Fleur pushed up her glasses with calm confidence, looking up at Nina, who stood stall behind her like a towering statue. She turned her gaze back to Regina, Gerald, and Mua then smoothed out her clothes with regal excellence.
"It is true that I am the missing princess from the Libra Kingdom, but after my mother were killed in a fire, my brother took over the throne. A similar story to the City of Selum. I am only one half of the same rose that was supposed to rule over the Libras," Fleur said, lowering her head and letting out a soft exhale.
"But...now with my crew, Squad V, the only Righteous Squad on the Holy Resistance, I will take back my throne...and Nox will take back his!" Fleur declared, looking up with her eyes glowing brightly with burning determination.
Regina scoffed at Fleur's devotional speech and got into her stance, her Ambition Aura flaring around her body and pulsing with elven magic to enhance her magic attacks. "Your throne? Ha! Soon enough, Exzodia will be Master's land! We've already conquered Destiny Islands, New America, and Esoria!"
"There's no way your influence can ever reach the likes of the Mojisola! Hell, even if you seek God with all your heart... you'll never be a true match to us!" Regina bellowed, lunging forward with a vicious spinning roundhouse toward Fleur.
Fleur effortlessly blocked Regina's kick then ducked under her second kick, retaliating with a burst of rising winds lifting Regina off the ground. Nina let out a heavy grunt as she sliced down with her Sword of Justice, the blade of light crashing down upon Regina's body and slamming her upon the ground with ground shaking force.
Effie and Luciel stared at Fleur in awe, her new found power filling them with even more hope than they've had before. Fleur shifted Nina into her Bruiser Mode, Nina's Scales and Sword dissolving and reforming into her Light and Shadow Gauntlets.
Gerald charged his spear with lightning energy, bolting forward with a electrifying thrust toward Fleur's chest. "Tch, it doesn't matter if you're a Royal Zodiac or not, all who side with an Usurper must fall!"
Effie dashed toward Fleur's aid quickly, boosting herself with a pulse of wind to block Gerald's thrust, sparks flying across the air as her shuriken scraped against his weapon. She grunted heavily under the pressure of Gerald's attack, but managed to push his lance away to leave him vulnerable to a counter attack.
"Stop calling Nox an Usurper! He's everything but whatever you're calling him!" Effie bellowed, loading her fist back to launch a roaring Dragon Strike.
Mua dashed toward Gerald's aid, shoving him out of the way of Effie's attack then looked directly into her eyes to induce her with Lust, stopping her attack halfway. "Sure, he might be your Messiah, but where is he now?!"
As Mua launched her tail to impale Effie in a lethal area, a Warden Butterfly flew in front of Effie and blocked the attack with perfect timing. Mua clenched her teeth and searched around for Luciel, but was caught off guard with yank by her hair.
Luciel grunted as she threw Mua forward, causing her to roll backwards onto one knee and struck Mua with a running knee strike, causing Mua to stumble back onto her feet. Luciel charged forward, using one of her butterflies to warp toward Mua and gracefully wrapped herself around her body for an efficient takedown.
Mua caught Luciel's wrist as she went for a killing blow with her dagger, grunting heavily as Luciel began overpowering her. "It's...that serious huh?! You're willing to kill me for Nox..?! What happened to spreading love and joy?!"
"That doesn't matter when lives are at stake, and besides...you're a demon. I can't truly kill you. You'll turn into a disembodied spirit and haunt another vessel," Luciel countered, shoving Mua's arm away then got off her.
Mua laughed lightly at Luciel's mercy, clapping her hands and getting back into her feet. "Ahh, you live by God's Commandments for sure. 'Thou shall not murder'... Ahh you are truly one of God's Chosen.."
Luciel scoffed at Mua's taunting, keeping her dagger ready and getting back into her stance. "I'm staying true to my heart because I know truly that Vengeance is God's and God's only! However, I will not just sit around and let demons like you step all over me.."
Mua hummed at Luciel's declare, pink demonic energy appearing around her body and flaring with malicious intent. She launched herself toward Luciel with a thrust of her hand to stab Luciel with her nails, but Luciel quickly evaded her attack and sliced at Mua's neck for a kill shot.
