The Light Born In The Darkness (CH 44)

A/N: This story is rated M for mature content not suitable for children.

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Chapter 44: Kuoh Battle Conclusion

Kuoh City

Unohana muttered a curse under her breath as she repeatedly clashed with Okita. The reason for her hesitation in completely eliminating him was clear.

Okita was a man who contained 100 demons, or more accurately, the spirits of deceased Youkais within himself. As a human, he suffered from a severe illness, and in order to stave off death, he resorted to dark magic, trapping these demons inside his body to extend his lifespan.

"You honestly remind me of a pesky insect; you just keep hanging around," Unohana declared as she struck Okita with a blow he couldn't block. Instead of blood, a malevolent, dark energy seeped from the wound she inflicted, morphing into youkais. "You're truly revolting."

"From my perspective, you're the repulsive one," Okita remarked, observing Unohana as she utilized her acid blood manipulation to dissolve the demons emerging from his wound into a pool of goo. "You're nothing more than a ruthless killer."

Unohana didn't respond; instead, she launched a renewed and fierce assault that surprised Okita. He only managed to survive due to his unique physique. From all his injuries, a demon emerged and targeted Unohana, seeing her as a threat to their host.

"You are nothing but a parasite," Unohana said when she finally responded. She could not understand how a person could make their body into a vessel for youkai just to prolong their lives. "But I am going to put you out of your misery."

Okita knew that he had to go on the offensive, so he used his special attack, a triple attack, but he moved at such speeds that it looked like a single attack. Unohana managed to block one of his strikes, but the other two landed, making a cross shape on her stomach to her chest.

Unohana chuckled at the attack and the damage it had done. She quickly healed herself with magic, something she had learned a long time ago so she could prolong the joy of battle.

Unohana teased, "Your swordplay is decent, but you'll need a bit more than that to take me down!" before she unleashed her fury on Okita.

Okita retaliated with his own stabs and slashed each of them. Their blades touched and created a shockwave that destroyed their surroundings. While it may seem that they lost themselves in the battle, they made sure that none of their attacks went to where they sensed Rias.

The battle was at a stalemate, with Okita being unable to do lasting damage to Unohana because of her healing magic, and her acid blood melted any of his 100 demons that got too close to her.

While Unohana was unable to slay Okita because of his unique body made of demons, each time she cut him, a demon would come from the wound, healing him and attacking her at the same time.

As the battle continued, they both knew that the victor would be determined by which one of them could outlast the other, but neither knew which would fall first. So that just leaves them to attack each other with their most powerful attacks, and the one standing wins.

"You are a troublesome opponent, Unohana," Okita said as he ripped off his the remainder of his shirt, showing his back covered in the tattoos of 100 demons (Youkai). "But I will be the one to win this."

"You talk too much, fool," Unohana responded as she started to radiate a crimson aura, as blood flowed from her blade to the ground, covering the area they were in with the sticky liquid.

"Night Parade of 100 Demons," Okita exclaimed as the tattoos on his back glowed, and 100 youkai appeared around him, empowering him beyond what Unohana thought possible, as he was now stronger than one of the original Satans.

Unohana, while surprised by this, couldn't help but give a bloodthirsty smile at finding a strong opponent. Her aura intensified, and the blood created by her power turned black like sludge.

"Black Blood," Unohana declared as her special attack. Black Blood was based on Lord Satanchia's darkness manipulation; instead of melting the opponent, it will suck them in and crush them like a black hole, then use their blood as fuel to continue the attack.

Like a bell rung, the two leap at the other, one covered in black blood, the other surrounded by a hundred youkai, both putting their lives on the line, betting that their own attack would be the superior one.

As soon as the blades met, the two warriors couldn't help but smile. They were swordmasters, and to meet and fight another master at their peak, to test their own mastery of the blade, is a dream come true. They had no regrets even if they died here.

BOOM

A massive explosion that rocked Kuoh resulted from the attack; if it had not been for the barrier, a lot of people would have died. As the smoke cleared around the two warriors, one was on their knee, bleeding, while the other, whole but bleeding and exhausted, was on their feet.

"That was a great battle, Unohana," Okita stated as he looked down at his opponent. He had to acknowledge that he only won the clash because his hundred demons protected him; now they were all gone.

