattering, all three ladies looking in shock at the Holy-Demonic sword falling to pieces out of Tomoe's hands before Serafall spun around in horror as she felt Isaiah's energy plummeting drastically.

'No! No! No! No!' It took her mere seconds to go from the far edge of the city to Isaiah's location at her full power, coming to a skidding stop just in time to see Isaiah's form sent blasting through the sky with Creuserey swiftly rushing after it.

“Isaiah!!” The words barely escaped Serafall's lips as a monstrous hand made out of ice shot from the ground only for a growl to escape her lips as a blast of black-gold energy erased the hand before it could catch him.

“Move!” Serafall growled as she glared at Crom Cruach, who simply smirked as he cracked his neck whilst stretching his arms above his head with a groan.

“Nope. Can't have you stopping the plan. For now, you're free to fight me if you wi-!” Serafall attacked before Crom could finish his sentence, the Evil Dragon chuckling as he was surrounded by a cage of ice right before jagged spears shot out from the cage's insides to impale him.

However, the spears shattered the moment they touched his skin, Serafall growling as the dragon simply walked forward & broke the cage with a simple tap.

“Listen, little bat. While I do enjoy a good fight like any other Dragon, I also abhor having to fight anyone that cast spells that have no effect on me. As the humans say, 'It's like hunting a rabbit with a nuclear bomb'. Stop your whining, go back to bre-urgh, must you be this eager to die?” Crom Cruach asked with an irritated look as serrated ice chains wrapped around his body, another ice dome surrounding the dragon before a literal blizzard of razor-sharp ice erupted from inside the sealed dome.

Yet, it was not enough as the dragon simply flexed his body as he continued walking forward, a blazing tornado erupting from his lips with one sigh and melting the ice fragments away.

“You sure you want to keep going? If so, just know that the next attack will be my last to throw out.”

“The next attack you're getting is my fist up your ass.” Serafall's True Voice escaped from her lips as a cold mist slowly radiated off of her body, Crom Cruach raising an eyebrow as it sounded as if there was a slight wailing echo & the sound of ice cracking with each word that the woman had spoken.

The next moment, a smirk appeared on his face as the entire city block around them was frozen in an instant, Crom looking down at the ice covering the left side of his body before his smirk turned into a grin as he had to strain a bit to shatter the ice this time.

Looking back at Serafall, he was excited at the two large ice horns growing out & up from her forehead while her skin had turned a chilling blue, her eyes pitch black while a regal gown & sceptre made out of ice had replaced her magical girl outfit & wand.

“Oh, perhaps I underestimated you, little devil.” Serafall didn't answer as she looked at Crom Cruach before the dragon spun around & raised a hand to stop the sceptre from stabbing his chest, looking at the voids that were Serafall's eyes with a manic grin as the clone behind him cracked & shattered.

“So, your body is now every bit of ice around you, huh? You devils have gotten a lot stronger than I remember you being.”

“Celcius Cross Trigger.” Instead of answering, Serafall chanted while placing a hand on her sceptre, to which it glowed a light blue before Crom was flash-frozen in the blink of an eye.

However, that was not enough as the dragon freed himself from the ice with a burst of his power, which also sent Serafall & the ice within a five meter radius around him skidding back as black scales with a gold lining grew on his left arm & the right side of his face.

Serafall's eyes widened slightly as pain exploded in her chest, looking down to see Crom Cruach embedded into her chest while he stood slightly crouched in front of her as his afterimage slowly vanished.

The next moment, her ice clone along with the homes behind her was eradicated from the shockwave of Crom Cruach's punch, the Satan reforming not too far the dragon as he turned around to face her with an impressed look in his eyes.

“Not too bad. I was aiming for a kill-shot, but it appears your skin is tougher than I thought. Allow me to rectify my mistake.” It was only thanks to Serafall having already created a clone far away & transporting her consciousness to it that she survived the next attack.

With one single attack fuelled with his draconic energy, Serafall's frozen world was shattered entirely as the dragon stood in the spot where her clone previously stood, the dragon's scales retracting as he saw her now back in her mortal form.

