The sun was setting over the Mishima backyard as Koneko wiped sweat from her brow. Three weeks of intensive senjutsu training with Kuroka had pushed her body to its limits, but she could feel the difference. The power that had once terrified her now flowed more naturally, though still carefully controlled.
"Again," Kuroka said, settling into her stance. Her tails swayed behind her as she prepared for another round. "Remember what I taught you about reading life energy."
Koneko nodded, closing her eyes briefly to center herself. When she opened them, the world looked different—threads of energy connecting all living things, from the smallest blade of grass to her sister standing before her.
She could feel it now. The senjutsu flowing through her body like warm honey, no longer the terrifying force she'd once feared.
"Better," Kuroka observed as Koneko moved with newfound confidence. "Your control is—"
The air suddenly grew cold.
Both sisters froze as an oppressive aura washed over them.
"Well, well." A familiar voice drifted across the yard. "How adorable."
Kuroka immediately moved in front of Koneko, her stance shifting to combat readiness. "Stay back, Shirone."
The shadows around the yard began to move.
From behind trees, from under bushes dark figures emerged–Grim reapers and Undead warriors.
"You broke your oath," Kuroka snarled, power beginning to flare around her. "You swore to let us go unharmed."
"Oh, but I did let you go," Loki replied cheerfully. "You left Helheim completely unharmed, just as promised. There's nothing in that oath preventing me from inviting you back."
Koneko felt sick. The loophole was so obvious in hindsight. Gods didn't make careless promises.
Her aura exploded outward.
"You want us? Come and take us."
"How delightfully predictable," Loki mused. "Very well."
He snapped his fingers.
The undead army moved as they attacked as one.
Kuroka met the first wave head-on, senjutsu-enhanced claws tearing through rusted armor and ancient bone. But for every creature she destroyed, two more took its place.
"Shirone!" she called over the chaos. "Use what I taught you!"
Koneko hesitated for only a moment. Then she closed her eyes and reached for the power she'd spent years fearing.
Senjutsu flowed through her like water. Her physical abilities multiplied several times over as life energy coursed through her body. When she opened her eyes, they glowed with inner light.
She moved like lightning, her small fists enhanced by ki striking with devastating force. A grim reaper's scythe shattered against her forearm. An undead warrior's skull caved in under her palm strike.
But there were too many of them.
For every creature the sisters destroyed, Hel's minions just kept coming. They fought with desperate fury, but gradually they were being overwhelmed.
"Enough," Loki said, sounding bored.
Green light erupted from his hands, washing over both sisters. The same binding energy he'd used on Leon.
Koneko felt her senjutsu cut off instantly. Her enhanced strength vanished. She collapsed to her knees, gasping.
"Shirone!" Kuroka tried to reach her sister, but similar restraints wrapped around her own body.
"Much better." Loki approached them casually, stepping over the remains of his destroyed minions. "Now then, shall we be civilized about this? You're coming to Helheim whether you fight or not. The only question is how much you suffer along the way."
Before Loki could say more, the green bindings around both sisters suddenly shattered. Not shattered but slashed to pieces.
Loki's eyes widened in genuine surprise as a figure stepped out from behind a tree. Blonde hair and a fiery red katana gleamed in his hand, still radiating the heat that had cut through divine magic like paper.
"Kiba," Koneko breathed, relief flooding through her.
The Knight of the Gremory peerage stood in a combat stance, his usual gentle demeanor replaced by cold determination. "Sorry we're late."
"How—" Loki started, his composure finally cracking.
Before he could finish the question, lightning split the sky.
Thunder crashed as lightning rained down from above, striking every undead creature in the yard simultaneously. The grim reapers shrieked as lightning tore through their forms. The skeletal warriors crumbled to ash.
In seconds, Loki's entire army was reduced to smoking remains.
"Ara ara," came a sultry voice from the roof of Leon's house. "What an interesting evening we're having."
Akeno Himejima descended gracefully, electricity still crackling around her fingers. Her usual playful smile was nowhere to be seen—replaced by something far more dangerous.
Loki's jaw tightened, but his voice remained infuriatingly calm. "The Gremory peerage. How... unexpected."
"Oh, we're just getting started," another voice said.
A crimson sphere of pure destruction materialized in the air above Loki's head. The Power of Destruction—raw, absolute annihilation given form.
Rias Gremory stepped into view, her crimson hair flowing like liquid fire. Her green eyes burned with barely contained fury.
Loki looked up at the destructive energy hovering mere feet above him, then back at the three devils surrounding him. His lips curved into that familiar, infuriating smile.
"Well," he said, brushing imaginary dust from his sleeve. "This is certainly more interesting than I anticipated."
