The Spider-Mouthed Man snarled, "Get ready for your demise!" Four spider arms erupted from his back, immediately spewing thick webs. Piers used his Hellsfire, incinerating the sticky threads.
A woman tried to attack Piers from behind, but before her sword could land, Astarte, who was nearby, kicked her away.
"Astarte, go down to fight the Devil Holders from below. Leave this to Titus and Vera," Piers ordered.
"As you say, Master," Astarte replied, descending to the ground battle and immediately started cutting down the enemy.
Piers shouted, "Titus, Vera, come here!" Titus and Vera jumped from the barrier and landed by Piers. "Deal with those women, and Silas, join Astarte to kill the Devil Holders."
Silas joined the fray, turning his arms into powerful Devil Arms. "So, who is coming to fight me?" he challenged. He transformed his legs as well, striding at high speed, crushing the bones of the Devil Holders with his powerful fists. One Devil Holder, before being crushed, cried, "Our devils are too weak against theirs!"
Vera used her half-body armor, negating the woman's Black Arts attacks with her shield while simultaneously striking with her sword.
The woman retreated. "Take this!" She conjured a barrier, and black hands shot from the ground, trying to grab Vera's legs. Vera backed off, but the woman continued. "You still have much to learn, girl!" She summoned black ghosts in the sky that flew toward Vera.
Meanwhile, Titus used his God Strength to move with swift efficiency around the other woman. "Don't think you can get away from me!" she hissed, threads of black silk shooting from her body, forcing Titus to retreat.
Astarte was cutting through Devil Holders when black smoke rushed at her. She parried it with her sword. The smoke laughed from a distance. "That's Devil Hell Branch for you—everyone is a prodigy." The smoke cleared, revealing an old man with a scythe. "Let's see how you can fare against me." He turned to smoke and charged Astarte again.
The Spider-Mouthed Man attacked Piers with a web, but Piers incinerated it with Hellsfire. "Dark Spirit Form!" Black spirits instantly enveloped him, forming a menacing cloak.
"That is not going to save you from me!" the man yelled, sending a beam of dark energy from his Black Arts. Piers dodged and charged straight for him. Webs shot from the four spider arms, attempting to cover Piers, but he didn't stop. "Infernal Spirit Form!" He infused Hellsfire into the spirits, turning them infernal. He drew his Phantom Insignia, cutting through the webs. Any webs that stuck were instantly burned by the infernal spirits.
Piers reached the man, who drew his own sword, clashing against Piers in a sword lock. "Let's see how you stand against this!" The man spat poison from his spider mouth, covering them both.
"Then let's see if you can stand against the heat!" Piers said, breaking the lock and attacking with slashes, still inside the poison cloud. He made the infernal spirits conjure a Hellsfire tornado around them.
The man screamed. "Stop it! Stop it!" He frantically attacked, locking his sword with Piers. Piers unleashed an immediate Sol Invictus—an up-close and deadly God Strength attack—which weakened the man severely. He broke free of the firestorm and started running.
"Too bad, no one runs from me! Devil Force Awakened!" Piers roared. The infernal spirits vanished, and the black whirlwind around him turned into wings of dark wind. Piers flew, catching the man. "Get ready, I am your doom! Noctis Pinion Infernal!" Infernal spirits charged the Spider-Mouthed Man, who screamed, "No, I won't die like this! No!" The spirits consumed him, burning him to a crisp.
On the ground, Vera, still struggling to dodge the black hands and ghosts, spoke to her opponent. "This battle is over, shouldn't you stop?"
"Like I care if our leader died or not," the woman spat.
Vera smirked. "I wasn't talking about him, idiot." She fired a crossbow bolt straight into the woman's chest.
Titus was cutting the black silk, but the threads were so thin and numerous that the more he cut, the more the woman wove, and any accidental touch pierced his skin. "There is no way now," the woman gloated. Titus closed his eyes, then swung his sword recklessly, unleashing huge waves of God Strength that destroyed his surroundings and all the threads. The woman was shocked. "How? How is this possible?" Titus charged her with renewed God Strength and pierced her heart. "Because I trained with Devil Holders!"
Astarte fought the old man within a dark smoke, barely sensing him. The old man's voice echoed, "Within the smoke, your senses fail first sense of sight, then smell, followed by hearing, taste and touch, and soon you can't do anything but be a sitting duck for me to kill." Astarte closed her eyes, taking a fighting stance. Her senses soon failed and she was senseless now, unable to feel her sword or her movements. The old man attacked from behind, but Astarte dodged and severed his hand holding the scythe.
"How?" the old man asked in fear.
"I trained with Titus, and he said there is another sense beyond every other sense, and that is our intuition, honed to a sharp enough level, it becomes deadly," Astarte explained. "Since you took all my senses, my intuition just became that much better. Now I can not only see you but even kill you." She severed the old man's head. As the smoke cleared, her senses returned, and she felt the incredible power fade. "I can feel it. If I train it like how Titus told me, I might be able to take it to that level again."
Piers landed on a wooden roof, still cloaked in dark spirits with red eyes, and addressed the Devil Holders below. "Your leaders are dead. You have no one to save you now. However, we are generous. We will not kill those who join us. If you still wish to resist us, we will make sure to hunt you down even to the ends of the earth and kill you."
The Devil Holders looked unsure. One of them declared, "We will not betra—" His head was instantly severed by Astarte.
Piers looked at the others with fury in his eyes. "Anyone else?" The fury alone made the Devil Holders flinch.
"I am willing to join you," one offered. Soon, others chimed in. "We will join you! We will join you!"
Piers smiled, but suddenly, man-eating trees erupted around them. Lyla had joined the fray.
"Everyone, time to show your loyalty! We are going to destroy these man-eating plants!" Piers shouted. Everyone let out a battle cry and attacked the plants. The new Devil Holders joined the fight out of fear of Piers and the others.
Piers turned infernal and flew toward one of the largest trees.
"Is everything ready?" Ben asked.
Emilia nodded. "Yes."
Ben aimed his rocket launcher and fired it at Piers, causing a massive explosion that sent him crashing to the ground. Piers got up, relatively unharmed and muttered "what was that? someone's invading us." Suddenly, footsteps approached, and Kaiser walked in front of Piers.
"Rei, I am going to bring you back! I swear!" Kaiser declared.