“Any average god would have died from my first attack and from your attacks as well. Keep training and perhaps one day, you might actually pose a challenge. Until then, I will be taking my leave. Farewell, little Satan.” For Crom, calling a devil anything other than a bat was a huge compliment in his eyes as he teleported away.

For Serafall, it was an insult that rocked her to her core as she felt Isaiah's energy vanishing along with that of Cao Cao, Georg and Creuserey.

As she felt Issei's & Saji's demonic energies rushing towards her with Tomoe & Asia not too far behind, she couldn't help the tears burning at the corners of her eyes as she pulled her knees to her chest.

'I…I couldn't do anything.'

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“Gahh!” Akeno awoke from her slumber with a gasp as she bolted upright, frantically looking around only to be greeted by dark stone walls & a single barred window separating her from freedom.

Going to stand up, she hissed as she felt pain running down her left leg, looking down only to stare in shock as she saw it covered in bandages while a pair of makeshift-crutches laid against the wall besides her.

“Akeno! You're finally up!” She spun as she heard Tsubaki's voice before sighing in relief as she saw her fellow Queen looking relieved while she looked through the one window she had found, her relief quickly turning to worry as she saw the bruised eye & jagged cut on the girl's forehead.

“Don't worry about this. Nothing a Phenex Tear can't fix.” Tsubaki said with a nervous smile and Akeno frowned as she reached for the crutches before slowly pulling herself up.

“What…what happened?”

“The last thing I remember was someone appearing behind us & knocking me out. I was hoping you knew.” Tsubaki answered with an unsure look and Akeno frowned as she tried to remember something.

“The last thing I can remember was turning around to see you knocked out while some blonde guy was standing over you. Then there was a shit ton of pain, which is probably why my leg is broken, and then…nothing.”

“The leg breaking would be me. Apologies for not capturing you with a more humane method.” A voice echoed in their chambers as they heard stone moving, both ladies watching as the wall separating their cells slowly sunk into the ground before spinning to face Akeno's left wall as a door began to form in front of it.

Yet, as the man entered, Akeno & Tsubaki looked in shock as they saw Merlin walking through with an amused yet sadistic look on his face.

“Y-You're the guy Meredith fought.”

“Meredith? Ah, you must mean the girl that this body fought before I took over. She is quite the witch for her age, if I do say so myself.” Merlin spoke with a nod, both Tsubaki & Akeno frowning as they processed the way he said it.

“This body? What does that mean?”

“Now, now. The questions will be left for later. For now, I need you two ladies to come with me.”

“How about no?” Akeno spoke as she lifted a palm to face the amused Merlin before fuelling holy energy into her spell only to hiss as it backlashed & sent a painful spark of electricity up her arm.

“I wouldn't try to do anything like that if I were you. Our little base is layered with anti-demonic & anti-holy runes so unless you wish to feel what it's like to have your own energy burning you from the inside out, I'd say it's best if you come with me.” Merlin spoke with a smirk before turning around & walking back out, Akeno glaring at the man leaving before looking at Tsubaki as she spoke up.

“We have nothing else to do and moving a bit would you do well to get used to the crutches.”

“Argh, fine! But, that doesn't mean I have to like it.” Akeno grumbled as she slowly shuffled out, Tsubaki simply rolling her eyes as she followed behind her friend to help.

As soon as they exited the cell, both ladies were on guard as Merlin along with an amused Masaomi were waiting for them along with five devils dressed in armour & wielding pitch black bidents.

“Ladies, this is my friend & former exorcist Masaomi. At least, that's whose body you're using, right?”

“That is correct. Now then, will you kindly follow us and don't try to escape or else we'll have to hurt you a bit more?”

“Please do, though. All of my toys broke and I'm looking for a few new ones.” Merlin spoke with a sadistic smirk that unnerved both ladies as they hastily followed after the chuckling Masaomi, the disappointed groan from Merlin unsettling them slightly as they tried to best to not give him any reason to attack them.

Yet, as they passed through the maze of hallways and open doors, both ladies were disgusted & horrified at the experiments happening inside each of them, surprised to see some of the test subjects wide awake & screaming in pain as they were cut open while others struggled in their restraints as they were drowned, burned, electrocuted and many more stuff done to them.

