Chapter 48: Zero Requiem; A Devil... A Dragon... part 1

On the front of Japan, the structures of the army were large as they clashed. Neither showed mercy to the others as circles lit the sky and bodies piled up, some almost tripping the respective allies. The sounds of their battle cry drowned out the breath they tried to reclaim whenever one person or many would feel exhaustion creep, an annoying burden that could spell life or death.

Just outside Kuoh, Sona, along with devils, youkais and fallen angels were managing physical systems and magical screens, showing how the battles were going along on each side. This did not mean Sona was not busy, as she worked overtime to make sure to relay messages and coordinates as fast as she could. 'Don't let up, be quick! Each second counts!'

Sona took a breather when she heard a familiar voice hit her up. "We did it, So-tan! We've completely finished up our area! I hope you were watching your big sister! Yeah, the Leviathan Magical Girls rock! We need to do a show about it! In any case, I hope you are being safe and good luck! Me and my group should probably move to China and so some damage control, given the fight Sirzechs-chan and the others are having there is getting more out of hand than was originally suspected—"

"Emergency! Emergency!"

Sona quickly disconnected her sister from the line; already prepping an apology for after all of this washed over. "What's happening?!"

"It's from the front lines! The commanders are losing against an unexpected enemy! It's just one unit, but they are immensely powerful! HELP! I YIELD! I YIELD!" they shouted, those last words was what Sona heard before the voice stopped.

Sona gritted her teeth. "So, finally..."

***

Paths dipped in unnatural red, a contradiction to the nature of the earth around them, as bodies clogged up the area and many were already flapping away to the safety of anything away from the monstrosity they were facing.

Even Baraquiel, Shemhazai, Raphael and Uriel were tossed like yesterday's trash, bloodied, broken wings and armours and bodies cracked in an unnatural methods, as only the twitching of body and the leakage of ichor showed they were surviving.

Though his wings were down, Baraquiel made sure to upright himself as much as one could in such a twisted state of health. Sizzling cracks flickered before a holy lightning spear materialized, though it didn't match the intensity of his eyes; his glare stronger than his healthiest attack. 'He's taken us all down... and he's smiling!'

Crom Cruach snorted at the final display of Baraquiel's will against his might. "Is this all your whole group can do?" Crom Cruach asked, clearly not impressed but still smirking at the possibilities ahead.

"We weren't expecting Rizevim to have such a monster under his command!" Baraquiel growled out.

Crom Cruach chuckled. "The only reason I'm here is to fight a truly strong opponent. It is my sole reason for acting as Rizevim's bodyguard."

Baraquiel's arm was thrown forward as the holy lightning attack connected with his opponent's body, with the latter looking at the attack as if they were special effects for a movie. Soon, the attack faded and Crom Cruach was still standing, unharmed and almost bored.

"Have you truly reached the limit of what your holy lightning can do?" Crom Cruach waited patiently for a response but the fallen cadre was oddly silent. "Very well... You won't survive this next hit!" Crom Cruach shot forward faster than any roar.

The man smiled. "We found them," he mumbled.

"Boost!"

"Divide!"

The twin shouts echoed as several red blurs shot through the air at break-neck speeds and scooped up the fallen and archangels out of the way. Crom Cruach's eyes gaped at seeing the form of Vali and Keiji racing at him in their Balance Breakers, the two of them performing a double development attack and crashing at each side.

However, no matter how close they were, their hits were both clutched by Crom Cruach's claws at the last conceivable moment. It was only the golden-clad form of Sairaorg slamming Crom Cruach's cranium, along with the trio screaming with all their might and motivation, that they managed to fling Crom Cruach to the ground.

"NOW!" Keiji shouted, falling back rapidly, and watching the bombardment of Power of Destruction, holy lightning, water, ice, light, several dragon flames and a giant holy aura slicing down onto the fallen form of the dragon.

Baraquiel's eyes flickered as exhaustion persisted through every nerve present. When he had finally gained access to his full sight, to his surprise, the female form clad in the Red Dragon Armour retracted her helmet to show a scared-as-all-fuck Raynare. "I can't believe we went so close to such a monster," she mumbled, slowly putting Baraquiel in a more comfortable position.

Kalawarner carried Raphael and Uriel, with Mittelt aiding Shemhazai. The three fallen angels landed near Asia, who quickly activated her Balance Breaker to do its magic. Despite the importance of healing, Asia couldn't help but gaze at the battle ahead. "Fafnir! I call upon you!" she cried out.

A flash of brilliance materialized fast than light as the Dragon King came to her back and call, assisting in his contractor's order. 'This aura!' Fafnir noted, beads of sweat present.

Having healed up the cadres and the archangels, Rayanre, Mittelt and Kalawarner made it their duty to take them back to properly rest and not get involved in the crossfire. Helping would have been something nice, but they were aware that their help was not needed, and the help they could have provided would have been moot.

"Who the hell is this guy?!" Keiji asked, already feeling the strength leaking off him and the display he showed; successfully repelling him and Vali's pincer attack. "How did that prick even find someone this strong?! Is there a black market for strong combatants in case you want to plunge the world into madness?!"

Vali narrowed his eyes. "That must mean Rizevim is nearby!" he commented, not forgetting to spit out his grandfather's name in disgust.

"His name is Crom Cruach, an evil dragon of old," Ddraig explained.

"However, he's appeared to grow even more stronger than ever before. Prepare for everything to come down if you slip up," Albion warned.

A cool laugh permeated the air and Sairaorg's shout for them to back off was finished by Crom Cruach's wings pervading and wiping the smoke present, minor scratches present and an ear-to-ear grin on his face. "Ddraig! Albion! It's been far too long since we've last greeted each other!" Crom Cruach spoke, eyes falling onto the field of warriors: most of the Gremory Peerage (Yuuto and Gasper missing), the other girls in their own Balance Breaker and Tohru, Kanna, Ilulu and Lucoa in her dragon form.

Lucoa's size easily an army in her own right. Her large amphithere dragon physiology with expansive feathered wings and a mask-like skull; two back, side curved branching horns.

The Aztec Goddess' appearance brought the sun to Crom Cruach's face. "I never expected to see the mighty Quetzalcoatl in the battle today. Truly... it was worth to stick around with Rizevim."

Lucoa's fangs were bared towards the fellow dragon. "All of you! This goes without saying, but don't let your guard down! None of you get hit, or else death awaits! Crom Cruach was already a force back in my divine years, but he pales in comparison to the might he has achieved."

"We're not going to let a single dragon get in your way!" Tohru snarled, breaking ground and ignoring the cries and complaints.

Aggression was tempered coolly by Crom Cruach, his one hand enough to subdue the force of the dragon maid; the tightness making her eyes flash in concern. Crom Cruach chuckled at the eagerness she displayed. "The daughter of the Emperor of Demise is certainly strong, but you're a thousand years too young to fight me still!"

A vicious bang blew out in the air as the casual Crom Cruach punched her jaw, something definitely breaking, and sending her spinning like she was clothes in the washing machine. Her form ungraceful and plummeting into the ground.

"Tohru!" Keiji, Kanna, Ilulu cried out.

Rias moved her hand forward. "Attack!" she shouted.

Crom Cruach liked the resolve shown, and charged head first into the conflict. All his eyes saw was a chance at attaining what he wanted, so he charged through. Destruction was his fists, each attack lost in time, with the Crescent Circle Dragon not holding back. "You'll need more than this if you think this will be enough to best me!"

Quickly noting the situation, his running form switched out and he spun around, open maw, and unleashed the bowels of hell against his opponent. The air violently filling up with the flames of Crom Cruach, easily engulfing Ilulu and Kanna's combined attack.

Gravity worked onto his body in the form of Lucoa, her titanic frame giving him pause as the entire battlefield cracked and all allies took flight to avoid being caught up in it. 'Such destruction,' Rossweisse thought.

"Now this is more like it!" Crom Cruach said, his condition completely unperturbed by the current pace of events.

Burning burgundy, blinding silver-white. The True Crimson Dragon Emperor. The Silver Dragon of the Highest Supremacy. The Heavenly Dragons, both allies... Neither one needed any further guidance as they charged at the evil dragon.

"For the sake of the world, you'll be beaten!" Sairaorg shouted, charging at the back of the dragon. 

Crom Cruach grinned. Quick flashes going by as Crom Cruach backflipped, briefly taking the form of a crescent, already over Sairaorg and digging his one hand down, completely breaking Sairaorg's touki-enhanced defences. In that same moment, his legs woke up, and both landed against the dragon duo, knocking them back.

The chorus of Boosts made Crom Cruach fly up to deal with what he would call pests when comparing his battle power to them but the grip of the White Dragon Emperor's tail halted him long enough for Keiji to whip out Ascalon.

Surprise came to the lot of them as Ascalon only slid off Crom Cruach's body rather than pierce through it, only a stitch of blood to slightly alleviate their concerns about the durability of Crom Cruach. Still in battle mode, Keiji used the tail of Ascalon to try again while already already fleeting forward.

'Too slow!' Crom Cruach thought, grinning and using the overwhelming strength in his body to bend back and swing Vali off into Keiji with the force of a kick, added by the additional aerial air attack that came with the kick.

