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"All of you ready?" asked Sekke.
The remaining Black Bulls, Leopold, Mimosa, Anna, the three elves, Lolopechka, and the Spirit Guardians nodded with determination.
Sekke looked over all of them to ensure they were properly geared for the cold Spade Kingdom climate.
[Sun Spirit Magic: Daybreak Mantle]
A glowing mantle of sunlight appeared on all of them.
"Stay cautious out there. Believe in yourselves, but never get complacent when facing dangerous enemies. Team up properly and fight smart. Everyone knows their roles, so be prepared. This will be one of the hardest battles you've ever faced."
All of them grew more serious. They had trained hard, but the mission's danger was undeniable.
"Our priority is to save the captains of the Black Bulls and the Golden Dawn. I'll safeguard the citizens first, so don't hesitate to go all out."
Everyone nodded. Sekke smirked and nodded back.
"Finral."
"Yes!"
The spatial mage opened a portal to the Spade Kingdom.
Immediately, a freezing wind passed through along with turbulent mana from the battlefield.
They gulped but still jumped through, following Sekke.
Once on the battlefield, they saw a massive army of devils attacking the Spade resistance forces.
"Such a huge army? …Perfect to test my new spell," replied Sekke with a smirk.
Everyone stared at him. Even here, Sekke was perfectly calm and not the slightest bit overwhelmed.
[Shadow Magic: Rise of the Fallen]
Sekke's shadow deepened and expanded.
"Arise."
His mana-amplified voice resonated outward. The shadow quivered, and humanoid figures began emerging from within.
"W-What are these?" asked Noelle in slight horror, feeling the mana that the shadow figures were emitting.
"A new spell I learned from Vice Captain Nacht. It lets me summon shadows of people I've… 'unalived.' These are from that other dimension. That's Xander, his sister Xena, the Zoro imitator, that guy with the nice haircut, Merrick, their leader Albert, and… I forgot the rest. Anyway, say hi."
The shadow figures looked at Sekke's friends and waved their hands without saying anything.
The others blinked in surprise; just standing near the shadow figures was making it difficult for them to stand still, and yet Sekke mentioned that he defeated all of them.
"Wait!!! Is that my mom!!!" yelled Vanessa as she spotted a familiar shadowy figure.
"Hm? Oh yeah, she is the witch queen. Remember the time I erased the entire witch's forest in rage, only for Rouge to bring them back? She is probably from that time," explained Sekke.
Vanessa walked closer to the witch queen's shadow and poked her with her finger.
The shadow, in return, smiled at Vanessa and patted her head.
"Huh?" muttered Vanessa in surprise, the shadowy figure of her mother was patting her head affectionately.
"Wait!!! That devil!!!" hissed Pattoli in anger as he noticed the shadowy figure of the devil that they had fought back in the shadow palace.
All of a sudden, a spell came flying their way, only for the shadow Zoro to slice it apart and destroy it.
"Stop acting surprised! Go do your jobs and let me do mine," Sekke said, shooing them away.
They snapped back to reality and realised this was still a battlefield.
"We're going!!! Take care!!!" Magna yelled as he rushed forward along with Zora, Luck, Gauche and Grey.
"We are going too!" said Noelle as she flew with Secre, Anna, and Fana.
"I'm heading out! Take care, everyone!" said Finral as he vanished through a portal.
"Take care, my best friend. I promise we will save Captain Yami and Captain Vangeance," whispered Gordon as he moved with Vanessa, Henry, Charmy, Patolli, and Vetto on Henry's Black Bull stone mecha.
"I'll open a path for you," said Sekke as his shadow army surged forward.
[Explosion Magic: Brilliant Detonation][Holy Water Magic: Smiting Pressure Wave][Holy Beast Magic: Rampaging Leviathan][Tornado Magic: Whirlwind Cutter][Blast Away]
Four Soul Superiors and the devil shadows charged ahead and obliterated the devils in an instant.
Mimosa, Lolopechka, and the Spirit Guardians saw the power of the attacks and were questioning whether they were needed here in the first place.
Unknown to their thought, Sekke strolled around the area, saving the citizens or resistance soldiers that were being attacked by the devils or were injured and was asking them to go to safety.
Some of them were enthusiastic and wanted to play a part in saving their kingdom and getting their freedom with their own hands.
Sekke smiled at their words and simply put them to sleep with his magic before sending them away. He wanted to get the things over with ASAP, and babysitting all these people was not gonna help in doing that.
"U-Um… Lord Sekke," called Lolopechka.
"Hm? Yes?"
"...Should we just go back?" she asked hesitantly, glancing around.
