The abomination in the sky smiled, smiled at us, at me and I found in its darkness, in its monstrosity the feeling of finally having found home.

 

‘Later, Rias’ I said to myself mentally. That wasn’t the most important thing right now. I focused back on Akeno. My hands had changed nothing. She was still bleeding.

 

This wasn't something that could be treated in a mundane way. This was a cognitohazard at its worst and I knew that there were only two ways to stop.

 

No matter how powerful I actually was, my demonic energy would be nothing against the mere presence of Zekram. It would be like trying to use a simple door as a way to stop the Ocean. This wasn’t something that could be done at least effectively. It would just be delaying the unavoidable.

 

I grasped my demonic energy, willing it into existence, around Akeno, around my queen. Destruction could not be denied but I had imagination on my side.

 

I could not create something that could resist his power of destruction but why try to fight against the currents when you could use them?

 

His corroding existence was just like cancer. It was vicious, so much more vicious than anything I could muster yet it didn't change that at their cores, my power of destruction and his were the same.

 

I fought, pushing my will, my mind to the energy suffusing this false dimension. Pain assaulted my senses as if I had been injected acid from the inside of my body.

 

I closed my eyes and bit my tongue. I had been burned, immolated by divine flames and infernal flames. I knew what it was like to feel powerless, to not be able to do anything while someone you loved died slowly before your eyes.

 

I directed the destruction, feeding it into the shield I had erected around Akeno even though calling it a shield wasn't technically true.

 

His power of Destruction was too volatile to be contained but it could be tricked and this is where my ‘shield’ intervened.

 

It would be more accurate to say that I had created a spiral. Unlike a shield which could be seen as a perfect circle, a spiral could be seen as a false one, as a conductor.

 

Things may seem identical in a spiral but they never truly were. Things advanced. Things even though similar changed. The power of destruction bit violently into my shield like I expected and was absorbed.

 

The spiral I had created around Akeno was one that would be fuelled by the power of destruction itself. It isolated it, using it to both fuel my spell and as a barrier against the presence exuded by my ancestor.

 

This was as close as perfect of a barrier that I could create. Slowly, I let Akeno come down until her knees had touched the ground made of metal. With a flick of my will, a pillar of Earth followed by pillows appeared behind her head.

 

There was a second solution to stop all of this. I just needed to erase the source of the disturbance by any means necessary.

 

I walked to stand at the side of my brother. His gaze was still locked on the sky “It needs to stop,” I spoke softly knowing he would be listening to me. “It's not safe for Akeno.”

 

“I tried to teleport the two of you away when he appeared but I lost control of this dimension the moment he breached into it,” my brother told me.

 

“The Great King is acting differently. He was one of the rare demons, not a threat just by existing. He was one of the only ones who humoured us, who played as lesser, kinder.”

 

“It doesn't matter what is the reason behind his change of behaviour. He's killing my girlfriend. I can't allow him to be successful.”

 

“Demons rarely care about what they see as lesser, weaker. There is also the fact that we are from his lineage. Akeno isn't Rias.”

 

“I understand Sirzechs. There is no point in trying to negotiate or speak with an Archdemon. We'll have to either beat or go as close as killing him for him to stop.”

 

I turned my gaze toward my brother “There is also the fact that you are stronger than him right?”

 

“I'm the strongest here without any doubt but raw strength isn't the only thing deciding the end of a fight. We are before a being who fought against God himself and Seraphs and survived. There is also the fact that me taking my true form would kill Akeno and you, Rias.”

 

It is like that then? Nervousness and anticipation surged into me. A part of me yearned for this, to test myself and my strength against an Archdemon. Another part of me was scared and nervous about fighting again. ‘Remember Rias, No matter what happens, you'll be stronger. You're also not alone.’

 

My body exploded with dark crimson. I released everything I had inside. I released my authority, my essence “It seems we’ll have to do it the old way Sirzechs.”

 

A darker and more violent destruction erupted around my brother like a Halo made of dark particles.

 

We disappeared, cutting the distance between our grandfather and us in less than an instant. A grin split the face of our grandfather as he watched us come closer.

 

He roared maybe in ecstasy or in anger or in excitement “LET ME SEE YOUR STRENGTH!” The abomination shouted.

 

I covered my fist in the familiar spark of the black flash. I didn't need to worry about whether the attack would work or not. I wished for it to be so be it will be.

 

I sent the punch toward one of the heads of my grandfather. You would think a being of his size would be slower but it wasn't the case at all.

 

The Archdaemon moved, dodging what I thought was a sure hit. A black leg as big as a mountain came rushing at me “YOU’ll HAVE TO DO BETTER THAN THIS” he mocked me.

 

“She doesn't need to because she's not alone!” a voice rang. A crimson blur stopped the leg. It was like seeing an insect crashing against a building and impossibly, being the winner.

 

The leg and the form of my brother met and a shockwave erupted. I was sent ragdolling away like a swatted fly.