Sairaorg tried bashing his back but his face was bruised by the simple backfist, followed by calmly moving the right battering ram of Sairaorg, and raising his fist towards his gut. Fortunately for Sairaorg, Crom Cruach's form faltered by the bombardment of justice and judgement.

Once again, Sairaorg tried to attack, but Crom Cruach anticipated it and managed to dodge it. He, however, was unable to stop the green-glowing Ascalon attack and a compressed attack of demonic power from Vali.

"Are you sure that's really a dragon-slaying blade?!" Vali shouted, remembering the searing pain he felt in his first bout with Keiji as the bane blade brought him to his knees easily.

"I'm trying to figure that out myself!" Keiji argued back, remembering its effectiveness beforehand against his dragon host counterpart. "It worked against you, didn't it?!" Keiji shot back.

Vali snorted at Ascalon's effectiveness and Keiji comment. "I guess this means we can rely on the strongest evil dragon to not be a pushover!" 

Sairaorg, for the third time, came in. His eyes widened at seeing Crom Cruach's mouth open. Keiji called out to Sairaorg, sprinting to close the dragon's mouth, but the sea of flames engulfed Sairaorg fully.

"Oh?" Crom Cruach muttered, watching an axe meet with elbow. "You survived my flames with such ease."

Singes came upon Sairaorg's skin as he continued to apply his touki and press it against Crom Cruach's body. "You can thank Regulus for that!" he shouted.

His aura pushed back the approaching Keiji and Vali, but his body was thrown right down by the crashing form of Lucoa. "They aren't the only concern you should have."

Right as she said that to the crater where Crom Cruach was situated, her underbelly felt the comet hit her back. Grabbing one of her feathered wings, he slipped down the slope of her back and reached for the end of her tail.

A force of attraction perplexed the dragon, only for Rias, garbed in the armour of the Red Dragon Emperor, to release her Extinguished Star against him. Crom Cruach only smiled as his hand gripped the attack until it faded.

"Not even a scratch!" Rias shouted in shock.

The true red blast of Keiji stopped Rias from being instantly ripped to shreds by Crom Cruach as Vali followed with a kick to the shin, soon Crom Cruach being once again under attack by the boosted attacks that came from all directions. While his aura mostly stopped them, there was still enough to stall him and nick at his longevity.

A holy lightning dragon decorated with the Power of Dragon was sent Crom Cruach's way, which he dodged with a flick of his head, and the light spears were all blown back by Crom Cruach. His excited glare didn't hide the fearful presence he presented himself with as the Norse magical spells from Rossweisse emptied out a salvo of shots that Crom Cruach disregarded with his honed reflexes.

Even under such pressure, Crom Cruach was perfectly capable of continuing in such high-stakes situation. Turning towards Vali, he prised his length to break his helmet. Vali responded by switching his attacking charge to a defensive manuever at the final moment, both arms up and legs ready to tuck for extra support. 'I've got you!' Vali thought.

Crom Cruach's face didn't sour in any way as he simply reversed the way his leg was stretching out to; having not completed the full length of his kick made it easier for him. Befitting his name, his kick swerved from right to left in a crescent moon fashion. The result worked as Vali's eyes widened beneath the helmet before he was sent crashing right into the ground.

Keiji boosted himself as he grappled the airborne leg, a chilly glow emanating from his hands, as fragments of ice began to multiply and threaten to overtake Crom Cruach. The latter easily burned them away with his aura, leaving him to the face Ascalon's upcoming attack, which he dealt with relative ease.

"You some kind of monster?!" Keiji responded.

Crom Cruach opened his mouth, and Keiji's tail attack came up from below, not having enough power to pierce Crom Cruach's skin yet again, but managing to divert his breath attack up in the air, ripping through the environment above.

"Clever!" Crom Cruach shouted, headbutting Keiji before the latter could respond in time. Being battle trained, Crom Cruach wasn't taken by surprise from the quick recovery against a weaker attack, and dodged Keiji, smacking his side and sending the Red Dragon Emperor flying into the ground.

A green glow made Crom Cruach tilt back from the dragon destruction wave. His eyes widened at seeing what laid underneath the revenge attack, tipping himself backwards and only getting the tip of Ascalon to graze against his forehead. 

Crom Cruach didn't have time to focus on the increased damage of the attack as Sairaorg unleashed pressurized air points that jolted Crom Cruach's body, all in the shape of a vicious lion. The simple stalling had the impact as Vali gathered his demonic power and applied it on one focused area, making Crom Cruach grunt at the heavy hit.

Vali was soon kicked in the face, but it didn't end there, as Crom Cruach's legs wrapped around his neck and spun him around. Defenceless, Vali was saved by Crom Cruach holding Lucoa back from trying to pin him down. "Show me your power, Quetzalcoatl!" Crom Cruach maniacally shouted out, pressing back against her fallen frame and grinning all the while.

"Divide!"

Vali stopped after the first one, feeling his wings already distributing out the energy. "Shit, seriously?! Just one Divide, and yet it was already too much for me!"

His brief monologue was punished by the smouldering wave of heat released by Crom Cruach, having already thrown Lucoa back away. "I probably should have held back Quetzalcoatl while unleashing my flames! That might have added a challenge."

Though Crom Cruach did not intend to mock them for their efforts, Sairaorg bull charged at the evil dragon for the ridicule of their efforts. Crom Cruach took the blow in stride, and, at the same time, also blew Sairaorg back with a single punch.

His signature heat mouth wave attack was stopped by Keiji releasing his own flames, though Crom Cruach's was chewing into his in no time. "Ddraig! Some help here!"

"Boost! 7x"

For the second time, the Extinguished Star technique was unleashed against Crom Cruach. 'I'll gladly allow them to tackle me! I'm fighting the power of Ddraig, after all!'

All the distractions in the world couldn't stop Crom Cruach as his golden aura persisted against those too weak to overwhelm it, which Crom Cruach used to feed his power into his flames. Faster than a flash, the attack soon came crashing onto Keiji! 

'Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Retreat back!'

Crom Cruach disappeared from the battlefield, with Keiji seeing the dragon running by his side. Keiji backed up, but was turned back with a kick. Crom Cruach took the chance to grab him by the leg and whack him from one side to the next.

'He's disrupting my focus with this shit!' Keiji thought in annoyance, slowly trying to fix himself while Crom Cruach allowed some of his iniquity show in his savagery. It also served to effectively sever his allies as Keiji couldn't keep his hand still, so any time he unleashed a projectile attack, it would launch out and stop the others from diving right down.

Finally, Keiji mustered himself and the claws of coldness crept quickly onto Crom Cruach. Keiji tried to trap Crom Cruach, even for a second, by aiming his ice beam close towards his leg. However, Crom Cruach only smirked, and said, "Ineffective," and allowed his flames to assault Keiji.

Quickly, Keiji put more demonic power into the ice attack and barely managed to create a faint smoke screen to buy him some time. 'What do I do?! I can't just guess blindly. He'll probably hear me if I move quickly!'

The option Keiji came to was utilizing the Ascalon stored within his Boosted Gear to release a long spinning attack and extending Ascalon's rage to catch Crom Cruach. No matter how durable he made himself to be, dragon-slaying was still effective.

A twitch.... instinctively, Crom Cruach bent 90 degrees and avoided the wide-reaching claws of the bane blade. Crom Cruach wasted no time in aiming his blast breath slightly up, and grinning as he caught the silhouette of Keiji being caught up into it.

"It's like he can read my moves," Keiji coughed out, his Crimson Queen armour looking gooey in some areas as he patched those up rather quickly. 

'He's been honing his skills while me and Albion were sealed in our Sacred Gears. It's no wonder he's grown to this level.'

A blue blur pushed against Crom Cruach as he wrestled against the White Dragon Emperor, his fist barely missing, but working out the next two times. 'Even when I used my demonic power to shield myself, the damage is still this intense!'

"BOOST! 7x"

"I've got you, Crom Cruach!" Keiji shouted, hand against his blade and swinging towards the neck, although Crom Cruach was inching closer to stopping that.

"TRANSFER!"

Just in the nick of time, the boost of power worked as Crom Cruach felt the air-compressed punch jolt his body as Sairaorg also proved to distract Crom Cruach for the miniscule moments that allowed for Ascalon and Ascalon II Prototype to deliver a pincer attack against his neck.

Both blades were fidgeting as Keiji struggled to push it any further than it already was. Keiji gave a weak chuckle. "You serious?"

Vali kicked Crom Cruach's hair, the latter dodging the attack fast enough, and burning the threat above. The others tried to use this to stop Crom Cruach but the staggering shield appeared against their stubborn efforts, which only served to make them seem like they had gone past their prime.

Thankfully, the chanting of the White Dragon Emperor's signature power alerted them to his safety. "I expected more, Crom Cruach!" Vali spoke with a grin, charging right forward, and having his fist stopped by Crom Cruach's outstretched legs.

"As did I!" he shouted back, smirking as both Keiji and Sairaorg had their heads make a pain-staking rhythm, and were tossed into Vali. Using Vali's time being busy with the two bodies thrown his way, a bomb-blast beam was charging towards the trio.

"DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE!"

Vali struggled to hold out against the attack, already having thrown Keiji and Sairaorg out of his hands for an easier time. He was drowning in an armour of sweat with the intensity of heat being displayed.