"Tsk I can't believe I lost to a parasite," Unohana replied as she accepted her loss, but it did not mean she liked it. Her attack would have slain anyone, but it seemed the 100 demons within Okita were like his extra lives. Her attack took 100 of them but didn't reach Okita, and he landed a devastating slash on her while she was out of magic, so she couldn't heal herself.

"Its over," Okita said with his sword ready to end Unohana when suddenly he felt a pain in his chest and looked down to see a hole in it. "What?"

Okita turned around to see Rias looking at him sadly, with Kiba knocked out and her other peerage members ready to back their king up if necessary.

Okita looked at Rias, who still had her hand that launched the attack raised, with the other one on her growing stomach that had Lord Satanchia's child in it.

"I see you made your choice on who you are going to side with," Okita said weakly. He could understand why Rias would choose this path; what mother wouldn't want their child to be safe? His eyes went to Kiba, who was unconscious. He could tell what happened from a glance.

Rias must have told her peerage what she planned to do, which is treason. Kiba must have tried to stop her, not because of his loyalty to the underworld, but because Okita is his mentor and friend. In the end, Rias must have steeled her resolve while her other peerage members sided with her. Kiba didn't stand a chance and was knocked out.

Okita fell forward and surprisingly Unohana caught him gently placing him on the ground as his blood flowed out wetting the ground, his last sight was Unohana looking at him with a blank stare, if he had the strength he would laugh at how thing played out to die in the arms of his enemy but at least she was a beautiful woman.

Surtr Second vs

Surtr, as he fought the twin Tsukiko and Yuki, if he heard them right, had come to realize something about the ice magic that they used: it was far from normal, and anyone could tell by the fact that it froze his fire, which is supposed to be eternal.

The first thing he noted was that the twin ice magic had different effects. Yuki, the twin with shoulder-length hair, was the one that worried him most because the areas she froze became numb, and he couldn't channel his magic to them.

As for Tsukiko, her attack was not as effective because he found that he could melt her ice. The problem lay in the fact that she seemed to disappear and appear anytime he tried to attack her. The long-haired twin would take her sister with her if his attack got too close to hitting.

Surtr concluded that Tsukiko was not just using speed or teleporting around; she was freezing time. For how long she could do this, the fire giant didn't know, but fighting those twins together began to feel like it was too much for even him.

One attacked and the other made it impossible to hit them. If it was any other opponent, Surtr knew the twin would almost always win, but their opponent was him—the clone of the one who is meant to bring total destruction to Asgard.

"I've had enough of your games," Surtr exclaimed as the heat coming off him intensified to the point that being near him caused painful burns.

The twins got some distance between them and Surtr; not that it did much. So, they used their magic to lessen the effects of the heat. They watched as Surtr ripped off the parts of him that were frozen, and the area quickly healed as if he was from the Phenex clan.

"I didn't know that he could do that," Yuki remarked with a raised eyebrow. "He can heal himself similarly to what the Phenex can do."

"Yeah, but that's not all. He seems to be superheating the environment, making it so I can't stop time as before," Tsukiko stated as she tried to use her time-freezing magic, but Surtr's own magic was not allowing her to drop the temperature to the amount needed to use her magic.

"So he has some brains in his head after all," Yuki comments. She guesses he must have figured out Tsukiko's time-stopping trick and used his fire to superheat the environment to prevent her from using it. "But that doesn't change his fate to lose to us."

"I agree, sister, we have many more tricks to show," Yuki stated with a smirk at what she knew they had to do to win. The twins remained emotionless as Surtr stoked their position with his body fully ablaze.

Surtr was frustrated because he could tell the twins dodged his attack, but he had no clue where they went.

"Come out you cowardly wenches," Surtr roared; his massive size made his already deep voice boom across the city. If it was not for the barrier, his voice would have burst the eardrums of all the humans in the city.

Tsukiko answered the fire giant's calls with a barrage of giant ice spears aimed at his vitals. They hit but did little damage. The silver-haired woman knew that because of the heat, it would be hard to form her ice with her magic, much less damage Surtr with it, unlike her sister's Yuki ice magic, which is actually a combination of ice and dark magic that has the effect of stopping the function of whatever she freezes.

"Stay still and die like the insect you are," Surtr bellowed in fury as he attacked with an intensity that made Tsukiko believe he was slowly losing himself to his fire giant blood and might soon just become like his original if not stopped here and now.

Yuki, in the meantime, was in the air high above the battle with Surtr, and she could still feel the heat the monster was generating. She had been channeling her magic to defeat Surtr in one massive attack while Tsukiko was keeping the fire giant distracted.