Mua managed to dodge Luciel's attack then launched her tail at her, the blade of her tail missing Luciel by mere inches, but she curved it back around to strike Luciel from behind. Before her tail could land its mark, a burst of focused winds knocked Mua away with repelling force.
"It seems like you all have forgotten about me," Fleur said, her body becoming a blur as she rushed in front of Mua with a devastating blow to her face.
Fleur's strike merely stunned Mua in place, keeping her still long enough for the second blow from Nina to land cleanly, a devastating attack that sent her flying backwards. Mua spread her demon wings and recovered in the air, manifesting energy blades behind her and began shooting each one toward Fleur.
Nina shifted back into her Judge Mode, her sword and scales manifesting in her hands one again then she held her scales up, two souls appearing in each of the cups: one for Fleur and the other for Mua. As the scales tipped toward Fleur's favor, Mua's energy blades began to dissolve before they could even reach Fleur.
"What...what the hell just happened? Hey! What did you just do to my attack?!" Mua fussed, pointing an accusatory finger down at Fleur.
Fleur adjusted her sunglasses upon her face and closed her eyes, a duality of light and shadow energy flowing around her body. "One of my main abilities as the Libra Princess is Relative Superiority, or in other words Equalization. Overtime, I become more superior than you, however I do have a ceiling."
"But, one of my other abilities is called Law and Order, by God's Law, no demon has authority over me as I do not possess the Spirit of Fear, but of Peace, Self-Control, and Strength!" Fleur declared, looking up at Mua with a blazing stare.
Mua tilted her head and stared at Nina's Scales, tapping her chin with her index finger with a hum as she analyzed both Nina and Fleur. 'A targeting system...with that Law active, Regina nor I could break through her divine protection. We have to rely on Gerald..'
"Reggie! To the Tree of Life, we have to stop Mother Myra and Leonidas! Gerald hold them off no matter what!" Mua ordered, flying off quickly in the distance.
Regina understood Mua's strategic retreat and teleported away from the area with Mua, the two of them escaping from the plaza area. Effie and Luciel rushed to chase after them, but Gerald stood in their way, using his shield to block their path.
"Your Laws might have been able to work on demons like them, but it's different when it's a human, isn't it Princess Fleur?" Gerald taunted, using his spear to point up at Nina's Scales.
Fleur, Effie, and Luciel glanced up at the scales noticing that the meter was unbalanced with Gerald's half being favored even with Effie and Luciel's souls assisting Fleur's. Even with all three of their Spirits combined, it wasn't enough to beat Gerald because his Faith was stronger than theirs.
His Belief that I was the enemy was strong enough to overpower their Belief in me. Even Nina knew that the Spirit of Chaos ran through Gerald's body like a plauge, a visual reminder that The Devil also gives gifts to his strongest soldiers.
"Now, once you three fall, I will strike down your supposed Messiah!" Gerald declared, dashing toward the three with a leap and launched his lance down toward the girls.
All three girls leaped in different directions to avoid the spear and the following lightning explosion. Effie was the first to get to her feet and she dashed toward Gerald with a yell, leaping toward him with a slice with her shuriken only to be deflected away by Gerald's shield.
Luciel summoned her Scepter and transformed into her Warden Form, her angelic wings manifesting from her back, her Holy Fire erupting from her chest as she roared. She propelled herself toward Gerald with her scepter ready for an attack, Gerald dashing toward her and grabbing his spear from the ground.
"Your Spirit may be powerful as his Spiritual Wife, but that means nothing to me!" Gerald roared, thrusting his spear forward with powerful lightning streaming around his weapon.
"It should mean something to you! When no one else stands with Nox, I will!" Luciel yelled, blocking Gerald's thrust and dashed forward with a blinding slash to knock him back.
Gerald slid backwards across the ground with a laugh, his holy aura gradually shifting into Nether Energy the darker his intentions became. He aimed his spear at the three girls, pulling the trigger upon the handle and firing a massive beam of dark energy toward them, the beam behind destruction in its wake.