A gang up of magical spells clashed against Crom Cruach's body, at seeing Vali struggle with the difference in strength. The challenge presented to Crom Cruach only excited him more as he ferociously took everything while growling from his mighty maw.

'I can't divide it fast enough!' Vali cursed, retreating from the sky bound attack, the clouds rippling apart like stones in the river. "This is the difference in strength..." Vali muttered, fingers twitching as he thought about what was occurring. "Should I be excited or not?" he pondered.

His question was punished with a fist to the sphenoid bone, followed by a harsh loss of air via his sternum, and a sledgehammer attack that had enough force to prevent Vali from up righting himself at the last moment.

"You should be paying attention to your opponent. You'll never get to Rizevim by day-dreaming. Take what you want when you want! That's what it means to be a dragon."

Right after his small speech, Crom Cruach's figure vanished, making Keiji stop with the shining Ascalon blinking brightly. "The fuck did he go?"

"Omae wa mou shindeiru!" Crom Cruach whispered from behind.

"NANI?!"

Similar to Tohru, Keiji found himself flying away like a ragdoll at the kick to his back. The after effect was the mother of all stings to his nervous system. "Got you!" Rossweisse said, safely capturing Keiji in a bungee gum contraception. 

"Thanks, Rosswiesse!" Keiji called out.

Rossweisse nodded. "It has the properties of both rubber and gum, so you should have had a safe landing. I'm working on some magic to try and stop Crom Cruach. Even if we defeat him, with how powerful he is, I fear we'll be too exhausted to deal with Rizevim."

Keiji's energy flared. "I understand. I'm making sure that's now happening, after all. I'll have to boost up my Ascalon a lot more to damage him. He's got an unnatural resistance against his supposed weakness."

"BOOST! 17x"

Vali swarmed Crom Cruach with multiple punches and kicks, each of them ferocious but calmly dispatched by the trained dragon. "Is this all Albion's host can entertain me with?!" Crom Cruach shouted inquisitively, flipped Vali's assaults and grabbing both arms.

A slow-moving orb made Crom Cruach's hair flail widely about as Rias used the Boost ability of the dragon armour given to her to compliment her Extinguished Star, aware of the decrease in speed that the power brought.

Faintly, Crom Cruach's body twitched as he made out the plan. Grinning, he continued to hold Vali in place but casually flung the attack into the air, further shocking Rias and the others but not completely surprising them with the solo skill he displayed.

His exposed groin was met with the shockwave-inducing blow of Sairaorg, who spared no power from his efforts. "Admirable," Crom Cruach stated, only to subdue Sairaorg by using his legs to chokehold him at once.

Crom Cruach's chin buckled at Vali's effort but Crom Cruach only nodded back against Vali's knee, a clash that made the silver star falter. With Vali's attack casually gobbled up, Crom Cruach took the time to bash Vali with Sairaorg and send them both to greet God.

Appreciating their efforts with a heavy blow-in, Crom Cruach's aggression was present in the fierce red wave of destruction, completely dwarfing the view of those who tried to get close. "Even the feeling of the flames is too much!" Koneko stated.

Through the flames, a separate silhouette snuck in and blood was unleashed from the skin of Crom Cruach. Seeing the exposed ichor brought a warm expression onto his face, immediately focusing on the only one who could do that.

Pride flowed through the Irish dragon's body, his arm freely showing a sign of vulnerability. "Incredible! You've managed to injure me! Won't you show me more, Red Dragon Emperor?!"

Keiji flung himself back as fast as he could against the flaring up of Crom Cruach's countenance, already aware what was going to happen. 'I'll back up!' he mentally told himself, 'And attack!' he added, trying to help himself with words, and using the tail-tipped blade to strike Crom Cruach. Having experienced just how fast he was, Keiji decided to try and use his speed against him in the hopes that it would be more successful than trying to use willpower to inundate the individual.

Feeling stiffness, and seeing defeat, Keiji opted to use the grabbing of his tail to his advantage, allowing Crom Cruach to swing him but powering himself enough to resist being tossed and instead grabbing onto the back of Crom Cruach, tightly securing his waist with his legs; the blade of AIIP rubbing salt into the wound.

"Holy Moon Fang Cross-Shaped Piercer!" 

Durandal and Excalibur's energy was released in an X shape that settled against Crom Cruach's body and struggled to push against him. "BOOST! 6x"

Xenovia and Keiji both amplified their sword-related attacks. Crom Cruach merely smiled at the efforts, his natural weakness actually giving him some pause. "Will this continue to tickle me, or is more power at display here?" Crom Cruach asked.

"You've got to be kidding me?!" Keiji growled. 

A loud pop made everyone look to see the Power of Destruction coming down at them. Keiji's body softened at seeing that he might needed to escape, only to grin and clutch Crom Cruach tighter at seeing Sairaorg carrying the Battle Axe of the Lion King, drenched in the previously disregarded Extinguished Star attack.

The toll of a mighty bell fell upon the ground, splitting the ground and forcing Keiji to fly up after Sairaorg delivered the attack to Crom Cruach. A wild smile on the Longinus-possessing user at seeing the crimson painting mess on the crater.

"So you aren't invincible?!" Sairaorg jokingly spoke back.

Crom Cruach first responded by back headbutting Keiji with enough force to stunt him, giving Crom Cruach (to him, at least) ample time to flip him over his shoulders and boot his back to the next few hundred craters ahead.

A silvery flash of black and white bruised the arm of Crom Cruach, enough to make him slide back a few acres. "That's more like it, Vali Lucifer!" he shouted, heaving his diaphragm, and puffing his chest out to attack Sairaorg for a brief moment and then focus against the Vanishing Dragon's blast attack.

Sairaorg propelled himself towards the evil dragon's attack, and sparks flew off sporadically, making Sairaorg press his touki harder into the axe. "As expected of the strongest evil dragon! All my might, and I feel like I'm making no progress!"

"Tch, I don't need your help!" Vali muttered, though he didn't make any further complaint and unleashed more of his energy reserves into the attack and continued to put Crom Cruach's crunching flames to a slower pace than before; still, it held off Vali's attack with similar ease.

Uplifting the ground with every stride, a red riot blasted off and Crom Cruach clearly groaned at the force, the wound widening at the attack presented. Immediately, the wound was infected by the blade of Ascalon actively sinking into it. "Finally!" Keiji called out. 'But how the hell is he still firing his attack while a blade specifically against his nature is rubbing into him?!'

Keiji tried tugging the blade out but the sprawling tunnel lines came across the arm of Crom Cruach, making Keiji's eyes widen. "Can't take it out, can you?" Crom Cruach finished for him with a smile, and booting him with the force of six hundred falling moons and smacking him back.

Dyed red, passion, excitement, and anger ran through Keiji's life stream. Eager, Keiji transferred a chorus of boosts right into the still anchored Ascalon. Smiling, Crom Cruach's eyes bulged in bewilderment at seeing two cannons sprout out in full glory from the wings. "Surprise!" he shouted, firing off the Crimson Blaster.

This time, Crom Cruach's wound was under a real threat as steam poured from the wound. "I see, you added the dragon-slaying power of Ascalon into your attack!" Crom Cruach explained, somehow still firing off against Sairaorg and Vali while talking.

Excited at the injury, Sairaorg and Vali both managed to take advantage of the moment and the Nemean Lion axe charged down, with the backing of Vali's demonic beam, and broke right into Crom Cruach's arm. Sairaorg roaring with all his might at the two weapons gouging right into his flesh.

Crom Cruach opened his mouth but Vali spawned his hands out. Soon, a frosted swarm of wyverns began to claw at Crom Cruach's face and Vali mustered his demonic power into ice to halt at him. 'To think I'd be using something other than Divine Dividing! Oh well, it's a fun battle, so I won't complain!'

Preoccupied with three threats, the problems kept mounting on as hordes of large light spears kept on piling up against him. While relatively harmless against the natural resilience that dragons possessed, that was more effective in dragon form, and Crom Cruach was having plenty of fun with all the obstacles ahead.

Glinting, he watched as lightning came crashing down on him, draconic and holy lightning both coming down on him. 'So the daughter of Kimun Kamui is also present for battle!' Crom Cruach thought with a grin.

Periwinkle magical circles clad the others at the side and Rossweisse. Soon, once they had finished scanning all over their bodies, they left in a magical puff. Having finished that, Rossweisse multiplied her magical circles and they all combined in the palm of her hand, as she shouted, "Five Swirling Dragons of Destruction!"

Bright light made the super trio back off the attack, just for Lucoa to barge right in and clomp on Crom Cruach tight enough. The pressure on the wound enough to give Crom Cruach more than he bargained for as Lucoa blasted him all the way into the attack of the ravenous dragons.

Crom Cruach blasted his breath back but the quantity was lacking as the dragons continued to tickle his body. "It drains my energy! Splendid magic, valkyrie!" Crom Cruach complimented at her, hair blowing wildly as the blood boiled in his veins.

Vali rushed into Crom Cruach's face with a pyramid of ice, followed by a rife attack of immense demonic power, raining cool daggers against him and trapping him there. "DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE!"

'Don't over do yourself, Vali!' Albion warned him, feeling Vali's body twitch from the mass amounts of power he had to eject each time he stole from Crom Cruach's large reserves. Albion was then watching Sairaorg swoop in and crash into Crom Cruach with a large boulder that shattered and rained onto Crom Cruach, allowing Sairaorg to lay into him.