Even without Sekke doing anything, the shadows were effortlessly wiping out the devils.
"...Want me to pull back the shadows and let you guys fight instead?" Sekke asked awkwardly.
Lolopechka didn't respond verbally, but her expression was enough.
Sekke withdrew the shadows, gesturing for the Spirit Guardians and Lolopechka to take the front.
They all looked embarrassed but rushed to engage the devils to hide it.
Lolopechka commanded the Guardians, staying close to Sekke as instructed.
Mimosa was busy healing the injured with the shadow Witch Queen's help.
Sekke's shadow rippled, and shadow Zoro emerged.
"Jump in if they get overwhelmed," Sekke ordered.
Shadow Zoro nodded and watched over the fight.
Lolopechka wanted to defend her Guardians' pride, but the moment the shadows left, the pace noticeably slowed.
*BOOM!!!!*
The sound of an explosion made Sekke and Lolopechka turn around.
"Haha!!! Is that all you got!!!!" yelled Mereoelon, who punched a giant devil into the ground with a giant flaming fist.
"Leona-san!!!" called Sekke with a smile, making the lioness stop her assault on the giant devil and look towards the source of the familiar voice.
"Sekke.....a new woman?" muttered Mereoleona as she spotted the beautiful Lolopechka beside him.
She jumped towards them, making Sekke catch her and place her on the ground and dust off her clothes and face.
"You are not hurt, right?" asked Sekke. He could not see her wounds since she was covered in clothes all over.
"Stop treating me like that!!!" complained Mereoleona, though a slight blush formed on her cheeks.
"So? Who's this new chick? Your new girl?" asked Mereoleona and eyed Lolopechka from top to bottom.
Sekke called the Shadow Witch Queen and asked her to treat Mereoleona anyway. The lioness was too proud to admit, and Sekke was the overly worried type who didn't want her to have even a single scratch.
"Wa wa wa wa"
Lolopechka got flustered by Mereoleona's words, making the Lioness glare at her.
"She's the queen of the Heart Kingdom. Don't scare her like that," said Sekke Sekke as his grimoire started flipping.
[Mana Zone: Yggdrasil Harvest]
A giant tree descended from the sky, and branches launched towards the devils that were smart enough to attack the distracted humans.
Mereoleona didn't even bother looking towards the enemies; she knew Sekke would deal with them. Right now, her sole focus was on Sekke's supposed 'mistress'.
"So you are royalty too, huh? So what's your game?" asked Mereoleona.
The brave Dark Lord quietly walked away to check on the dying devils.
Lolopechka looked towards the traitor who left her with the lioness with a blaming gaze, but soon felt a flaming paw above her head.
"Eyes on me," threatened Mereoleona.
A watery palm slapped the flame away.
"How dare you bully Lolopechka-chan?" growled Undine.
"Huh? The water spirit? …Now that Sekke's away, I can feel it. You have a lot of mana. You're strong," Mereoleona said, smiling ferociously.
"Of course! Lolopechka-chan was always strong! After training with Lord Sekke, she's on a whole other level!!!" Undine boasted.
"Undine!! Don't make it worse!!" Lolopechka squeaked.
"Hoh~ Strong, huh? I'd love to test that — since you're after him," said Mereoleona.
"Wawawa!!! Y-Y-You have got it wrong!!! I-I mean, if Lord Sekke asked me to then....." fumbled Lolopechka.
"This is not the time to back off, Lolopechka-chan!!!" yelled Undine in determination. She finally got to see her host being happy after a long time, and if it meant fighting a wild royal from another kingdom to preserve that happiness, then she was all ready to assist Lolopechka.
"Don't give me that crap. I have been noticing you eyeing Sekke for quite a while now," retorted Mereoleona; however, her expression suddenly hardened as flames gathered in her hands.
Lolopechka's and Undine's expressions hardened as well, and a large amount of water gathered above them.
[Mana Zone: Calidos Brachium Purgatory]
[Combination Magic: Scalding Ocean Blade]
The respective attacks launched forward and struck the devils that came attacking towards the two royals.
"That's some power you got in that spell," complimented Mereoleona.
"Thank You. You are strong as well," replied Lolopechka.
The two royals looked around and noticed the devils coming towards them.
These were probably the ones that got past the Spirit Guardians, and, seeing no one nearby to attack, they decided to attack the two of them.
"Hah! Come here, you shits!!! I will end yo-" yelled Mereoleona.
[Bronze Creation Magic: Weapon Make- Gaster Balster]
A blast of mana flashed past the two royals and erased the devils that were rushing towards them.
Both blinked, then turned towards Sekke, who was busy harvesting the fruit of life.