Fleur dashed forward and used all ten of her butterflies to summon her Divine Railgun, aiming it toward the beam, her sunglasses snapping off her face as she began generating Holy Energy within the weapon. She yelled as she pulled the trigger, a large beam of light shooting from the barrel, the recoil pushing her backwards along the ground.
The two two beams collided with destructive force, the repulsive force blowing everything around the collision into nothingness. Dust and debris rushed across the battlefield as the winds howled at the star lit sky, Effie and Luciel handing onto a stray tree to avoid behind blown in the chaotic currents.
"Just give up! Your throne is gone, your Messiah will soon be gone! Whatever God you believe in does not love you the way you think He does! If so, then why is the Scales favoring me?!" Gerald laughed, adding more energy into his already devastating blast.
Fleur grunted heavily as she sat down the kickstand of her Railgun, leaning forward to using all of her weight to keep the weapon steady. She panted heavily as her Spirit began wanning quickly, her gaze shifting up to Nina and her Scales, noticing the meter hasn't moved at all.
"You're wrong...I mean, you're right about my throne being gone..but Nox is still here with us! Ascea is and always has been on Earth!" Nina retorted, turning her gaze toward Gerald from across the battlefield.
"No longer will I sit around and let myself and others be a victim to Lament! Let... Let this moment be known as your Catastrophe!" Fleur yelled, her Holy Fire beginning to engulf her body and burn her skin as she shifted her weapon into Overdrive.
The barrel of her Railgun began to turn red from overheating, the beam from her gun beginning burn hot like the fires from Heaven, flames spiralling around the beam in a vortex pattern. Gerald grunted as he began getting pushed back from Fleur's power, noticing the Scales tilting toward Fleur's side at an alarming rate, as if she was brute forcing the Holy Spirit to answer her call.
Suddenly, a brightly light flashed and blinded all on the field and all who watched from a distance, a ground shaking explosion taking place with a mushroom cloud rising up to the sky. Fleur and Gerald groaned as they were both blown away from the explosion, but Fleur was caught and saved from going too far.
Luciel and Effie lightly grunted from the high winds, but were able to look up as the winds died down, the two of them noticing me holding an incapacitated Fleur in my arms. I looked down at Fleur, noticing her arms had burn marks only Holy Water could heal, light smoke rising from her seared scars.
Gerald grunted softly as he slowly stood back up on his feet, his lance tightly anchored into the ground to stop his flight. He glanced up slowly, his heart nearly stopping as he noticed me in the distance, his arms suddenly developing goosebumps.
Nina glanced down at me, staring at me with reverence and watched as I took Fleur over to Luciel and Effie, giving them the orders to take the rest of the night off. She watched as the two girls retreated from the battlefield to the Main Dormitory then glanced back down at me.
"Lord Nox..." Nina began then paused, noticing a divinely calm expression upon my face.
"We end this before the sun rises... Nothing held back," I said, snapping my fingers and my butterflies took formation into the Leo Constellation, a divine fire forming around each one of my butterflies.
A divine roar echoed through the skies as Leona manifested in front of me in her Human Form, her luxurious golden hair flowing around her head like a lion's mane, her golden eyes brimming with a fire from Heaven. She stood up upon her feet, her golden armor shimmering under the gaze of the moon.
"Nina, Leona, you two go to the Tree of Life and stop anyone who dares to intercept my mother and Leonidas. Leave Gerald, the Holy Resistance, and Claudio to me," I said, combining my Messiah Form and Dark Messiah Form to transform into my Nexus Mode.
"Ahh, you sound exactly like August..~ Almost makes me want to purr~" Leona teased, poking my cheek before dashing off toward the Tree of Life.
Nina watched as Leona ran off ahead then turned back down toward me, seeing both Iridescent Energy and Rebirth Energy flowing around my body and lightly shivered. She looked ahead then hurried behind Leona to not waste another second.
"Let us start by saying this, you're merely misguided and whatever you heard has defiled the temple within you. Your quest, your thirst for righteousness has led you down a deceptive path..." I began, walking forward and watching Gerald's body language.