Crom Cruach still managed to kick both of Sairaorg's arms back, and left him exposed, though Keiji covered the devil-bro by dual wielding his demonic blades against Crom Cruach and using the AIIP in his tail to puncture the first clear wound again.

"Thanks for the blades!" Keiji grunted, making Sairaorg nod as he traded fists with Crom Cruach, with the lion-covered devil trying to hold Crom Cruach back.

Crom Cruach's aura spiked against the two of them, their veins rattling against the boulder. "You'd be wise to use the original Ascalon, Red Dragon Emperor! Or do I have to exert more power!"

"You should focus on your wound!" Keiji answered, a volley of light spears spawning and racing for Crom Cruach's cracked spot. 

Easily, they all piled up and were crushed in his hands. Only for a searing sword to join with its counterpart, his eyes widening at seeing the Durandal wielder carrying another blade, her fingers leaving the true Ascalon right into Crom Cruach.

The grin of Crom Cruach made Xenovia's eyes shake. 'This power!' she fearfully remarked, the power idiot in her ticking off all boxes in her danger sense.

Her form disappeared at the next, with Crom Cruach understanding everything that had happened. "Such wonderful allies, too! Though she was wise to leave right away, even with the increased power that valkyrie bestowed onto her," Crom Cruach calmly noted, a lack of anger at being attacked so suddenly. 

Green glowing hands reached onto the handle of Ascalon. "Transfer!"

Crom Cruach's arm wobbled, the intruder digging deeper into the dragon, as Crom Cruach ignored any signs of discomfort and moved in a blur, slamming Sairaorg in the face but the latter resisted the knockback. "Not again!" Sairaorg answered back, throwing his head into the fray and clashing against Crom Cruach, golden chips falling off as Crom Cruach's only prominent injury was the minor graze from the surprise attack of Ascalon by Keiji.

Demonic claws grinded against the arm as Crom Cruach grinned. "Those blades... only such fine craftsmanship could allow you to unintentionally flesh out even more power than usual with less drain on your reserves!"

The dragons were distracted by the winding up of the air as a crack in the void was filled by heat-dome blasts that promptly bent Crom Cruach back from their effectiveness. Seeing the brightness emanating from the sudden pause gave Keiji and Sairaorg enough initiative to get out of the way of the attack.

Feeling the downpour of inferno didn't even stop Crom Cruach. In fact, only a maniacal grin came upon his face, back still turned to the attack, and instead directed his heat massacre wave attack towards Keiji and Sairaorg, making them both bust a gut to try and avoid it. "He's not even focusing on the combined assault of the other dragons!" Sairaorg commented, sweat sticking to his skin and the armour. "And the heat is even stronger than before!"

"Sairaorg! I don't think we'll be able to out pace this attack. He's having too much of a good time to stop. Even if his body were to be destroyed, every single bit, Crom Cruach isn't going to stop. The only to do is take it head-on! I'll be counting on the axe form of Regulus to help me against his flames, okay?!"

"You're playing a risky game, partner!" Ddraig warned him.

Keiji nodded. "I am, but that's why I have Sairaorg with me! I'll count on his Longinus to repel the flames long enough for us to boost enough to try and overpower his flames. If our attacks seem to lack the damage to break against his ridiculous resistance, then perhaps his own excited attack can do the trick."

"Understood! BOOST! 25x"

Scorching flames reached the boiling point of their feet, with Sairaorg standing his ground and clashing against the attack. "You'll have your chance to overpower him, but I'll need to hold it off!" Sairaorg shouted, straining instantly and coughing, but making sure that he got his message to Keiji.

"TRANSFER!"

Rias conjured up a mass amount of Power of Destruction, and her hands slapped vigorously against the floating orb into it. Visualizing her attack, she continued to mould it with the Bael's bloodline power and use her Gremory talent to condense it down further and further, so much the small ball felt like a black hole in her hand.

"Akeno! I can't hold this for long, so I need you to fly me there!" Rias remarked, flicking her head towards where Vali and the dragon girls were.

Xenovia gripped Rias and sped forward, wings bursting out. "I'm faster with Excalibur Rapidly in my possession, and I'm a Knight of Rias Gremory!" Xenovia remarked, making Akeno and Rias smirk as they allowed her to continue on.

Baraquiel watched, with a weak eye, his daughter using both her holy and lightning attribute. He felt blessed he could watch the moment and allowed himself to fully pass out, 100% sure she was in safe hands, and given a strong power to help protect her. 'I'm glad... he's making good on that promise of his...'

"Toss me!" Rias ordered.

"It's a long way, Rias," Xenovia said.

Rias felt the overwhelming power starting to revolt against the rule of her hands. "I cannot jump the distance so you'll have to toss me!"

Following through with the orders, Rias was catapulted right next to the vortex that Vali created. Free at last, a strong siren went off, and her Bael bloodline trait blared out into the void of Vali and the compression continued to support the attack as it came crashing against the spine of the mighty foe.

Crom Cruach casually persisted through all threats as his breath of doom continued to fire at the two targets down below. 'Dammit! It barely hurt him! Sairaorg, stay strong!' she thought. As much as Rias would have loved to done something, the difference in power was enough to tell her that she'd just get in the way if she tried acting like some sort of heroine. She was long aware those in her Peerage were probably more versatile and stronger than her, and she was fine with that. Her job was more than just that.

"How much longer can you hold?" Keiji asked Sairaorg, seeing the ground slipping closer and closer into Sairaorg; if the ground broke underneath him, it could stumble him just that fraction of a second. And that was all Crom Cruach would have needed to have his flames devour him, bones, body and all.

"I'm just fine!" Sairaorg shouted back, smiling into the smouldering season. Water pricked his eyes but the heat was worthless against the heat of his heart, allowing him to move past any semblance of pain and surpass his limits.

"BOOST! 20x

Standing back and allowing the excess energy to swarm into the nexus of his Cardinal Crimson Queen, Keiji unravelled the two cannons from his energy wings. Like sirens, they blared incessantly and the noise was growing like the power beginning to turn into the cannons as Keiji watched Sairaorg slowly reaching the absolute limit of how much he could hold off.

Glinting like solo stars at the end of a dying universe, Keiji shouted out, and Sairaorg rushed out of the way, allowing the attack to come for Keiji, who was sent flying back from the force of launching the damn attack! A big bang erupting from the middle of it but continuing to clash against each other. The fierce flames of Crom Cruach and radical brilliance of Keiji's Boost-enhanced Crimson Blaster clashed, locked in a fierce battle of dominance and supremacy that radiated across all ages and all battlefields, unnatural sensations pouring into nature.

At the beginning, Crom Cruach's attack proved to be superior in all aspects. The Crimson Blasting lacking the penetrative force to go beyond the widespread wildfire. 'Are all these Boosts seriously not enough to surpass him?! He's barely challenged, and all of them are firing off their attacks at him!'

"Vali! Can you not Divide his attacks more?!" Rossweisse called out to him.

"I can, but this dragon has such a high depth of attacks that I'll quickly overload if I try and quickly reduce his power."

Rossweisse took a moment to think about it. "Where does the excess amount go?!"

"Out of my wings, obviously!" Vali shouted.

Rossweisse began a series of calculations in her head. 'Space and time magic combined should do just fine; perhaps the former would be fine on its own. If I do that, it should stand that it will work out just as fine!' Rossweisse continued to work in her own head, blacking out to the madness outside and pulling all her eggs into the concentration basket at once. 'Vali can use Divide constantly in this state, so it could probably go even quicker.' Rossweisse looked to Vali's vortex he had. 'Do I add it to there or make it separate on its own?' she asked herself, going into a courtroom to decide what would work better.

Having found her solution, Rossweisse sought Vali's aid, her lungs exhaling and inhaling at the smoky effect from the two clashes. "Vali, I want you to continue using Divine Dividing, and I'll make sure your wings are not overloaded. We can use the excess energy against Crom Cruach, especially if our attacks aren't effective, as maybe his own attacks directed towards him will be the trick."

"And you've done all of that just now?" Vali asked her, finding that kind of skill to be more found in those plot armour shows Azazel tried showing him when he was younger.

Rossweisse sighed. "I was Lord Odin's bodyguard once!" she replied back. "If it does fail, then we'll continue what we were doing. Does that work, White Dragon Emperor?" she asked.

Vali looked away. "Very well. I'll begin to Divide him right away, so don't slack behind on me," he spoke, arms spread out and glowing.

The valkyrie nodded as her calculation circles began to flood out and her magical power flowed through them, several Norse runic languages inscribed along them. "I'm all set up, Vali!" Rossweisse called out, also making sure to use the Boost ability to help her plan if Crom Cruach's flames got even more wild than they already were.

"DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE!"

A rotating pouch with the consistency of gum spun around as it syphoned the excess energy of attack, making Vali grin as he continued to shout the White Dragon ability mantra with more fervour and demonic grin splitting his face. "Not bad, valkyrie! I'll definitely be interested in seeing how strong you can become, so don't die!"

Rossweisse sweat dropped at the statement. Should she be happy Vali wanted her not to die? Even if it was only so he could satiate his battle lust. Removing silly questions aside, Rossweisse continued to store up the body of energy and used a form of sealing magic to make sure it didn't erupt suddenly and they'd have to start from square one again.

