Right after Utain left to find Arima, Karez followed the army of devils marching toward the Heaven Gate. Almost every devil or prisoner composing that army were motivated by revenge, or their will to escape Hell through the Gate.

 

The truth was that they didn't care about Karez at all, but they were still going to act in his favor. The only people who actually listened to Karez’s intentions were Baphomet, Utain and Vastra. And those three had let him to do whatever he wanted merely because it wasn't their problem.

 

Baphomet decided to kill him afterward and Vastra, in fact, wholly ignored him. And while Utain didn't want to help in this endeavor, the end of this Plane wasn't something that interested him in any way and just overlooked it because he had found a Life Hunter.

 

Karez was aware of this. He knew that he had to destroy Heaven whilst they were all battling. The army of Hell was moving at tremendous speed and so was Heaven's. The first encounters occurred in the middle of a canyon.

 

Heaven had dispatched a lot of their forces, and the well-known angels represented most of Heaven's power. This war began within a really short time. The forces from each side started fighting at different places across Hell.

 

Every fighter was all at least at the Fifth Sky with at least half of them being at the First Divine. The scale of the battles was so large that it could be measured in 'number of planets destroyed’ if they were in a lower world.

 

Hell itself started preparing for the war. The ground naturally hardened, the sky darkened, the volcanos erupted and the Original Land became even more faithful to its name.

 

As most of the devils, prisoners, angels, and gods were fighting, the strongest individuals from both sides remained behind to watch first.

 

On Heaven's side, Azes observed the battlefield and squinted his eyes to look hundreds of miles away from him, where he had sensed huge auras.

 

"…Baphomet," he muttered, that was who he saw first. Baphomet was perhaps the one that Heaven was the most scared of.

 

That monster was able to kill hundreds with a single attack and then use their souls to strengthen himself. He could even retaliate with those same souls.

 

Of course, he wasn't the only one worthy of attention. Vastra was almost as menacing as him. Her individual strength didn't go higher than the Second Divine but her control over other beings was terrifying.

 

She was able to control the mind, the soul, and the body. What made her scary was how she could boost the ones she controlled. She was able to make them stronger. If she wanted so, she could even ignite the mana in their pool to produce kamikazes.

 

"Aphrodite, I hope you can take care of her," Azes turned toward a graceful woman beside him, wearing a spotless flowery beige dress. She had rosy hair and skin devoid of any imperfection. Her expression reflected her charisma and just being in her presence could make lose control to some.

 

"Fear not," she calmly responded to Azes and looked at the distant Vastra who also was staring back.

 

The two beauties kept glaring at each other until thunder abruptly pulled their attention. Azes clicked his tongue as he saw the white lightning illuminating the sky.

 

"Does he really have to be so impulsive?"

 

Thunder roared again and a lightning bolt fell. At the same time, a white figure descended and landed in the middle of the battlefield carrying a huge discharge of lightning with it.

 

"Zeus…" Aphrodite muttered and shook her head. "Azes, where is Gabriel?"

 

"She should be arriving soon. She was staying in the Chamber until recently," Azes said as he kept his eyes on Baphomet and Vastra.

 

"What about Cronos?"

 

Azes sighed. "You know him. He completely disregarded the situation."

 

"Maybe he predicted that his presence was unneeded," Aphrodite commented. "This is him we’re talking about, after all. "

 

Azes snorted. "Overly true," he replied and his eyes suddenly narrowed. "This is…" he mumbled and ignored his two initial targets to look at somewhere else. "He’s here."

 

Aphrodite nodded with a grave expression. It just took a few seconds for a huge crimson fireball to form in the sky out of nowhere. Its heat affected everyone on the battlefield as it rapidly started falling on the angels and gods’ side.

 

But when it was about to crash, an angel with three pairs of wings appeared in front of it and the fire was engulfed in white light before being extinguished.

 

"Hades!" The handsome angel with six wings shouted.

 

Hades didn't respond and looked around, overlooking the seraphim. Meanwhile, a black-winged angel arrived beside Hades and greeted the archangel, "It has been a while, Michael."

 

"Lucifer…" Michael grunted and his wings glowed with a bright light. As he was about to attack, Hades opened his eyes wide and rushed toward a certain place with a loud sonic boom.

 

In the next second, an explosion occurred above the battlefield and the shockwave blasted a small mountain not far. Just after, two giant spheres, one made of water and the other of fire, clashed against each other.

 

"How long has it been?" In the middle of the steam and flames, Hades asked with a smirk.

 

"Around six thousand years, if I remember correctly," Poseidon responded coolly and the two exchanged blows one more time.

 

"They’re really getting fired up, eh?" Lucifer smirked. Michael glanced at the conflict between Poseidon and Hades and then focused on the fallen angel again.