Gerald grit hit teeth and aimed his spear at me, black lightning cracking around his weapon as it began to malfunction. He scoffed and threw it aside with his shield, his Nether Energy flaring around his body with a zealous strength. "Deceptive?! I'll show you deceptive you false Messiah!"
I watched as Gerald lunged toward me with a thunderous blow, but I flawlessly slipped through his attack and countered with a vicious roundhouse kick, causing him to flip backwards across the air. Gerald landed on his feet and grabbed his shield, spinning in a circle and hurled it toward me like throwing disk.
I slipped my hands into my pockets, closing my eyes and phased through his shield, a flash of iridescent energy pulsing around my body and causing my body to mimic spiritual energy. Ragnarok's Sigil began to glow upon my left arm, activating my Dark Lord abilities and granting me the power to summon a monster.
Gerald's breathing began to grow heavier as the dreading realization had bit him hard against his head, his heart skipping a beat as he noticed an army of skeleton hands emerging from the ground. As if the dreading emotions within him wasn't enough, his heart stopped for a moment as he noticed multiple tombstones manifesting around us.
〘Battle Room: Immortal Graveyard〙
〘Battle Room Description: All Monsters within this room are granted 13 Lives of Immortality via the Sovereign Butterflies. The only way to destroy a monster is either by destroying them 13 times, or defeat the Host, Nox.〙
〘Battle Room Location: Main Courtyard - Main Department〙
"This is what Judgement looks like, this isn't evil. This is Righteous Fury, a Wrath only sipped from the cup of God for the unrighteous, a Cup provided by Ragnarok. Whatever God you believe in doesn't exist...there is only One True God," I said, pointing in the air with my skeletons pointing as well.
"The Most High, Adonai, Yuvah, Yod Vav Hey, Madriax, Elohim, all will bow before the Most High, all will know Him by His Glory. So stand down, or face an Army from the Old Covenant," I said, lowering my hand and keeping my other in my pocket.
Gerald stared at the army of Skeleton that stood before him then glanced down at his spear, picking it up from the ground and summoned his shield back into his other hand. "I believe in a Messiah, however...I just don't believe you are it, Son of Lament!"
Gerald dashed forward with tainted righteousness, swinging his lance with great strength, taking down waves of Skeletons down in one blow, each monster he defeated just resurrecting right after. The waves of Skeleton around him increased, the undead pressure of the night slowly creeping down his back.
Gerald continued to fight his way through the army, calling upon storms of lightning to strike down each Skeletons with one blow. Just as the Skeletons began to gain the upperhand, a burst of superheated water erupted from the ground, washing away the skeletons and clearing the battlefield.
"You thought you had lost me with that clone? Well I'm still here!" Claudio bellowed in the distance, flying toward me at full speeds with a tornado kick from behind.
I phased through his attack then grabbed his leg and held him in place, the hand of a giant rock golem erupting from the ground to strike Claudio's stomach with immense strength. "Good, I can send you home with your friends all in one package!"
I warped into the air with Claudio's ankle still in my grasp then summoned a flock of Harpy around me, letting go of Claudio and warped on the top of my Golem. The Harpies screeched and began to terrorize Claudio with their talons, but Claudo began to perfectly evade each strike in the air then induced each one with Lust to fall under his rule.
He sent the Harpies to attack me, each one flying toward me with monstrous intent. I dared not to outstretch my hand against my own, instead emerged my black chains from under my divine robes to restrain them and restore their bodies with Holy Fire.
"I see you have dominion over any Female creature who isn't a Special Grade, but how will you handle her..." I asked, using my thumb to point upward.
Claudio rose an eyebrow then glanced up, his eyes widening as he noticed Rozalin descending toward him like a crashing meteor, her body twirling in the air quickly to gain momentum for the massive kick to his neck. The strike generated a shockwave across the air, her kick sending Claudio crashing to the ground at blinding speeds.
Gerald grunted as large amounts of smoke picked up from the aftermath of Rozalin's attack, his shield raised to block the dust and debris. He looked in the air, noticing the Charming Pegasus hovering above in the air like an Angel of Death. "Monsters...true dominion..."