The scorched air and roars of dragon were the only sounds Keiji was familiar with at this stage as the heat from the stretched out blast duel left uneven pillars melted and deformed like overused candles. Many times did the ground give up on Keiji, who had to resort to shedding some aura out onto the limited standing he had to ensure that his balance did not mess up. The urgency of which he placed it on was like a pedestal of paranoia. 

"You've been matching me quite well, Red Dragon Emperor!" Crom Cruach complimented him, feeling the tides change and his attack being pushed up to greet him, even when he added more firepower to it.

A heavy crash made Crom Cruach stutter as Keiji's persisting beam took advantage of that delay provided, and pushed further into Crom Cruach, whose jaw gaped and unloaded more infernal wrath down towards him. Crom Cruach then focused on his surroundings, picking up who was responsible for the attack; any one who could battle affect him in any way made his body itch for a battle. 'The White Dragon Emperor... and a valkyrie... but it's powered by my own energy...'

'He's heavily focused on having a beam struggle with me. If I keep on using Boost, he'll think it's just for my continuous Crimson Blaster attack! This is my chance!'

"BOOST! 20x"

Seeing the thinning of Crom Cruach's blast being reawakened, the others sprung in for chip damage. If Crom Cruach had to reignite his mighty beams, it meant something was working. Therefore, everyone on the side lines navigated their attacks from a comfortable distance. The wall of Crom Cruach continuing to take the assault of light spears, holy lightning, Power of Destruction, draconic flames, his own energy as ammo attacks against him, holy sword beams, and much more; all of it done in an attempt to knock Crom Cruach off his game.

So much damage was released against Crom Cruach's back, it was the first part of his clothing to be lost in the ashes of time; a trivial issue, but it did leave his look a bit off-putting. However, the dragon blasted his aura out against the attack and continued to pile the pressure against Keiji's Crimson Blaster, which was slowly edging over Crom Cruach as the latter's attack would suddenly shut down, and Crom Cruach would have to breathe again with the same fervour that he had built up from the long struggle.

Evidently, Keiji was too busy to focus on the workings behind his sudden chance at victory, concentrating more on survival as the power both attacks had were probably more likely to kill him than Crom Cruach. 'Okay, I'm making progress against his beam. Should I use it now, or do I use the Boost on my Crimson Blaster. I've never fired it for this long, and it's definitely straining against me!'

Rossweisse dipped her hand into the pool of excess Crom Cruach power. A Norse magical circle floated over it, along with a dark and white circle. They spun over each other, overlapping at high speeds, rotating, and switching all over the place. Together the three magical circles emitted thin lines that created a large yin and yang symbol complete with a Nordic runes inscribed over it.

"Everyone, I'm giving you all a boost in strength, so charge up and use it all at once as Crom Cruach!" Rossweisse announced through a magical circle; the allies heeding her advice and following suit, as Rossweisse snapped her fingers, and causing the circle to fragment and spearhead like wishing stars to each ally.

Black and gold decorated their auras, and Crom Cruach's heterochromia eyes widened at the technique, as well as the result. 'She can even implement it into her spells! Let's see how I fare!'

Burning black and gold, sparks flew off Crom Cruach as he resumed his fierce beam clash against Keiji, grinning at the lengths they were both going, though he could tell the breaking point was soon coming forth, and only one of them would come out the rewarded for their effort.

"Demonic Glacier Fang!" Vali shouted out, chucking a sharp-cut iceberg and breaking Crom Cruach's guard by the heavy hit. Vali smiled at seeing the effect. "Looks like that works!" Vali raised his hands out, a wheel of circles surrounding him as more icicles of doom began to take aim and rapidly rush at him.

"DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE!" Albion's voice rung out. "Don't forget about my ability, Crom Cruach!" 

Like a group of bullies, the whole lot of them assaulted Crom Cruach's back while he continued to duel against Keiji's Crimson Blaster. Of course, Crom Cruach was aware he could probably move out of the attack, and that would be that. However, Crom Cruach wasn't made to be a bitch! He was the strongest evil dragon, he had come for a fight, he had trained so long! This was his reward for being patience, and Crom Cruach was going to savour every moment of it. If it resulted in his death, what would it matter? Having the time of his life was all that Crom Cruach needed, so by his pride as a dragon, Crom Cruach continued to bare the assault and focus on devouring Ddraig's host in this beam battle. 

Xenovia almost dropped as she unleashed another cross-shaped beam with both Durandal and True Excalibur. "I know Excalibur was fully reformed, but this power is absurd. I'll have to thank Rossweisse for the additional boost with that dragon's power. He's managing to take all our hits but he's not even caring. If he's overlooking it, I guess I'm in no position to judge."

Akeno's holy lightning dragons grew thicker in proportions, dark lines around their yellow builds, as she hurled them into Crom Cruach. Immediately, she looked to see her attack had already connected with him. "That fast? I got that much power from that boost, and that dragon is casually expanding more than that," Akeno muttered, sweating at the fact that Crom Cruach was hiding his immense strength.

Rias rubbed her hands rapidly as she shaped her Power of Destruction differently. 'It might be impractical to try something new but I'll use the chance with this power Rossweisse provided!' Rias thought, ignoring how awkward it made her look as she shaped her attack into a drill and aimed it. "Destructive Hell Halberd!" Rias shouted, slipping after she unleashed it due to the immense addition of Power of Destruction spreading out and destroying her platform.

Akeno chuckled, making Rias sigh. "Are you alright, Rias?" she asked, the helmet covering her eyes at the explosion of power. "That boost really is something else."

Rias nodded. "It's also concerning. I'm not sure how strong Crom Cruach is, but with the amount of power he's showing, and the amounts he could be hiding, I fear he'd even give brother a hard time or defeat him!" she gravely stated, making the others snap at such a threat being on Rizevim's side.

Doubts started to swirl. Hypotheticals... If they were defeated, that made things so much easier for Rizevim. Even if they managed to severely damage Crom Cruach, a dragon of his calibre could easily continue on. "Stay strong!" Asia called out, flushed a bit at seeing the others look back at her. "I don't know much but we can trust in them to win this!"

"TRANSFER!" Ddraig called out.

Crom Cruach's eyes narrowed at seeing the blast not thickening again, only to feel his skin pulse, and his skin penetrated by the glowing length of Ascalon. 'It worked!' Keiji thought with a smile, dragging it against his body and whacking the blade into his neck and dragging it right into his mouth and reaching into his throat. 'Of course he happens to still be durable enough to not be pierced!' Keiji cursed, though he couldn't help but be impressed with how durable Crom Cruach had trained himself to be if a boosted dragon-slaying weapon was barely keeping up to its name.

'Fantastic! I couldn't anticipate it right away, but he's managed to damage me yet again!' Crom Cruach thought, miniscule amounts of blood circulating and peeking out every few moments.

Over and over again, Crom Cruach was on the receiving end of all the damage. While those who were already at a lower level weren't posing much of an issue with the addition of his power source into them, those like Vali, Lucoa, Kanna, Ilulu, and Tohru were proving themselves to dampen Crom Cruach's ability by the amount required for Keiji to continue pushing forward until Crom Cruach was dominated.

Keiji smiled at seeing his chance. 'Ddraig... go wild.'

"BOOST! 20x

Green over-riding pulses of energy continued to stream through the marathon-running Crimson Blaster, each time it caressed the blast, the attack broadened in every depth: power, speed, intensity, pressure, weight, energy, width. All the components that could be measured to determine what attribute was superior was put to the test, and Keiji clicked the superiority box for each one.

Drilling against the flaming attack, the spiralling effect left Crom Cruach Cruach with a mountain to climb. Despite Keiji putting his all into the attack, and cornering Crom Cruach's mouth blast, that final edge was missing. 'To think he doesn't have any special abilities! He's only attacking and being attacked, yet I can't even get the upper-hand on him!'

A herald from heaven condemned Crom Cruach, the roaring of Sairaorg Bael echoing as he used the empowerment from Rossweisse to crush Crom Cruach's guard. The final key was put in place, and Crom Cruach's jaw was snapped shut, but he still resisted with his hands and flared his aura out.

"Lion Break Barrage!" Sairaorg shouted, treating Crom Cruach's back to a drum massage that carried on for what felt like minutes on end. The tough wall of training, meeting the tenacious fists of efforts. Both methods met each other, and Sairaorg's fists were winning out as he endlessly threw his arms in a never-ending cycle until they stopped moving all together. Even then, Sairaorg would hard press to find a way to continue. 

Finally, the efforts paid off as Crom Cruach felt the efforts of the Ascalon annoy him enough to make his guard break and rush off into space with the pure propelling power of the Boosted Crimson Blaster.

'I got too focused and I can't escape!' Sairaorg cursed, his tenacity biting him in the back, although his worries were eased as Vali swooped in and grabbed him, dropping him right after, to which Sairaorg rolled through the air before stamping down on it; he looked up. "Thanks, Vali!"

Vali huffed at the Bael devil. "I don't need it."

The clouds were rushed out of the way from the nuclear detonation of the attack, with Keiji panting as they all watched the gathering vortex of dust and other matter, with the rock debris being shot all over the place; Keiji had to use Ascalon to split them before they gave him a headache.

