Devil's Luck[Arc 5: Worlds Apart]

A few minutes earlier.

"Rhongomyniad!"

An explosive, holy light blanketed of what was once remained of Kutha; taking out a huge chunk of the already large crater, being approximately 5 kilometers deep—becoming a giant sinkhole.

"Phew. Looks like we made it! Thankfully, I calculated correctly of Rhongomyniad's blast range."

A few dozen miles away from the overwhelming destruction happening, with pearly white castle walls surrounding them, Gudako and the other appeared fine.

It was all thanks to Merlin. He was well aware of what Altria was about to do when he saw her determined look, and the destruction she was about to cause. So he consumed the "tiny" bit of mana he had put aside and teleported them out of Kutha.

"Haa...Haa...Senpai, everyone...! I can't take it anymore... I'm sorry—"

"Mash!"

Merlin glanced to their side and saw poor Mash unconscious on the ground, and promptly being cared for by Gudako—who looked to be on the very urge of passing out as well.

'Ah, my bad. I'm sorry Mash,' He wryly smiled.

Although they were out of the blast radius, he forgot to calculate about the shockwave, which hurt servants like them much—but it was dangerous for a human like Gudako. Sensing the danger for her dear, beloved master, Mash didn't hesitate to redeploy her Noble Phantasm once more to protect her from the shockwave.

Using it so many times had mentally drained her, and Gudako's mana, that it wasn't unexpected to see them so weak.

"Kuku! No!" Jaguarman cried out, tears flowing down her face. Her hands balled into fists.

"Is that monster...?" Ereshkigal softly muttered, fear and anger flickering across her eyes. She felt righteous furious in her heart for the deaths of Zenkichi, Brunhilde and Quetzalcoatl—all in the hands of one being.

She vowed, within her heart, that if she could get the soul of this monster...she was going to make sure that she would torture it for the rest of its eternal soul.

"Is it still alive?" Ana asked, her eyes focused on the pit.

Suddenly, there was a flash of bright golden light from the large sinkhole, followed by strong quakes with crackling crimson lightning and loud, arrogant cackling that they all grimaced upon hearing.

Even being several dozen of miles away, they could still faintly feel the ground trembling beneath their feet.

"I'm going to take that as a no~" Merlin nonchalantly remarked as he twirled his staff before striking the butt of it onto the ground, and a multitude of flowers and vines sprouted around Gudako and Mash.

"Wha—?" Gudako looked up in shock at the fauna around her and a pink mist exuding from them. But she quickly calmed down when she felt her mana, mental fatigue and small injuries gradually recover under the pink mist. She looked down and saw Mash was also getting better.

"....Dear Master Fujimaru, what are you going to do now?" Merlin asked.

"What are you trying to say, Merlin?" Gudako frowned, and Fou suddenly appeared at that moment on her shoulder, nodding vigorously.

"Fou! Fou! Merlin, stupid!"

Merlin wryly smiled and sighed, "What I'm trying to say—is what's your next plan? Shall we retreat or continue on fighting?"

"Huh?! What kind of question is that? Of course we'll keep on fighting! Let's avenge Kuku, Zenkichi and that somewhat scary girl!" Jaguarman spoke, looking really eager to get some blood from the fucker who killed two of her most important people.

Ereshkigal stepped forward, shaking her head. "W-Wait a minute! I understand what you're feeling, but we're currently too exhausted and injured to continue fighting. We fight that monster right now in our current state, we'll most likely die—we'll be throwing away the sacrifice that Quetzalcoatl made!"

Jaguarman gritted her teeth, she wanted to protest but Ereshkigal had a point. She quickly calmed down, and punched the ground—shattering it.

"Damn it!"

"It's frustrating...." Ana said, a slight frown on her face.

Merlin turned back towards Gudako, a serious expression on his face.

"It's your call, Master of Chaldea."

Gudako's expression hardened and she looked down, deep in thought—feeling conflicted on what to do next.

'Think, think! What should I do? Retreat? But would Pride give us the chance to do so? He'd chase us down like a hunter, or worse case scenario he goes after the human settlements!'

'But what can we do against him? From what Merlin had told us earlier, Pride has reality warping capabilities—we can't fight against someone like that in our current situation! By all things considered...'

Gudako made her decision.

"Let's retreat."

Merlin, Ereshkigal, Jaguarman, and Ana had varying reactions to her decision: mostly relief and disappointment.

"Merlin. Are you able to teleport Altria away?"

Merlin chuckled, running his hand through his hair, "When it comes to Her Majesty? Easy~"

Gudako nodded. "Good. Teleport us away from here and back to Uruk, we'll get King Gilgamesh's help and—"

"—By my Authority, you will bow before me."