Kuroka helped Koneko to her feet, both sisters still shaky from having their power suddenly cut off and restored.
"Are you okay?"
Koneko smiled, relief was visible on her face. "You guys are back."
They nodded, their expressions grim but determined.
Through E.V.E.'s emergency protocols, they already knew what had happened. Leon's personal AI had filled them in on everything—Leon's capture, his sacrifice for Koneko, the month of imprisonment in Helheim.
The rage in their eyes when they looked at Loki was barely contained.
"We're here to help," Rias said, her voice steady despite the fury burning beneath. "And to make sure this bastard pays for what he did to you and Leon."
Akeno's smile turned predatory. "Ara ara, I've been looking forward to meeting the one who hurt our precious Koneko."
Kiba's grip tightened on his blazing sword. "A god who preys on the innocent. How disgusting."
Loki chuckled, seemingly unbothered by their hostility. "How touching. But I'm afraid you're all severely outmatched here."
"We'll see about that," Rias replied coldly.
The battle erupted instantly.
Kiba moved first, his enhanced speed allowing him to close the distance in a heartbeat. Flame-wreathed steel met divine energy as Loki casually deflected the strike with a barrier of green light.
Akeno's lightning came next as they split the air, each one carrying enough power to level a building.
Loki gestured dismissively, and the lightning bent around him like water around a stone.
"My turn," he said with amusement.
Green energy erupted from his position, washing outward in all directions. Kiba barely managed to dodge, his clothes singed by the divine power. Akeno took to the air, but even then the energy reached for her like grasping fingers.
Rias's sphere of destruction slammed down where Loki had been standing, cratering the earth and vaporizing everything within ten feet.
But when the crimson light faded, Loki was gone.
"Behind you, little devil."
Rias spun just in time to see Loki's hand reaching for her throat. She threw herself backward, rolling across the grass as green fire scorched the air where she'd been standing.
"You're all so young," Loki observed, not even breathing hard. "So inexperienced. Do you really think your little party tricks can match a god?"
Kiba attacked again, his blade splitting into dozens of identical swords that flew at Loki from every angle. The god simply waved his hand, and each weapon shattered on contact with his barrier.
"Disappointing," Loki said.
He gestured toward Akeno, and invisible force slammed into her like a freight train. She crashed into the side of Leon's house, the impact cratering the wall.
"Akeno!" Rias called out, but she had problems of her own.
Loki was in front of her now, moving with speed that made Kiba look sluggish. His hand closed around her wrist before she could react.
"The famous Power of Destruction," he mused, examining her like a scientist studying an interesting specimen. "Impressive for a child, but hardly—"
Kuroka's senjutsu-enhanced claws raked across his back, tearing through his clothes and drawing actual blood.
Loki released Rias with a snarl of annoyance. "How rude."
He backhanded Kuroka casually, sending her flying across the yard. She hit the ground hard, rolling several times before coming to a stop.
"Kuroka!" Koneko started forward, but Kiba caught her arm.
"Stay back," he warned. "He's too strong."
The blonde knight was right. Even working together, they were being handled easily. Loki fought with the casual ease of someone swatting flies, his divine power making their supernatural abilities look like children's games.
Kiba's jaw clenched in frustration. A full year of intensive training in Leon's virtual reality system and still it wasn't enough.
Akeno and Rias also felt the same. They had thought they'd become strong enough to make a difference. To protect the people they cared about.
They were wrong.
A year of virtual training. A year of growth and development. And they were still useless when it mattered most.
Rias struggled to her feet, blood trickling from her lip. Akeno pulled herself from the crater in the wall, her clothes torn and singed. Kuroka lay motionless where she'd fallen.
"This has been educational," Loki said, brushing dust from his jacket. "But I really must be going. I have a schedule to keep."
He gestured toward the sisters. Green light began to form around them again—the same binding energy as before.
"No!" Koneko threw herself forward, but she was still too weak from the previous binding.
The restraints closed around both her and Kuroka like ethereal chains.
"Much better," Loki said with satisfaction. "Now then, shall we—"
A new voice cut through the evening air. Cold. Furious. Draconic
"Get away from them."
Everyone turned.
Standing at the edge of the yard, the Red Dragon Emperor's stood as his eyes burned with barely contained rage as he took in the scene—his friends battered and bloodied, the sisters bound
Red aura began to flare around Issei's body as Ddraig's power responded to his emotions.
"You hurt Koneko-chan. You took Leon. And now you come here to hurt them again?"
The Boosted Gear materialized on his left arm, its gem already glowing with draconic power.
"BOOST!"
"You," Issei said to Loki, his voice deadly quiet despite the rage burning in his eyes, "are going to pay for what you did."
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