"No...you can't be him! You resemble nothing like Yesha! You're nothing like the prophecies foretold! Who are you?!" Gerald sputtered, dropping both his spear and shield as he backed away from the battlefield.
I turned to look down at Gerald from atop my Golem, my eyes shimmering an amber light as I met his confused and perplexed gaze. "I am Nox Ascea Exzodia, I am the Nexus between Man and God, Heaven and Earth! I am the True Ascea Terminus tried to hide, the true successor of Yesha to bear His name, Ascea."
"I am the way, the truth, and the light. The only way... hmph...Well, I am merely one half of the way to the entire Truth," I continued, pointing up at the sky. "I am The son of God, as like Yesha was, I am also...one with the Father, except only this time, I have a Sovereign Mother who keeps me sane also."
Claudio chuckled lightly at my speech as he rose back up onto his feet, cracking his neck and loosening his stiff body from Rozalin's Meteor Kick. "Sovereign Mother huh..? I bet you're speaking of Genesis aren't you? Do you truly believe she has your back like you say?"
I turned my head to look down at Claudo and watched as he propelled himself into the air to meet my level atop my Golem. "It is written, Genesis's love, grace, and mercy is infinite, unwavering. Genesis is Yuvah just as Ragnarok is Yuvah, just titles and extensions of the Most High."
"Right, right...you can say that for certain because you're the Messiah, but how about all the others God has turned His back upon? All the dying children in the world right now...where is their God?" Claudio asked, smirking at me with a wicked grin and levitated toward me with his arms crossed.
I pointed at the sky, staring Claudio in his face with a resolute gaze, the heavenly winds gently flowing around the area, my divine robes and hair flowing with the currents. "Our God is still in Heaven, and the dying children are one with their maker now. You thought bringing up the dying children would be your gotcha moment huh?"
"No!" I roared, balling my hand into a tightly clenched fist, light blue lightning cracking around my body as my hair began shifting to a divine white color, a flash of white clouds appearing and disappearing from around my body. "You all caused that! You are all killing the young fawns of the kingdom!"
"Hate the sin, and love the Sinner huh?" I asked, chuckling lightly and let out a soft exhale as I lowered my head. "There's a difference between a Repentant Sinner and a Holy Blasphemer. People like you blaspheme against the Holy Spirit...and dare question Yuvah?"
Claudio grunted softly as he noticed Fury Aura surging around each of my Monsters, his body developing goosebumps he had never experienced before. He quickly glanced around himself, hearing a large serpent hissing in the area.
He looked forward once again, noticing I was gone then groaned painfully as a powerful force of divine energy launched him backwards with wrathful intensity. Claudio flew across the skies, crashing into the Main Department building and rolling along the floors then recovered onto his feet.
"How can I forgive those who sacrifice their own child for a false god? No, God hates too! That's why Ragnarok exists because if he hadn't, you would wholely believe that what you're doing is correct!" I chastised, walking toward Claudio with my hands tightly balled.
"If you do what is right...would you not be accepted as well? What did they do? What was your purpose for bringing them up if you had nothing to do with them..?" I asked, stomping my foot down along the ground and summoning an army of Slime Kings around me, their large blue gelatin bodies rising from the cracks in the floors.
Claudio softly panted as his stamina began to wan, unable to keep up with me for too much longer without a recharge. He could see my tranquil wrath from the distance, unable to truly tell if I was boiling with anger, or still had my composure of a saint.
Claudio awakened his Crest of Talent and summoned his Monarch Index in his hand, his aura now shifting between different shades of esoteric blue. "I have nothing to do with those brats, but I'm merely exposing the complicity in your supposed God!"
Claudio summoned a large icy magic circle upon the ceiling, a barrage of icicles raining down upon us and taking down each of my King Slimes in one blow. I watched as Claudio cleared out the battlefield and scoffed lightly at him, holding my hand out and summoning my Steel Buster in hand.
"It's time we finish this...after all, you have St. Goken to think about!" Claudio taunted, getting into his stance with his book in hand.
"You're right...it's time we end this. You won't stop prophecy, and you surely won't stop me," I said, taking on my Sovereignty Stance, my butterflies shimmering a bright silver color.