Crom Cruach's figure was in the air, with Tohru immediately covering both hands in flames and proceeding to rapidly wail on him, use the sledgehammer technique until he laid in a crater. Immediately afterwards, she inhaled with her back bent, and threw it forward, allowing the force of a shooting star to climb down the crater and assault Crom Cruach's body.

"Take that!" Tohru shouted.

'Petty much,' Keiji thought, with the others having mixed faces; Kanna, Ilulu, and Lucoa had smug smirks on their faces at how Tohru could be; the rest shared a look of slight confusion; and Vali and Sairaorg were still focused.

Gripping the rubble, Crom Cruach revealed himself to only have the lower part of his clothing intact, showcasing his lithe form, each angle perfect and cut to the dimensions of a super model. Minor bruises teased his body and face, but Crom Cruach showcased no other symptoms of damage from the attacks received.

If anyone had super hearing, they would have heard Crom Cruach's leaping heart against the bounds of muscle the dragon possessed in his humanoid form. The dragon raising his confused hands, the fingers shaking as he took in the situation. His slow, bouncing steps setting a train of trepidation thoughts into their minds, while Crom Cruach appeared to be in his own world with content crinkling on his eyes and nose.

The sunshine streak that ran through his whole body overflowed the at the heated heart, pouring out into the few chuckles that came out of Crom Cruach. 'Manga tells me that this means he's probably not going down any time soon.'

'I think you're overreacting, partner.'

Rias gathered her Power of Destruction discreetly, slow and steady as to not have Crom Cruach surprise her out of nowhere. 'Everyone knows that this is so anime, but all I have to do is break the rules and attack right now.' 

Crom Cruach's joy came out in waves of a concertina, evolving more into gleeful chuckles as his fingers gripped the side of his face while his whole body shook with each deep gravel of joy he let out; ecstasy overtaking his vocal chords, erupting more violently with each passing moment. However, as menacing as it was, the contentment was always laced clearly enough for everyone to detect.

"YES! THIS IS IT! THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR! MY EXISTENCE IS BRIMMING WITH JOY! ALL THOSE YEARS TRAINING! IT'S ALL BEEN BROUGHT FORTH FOR THIS MOMENT! IT'S ALL COMING TOGETHER!"

Crom Cruach's aura permeated through the very air, the intensity at which it broke out made it appear to have sided with him and only the gold quaking glow of it made that distinction clear, each step of his fracturing the floor below, and making him slowly sink with every twitching stride, no care given to the surroundings.

"I'll finish it quickly!" Vali shouted, his hand stretched out in the same manner that sealed Pluto's fate.

"Compression Divider—!"

Crom Cruach grinned, the next moment... The ultimate move of Vali's Empireo Juggernaut Overdrive shattered like glass, as well as Vali's hope to finish him off, and Vali's visage was a distant memories to the others when they saw the speed at which he vanished off to, even quicker than that one instance when Asia was teleported to the Dimensional Gap.

"Vali!" Rossweisse called out, her head unable to track the stages at which Vali was close to Crom Cruach, then the stage where he had been bitch-slapped a country mile and out of everyone's reach.

'Faster than light,' Kanna mentally muttered in shock, like Rossweisse and the others, unable to track the distance Vali covered from Crom Cruach's single attack.

Next to feel the wrath of Crom Cruach was Keiji, who was mercilessly slapped silly once by Crom Cruach's tail, and the resounding sonic boom that followed was proof off the power behind it; the second Heavenly Dragon tossed like a joke, with his leg sticking out and twitching, his whole body uprooted like a vegetable.

Rias stopped her charging when she saw her lover casually yeeted to ten different universes with the anchored appendage of Crom Cruach. "Fuck!" she uncharacteristically cursed. "I'd do nothing but direct his wrath if I tried to attack, and it wouldn't bode well on us."

Akeno put a hand on her best friend's shoulders. "If you understand that enough, then you should know that you are already helping. It wouldn't be good if you suddenly got us into a problem if you let your emotions flood out."

Xenovia gripped Durandal. "Are we to just wait?! I know we are unable to assist them, but staying like statues does not bode well for me either. The Heavenly Dragons and Sairaorg are fighting there for their lives! Even if our attacks are useless, we mustn't freeze and watch." 

Koneko grabbed Xenovia's wrist, making her turn to the petite Senjutsu user. "I understand how you feel, Xenovia. But we'll have our moment to intervene. We won't be stuck watching forever, and our parts will be played! What we must do is wait for the opportunity to come."

Kuroka nodded. "Exactly what my sister said, nya. Just looking at his power should tell you that everything we do will be like ants tickling him. If any of you want to fight him, I won't waste my strength stopping you. Just know it'll be the first and last mistake you make; he could finish it before you can say your prayers," Kuroka darkly spoke, lacking playful tones and tapping her fingers nervously against herself. 

Sairaorg's eyes were locked out of Crom Cruach's blinding speed, and pain pulsated through every pore in his body, as Crom Cruach rammed both his fists against Sairaorg's chest plate, the lamenting of the lion sealed inside clear as Sairaorg felt a flow of blood exit out his throat almost faster than the speed at which he was rocketing back at. His body bouncing against multiple surfaces, and leaving a Sairaorg-shaped crater against a rock formation.

Rage flooded Lucoa as she took to the skies, aiming at Crom Cruach, and outpouring divine wrath at the gleeful Crom Cruach. His whole vision taking in the torrent wave of navy blue and Castleton green, with a yellow core shining from within. The message was telling Crom Cruach, loud and clear, he wasn't getting away without taking her Aztec anger.

Crom Cruach didn't even bother taking a deep inhale, and his attack was instantly clashing against Lucoa's own breath. This time, his aura was more narrowed against him, flowing up and supporting the powerful pillar he was releasing. "Entertain me more, Quetzalcoatl!" Crom Cruach shouted out, expelling a fiercer amount of flames compared to his lengthy beam blast against Keiji's Crimson Blaster.

Lucoa's eyes widened at her attack barely contending against his, as she watched Crom Cruach's flames eat away with her divine attack casually. The other dragons tried to intervene but Crom Cruach put a stop to the possibility of that occurring by increasing the range of his unleashed torrid tower, even working to shield him from those who might try and attack him from the side, only to be met with a barricade of flames.

'Just how much power was Crom Cruach hiding?! I can barely hold on while he's casually overpowering me and expending so much just to stop distractions!' A sombre moment rained down on her; she was sure she was passionate about stopping the ramifications that came with war, yet Crom Cruach's eagerness and fulfilment of his desires trampled on what Lucoa felt was a resilient resolve. 

"TREASURE SUMMONING!"

Crom Cruach was glowing gold, but his aurelian aura was glitter in comparison to the heavenly gates that spawned all around him. His black pupil was filled with the threats of spears, swords, sabres, halberds, daggers. It was all various and endless, and all of it was aiming at Crom Cruach, whose breath attack sailed across every point in time to counter the treasure trove of vicious armoury.

The rain of missiles were enough in number and substantial strength for them to punch Crom Cruach's enflamed figure. Combined with Lucoa's outrage powering into the blast breath, it disrupted Rizevim's bodyguard enough for the beams to explode, and Lucoa was fast enough to slither off to safety.

"Thank you, Fafnir!" Lucoa called out to the Dragon King, the latter simply nodding and seething at the opponent ahead.

Smoke swished around Crom Cruach, which he promptly deal with by the flex of his dragon wings. Scratches dirtied them but his aura was burning brightly at the presence of Fafnir joining the battle.

Crom Cruach's smirk engulfed his full face. "Fafnir, too! Is this the season of serendipity?! First Albion and Ddraig! Then came Quetzalcoatl! The daughter of Damocles and Kimun! And now a Dragon King! Who knew it would end up with such joyous reunions?! It's been a long time! How have you been?! I remember hearing about your death at the hands of Siegfried, but you are back! No doubt the Norse gods played their part in your revival!"

"Stop this madness already, Crom Cruach!" Fafnir growled out to his fellow dragon, staring down the evil dragon with scorching disdain.

Crom Cruach's laugh echoed throughout the sun-dried plains. "And why would I, Fafnir?! Such a feast has been prepared for me! I've been enjoying myself like I've never had fun since almost a millennium! Of all the dragons, you know what it's like to obsessively hunt for something you want, well this is my answer! Even the greatest liquor"—Quetzalcoatl cringed at the memory those words brought—"tastes like water when compared to the joys of battle!" Crom Cruach brazenly explained.

"You're mad, Crom Cruach! Will you not cease this madness, or shall I kill you right here and now?! The harm you'll bring will only make things worse!" Fafnir shouted, opening his mouth, and releasing his hoard of weapons once again. In addition, they were laced with his signature flame breath.

"A foolish question I won't answer!" Crom Cruach shouted back, rapidly dispatching the attack while dancing in the frying pan. "Flames of this calibre won't even serve as a bath, Golden Dragon Monarch!" Crom Cruach angrily shouted.

The Crescent Circle Dragon's critique was answered by Lucoa, Ilulu, Tohru and Kanna's combined attacks burdening his lone shoulder, as it was soon bombarded by a concentrated wave of weapons attacking that area. The first clear wound becoming more lucid with each barrage of attacks.

Crom Cruach grinned at the challenge and proceeded to burn his aura out more viciously, releasing flaming flares towards those present. The crazy prominence forced Lucoa to use her whole body in order to protect those who couldn't survive it, making her cry out in pain at the heavy damage the area-of-effect attack.

