"Our work here is done…Unless a miracle happens they aren't waking up," said Basatin while checking himself out with a crystal pocket mirror.
Basatin fixed his roughed up, delicate, and white hair as Arion sat down on a rock drinking some water.
"Now what do we do? We still have not received everyone's success signal yet," said Arion.
"Then, we are the first aren't we? Imagine how much the glorious Hokage would reward us if we completed our task first," said Basatin, his eyes gleaming with sparkles.
"Now…What do we do with these bodies?" asked Arion pointing his Prismarine Trident towards the scattered fallen bodies of Emily, Natsuki, and Nicole.
Basatin grinned widely and so much that it looked disgusting to Arion. He avoided meeting his gaze and looked at the empty sky at the end. It almost felt as if the sky had lost its problems and was getting ready for something.
"These are still women aren't they…And quite young…What if I?" asked Basatin.
"Do whatever you want, I am not involved with you anymore," replied Arion, getting ready to leave, losing patience with Basatin.
Basatin walked closer towards Nicole and he extended his arm.
Suddenly it felt as if time itself stopped as Basatin was feeling a certain sense of aura exerting from Nicole. It was the pain and angst of war itself.
Nicole's dark brown eyes slowly opened as she picked up a rock on the ground as she turned the rock into a sword and pierced Basatin in the chest with the new sword. Arion felt something off and it was the remnants of Nicole's aura in the atmosphere and he rushed back to the battlefield.
His eyes opened up as his eyes squinted and concentrated onto Nicole's soul well. Since he was a fishman he had enhanced senses including a secret sixth sense that lets him view the soul with precision. His scales shook in fear as he felt the soul truly awaken and morph into its true form.
The shape of Nicole's soul was a gun. She had awakened her Third Stage Sorcery of War. The ability to turn any object into a weapon of her choice was now a power that she obtained.
She quickly removed the sword from Basatin's chest and quickly morphed the sword into an axe and chopped his muscly old skinny neck causing blood to splash her on the face. It was like a pipe with running water being cut as the current was working.
The head rolled on the ground as Arion quickly threw his Prismarine Trident towards Nicole.
Then another hand appeared and catched the Trident. It was Natsuki. She grabbed the helm of the Trident and threw it back this time enforcing it with soul energy. Arion dodged it but the attack caused a tiny scratch on Arion's left arm. The surrounding scales turned from deep blue to greyish black in a second.
"I am Natsuki Himena. I am a doctor who saves lives but that also means I know exactly how to take one as well.
Natsuki looked at Arion with fresh eyes of hatred and hunger for victory. Her soul exploded with the symbol of a skull with a medical plus at the top of its head. She had also awakened into her Third Stage as her Regeneration ability now had the ability to do Reverse Regeneration or Decay.
"This is bad, I have to retreat," thought Arion, quickly assessing his situation.
Arion grabbed his Trident and quickly casted a water spell that caused the surroundings to turn foggy as if it was covered with a grey mist. Then, he quickly retreated, resorting to the secret button that he could use to return to the Crimson Meeting Room.
As he checked his pockets, he realised it was nowhere to be found.
"Looking for this?" asked Emily as she stood in front of Arion with the button in her grasp.
Emily's soul had also awakened to her Third Stage of Sorcery. She now had a passive Playbox in a fifty meter radius of her making her shape reality itself anywhere within the radius as well as no limits on how large her charged Playbox could be. Her soul exploded into a pink dragonfly.
She crushed the device and threw it on the ground with her telekinesis and stomped on it.
"It'd be nice if you had returned it," said Arion, clenching his Trident.
"Too bad. It's too late for redemption," said Emily.
She picked Arion up with physic hands growing from her hands and threw him back onto the ground slamming him into the plains as the uneven ground started to get even more uneven and with cracks on the ground.
Nicole ran and picked up a yellow flower and turned it into a bat with the leaves acting as spikes. She hit Arion with it and the spikes made Arion's scales crack.
She picked up the sunflower seeds and turned them into miniature dynamite and threw them on Arion. They caused an explosion and Arion was slowly dying with the amount of attacks the Trio was doing. Additionally, the blackness started to spread from a spot near the left shoulder to the entire left arm making it hard to even move.
As Arion tried to stand up, Natsuki ran and scratched Arion on the chest causing the Decay to spread there as well. Emily was motivated to land the finishing blow but Natsuki stopped her and Nicole from going any further.
"Let's leave him. I don't want blood on our hands, he dies here by himself or he lives and doesn't cross us again. If he dares then we repeat what happened right now," said Natsuki as she took a deep breath.
In the Lustrous Forest.
Tensei and Haruki approached a rundown village. The houses were empty, destroyed, and filled with cobwebs. The central fireplace was filled with ashes and the smell of water filled the village. The houses were placed in a circular manner with the fireplace in the center of the village.
Tensei and Haruki walked through the village as Tensei took in all the memories. The playground where he used to fall down and cry, the fireplace where his father was cremated, his old house which was rundown and the roof missing. Tensei ran his hands through the overgrown weeds and grass and sat on a nearby log with Haruki also sitting in a log beside him. They sat near the fireplace where they could see everything.
"This is where you lived?" asked Haruki.
Tensei took a deep breath and started to break down in tears. The sudden rush of emotion from Tensei left Haruki shocked as after a minute Tensei wiped his tears and stood up with a clear and clean expression.
It was obvious. The past he left here was left here. He moved on from that anchor of a sinking ship. Haruki noticed it and decided not to press on the incident any further.
"Yes…This was where I lived. But it was never home to me. You could say this place just reminded me of my dad and mom and the feeling of ego and arrogance to prove to the rest of the Water Demons and the feeling of helplessness is what I hated the most as I saw everything go from blue and flourishing to black and dead. Maybe that's why this place had a special connection with me," explained Tensei.
"Oh…" said Haruki.
"My new home is the DMMS and all the members are my family. One day all of us will go on a picnic in the nicest plains in Laxasis and eat sandwiches and chicken by a river," said Tensei with crystal eyes.
Haruki smiled and acted a bit more mature than he normally did which surprised Tensei a lot.
"Someone's growing up!" said Tensei, showing a rare side of joy as he ruffled Haruki's hair.
Haruki slapped Tensei's hand and also started to laugh as they left the village. Yet, now with his new awakening to a Berserker Core making him a Fifth Dimension being he knew that now since he was a Bishop danger from the Sixth Dimension would lurk ever so near as he started to get new doubts.
"Angels…How did they know our village was here in the first place? How did they break the veil as an Angel only a Demon can…Someone must be a traitor otherwise!" thought Tensei.
He started to skim through his brain while walking past the tall trees, bushy bushes, prickly thorns, and rocky boulders. It was a beautiful forest with birds roaming around with some soul beasts and insects.
"There's only one man in the History of Demons that had ever been a Number One enemy of his own species as well as the Angels. Two Immortal enemies teamed up just to beat this guy…" thought Tensei.
His name was Diablo.
As he thought of the name, Tensei felt his heart clench and twist in painful ways. He spat out blood and fell to the ground as Haruki catched him with lightning quick reflexes.
The gaze of a true Demon was on Tensei and it was evident, as the aura thickened around them. Soon it slimmed and Tensei managed to get up before wiping the sweat that formed on his forehead.
"Everything's connected somehow…But how?" thought Tensei.