“Oh, don't worry. You ladies are high value targets so you won't have to worry about being used like the guinea pigs. If you do act out and/ or misbehave, you'll be placed under my tender care.” Merlin spoke with a soft smile and yet, Akeno knew that the man was hungry for some new flesh as she saw the burning greed in his gaze.

“No thank you. I believe I won't be needing your tender care.” Akeno answered with a huff as she turned back around, Merlin simply raising an eyebrow as he turned to Tsubaki only to grumble as the girl wasn't even looking at him.

“Leave them alone, Merlin. Let them have their moment of bravery. Also, we are here.” Masaomi's words drew the ladies' attention to the front before they frowned at the double doors awaiting at the end of the hallway, the man in front simply nodding at the two guards stationed at the doors before opening them without a word.

“Now then, please.” Masaomi gestured with a smile and Akeno simply walked past him while Tsubaki helped her, the girls' eyes widening in horror at the sight that greeted them.

“Isa!!” Akeno exclaimed as she & Tsubaki tried to rush over to Isaiah kneeling in the middle of a glass cage, his one arm & the stump that was the other arm held out to the side with metal chains while nails were stabbed through his legs & into the ground.

“Ah! Our guests have arrived!” An unsettling voice cheered happily and the ladies spun around before freezing in place at the sight of a middle-aged silver-haired man walking towards them with a bright smile while Euclid Lucifuge, Satanael, Creuserey, Siegfried and Crom Cruach followed behind him.

“These are his lovers, correct?” Rizevim Livan Lucifer asked while turning to Euclid, who hummed while nodding as he looked at the terrified ladies.

“That is correct, Prince. These are Akeno Himejima & Tsubaki Shinra. His third & fourth lovers, Kuroka Toujou & Serafall Sitri respectively, are currently not within our grasp.”

“Eh, no need to worry about those two. Besides, he's known these two for longer so he probably has more attachment to them, isn't that right ladies?” Rizevim asked with a smile as he looked back at the ladies, who didn't answer as Akeno glared at him.

“What did you do to him?”

“As of this moment, absolutely nothing…besides crucifying him, that is. Does that count as doing anything to him.”

“No significant torture has occurred, so I would say no.” Siegfried spoke with a shrug, the others humming & nodding in agreement as Rizevim grinned & turned back to the girls.

“There you have it! We have done absolutely nothing. Yet! I need to add in that yet.”

“And what would cause it to no longer be yet?” Tsubaki asked and Rizevim scratched his head before shrugging.

“That depends on your little boyfriend and on you two ladies. You see, I have this little plan, but for it to work, I need your people to figure out where I am, which is where my second little plan comes in. You two will go free & back to your people along with the exact coordinates of this base. Tell your leaders that I want them to come meet up with me & we'll discuss the release of Isaiah here.”

“I would rather die than play your games!”

“That can be arranged, vermin.” Unlike Isaiah's True Voice that felt comforting to the girls, Rizevim's felt like death itself was looking at them as the man went from a clown to the son of Lucifer himself, sitting upright while the air itself went tense.

“Then who is going to deliver your message?” Crom asked with a raised eyebrow and the tense atmosphere instantly vanished as Rizevim blinked a few times before giving a sigh as he sunk back into his chair with a pout.

“Damnit, I forgot about that. Uh…anyone got any ideas?”

“What about killing him? He serves no purpose to us.” Masaomi asked while pointing at Isaiah and Rizevim grinned at the horror on the girls' faces.

“Ey! Looks like that will work perfectly but there's a new issue. Who's going to kill him?”

“Dibs!” Creuserey called out before anyone could, the Evil Dragons groaning as the man was already halfway towards Isaiah before skidding to a stop as Rizevim appeared in front of him with a hand raised.

“It appears our guests are finally complying, right?” He asked while looking over to Akeno, who had fallen to the floor in her haste to stop him.

“I'll do it! I'll do it! Just please! Don't!” She sobbed as Tsubaki gritted her teeth, glaring at Euclid as the shadow tentacle on the back of her neck stopped her from moving.