Before anyone could react, they felt the world around shifting and a sense of vertigo wash over them.

Gudako gasped, clutching her head as the oppressive sensation faded, and as she looked up, which was surprisingly difficult—she was met with a horrifying sight.

Leon, bloodied with almost half of his hanging off with just a thread of meat, looking down at them with a very sinister smile.

She then heard the sorrowful cries of Altria, appearing behind Leon with her lance pointed at his head.

"PRIDE!!"

"HAHAHAHAHA!!"

What happened next, was expectedly... terrifying to say the least.

.....

"LEON!!"

Leon's eyes widened in disbelief, turning his neck to find Zenkichi standing right there, very much alive and looking incredibly pissed off.

"You?! How is a mere mortal like yourself still alive?!" Leon's grip on Altria's neck tightened before decidedly tossing her battered body onto the ground like a ragdoll, and Zenkichi was even more angry and shocked when he saw Gudako, Mash, and the others all laying on the ground completely injured and unconscious—pools of blood flowing.

"Everyone...!" He clenched his fists, teeth grinding. Then his eyes widened in shocked realization, his heart even stopped for a moment.

He couldn't find Quetzalcoatl. Anywhere.

He saw red.

"I annihilated you with my authority!" Leon exclaimed, leisurely walking towards Zenkichi, taking no heed of the latter's trembling shoulders and rising, murderous aura. "You cannot be alive! Impossible! My authority is absolute, my power is unparalleled, and I am...."

The visible bloody wounds on his body began to regenerate instantaneously, the aura of destruction and death exuding from his body became even stronger than before.

Gods, demons, and humans was no match to him.

However, Zenkichi was no mere God, Demon, or Human—he was all three, embodying three aspects into one being; the power of a God, the actions of a Demon, and the compassion of a Human.

He was a Divine Infernal, a contradiction of normalcy in the world.

Zenkichi clenched both his fists, the gauntlets he wore shone a silver glow, and he closed the distance between them in an instant, gripping his head before slamming him onto the ground.

"Invincible! Hahahahaha—augh!"

Pain shot through Leon's skull, leaving him momentarily stunned. Instinctively, he tried opening his mouth to use his Authority, but Zenkichi wouldn't let get the chance.

"HNG—?!" Leon's eyes almost popped out of their sockets as Zenkichi firmly held his mouth shut with one hand, his fingers digging into Leon's jaw with an unrelenting grip.

The ground beneath them cracked further, the force of Zenkichi's slam leaving a small crater.

"You think you're invincible?!" Zenkichi growled.

His silver gauntlets glowed brighter, radiant energy coursing through his arms. His eyes shifting between red and blue, from his back sprouted two pair of wings—a pair of feathery white wings for the top and a pair of black leathery bat wings on bottom—both stretching with an incredible wingspan of 30 meters!

A strange halo appeared over his head; a strange mix of gold, black and cyan radiating with an impressive power that would make a weak individual die on the spot.

Zenkichi leaned down, gripping tightly on Leon's mouth and said, "You think you can just kill everyone, destroy everything, and walk away laughing like some untouchable god?!"

"Nah, you wouldn't. In the first place, you're a monster. You fuckers don't know the first thing about true power!"

Leon struggled beneath Zenkichi, his body trembling as his Authority flickered and faltered under the sheer, overwhelming pressure emanating from the latter.

For the first time, doubt crept into Leon's arrogant eyes as he felt Zenkichi's murderous intent bearing down on him like a mountain.

And a surge of anger flowed through his monstrous veins, him? Doubt? Fear? He was the Monster of Pride! He refused to submit to something he view as an insect!

"Hmm? The air is..." Zenkichi widened his eyes, feeling a surge of mana in his surroundings and it was all coming from the monster trapped beneath him. "No, this is over! Burn, devour!"

A strange flame; a mix of gold, blue and cyan came to life and enveloped Leon's body—his ashes being devoured by a pitch-black blackhole!

This was it, the Monster of Pride was going to die a pathetic—

In a completely unexpected move, as the flames started burning his face, Leon slipped out of Zenkichi's hand, his monstrous regeneration quickly activated and restored his jaws, tongue, teeth and all.

He then began to say a few words before Zenkichi could shut him up.

"By my authority, come to your Master's aide! WRATH!"

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AN: Late Happy New Year! Heyo everyone! I am back! But! With unfortunate news that I will release later.

Let us welcome new ascendants, the Ones Above All: Leon Moser and Shonenzero

I hope you all have a great day and great year!