"Sorry, I got a bit distracted and failed to notice them qui-"
"Listen here! I don't care whether you care too much about me or not! If you get in my way of having a good fight, then I promise that I will kick your ass!!!" threatened Mereoleona.
She knew well that she could not harm Sekke, but she had to get that message across.
Sekke, being the understanding man he was, raised his hand in surrender.
"My bad. I will try to restrain myself from helping you as much as I can," said Sekke, though he was still going to make sure that she was safe and sound.
Mereoleona snorted and then looked towards the hole from which the devils were popping out.
"Heart Queen! What do you say? Want to go for a ride?" asked Mereoleona with a smirk.
Lolopechka looked towards Sekke, asking for permission, since he told her to stay near him while on the battlefield.
Sekke simply gave her a thumbs-up. The situation was mostly under his control after all. The resistance and citizens were mostly evacuated, and once all were taken to safety, he could let loose.
"I will assist you!" replied Lolopechka with a smirk as well and glanced at Mereoleona.
"Assist? You overestimate yourself," said Mereoleona as her body started glowing.
[Flame Magic: Hellfire Incarnate]
Lolopechka and Undine looked at the transformation with awe. It was as if Mereoleona's body was turning into mana itself.
"Nice spell...we can't let the Clover Kingdom outshine us all the time. Ready, Undine?" asked Lolopechka and looked at her spirit.
"Anytime!!!" declared Undine as her and Lolopechka's bodies glowed.
[Saint Spirit Magic: Saint Spirit Ascension]
A flowing watery robe of clear water surrounded Lolopechka as a crown of glowing mana adorned her head.
Mereoleona's smirk turned ferocious, feeling the mana that the water mage was radiating.
"Rather than the devils, my body is itching to fight you!!!!" yelled Mereoleona, but still jumped towards the devils.
"This is not the place for that," said Lolopechka helplessly, but flew up and started gathering mana for her spell.
Sekke looked towards the two royals and felt a bit envious. He, too, wanted to let loose and have the enemies know what fear was. But he couldn't just do that here, or the whole Spade Kingdom would be wiped off the face of the planet.
"Being too strong is quite a bit of a problem as well," muttered Sekke.
"...It isn't if you simply destroy all those who complain too," advised Vritra.
"Don't tempt me with those words..."
"I am not tempting. I am just aiding my other half, who is not able to have a proper release of power. You should be true to your thoughts, my other half. Holding back is not good for you. Let's wreak havoc on these devils. We will be doing a favour to the world," said Vritra in a devil-like whisper.
Sekke looked at the devils who were attacking and felt the temptation from Vritra's words.
He kept looking around when, suddenly, his gaze fell on the dark hole from which the devils were pouring out.
He stared at the hole for a while, and soon a malicious smirk appeared on his face.
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1 minute later:
The portal connecting the underworld to the Spade Kingdom was being crowded by the devils who were trying to rush out of it.
Suddenly, the devils who were at the front of the crowd were sent flying, making the devils at the back stop the commotion.
"It's so dark in here."
An unfamiliar voice came from the entry of the portal, making the devils look towards the source, only to spot a blond-haired human.
"Anyway, so this is the underworld, and you guys must be the devils who. I am Sekke Bronzaza, the Dark Lord, and I am here to make you all suffer and let loose a bit. There will be a lot of pain and screaming, so be mentally prepared for that. Those who want to surrender can do so now; you all have been warned," exclaimed Sekke in a polite tone.
"Look, a human."
"A real human."
"The human entered the Underworld on his own."
"Humans are known to be foolish, but to be so foolish as to come here willingly."
"Human, let's play!!! Let me hear you scream and cry!!!"
"You are such a big fool to come here alone and mock us!!! Now you will be our plaything and suffer!!!"
One by one, the devils started cheering and mocking Sekke.
"I would have been more than enough, but it looks like you all are too confident in your numbers.....Now I can't let you shits get cocky," replied Sekke with a smile as the mana around him started to tremble, making the devils silent.
"Arise."
Sekke's mana-clad voice resonated in the air as the shadow army emerged and surrounded the devils.
The devils looked at the army that surrounded them. Those who have been mocking the human because of their numbers were suddenly outnumbered.
"First, let's brighten up a bit. Exodia," called Sekke as the spirit king materialised above him, and the area near them immediately brightened up.
The devils who might not have had their spirits broken earlier were now most certainly thoroughly broken.
And if that wasn't enough, the draconic mana that was emanating from Sekke was more than enough to silence the last bit of hope that the devils had.
"So? Shall we start?" asked Sekke with a smirk.