"Sorry you had to take so much damage, Quetzalcoatl! Asia-tan should help you recover easily!" Fafnir called out.

Crom Cruach perked up at the odd calling. "Asia? You mean that there is a healer in the midst of this battle?" Crom Cruach spoke out, only to be immediately flamed after he uttered those words, and steam shrouding Crom Cruach.

"If you dare, Crom Cruach...!"

Crom Cruach laughed. "Like I'd do something so weak! I'm not like Rizevim! If you have a healer, that's even more reason for me not to stop her! It means I'll get to keep on fighting all of you endlessly! I can beat you over and over again!" Crom Cruach madly shouted back, grabbing some of the spawned weapons, eyes tracking his target, and throwing them all at fast speeds and in different fashions; such as kicking a spear.

An arc of slices allowed Keiji to pluck his head out of the ground. "Ow! My back!" Keiji massaged the sore spot. "Even though I was in my strongest form, that attack still messed me over. If I hadn't unlocked this form, I'd have probably be disabled from Crom Cruach's attack!"

'Partner! As much as it is worrying to say, lying would be worst. This fight might be above all of you. I'm not sure how it happened, but Crom Cruach has vastly improved. He's mighty, maybe stronger than me and Albion in our prime. That is the dragon you are faced with! Don't forget that Rizevim is still the main problem that you face.'

Growling at how much bigger their problems had become due to one dragon, Keiji turned to Vali Lucifer, the latter shaking his head in frustration at the power they were faced with. "To think my strongest attack was shattered like that! How can I expect to beat the shit out of that prick?!" Vali grunted out.

"For now, you'll have to using Divide as normal. But calm down, Vali. He may have broken the Compression Divider, but it will have an effect. An opportunity will come for you to be able to use it, and you'll cease it, won't you?!" Albion asked him.

Vali flared his aura for battle. "Of course! There's nothing else to it! It's never a matter of it, only when!" the host of Albion responded.

Rocks dumped all over Sairaorg's head as he slowly reared himself back, wiping the lane of blood near his lips. "Regulus, are you okay?" he asked, the latter quickly confirming that he was still up and running for battle. Nodding, Sairaorg carefully stood himself up, gasping for air as he clutched the chest plate. 'At the rate that things are going, I'm going to breakdown giving it my all!'

Keiji clicked his teeth. "Rias!" he shouted, getting her attention. "We have to do it!" Keiji called out, being careful not to let any further, unnecessary details spill out. Crom Cruach's battle intuition and adaptability was a frightening force to be reckoned with, and they had experienced it multiple times. 

Rias was taken aback, shades falling on her face. Her eyes curtained at the blazing energy Crom Cruach expressed outward. Fafnir getting ready to attack again, while Lucoa was forcing herself to make a stand for the fifth time.

"More! Entertain me more!" Crom Cruach ordered.

Seeing that the option was forced out of her hand, Rias summoned a magical circle for communications. "We were supposed to save this for Rizevim, but we've got no choice now. Use it!" she ordered.

Stalking menacingly, Crom Cruach hiked towards the group. His tail wagging across the air, and smashing debris into dust. "Now... who will attack me this time? Or will I need to take the first blow?!" Crom Cruach questioned, making the others tense, while his eyes raced towards the endless possibilities; his body quaking with excitement and indecisiveness.

The crackling of air made him stop, the noise spreading louder. Despite this, the noise was the only clear thing Crom Cruach was able to sense, as a figure in a knight-like armour with aura-blasting boosters briefly spawned for his black and gold pupils to see. At that very moment, the ghost was real, driving the bloody blade of Gram into his shoulder; the bane blade attacking the very same shoulder Ascalon thrashed at.

"I didn't think I'd be using my Drag Propulsion Armour in this way," Yuuto muttered, channelling his demonic power to try and sharpen the effects, and gripping the handle hard enough to bruise his hands. 'I felt like I was about to be thrown off just by attacking him, and it's not even fully lodged in!'

"Gram," Fafnir muttered, remembering the weapon all too well. After all, it was Siegfried's weapon used to slay him.

Crom Cruach looked in surprise at the newcomer who had attacked him with a dragon-slaying sword and managed to attack the dragon faster than anyone else had; no excuse that it came out of nowhere. 

Still, it was no problem to the grinning giant, who quickly recovered and broke free. The presence of his jumping hand urging Yuuto's instinct to swim him away as fast as possible, reluctantly leaving Gram still lodged into his arm. Despite Yuuto trying to run away, and Gram still sinking into his arm, Crom Cruach paid it no mind and continued to chase Yuuto in an attempt to crush him into pace. "Those who are swifter afoot are more likely to be feeble!" 

"That may be the case, but I've already done my job!" Yuuto shouted, brandishing Dáinsleif and summoning sharks of ice to stunt Crom Cruach.

While useless against the force of Crom Cruach's constant charge, the moment served to misdirect the dragon. His eyes only realizing the massive chain of white lightning until it was already banging his face in quickening succession and exploding like the mother of all flashbangs.

Akeno's six fallen angel wings totalled eight, thanks to the inclusion of the two from her dragon armour. Although she was garbed up, her slow tilting body movements made it clear she had used most of her power into that one attack.

Luckily, Crom Cruach wasn't completely safe from the effect. A small staggering circulated around his body, enough that the moment he tried to rip and tear, a purple sheen took over his body, and his twitching melded into the art of being a statue. "Time stop?" Crom Cruach muttered, a small smirk at the esoteric power being able to paralyze him in place.

A feeling of gravity focused its hate onto Crom Cruach as a mountain of invariable darkness swam across, filling the area around Crom Cruach. It violently detonated from underneath him, smacking him with the claws of countless dark beasts, holding separate parts of his body hostage.

"This power..." Crom Cruach muttered, looking to see the cross-dressing dhampir glaring at him with a full blood ruby pupil.

"Thank you, Xenovia-sempai!" Gasper told her, the power idiot holding both Excalibur and Durandal, which she slammed into the ground.

 Xenovia nodded. 'Using Nightmare and Transparency all over the place is definitely a strain. It's a good thing I was compatible to receive a Red Dragon Armour!' Xenovia thought, too focused to admire her future husband, and that all the sex they had actually been beneficial in the long run of things.

"VRITRA PROMOTION!"

Crom Cruach didn't even get a chance to think further as his attention was hooked on by pillars of black and purple flames wrapping around him like chains and absorbing his power, bulking up the lines. "You've come to play, too, Vritra!" Crom Cruach spoke, grinning at the visage 

"He's so damn tough! It's taking everything I have, and I can barely hold him down, even with Gasper's help!" Genshirou screamed out.

The bipedal black beast skipped towards Crom Cruach, with Sae behind him. "Balance Breaker!" Jin growled out, his form levitating and a vortex of pitch-black surrounding the area before exploding and revealing Jin to be standing on two lithe legs. His look developed into a full fledged merciless hound; six swashing tails.

The energy and effort required to unleash was a burden, but Sae gave all her strength for the just cause. The memory of Tobio, and how many times she saw him do it, firmed her resolve as her and Jin masterminded Gasper's shadows to go from just the negative ink to the furthest pits of the abyss.

'I don't care if I'm not strong enough to stay by the sides of those in this war, but I want to be able to give it my all!' Sae told herself, boiling down the pain and fatigue she had to the biting of the lip and creasing of the eye.

A valley of countless blades grew across the beasts biting into Crom Cruach, further shedding the dragon's skin, and more than just a couple drops of blood were present. Crom Cruach wings twitched as he continued to fight against the chronostasis chains, only for his wings to also be breached by the blackened blades and tusche tine talons of Jin's beasts.

Black and white shrouded the next two dragon armour wearing girls to attack as both Kuroka and Koneko came crashing in, their two tails rimming with Senjutsu. Under normal circumstances, they wouldn't have dared touch the evil dragon, but seeing him locked in a cage of time boosted both their confidence and the actual Boost ability granted to them. Now they were slamming their hands aroudn the edges of the giant mass of death formed around Crom Cruach, blaring screams as multiple seals began to suit up the dragon and add wave after wave of suppression seals.

"T-this is exactly what I've been needing! A challenge!" Crom Cruach rambled out, his snickering shocking the duo nekoshou, and making them quickly back off after they had use their Boosted Senjustu to create the seal.

'Such a frightening aura!'

'I'm glad I'm not fighting him, nya.'

The Boost chant echoed around Rossweisse this time as she took to the skies, hands raised down on Crom Cruach, and countless sealing runes materialized around the prison. Layers of muscled seals clung towards Crom Cruach, suffocating the evil dragon, and leaving his form nowhere in sight. All that was left was a void cube on the battlefield.

"That should be enough to hold him down," Rossweisse panted out.

"He's been fully immobilized!" Rias announced to the others.

Keiji stayed on guard. 'As nice as that would be, I don't think it'll be over that quick. Plus Rizevim is still nowhere to be seen!'

Vali eyed the empty cube, then looked towards Rossweisse. 'So this is the abilities of someone proficient in Norse magic... They'll make strong opponents!' Vali thought, though his senses were still tingling, not too positive that Crom Cruach had been fully taken care of.

'If the seal holds, me and Regulus won't have to go further,' Sairaorg thought, getting his breath back slowly.

