Many days have passed since he was summoned, yet Zabaniyya still goes to church to pray every day. Prayer is the time to face one’s inner self. Zabaniyya thinks of his journey since leaving his homeworld of Gehenna. The time he has spent in the world of Tokyo has been filled with the chaos of beings from 23 different worlds gathered together in the same place.
Each has their own values, and clashes are inevitable. The laws that should distinguish between good and evil become jumbled, and light is lost to the people. Where there is light, there is also shadow. There, in that era’s shadow, Zabaniyya came to judge many forms of evil.
Thus he continues to fulfill his duty in Tokyo, the land to which he was summoned, in the same way, he did in his homeworld. He is so strong that he has rarely faced an evil he could not subjugate. Any master with control over a familiar as powerful as Zabaniyya could not help but become corrupt. Any organization that got its hands on such an unbeatable weapon would meet the same fate. Ashamed, Zabaniyya insists that such corruption is the result of his immortality. And he continues to train and train so that he can become ever stronger by the day.
And thus, the Aoyama Guild too has begun to fall into corruption, its members blindly believing that might is right...
Aoyama Cemetery…
An unstable Gate gives birth to yet another Exception due to the malfunctioning App. The Rule has gone out of control, flowing endlessly into Zabaniyya through the Gate. It pours into him like endless rapids flooding through a broken dam. The overflowing Rule compels him. Deep within the recesses of his mind, it urges, over and over.
Unleash your Hellfire! Judge the sinners! Purify them of their sins! The Rule of Hellfire compels you!
The compulsion assaults his mind like a violent torrent, the force crushing his very soul. But Zabaniyya fights to hang on to his sense of reason. If he allowed himself to embrace his desires, he would destroy everything in his path.
None are without sin. Everyone has committed some form of sin over the course of their life, sometimes merely to stay alive. That is the very reason Zabaniyya refuses to allow emotion to control his power. His only choice is to remain an emotionless tool.
“No… I mustn’t stay… I must get away… from people….!” Zabaniyya is struggling to keep control of himself and just burns everyone in front of him. Sweat is appearing on his body as he forces himself to hold onto his sense of self.
“Are you kiddin’ me?! You’re a total square, baby! Magnificent! I’d tip my hat to the strength of your will… if I had one! Even when you’re totally outta control, you’re still clingin’ to a shred of reason! Oh boy, oh bother. You’re a real disappointment! Just for that, you get a cool present from us Nyarlathoteps! We’ll give you what you really want, what you really, really want! With a pretty little ribbon on top! A solitary end, just for you! A tragic conclusion! A one-way ticket for the train to nowhere! Isn’t that what you want, baby?!” Nyarlathotep appeared in front of Zabaniyya, not seeming bothered by his current appearance. He kept appearing and disappearing out of the way of his fire attacks until he was close enough to Zabaniyya.
Nyarlathotep then grabs onto Zabaniyya to teleport him somewhere else. All that is left is the raging Exception bringing back the dead to attack their former friends.
Somewhere Else In The Cemetery….
“Aaaarrrggh!” As the Exception screams out more Angel Transients come from the surrounding graves and scream out in pain. “Aaaaaarrrggh! Hur...t...s…! It… hurts!”
“No… No! I, I…! This isn’t what I wanted!” Ryota slowly falls to the ground and starts to cry at what is happening because of his mistake. He closed his eyes and covered his ears to block out the screams that were getting so loud that he couldn’t handle it anymore. The Exception screams. In response, more corpses rise from the graves.
“Oh my! Holy crap! Jackpot, baby!! The Holy Grail’s had many owners, so who’d come out was always gonna be a gamble… But this…!” Nyarlathotep listens with rapt attention to the screaming Exception, its leg pierced by a white lance.
“Pitting the Holy Grail against the Holy Lance was right on the money! Yeah, baby! Lady luck is on my side! I’m on a roll, baby! Hold on to your hats, ‘cause the fun is just getting started! Stay tuned for the climax after a word from our sponsors!” Nyarlathotep had a wild smile on his face as he looked at everything that was happening with excitement. He looks over at the many dragons and Ophion who were still here but slowly getting surrounded by the undead Angel Transient.
“All hands, retreat to the Hills! We will not engage with that monster. It does not seem to have any airborne minions yet. I’m glad I secured a few escape routes. Now, what will you do, King of Beasts? That thing is, without a doubt…” Ophion looks at the Exception for a few seconds before leaving with his dragons' minions.
With Masato….
“Hey, what’s going on?! They won’t stop coming out of the ground!” Kengo was attacking the endless armies of the undead Angel Transient and I was helping him out but they just kept coming from the graves that were surrounding us.
“They’re just like zombies!” I really hope that getting bitten by one won’t make me just like them or something like that. I rather not become a zombie even if that would be cool in some weird way…
“Zombies! Then they’re the ones who were laid to rest in the Aoyama Cemetery…” Shiro was mumbling to himself as he looked at the zombies that kept on attacking us. I made sure that I was in front of him so that nothing would end up attacking him.
“Yes. They are our brethren whose time has come before us. Their bodies… have been reanimated. Reanimated corpses… Otherwise known as the undead. The Exception is reviving our fallen Transient brethren buried here in the Aoyama Cemetery. I have seen something similar happen before in another world.” Arsalan didn’t seem to be that surprised about the Exception and was taking down all the undead Transient with ease.
“Another world? Just who are you, Arsalan?” Shiro sounded very curious about Arsalan's background and I wonder if that would be helpful with our current situation of undead enemies who just keep coming and coming.
