The Lost Lord Ch. 26

"That's right... I forgot about Caetorum." Arazra mused to himself. "Well, even if they escaped, I can always kill them later.

-

There are many terms that go parallel with the word "End". Some believe Ragnarok will bring the end of the world via a fantastic battle involving everything. Some believe that the world has already ended four times by a flood, by man-eating jaguars, by rain of fire and gravel, and by a massive hurricane. It doesn't stop there. Recently, it has come to the attention that war is the most probably factor of the world's end. Hence the "End" became an Aspect of War when he separated into five aspects.

End doesn't care about who. End doesn't care about where. End doesn't care about how. End only cares about when. And now was the time End destroyed.

The Aspect of War, End, used the soul weapon the Ravager given to him by Arazra to slice and smash his way through the crowd. End didn't care about who he killed, as long as if he or she was alive. End explained that to Arazra, and he was just told to think about killing more defensive troops than attacking troops.

The Ravager could transform itself into any weapon it wished thanks to the Archmage's soul residing inside. End fully utilized the weapon's power in every way. Sometimes, End didn't even have the Ravager turn into a recognizable weapon, he just had it curve around some armor in order to bypass and kill more easily.

End turned the Ravager into a polearm with a wicked mace head attached. He swung it around like a berserker, crushing the bones and organs of many demons with End's immense strength.

"Hm, I could use an interesting opponent to fight. There should be enemy commanders at each opening, right? I know there's one over here, I can sense it. I guess I'll just have to keep slaying until I find them. Huh? What's happening over there?" End, while cut the knees and chest of another demon, saw something very interesting. A strange confrontation between a red succubus and a violet succubus. "Let's go check it out..."

-

Asmodea took authority over the center opening. She, along with Caetorum, Nerissa, Aureal, and Teras all knew quite a bit about tactics and the game of war. Caetorum was the most tactically gifted of each one with Teras self-admitting she was the least, so they went together. Nerissa and Aureal had already proved to be a potent team, so they stuck together on the left opening. Asmodea alone took control over the center.

Asmodea, while directing the troops effectively, wielded her soul weapon to the max. Using its misty blades to cut through the enemy ranks every chance she found. Yet her weapon proved ineffective against a certain violet succubus that found her way to Asmodea.

Asmodea slashed downwards with her sword, sending a wave of misty energy towards the succubus' position. The succubus raised a hand where a card was located and said with somber grace, "...High Priestess."

The misty energy was absorbed into the card as if it was just a puff of air.

"You! Why did you side with him?!" Asmodea cried to the demon before her, Zazie. She already knew who the demon was without asking.

"...Like I said before, there are extenuating circumstances." Zazie spoke in a rigid voice.

"That means nothing when you betray our lord!" Asmodea completely shoved out Emiel's words. She wanted an answer now and would get that answer with violence if need be.

"...If I told you that I no longer want to fight for Arazra, would you believe me?"

Asmodea slashed her sword twice more at Zazie, half crazed from her accumulated anger from the past decades. Each of the arcs of misty energy was absorbed by Zazie's card. "How could I without proof!"

"...I've met the new lord several times since he arrived in the circle. I've even spoken to him several times during this war."

The first part Asmodea already knew. She knew that the [Emperor] Rainer had from before came from Zazie. Though the fact that Rainer had spoken with Zazie numerous times during the war was not news. "What?!"

"...I helped him in rescuing the witch. I spoke to him not two hours ago and he informed me of his success. He has even been able to use some of my cards' powers. I have, and always will be, a loyal subject to the Lord of Lust, Rainer."

Asmodea lowered her sword, using all of her mental power in dissecting the newfound knowledge. "How have you spoken to him? Surely you have not been in face contact each time."

"...I still wish to keep the powers of my cards a secret as much as possible. Though should Rainer command it, I will reveal every detail."

Asmodea soothed the anger in her heart, in fact, she took a slight joking tone next, "Rainer, huh? And how did you get on a first name basis with him? Is he the "man of my desire" thing you used to spout out?"

Zazie became hot in her face and body, her cheeks shriveling into a cute pose. "...Th-th-that's..."

"That's?" Bingo, Asmodea thought.

"...That's not important right now." Zazie calmed down and flew up to Asmodea's position with her violet wings. "...Please trust me. When I last spoke to, um, Rainer... He ordered me to no longer pretend to be on Arazra's side. Currently, my subordinates are wreaking havoc among Arazra's troops."

"I will if you tell me why exactly you sided with Arazra in the first place." Asmodea was not taking no for an answer. She kept her hand hovered over her sword just in case, but her pose relaxed slightly.

"...Very well. Of my cards, each of the major arcana, twenty-two cards, have different powers. The final one, or second to last depending on how to number the [Fool], contains the strongest power. I have never used it myself, but I know what it does and it supposedly is on the level of a Ruler of Sin's strength." Zazie explained as much as she believed was needed with a basic summary of her actions in the past decades.

"Let me guess, Arazra took that card?"