"Back away!" Asia shouted through her magical cirle. "I'm feeling something that I've never felt before!" she screamed out. 'I have to go there myself!' Asia thought to herself, flowing towards the main battlefield at unprecedented speeds with her Balance Breaker.

The chilling chords of Crom Cruach's laughter reverberated through the ultimate prison, and sank right into their bones, making them freeze up like a drooling dinosaur staring down an ant as if it was the only meal left. 

"I'm truly joyful! I never thought such younglings, even if they have the backings of ancient dragons and powerful artifacts, would push me THIS far! Following Rizevim wasn't a mistake! Because I've never enjoyed a fight quite like this in my whole life!"

An extreme ebullition followed the ominous words, as Genshirou screamed and Jin howled from the flaring up aura of Crom Cruach. Sae stood like a statue, unable to proclaim the claws of fear that held her body in place as she, alongside everyone else, watched in horror at the prison CRACKING and then exploding by the titanic darkness that soon followed, only to be made worse by the screeching of the high heavens and hell!

Appraising the ants was the true form of Crom Cruach; his size equally double that of Tohru's. His heavy hide formed perfectly through an eternal loop of roped muscles, all tightly stitched together to form the absolute behemoth. The scales were like an armour of thorns, the dark blades jutting out at every turn and corner; some in the form of crescents or bent crescents. Burning amber rode every centimetre of the massive monster; crawling onto the beginning of his wings, the grey interior helped add to the macabre energy they exuded. Ripping through the ground was the thorny tipped tail, branching out blades from each segment of the scale.

The heavens squirmed under the beaming beacon of despair Crom Cruach had become, a sickening smile grafted onto his new form. Every outpour of his otherworldly aura shaking the air fiercely, and with the eager swinging of his black barbed back blade, violent hurricanes rampaged against all of them. The force was extreme enough to send Lucoa's massive form flying and crashing down, with everyone else falling short against the extreme conditions set by a simple flex of the black beast.

Keiji, Vali and Sairaorg resisted well against the challenging weather conditions set out by Crom Cruach, mainly standing tall and only slightly twitching against the force of it. Some of the dragon girls put up against the for

Rias strained against the force of nature, her jaw heavily contracting as she fought for the prize of oxygen. Her knees clattering against each other, aiding Rias in struggling against the gravitational fear exerted. 

"Rias! Get out of there now! You're gonna die if you try and face something like that! His powers are reaching all the way to us!" Sona warned Rias, her bones melting under the energy signature branching out to her surroundings.

Sona turned to see Seekvaira marching in and entering the command centre with a distressed look on her face, with her Peerage exhausted and behind her. "Seekvaira?! What happened?!" she asked.

"We found him!" Seekvaira shouted out, making Sona snap her head back to look at Seekvaira if she had heard correctly. She pointed at the screen, the screen quickly changing after the information she transferred went through. Once done, it showed an area a few kilometers away from the battlefield. Multiple layers of protection spells swarming him as Rizevim looked at Crom Cruach crushing everyone with an amused smirk.

Shock seized Sona briefly before she quickly screamed the revelation of Rizevim's location to the others. 'Good, they are getting up,' Sona thought, worried that Crom Cruach was going to easily wipe the floor with them. "Now would be the best time to regroup and wait for reinforcements—!"

"We can't afford to do that, Sona!" Keiji called out to her from the magical circle, taking a moment to get his breath back. "If that motherfucker runs then all we did for today would be for nothing!" Keiji responded, hearing the hesitation hit Sona.

Sona was about to talk but was beaten to the microphone. "I agree!" Tohru shouted out, making the group look to the perfectly dandy dragon maid; all her injuries removed by Asia, who was standing atop her in her Balance Breaker, gasping but staring resolutely at the titanic form of Crom Cruach. "If my mate isn't going to retreat, then neither am I! So what if our enemy is stronger than us?! I'm not gonna run just for that, and I'm definitely not gonna use that as an excuse when I tell Elma later that I couldn't defeat our opponent while she could!"

Ilulu growled in response to Tohru's declaration. "Took the words right out of my mouth!" 

Electricity buzzed around Kanna as she glared at Crom Cruach. "He's not going to survive our attacks!" Kanna darkly proclaimed.

Lucoa's form slithered in the air. "Tohru's right about this. We've all come together, so we won't allow you to have your way so easily, Crom Cruach!"

Crom Cruach grinned. "I wouldn't have it any other way, Quetzalcoatl!"

"The day we aren't fighting for pride of for ourselves, this is a battle for the peace of the world itself! So we can't afford to back down, even if it does cost us the ultimate price! We might have a personal reason to fight!" Rias declared, with Irina clutching her blade and Sae's grip on Jin tightening. "But at the end of the day we're all fighting this battle for each other! Dedicate your hearts!"

Shrieks of madness broke out and darkness detonated upwards as Gasper's Balor form materialized. "I'll keep fighting as long as Keiji-sempai and Rias are!" Gasper spoke out, carrying a deep tone under his usually higher-pitched voice.

Crom Cruach roared in response to the new challenger, his face morphing feral. "BALOR! It's fitting you come at the apex of my greatest battle, given our story together, but I've long outgrown the chains of you, my once-master!" Crom Cruach passionately spoke out, once again, showcasing no real hate but more like he was greeting an old friend of rival.

Accursed flames struck out once again to Crom Cruach, and he looked to see Vritra resurging out for more. "I'm not giving up either!" Genshirou shouted throughout the flames. "E-even if I can't have her heart, I'm still Sona Sitri's Pawn, and so I won't even back down even before such a monster like yourself, Crom Cruach! Not when my fellow classmates and Peerage members are fighting to the end in this war!"

Vritra bellowed in approval. "Well done on holding such a strong will, Genshirou Saji! You've finally achieved it! BALANCE BREAKER!" With the echoing words of evolution, the titanic form of the Dragon King was suddenly sucked inwards, condensing and cooling out into a jet-black armour around Genshirou. "Malebolge Vritra Promotion!"

Shouting out in newfound power, countless tendrils laced with curses and prison flames shot out at one of Crom Cruach's wings, making the strongest evil dragon look in surprise at the attack not going at his whole body. Genshirou's scream echoed the effect of his tendrils, as they rapidly reached out to his allies and beams of energy soon leaked towards the allies at a hurrying pace

Amused at the attempt, Crom Cruach made sure not to allow them to have anymore fun as he opened his mouth to let out a devastating beam but empty fumes were burped out as Vali stood out with a smirk on his face, the effects of the Compression Divider making Crom Cruach look in surprise at the powerful tool. "You shouldn't forget about the rest of us! Even if our attacks do nothing against you, I'm still more than capable of halving your attacks into nothing."

Distracted by Vali's bold declaration, Crom Cruach felt Ilulu and Tohru latch onto his other wing, effectively stumbling him. Seeing the shift in balance, Kanna and Lucoa unleashed a combined breath blast on his main body, making Crom Cruach grunt out against it, with Gasper contiuning to join in and keeping him pinned down; the ferocious falchions of Ilulu and Tohru trying to devour the dark wing.

"We just need to keep him in place for long enough!" Rias shouted, summoning her Power of Destruction and unleashing it in the form of a serpentine dragon to clash against the Herculean hide of Crom Cruach.

Sairaorg's body rumbled with his energetic exhale and he walked forward, past Keiji. "Go on ahead, Keiji," he said.

Keiji looked at Sairaorg in surprise. "We'll need everyone to beat Crom Cruach, won't we?!" Keiji answered back, feeling uncomfortable about not aiding, given what his Sacred Gear had helped provide him with.

"If he runs, everything we have done would have been for nothing," Sairaorg uttered, making Keiji's memory hearken back to his own words a few chaotic moments ago. "This fight won't end as long as Rizevim is not defeated. Aside from Yuuto Kiba, you are the fastest of us all, and you also stand a better chance one-on-one with a Super Devil."

Keiji couldn't fight against that logic but he turned towards Vali, knowing the grudge he held against his grandfather, who growled in annoyance. "I can't leave because I'm the only one that can keep Crom Cruach's devastating attacks in check with my Divide," Vali explained to him. "Lucky you," he sarcastically joked.

"Don't worry, Keiji!" Sairaorg told Keiji. "There's no way we are losing this battle. I've finally gotten my mother back and the Underworld— No, the whole world's future is at stake, and for the sake of a world where I can give her a future to smile, I'll never be defeated here!" Sairaorg declared with an earnest smile.

'That certainly helped,' Keiji thought.

"Regulus!" he cried out, the golden lion already tuning into his master's wishes. "It's time we give it our all!"

"This body, this soul, even if it falls into the endless ravine!"

"My Lord and I, we will exhaust this body and this soul and rise up the endless royal road!"

"Raze, truimph, play and shine!"

"This is the body of a Demonic beast!"

"Lodged on top of my fist is the glorious imperial authority!"

"Dance!"

"Dance!"

"Bloom!!!"

"Breakdown The Beast, Climb Over!!!"

Acknowledging his King's wishes, the limits were released with the chanting, an overflow of power surprising the dragons and everyone else as Breakdown the Beast was unleashed. The Regulus Rey Leather Rex Imperial Purpure enveloped the golden armour in a dazzling shade of purple., the titanic release of touki also dyed in the galaxy colour.

[part 1 end]