 

I didn't try to stop myself. I decided instead to use my momentum to my advantage. I pirouetted mid-air. I pushed my demonic energy around myself, coating myself with it and opened a portal before me.

 

The portal opened back at the place where my brother and our grandfather were still locked in.

 

I twisted my demonic energy like a spiral around my right arm and punched the leg that broke under the might of my fist.

 

The moment the leg fractured, my brother chose to burst forward. He flew like a comet toward the heads of the Archdemon the power of destruction coating him.

 

Zekram reacted fast. Spears made of darkness bloomed from his eye socket like grotesque flowers yet Sirzechs continued without fear forward, without trying to dodge.

 

‘He's not fighting alone,’ I reminded myself. My wings exploded from my back. Of course, he didn't have to worry.

 

I shaped my power of destruction, releasing it in the form of thousands of spears. They flew fast, faster than my brother to meet the ones created by Bael.

 

They exploded in cosmic lights and waves. They realized their goal. They gave an opening to my brother.

 

Sirzech’s form pierced like a sword the flesh of our ancestor illuminating Zekram from the inside as My brother continued to burrow deeper and deeper into his flesh.

 

Even then, the Archdaemon was still smiling “DO YOU TRULY THINK THIS IS THE FIRST TIME SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPEN TO ME?” the voice of the Daemon rang in this false cosmos.

 

Faster than I could follow, one of his claws moved, piercing his own flesh, seeking and reaching for the form of my brother.

 

I moved launching myself at him trying to stop him. Thousands of Beams of destruction came into existence and flew at me

 

 

I swerved on my side dodging one and flew up dodging another deluge of destruction. The remaining beams followed after me as if they were sentient and me their prey.

 

They surrounded me from all sides, from all around me, from up and down. They were beyond me at least for now. Even with my essence, the gap between my grandfather and me was too big for me to successfully steal the control of all those beams.

 

I couldn't escape but the more time I took, the more likely it was that my brother would be hurt.

 

It didn't matter if he was stronger or better than me. It didn't matter if something should be impossible. Expecting failure before trying was the mindset of a loser and I Rias Gremory chose to not be one.

 

I crossed my fingers. I didn't have a path before me which means that I had to create mine. The world became my canvas as I uttered the sacred words that would allow me to do so.

 

I had usurped Kagutsuchi’s authority, an authority over fire, over flames in their primordial nature.  “Domain expansion: Coffin of the Iron Mountain,” I whispered.

 

I wasn’t so limited as Jogo. I was an ultimate class devil with a divine authority. I didn't create a small sphere or limit my flames to a small radius. This entire dimension became my domain.

 

The dark cosmos was replaced with gigantic mountains I couldn’t see the top of off. We weren't in a cavern-like was expected of Jogo’s domain.

 

We were instead at my ancestral home, the layer of hell from where I knew the Daemon Gremory originated, the layer my brother had chosen as his home, the greed layer.

 

Hellfire and divine fire poured everywhere. This was a replica of a domain and like in a normal domain, every attack was unavoidable unless I wished to spare someone from it. I ensured neither Sirzechs nor Akeno would be touched.

 

Divine flames and Hellfire erupted burning to nothing the beams of destruction and attacked the flesh of the Archdaemon.

 

“IT BURNS?!” the Archadaemon spoke his voice laced with pain, surprise and was it pride?

 

Sirzechs didn't stay idle. He exploded violently out of the back of our Grandfather.  Rivers of Dark Ichor fell from the flesh of the Archdemon and burnt as my flames attacked everything.

 

I saw a flash of crimson as my brother appeared at my side caked in gore and blood. The blood of Zekram Bael seemed to be burning through his clothes.

 

The clothes disappeared replaced by a black armour that went from his toes to his neck. It was an armour that was worthy of being worn by a devil king.

 

“Do you think it'll be enough?” my brother asked me. Our grandfather had become a giant Brazier as bright and hot as a star. I knew the heat would have been enough to glaze the Earth over.

 

Even then, with his entire form covered by my flames, I wasn't sure of the effectiveness of my action. Simply because all this time, Zekram was laughing in delight.

 

As is to answer my brother, a wave of shadows, darker than black erupted from the giant Brazier.

 

The flames were being smothered, something that shouldn't be possible! My essence worked making my flames deadlier but even then, it wasn’t enough. As if sensing my distress, my brother acted.

 

A spear made of the power of destruction materialized into his right hand. His hand moved throwing the spear at our grandfather.

 

Atoms and matter on the path of the spear were erased. The spear seemed to grow, eating the universe surrounding it to become more dangerous.

 

The spear went into the Brazier turning it back, making it bigger, more destructive yet he continued to laugh.

 

He spoke and he sounded happy “I HAD FORGOTTEN THIS FEELING, THIS YEARNING. THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME OF WHO I WAS, FOR WHAT I WAS LIVING HONOURED GRANDCHILDREN OF MINE. YOU ALLOWED ME TO UNDERSTAND A MISSING PIECE OF THE PUZZLE.”