"...Yes. The [World]. I originally joined his side thanks to his blackmail with threats of abusing the [World]'s power and in hopes to somehow steal the [World] from him. Yet Rainer told me he has an idea to defeat Arazra. All he wanted was one of my cards, the [Fool]. Other than that, I have no idea what he wishes to do."

"I guess experience is everything, even if you are a Ruler of Sin." Asmodea then twitched and shook her head. "Eh, do you feel that?"

"...This is familiar."

"What is it?"

Zazie answered simply and literally, "...War. Arazra had brought in a powerful force of five beings. You know how Death separated his scythe into seven weapons, correct?"

"Obviously."

"...Just as death performed that deed, War separated himself into five aspects, five different people. One of them is coming."

"Just how powerful are they? Are all five of them working for Arazra?" Asmodea was worried that they may have a new slew of powerful opponents to deal with.

"...You do not need to be too worried. Two disappeared when engaging Iris and her set of reinforcements."

"Wait a second... Iris came with reinforcements? We only thought Nergal arrived."

"...Yes, and both have large amount of forces to deal with Arazra. Though Arazra left a large portion of his army to hold them back, they will eventually be overrun. And two more Aspects apparently died somewhere in this battlefield. I believe they fought in the exact place the explosion in the wall happened. Perhaps they caused it?"

"If one of them could cause an explosion that massive..."

"...As I said, I believe they both perished already. One of them seems to be left."

"How should we fight them? You should know more about these Aspects than I do."

"...I do not. However, in order to show my sincerity that I am truly on Rainer's side, I will defeat him."

And with that, Zazie stood up and strode over to the newcomer. Asmodea didn't even get a chance to stop her. Asmodea didn't know what to think of the mysterious Desire of Lust. Many decades ago, she completed that tournament and gained the Lord of Lust's favor and rose to the ranks of the Pillar of Lust. How she fought her opponents was still very much a mystery, though everyone knew it had something to do with her cards. It was almost as if that no matter the situation, Zazie had some special power from her cards that could counter her troubles. All Asmodea actually knew was that if she fought Zazie, she would most likely have lost depending on her powers. Asmodea could not help but think that Zazie was slightly omnipotent in that regard.

In actual fact, because Zazie had restrictions for her powers, she was anything but omnipotent. She only had four powers left (she just used up the [High Priestess], and Zazie knew that she could only fight one more opponent for the day. Her biggest weakness lay in consecutive battles where Zazie would be forced to use up her powers. It was either relinquish her trust in Rainer and try to use her own abilities to take back the [World]... Or trust in her beloved Rainer and allow him to take out the mad demon Arazra.

The decision was all too obvious to Zazie.

"I see. You must be Zazie, the Desire of Lust that Arazra told me about. Allow me to introduce myself as End, the war that will bring the end." The newcomer introduced himself as End and spoke with strange politeness on the battlefield.

"...I take it you are here to bring victory to Arazra?"

"Of course. Not out of loyalty or compensation, I'm not a petty war. In fact, none of us, my brothers and I, really knew what to do once we were created. We simply followed the sounds of war and we found ourselves on Arazra's doorstep. We were bred from our master, War, with no reason to continue our life. War is what we were born for, we discovered that soon enough. I don't really care what side I place myself on. If I found my way to the other side, I would have fought for him."

"...What an onerous existence. I don't feel like wasting for time. Can we begin?" Zazie pulled out her cards and readied herself.

End did likewise while nodding.

Zazie took a good look at End. He wielded one of the soul weapons Arazra had found, the Ravager. That was no surprise. End had completely white skin all over his body except for his head, which was dyed crimson red. End had no hair on his body, none that Zazie could see. He wore leather boots along with copper colored metal greaves, leg plates, gauntlets, and a metal plate that covered his chest in a bottom-left to top-right diagonal.

End moved first.

He placed both hands on his weapon's hilt and closed his red eyes. It almost seemed as if all the color from his exclusively crimson head disappeared as he poured energy from his vast reserves into the soul weapon.

The Ravager didn't just have the ability to transform into any weapon, it could transform into anything its wielder wished, provided he had the mental ability and concentration. End had everything a perfect warrior needed in order to fight. In terms of combat, he had no weaknesses.

End emptied a great deal of energy into his soul weapon, though he still seemed all the better for it. The Ravager changed slowly at first, but increased its transformation speed at an exponential rate.

It transformed into a massive two-handed sword. The size of the weapon dwarfed even the largest of claymores and flamberges. The weapon itself had to at least be seven meters long from guard to point with the hilt itself being a full meter long, an eight meter long sword and at least thirty centimeters at its widest point. The guard was also quite large with an elliptical shape and made of an ebony metal. The hilt was made of the same ebony metal though it was wrapped in a durable scaled hide from some fearsome animal. Then the scary part came, the actual blade. The blade itself was made of strange dark blue alloy that seemed melded in place with the guard. The blade was single-edged, though that made it look even more fearsome. Along the edge was a selection of barbed spikes that could cut and rend. The edge ended in a curved tip that bent outwards. Despite being such a fearsome weapon, the weapon itself held no remarkable decorations.