“I have traveled across many worlds, so I’m just a bit more experienced than you cubs. You see… Ah, we’ll save the talking for later, cubs! The most troublesome thing about that undead army is… Uh-oh!” Arsalan looks over at a guild member who was attacked by an undead Transient who lets out a pained scream.
Overcome by the zombies, one of the Aoyama Guild angels falls. And then… “Aaaaarrrrggggh!” When the Exception screams, the fallen angel rises once again, injured and bloody.
“Aaaaaarrrrggghh! Hur… t….s! It… hurts!” The angel’s soul refuses to leave its body, instead joining the nightmare force as a member of the undead. The zombification spreads to surrounding corpses like a plague. It quickly infects the entire area.
“They’re multiplying?! They can increase their numbers by reanimating their fallen enemies?!” Shiro looked on at the countless undead Transients who were being brought back alive due to the Exception power. It really seems a bit unfair at how many enemies we were getting surrounded by.
“Victims beget more victims. We must stop the source… or else they will continue to multiply without end!” Arsalan told us this urgently as we saw more Transients getting turned into undead enemies.
“Eeeek! H-Help!” Faced with fighting their former brethren, the members of the Aoyama Guild lose their will to fight. They scramble to push each other aside and run, leaving their comrades behind to face the dead alone. The Aoyama Cemetery turns into a pandemonium of confusion and despair. Looking around at the scene, it seems like Kengo notices something.
“Hey! Where’s Ryota?! I lost sight of him with all the zombies!” When Kengo mentions this I realize I couldn’t see Ryota anywhere at all due to all the zombies surrounding us. I was looking everywhere hoping I could see him somewhere.
“Ryota! Where are you?! Can you hear me?!” I called out to Ryota, hoping that he could hear my voice even with all the screaming and chaos currently going on. I felt worried when I didn’t hear him answer me at all. I was going to run into the group of zombies to find him but was stopped by Arsalan's voice.
“Calm yourselves, my cubs! Now is not the time to be hasty. We must endure.” Arsalan halts me with a roar just as I was going to run off to look for Ryota. I took a moment to calm myself and get rid of the anxious feeling in my heart.
“Ryota headed… that way! He’s over there!” Kengo pointed in a direction that Ryota was in and tried to head through the group of zombies that were in front of us but was stopped by Shiro before he got too far.
“You fool! Don’t go rushing off without a proper plan! What are we going to do if you become a zombie, too?!” Shiro had a hand on Kengo's shoulder but it was taken off by Kengo who glared at him. I was worried they were going to fight as they both glared at each other.
“What do you want us to do?! Desert him?! That’s not right!” Kengo was angry at Shiro and I was worried he would try to hit him. Why do they always have to get like this with each other?
“Blinding charging ahead will only worsen the situation. Besides… I won’t give up on Ryota! Don’t ever think that!” Shiro didn’t back down from Kengo's glare and Kengo tched his tongue as he stopped glaring at Shiro. “Then what’re you gonna do? The zombies are multiplying by the second!”
“I will take care of them, cubs. Your first priority is to save him.” Arsalan told us this and Kengo seemed to roll his eyes at what he said. “What’ve I been saying?! We can’t go leaving anything to anyone!”
“Do not underestimate we of the Aoyama Guild, young cub! Just you watch! Haaa!” Arsalan jumps and lands amidst a confused crowd of angels and zombies. “First, to slow them down! Anointed Savior!” The emerald in Arsalan’s sword glitters brightly with green light. Then, oil shoots out, restricting the movement of the many angels and zombies.
“L-Lord Arsalan?! Please step aside! It’s already…” One of the Angel Transients calls out to Arsalan who was now close to them and their expression was fearful as they looked at the undead Transients surrounding them.
“W-We must escape, or our former brethren will turn us into the living dead! Why won’t Lord Zabaniyya come save us?! Without him, we are… Ahhhhhh!” Another Angel Transient cries out at the current situation and I really couldn’t see them as cold angels anymore, they were kind of… pathetic in a way?
“What are you doing, you fools?! Don’t disappoint me!” Arsalan’s roar thunders through the cemetery. It shakes the angels to the core, making them all turn to look at him. “How can you panic like this?! Have you not sworn to defend Aoyama?! So fight! You are proud angels, are you not?! How could you allow your former brethren to be defiled in this way?! Who else will save them?! Now, go! We shall fight together!”
Arsalan rushes into the hoard of zombies, leaving the trembling angels behind. I looked at him with stars in my eyes, he is so cool… I could never sound so cool as I talked to a group of people.
“You dare challenge the great Arsalan hand-to-hand combat?! I’ll show you how it’s done!” Arsalan went to attack an undead Transient who went to attack him, but someone else quickly took it down.
“Lord Arsalan… It is dangerous to fight zombies in such close quarters.” The nether Angel Transient slowly came down from the sky and politely spoke to Arsalan. He was way different from our first meeting, he seemed a bit nicer?
“Wahahaha! I see you’ve finally woken up. I’ll leave the command to you then, yes?” Arsalan smiles at the nether Angel who nods his head at Arsalan's orders. “Yes, sir. Please, take care.”
“To protect our family! To uphold divine law! Follow the lead of the brave Lord Zabaniyya, who fights alone! Squad Three to Five, defend the front lines! Send in the scouts! It is we who shall save the fallen brethren of Aoyama! All hands, raise your spears! Chaaaaaaarge!” The nether Angel Transient led the others to attack the undead army.
‘Huh… I guess they are actually… reliable? I never thought I would think that about these Angel Transients who were cruel to us at first. I guess everyone can get a second chance if you give it to them.’ I looked at the group of Angel Transients who attacked the undead army group with new courage. I got ready to fight as well when I noticed some undead Transients getting closer to me again.