Surtr was not having a good time; the silver-haired woman was hard to pin down. She was flying around him, attacking with her ice that did no real damage, but it was annoying like the sting of a mosquito. Not to mention the few times he had caught Tsukiko, it turned out to be an ice clone she created.

Yuki was surprised when Surtr's giant head snapped in her direction. She was hoping that he would ignore her or be too distracted by Tsukiko to give her enough time to gather the energy for an attack to finish him off.

"So that what you too are planning," Surtr growled, then grinned. "If that is the way you bitches want to play, then so be it," Surtr stated. But instead of attacking her, he started to gather his magic too; he would meet Tsukiko's attack with his strongest one.

Observing the situation, Tsukiko attempted to divert Surtr's attention by launching an attack, but he dismissed her futile efforts and concentrated on Yuki, whom he perceived as the greater threat.

"Tsk, if my attacks won't work, then how about defense?" Tsukiko said as she flew to where her sister was and started to create magical barriers of ice in front of them to meet Surtr's attack. In seconds, hundreds of barriers, thin but powerful, were created. "Let's see you get through that."

Tsukiko made this statement, fully aware that her defenses would be compromised; she was merely attempting to buy her sister some time.

"Burn to ash, Solar Flare," Surtr exclaimed as he unleashed a massive ball of flames that was three times his size. It looked like a sun, and the barrier around Kuoh shattered, setting the town ablaze, not that the fire giant noticed.

Surtr launched the big flames at the twins, and for the first time since the battle started, Tsukiko felt panic enter her heart, while Yuki behind her was in deep concentration. The air around her was distorting from the amount of power she was gathering.

BOOM BAM BOOM

Tsukiko recoiled as Surtr's assault penetrated her defenses effortlessly. One barrier after another shattered as the attack advanced towards the twins.

"You won't beat us!" Tsukiko yelled, pouring more magic into her barrier to slow down Surtr's attack, but the fire giant was quick to respond.

"This is the end for you and your faction will follow," Surtr roared as he moved his hands in front of him, his power visible around him as the Solar Flare doubled in size. "Now turn to ash."

Tsukiko desperately tried to stop Surtr's attack, but to no avail. The giant grinned as he saw there were only a few barriers left between his attack and the twins. He was about to add more power to his solar flare, but he felt a sudden pain in his knee, making him almost fall over.

Surtr looked down; to his shock, he saw Rias and her peerage along with Unohana in a barrier to protect them from the magical energies being released. The fire giant's eyes widened, then he tried to sense Okita, but he couldn't sense his friend, meaning he had fallen.

"What are you doing here and why are you with her?" Surtr asked as he realized Rias was the one to attack him. The fire giant guessed she had her power amplified by the red dragon emperor.

"I will not return with you, Surtr," Rias stated, her voice brimming with resolve. "I refuse to place my child in jeopardy."

"So be it," Surtr responded, his eyes softening as he could understand where Rias was coming from, but then he gathered his resolve as a warrior. "If that is your decision, then you are a traitor, and I will burn you along with everyone else."

Surtr was about to attack Rias and her group, but then he felt a spike in power where the twins were. Then he saw the impossible: his attack froze over, and a blizzard of frozen air reached him, causing his flames to freeze.

"What is happening?" Surtr exclaimed, his eyes wide with shock as his body was gradually enveloped in ice. He attempted to break free or harness his powers, but was unable to conjure even a small flame.

Rias observed with sorrowful eyes as Surtr was encased in ice, recognizing the betrayal reflected in his gaze as he transformed into a frozen statue.

"It's done," Unohana said, feeling Surtr's aura fade as Tsukiko smashed his body into a million pieces without mercy.

Rias wore a blank expression as she gazed at the remnants of Surtr and then at the devastated Kouh town; she was on the verge of breaking down when Unohana's next words instilled hope in her.

"You don't have to worry about the humans in the town; we had agents in the town evacuate it while the barrier was up, so everyone survived and can rebuild later."

Rias and her Peerage's expressions lit up at those words, particularly Issei, who felt a sense of relief knowing that his family and friends were safe.

In the underworld, the true conflict begins. Unohana conjured a magical circle to her ear and communicated with an individual, informing them of the events that transpired in Kouh town while awaiting further instructions.

Chapter End

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A/N: Next time, the war front in the underworld continues.