 

"Hey, come on, don't tell me you're going to personally kill me," Lucifer bantered.

 

"I will. It is my duty to take care of you," Michael retorted, and a spear made of light materialized in his hand.

 

Lucifer sneered, and a second figure appeared at his side. Michael frowned and rolled his eyes when he saw who it was. "Now, what? Satan? I remember you hate my dear fallen brother right there because of how much people confound you two. What is this turn of heart about?"

 

"Well, the enemy of my enemy can be forgiven to be a temporary friend. And, honestly, you can’t tell me you didn't expect me to be on this side," Satan laughed. "Although I prefer when the conditions are fair. We'll be your opponents," he declared and a blazing pair of twin swords appeared in his hands.

 

Lucifer grinned and invoked his own spear before initiating a barrage of blows along with Satan.

 

Miles away from there, Azes' eyes flashed.

 

"How is it?" Aphrodite asked.

 

"Everything’s in order. Michael should be able to win alone. Poseidon will have a hard time but he's not overconfident, he will call for help if he's in bad condition. For now, we have the lead," Azes said and paused. "But this will change soon."

 

At the same time, Baphomet roared and the whole battlefield froze for a second. The goat monster leaped and landed in the middle of everyone. He stamped the ground and a pentagram formed, glowing below everyone’s feet. The corpses within the pentagram’s influence shone with an ominous light and a white mist emerged from them. The mist shrouded Baphomet and darkened before entering his body.

 

Meanwhile, Vastra chanted something and strange mark appeared on almost every devil. All of those who had that mark howled in pain at first but then grew bigger. Their eyes became bloodshot and they became a lot more aggressive.

 

All of this happened in less than half a minute. The first one to react was Zeus. He turned into lightning and appeared right in front of Baphomet as if he had teleported. He lifted his hammer and smashed the monster with it.

 

Baphomet scoffed and blocked the hammer with an organic-looking great sword.

 

"Do you really believe that you can match me, Zeus?"

 

He mocked and black smoke erupted from his sword. It covered Zeus and the god’s armor and weapon started decaying. When he noticed it, lightning fell between him and Baphomet to separate them.

 

"It's time for me to go," Aphrodite declared from afar and flew off in Vastra's direction. Azes looked at her for a short moment and then rushed toward Baphomet to help Zeus.

 

Azes's job in this war was support. He would assist the fighters at different places of the battlefield and he would do his best to lead them.

 

‘I have to reduce the casualties as much as possible until Gabriel arrives,’ he thought and joined Zeus in his fight whilst connecting everyone with a telepathic link.

 

***

 

As Arima and Utain were facing each other, they witnessed the clash between Poseidon and Hades from where they were.

 

"Looks like it started," Arima glanced at the discharges of magic and commented.

 

Utain didn't even look at it. "It's not my problem."

 

Arima shrugged. "Then why don't you attack me already?"

 

Utain had been staring at them for almost a minute now.

 

"You're hesitant, right? We have Kerberos on our side and you don't know what the others can do, including me," Arima uttered and Utain's expression twitched.

 

Arima snickered and looked at him in the eyes. "Why do you want to kill me anyway? Apparently, you met my 'clan'. Did they do something to you?"

 

"…Tens of thousands of years ago, before I was sealed in the Purgatory, I encountered them while they were still alive," Utain answered calmly but his aura didn't recede at all. "They didn't really do anything to me, nor was it their intention. But, in the end, everything comes back to the same thing."

 

"Indirect harm? Vengeance, huh?" Arima muttered.

 

“You can take it like that. But you can also say that I want to give justice because of your clan’s crimes.”

 

Arima fell silent then nodded at his group. "Well, I apologize. I would gladly fight you normally. But as you can see, I'm too weak currently."

 

"Do you think you can run away from me?"

 

Arima smirked. "Can't you see what I'm sitting on?"

 

"A motorbike?" Utain frowned. "What could you do with a piece of human technology?"

 

Arima chuckled. "A lot of things actually," he said and Deva ignited its 'motors'. "See you later, Destroyer," he waved his hand and released the brakes.

 

Utain was looking at him attentively but when Arima raised the brake pedal, he lost sight of both him and his group. Utain stayed stunned in place for a moment. He had been completely focused on Arima's group but he still lost sight of them in the blink of an eye. He couldn't even feel their presence anymore.

 

"Was that…" he muttered and his eyes widened. "Origin!" He exclaimed and turned around toward the war’s location. "Damn it!" He cursed and flew off.

 

‘If he really didn't go through the Life Judgment, that battlefield is a gold mine for him. It's full of life force ready to help him for his breakthrough!’ Utain shouted inwardly. ‘If I don't stop him now, he’ll become too dangerous!’