“Good girl.” Rizevim spoke with a smirk while Creuserey cursed as he slowly shuffled back to the snickering group of Evil Dragons, Akeno glaring hatefully up at Rizevim through teary eyes as the man crouched right in front of her.

“Wipe the tears away, sweetie. We're not going to kill your boyfriend nor are we going to torture him. Well, unless you don't deliver my message. Then, I'll hand him over to Merlin. I'm sure you girls wouldn't want that given how much he probably talked while escorting you here, right?”

“I will kill you.” Akeno spoke with a growl as she slowly stood up, to which the Super Devil cackled while Tsubaki let out a soft relieved sigh as Euclid retracted his shadow tentacle.

“Ehahahahahaha!! By all means!! If you can, kill me!! You would just be giving me more entertainment! Now then, Azi, send them back.” Rizevim spoke and the last sight Akeno saw was Isaiah waking up before the world warped around her & Tsubaki and she stood in front of a shocked Rias.

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“Urgh…what the hell hit me?” The words escaped my lips before I could stop them, slowly shaking my head to get rid of the fogginess before blinking to get my vision to stop spinning.

“Ah! Our guest of honour has awakened!” I blinked as the voice sounded completely unfamiliar, slowly looking up in the direction of where it came before I froze at the sight of eight pairs of amused gazes looking back at me.

'Holy shit, that's Rizevim. And Euclid, Crom Cruach, Siegfried and Creuserey. Wait, who the hell are these other guys…and what the hell are they all doing here?'

“So, you already know who some of us are, huh? Not bad, Isaiah Azathoth. For a mudblood, that is.” Rizevim spoke with a smirk as he knelt in front of me and I gritted my teeth as I tried to move my arms only to turn my head to see them all held up with chains.

'Anti-Demonic energy runes, energy sapping runes, spell nullification runes, spell redirection runes and a whole lot of other ones. Damn, they really don't want me to escape.'

“And before you think of standing up, your legs are kind of in a pickle as well.” Rizevim spoke while pointing behind me and I looked at my legs before frowning as I saw the nails stabbing through them.

Sure, it was very painful, but the pain level compared to having your ribs cracked & bruised on a daily basis thanks to Buddha was a breeze.

“So, what the fuck am I doing here talking to the big boss?” I asked as I turned back around, watching as Rizevim simply snickered while standing up.

“No reason other than the fact that you're my goddamn biggest headache. I wanted to just kill you, but then I realized something. Doing that would bring down the wrath of not only devilkind but also your allies upon us…which is what I want so perhaps I should kill you.”

“Then why don't you?”

“You're not a very good bluffer, Isaiah Azathoth.” Rizevim spoke with an amused smile while placing a hand on the glass cage and Isaiah's eyes widened as a pulse of energy flushed over him before he couldn't feel his Sacred Gear any longer.

“See, I have this little unique ability to nullify all Sacred Gears and because of that ability, it would be child's play for me to kill you & send your corpse back to your friends & family. However! I won't do that because that would rid me of most of the fun I'm about to have. Buckle up, Isaiah Azathoth, for the next couple of days are going to fun for me…and utter hell for you.” Rizevim spoke with a sadistic grin as he turned & walked away, to which I could only watch as the other men in the room smirked & followed him out.

'Calm, Isaiah. You are a Knight of House Gremory. Before that can happen, figure out a way to get out of here.' I thought with a deep breath as I slowly closed my eyes and let my body fall slack, a soft humming echoing in the cage as I slowly moved my body around.

“Oh! And by the way!” I blinked as I heard Rizevim's voice, looking up to see the man popping back in while holding a silver crest in his hands.

“Here's a little something to keep you occupied. Don't worry, it's diluted enough that you won't die but you'll wish you could.” He spoke as he threw the crest at me and my eyes widened as it sunk into the cage before a silent scream escaped my lips as holy water flooded the cage up to my neck.

“Sleep tight!”

A/N: And so the next arc begins: Rescuing a Prodigy!!

And so we embark on the Beginning to the End. Man, when this finally finishes, I'm going to be so overjoyed to have my second finished story in my grasp.

Anyway, next chapter, a bit of torture and rescue plans.

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

Ba-Bye~!