 

“NOW FOR YOUR EDUCATION GRANDCHILDREN OF MINE. REALITY IS NOTHING BUT A DREAM AND A DREAMER WHO KNOWS THEY ARE DREAMING CAN CONTROL THEIR DREAMS!”

 

My instincts screamed at me that something wrong was happening and that I needed to stop it.

 

“Sirzechs, whatever he's doing, you have to stop him!” I yelled at my brother.

 

He had already moved before a word could leave my lips but my brother even with all his transcendental speed was too late.

 

inscrutable alien symbols and glyphs began to form around the burning prison of my ancestor, symbols that reminded me of the Darkness itself.

 

“loneliness + alienation + fear + despair + self-worth ÷ mockery ÷ condemnation ÷ misunderstanding ⋅ guilt ⋅ shame”.

 

As he said the last word, my domain broke. Reality bent to his will reshaping the world to the liking of my grandfather. My surroundings had changed, becoming identical to the memories I had of the Bael estate.

 

I fell powerlessly. I tried to speak but I couldn't. I tried to move but couldn't. I tried to summon my power of destruction, my demonic energy or even my authority but I was unable to. My essence was working toward a way to free me but it was taking too much time.

 

My back met the ground with less force than I expected. Pain didn't greet me as if the Earth itself had embraced me instead of me falling onto it like the progenitor of my race once did.

 

I was lying down, powerless, my gaze turned toward the sky, toward the victorious form of my grandfather. My demonic eyes that allowed me to see greater distances showed me how Sirzechs was lying limp in one of the hands of our grandfather.

 

Even if Sirzechs hadn’t used his true form, it shouldn't have ended like this. My brother was a super devil. He was supposed to be the strongest of our race.

 

The form of the Archdaemon shifted, shrinking, taking the human form he was most known as. He was surprisingly carrying with care my brother in his arms.

 

He came down slowly, standing over my prone form. There was pride in his eyes. Of course, there would be. What was the point of everything that just had happened? Did he just want to prove himself that he could win against a reduced Sirzechs?

 

My body was moved as a golden throne throne bloomer under me. Another one erupted on the ground at my side and he placed Sirzechs on it.

 

A third one materialized behind him as he sat “The lack of control is temporary. Soon, you'll be able to move your entire body. In two seconds, if my calculations are right, Rias, you should be able to talk. Sirzechs, I know you already can. There is no point in trying to hide it.”

 

We stayed silent. I hated him. I wanted to tear him to shreds. I don't think that I'll be able to play nice.

 

He sighed “It's understandable neither if you want to talk to me. It seems I'll be the only one talking. I didn't hurt your Nephilim toy Rias. I know you're fond of her.”

 

How dared he? “Don't call her a toy. She's so much more than this!” I spat.

 

Understanding bloomed into his amethyst eyes “You love her don’t you?” he told me. “This is why you wanted to interfere with the parliament. Your brother was right child. You only grow stronger but it wouldn't be enough. Even as I speak, you continue to do so, surpassing the amount of demonic energy of your mother. I am sure that in a fair fight, sooner or later, I would have lost against any of you two but fights aren't fair child.”

 

“The devils in our parliament,” he continued. “They may be weak, weaker than you but most of them are old, have inherited knowledge and curses as old as the mortal realm.”

 

“How do you know what we were talking about?” I asked him.

 

“His name,” my brother spoke. “He only appeared when we said his name. I expected you to follow me only, not Rias too.”

 

“Unlike most of my brood, your sister is more than worthy of my attention.” I didn't like the way he said it as if I was a trophy.

 

His gaze locked with mine “I had been watching you for a long time but it didn't do you justice. I have a proposition for you Rias, a deal.”

 

A spear made of the power of destruction was stopped from penetrating the head of my grandfather by the Archadaemon using one of his hands to stop it. The hand corroded into nothing but stopped Zekram from losing his head.

 

“I'll kill you,” my brother promised Zekram.

 

The Archdaemon chuckled “You probably will if we survive this war. The war is the reason why I came here. I am against not sending young devils down pillar clans to war. Their ancestors, my siblings would be ashamed of their cowardice. Here is my proposition. I’ll create a young devil tournament, one mandatory for all pillar devils younger than five hundred years. The top three will have the possibility to ask boons. All the others will forcefully be conscripted for war. If you win, you'll have the possibility of keeping your peerage safe. Isn't that what you wished for?”

 

This was a deal with an Archadaemon. He probably had hidden motives. He was probably manipulating me “What are you gaining from it?” I asked him.

 

A smile bloomed on the face of Zekram Bael “Just the satisfaction of helping my granddaughter. Isn't that enough?” He presented one of his hands to me

 

I moved, my essence having freed me “You’re such a liar,” and shook hands with The Devil.