Zazie frowned, but wasn't too worried. It didn't really matter what the weapon was, her final two attack type cards were her two most powerful. Though a Ruler of Sin and an Archangel were different, Zazie could think of no being that could stand up to both of her two cards, [Justice] and [Judgment].

The area around End and Zazie immediately cleared up into a large circle with a thirty-meter radius. Both sides, attacking and defending, were stunned to see the massive sword and logically thought that nothing could stand against the man that wielded it. They thought the person, whom they soon recognized as Zazie, that not even she could stand against the sword and would be swiftly sliced or crushed.

End shouted, "Depending on how much strength I put into this weapon, I can create so many things! Let's see if you can stand up to this guy, I call him the Lyndworm!"

"...Even though it looks nothing like a Lyndworm? Either way, it is quite a fearsome weapon." Zazie commented honestly.

End smiled at the compliment and pulled the sword up in a ninety-degree angle, creating a menacing shadow over the area.

Asmodea who could only stay back and watch with an aghast expression wanted to go assist Zazie or at least pull her out of the weapon's way. However, Asmodea believed Zazie when she said she would take care of End. "I better take note of what kind of power she uses..." The red succubus told herself.

"Now, Lyndworm, let's see what you can do!!!" End cried excitedly.

End pulled Lyndworm down with all his might. The sword accelerated slowly but soon fell down with intimidating speed. All of the spectators, Asmodea excluded, stared dumbstruck as the sword crashed down on Zazie's location, sending a dust cloud into the air.

"Really, that's it? I guess I expected too much- What the?!" End spoke sorrowfully at first but then found that he couldn't pull back Lyndworm.

"...[Justice]" Light pierced the scene. Not the kind of light that poisoned demons, but the kind of light that blinded and sowed fear. The dust cloud vanished as if blown away by a sudden wind, revealing a completely different Zazie from before.

Zazie changed into Astraea, the avatar of justice. The transformation was all too obvious. Zazie's eyes turned white until the pupils disappeared. Zazie's numerous piercings and jewelry along her face, neck, and arms each glowed the respective color of gems that each piece held: clear white for diamonds pierced on her nose and eyebrows, orange for the topaz on symmetrical spots on her cheeks, red for the rubys pierced in both ears, silver for the silver tiara that hugged her forehead, golden for the pure gold bracelets around her arm, and a thick white for the rosary choker around her neck. It didn't stop there. Zazie's lavish dress, which was devoid of any dust and dirt, seemed to flow like liquid as the fabrics rippled around as if a thousand rocks were tossed in a pond. Zazie's dark violet hair fluttered around her head while bound together by her tiara and magic band. Her wings and tail seemed frozen solid, though they gave off a very faint violet glow. Her horns emitted an intense violet light at the tips.

Zazie spoke, though her words seemed unlike anything in this world, even a world populated by magic and demons, "...Fascinating, it seems as if you put out double the strength with this sword. Strength that you poured and strength you put out with your muscles." Said Zazie as she held back Lyndworm with both her arms protected by her bracelets.

When possessed by Astraea, Zazie personified justice. Increased strength, speed, power, magic, and other such stats was the normal bonus. However, when Zazie fought against someone who fought against justice, who broke laws and cared less about his kind by engaging in murder or worse, Zazie's abilities increased exponentially.

End, though he wasn't a technically bad person, didn't care who he killed. As it was in his nature as the war of the end to destroy everything in existence, very similar to animal instinct. Yet the general populace as a whole do not want the world to end, and would see his actions as violent and senseless, thus fulfilling the condition to release Astraea's power.

"And it seems you can put out even more strength than I with that interesting power of yours. You know, I've learned a little something interesting about this soul weapon, Ravager. It doesn't just turn into the form of any weapon I want. Provided I pour enough of my magical strength into it, it can also take on any enchantment I wish. Hm, demon's don't like holy light, do they?" End grinned and focused on Lyndworm for several seconds.

Zazie didn't like the sound of End's words and sped forth with exceptional speed. Along the way, Zazie picked up a broken half of a spear and thrust it at End's chest. It seemed her interruption was successful, as End gnashed his teeth and lowered part of Lyndworm to block barely in time. End kicked the broken spear out of Zazie's hands, jumped up, and sent his other foot into Zazie's body.

As strong as Zazie was, End was also just as strong. His foot forced Zazie back several steps. "A partial transformation, but it'll do. Alright, let's see you handle some light!"

End's large sword glowed faintly a bright gold-white. Zazie could hear her mind telling her that the sword was scary and dangerous, more so than before. Around Lyndworm's cutting edge, was concentrated light, designed to fight demons. Even though it wasn't as strong like End alluded to, light was still poison to demons, so Zazie grew apprehensive.

End effortlessly pulled the large sword to the side and readied himself for an attack.

It was all to obvious how End was going to attack, but honor and pride dictated that Zazie received the incoming blow like last time. So she stood still and her arms ready.

Shwoom!

The sword cut through the air, ignoring all air resistance and raced towards Zazie. The violet succubus raised her arms, bringing her glowing bracelets up so they could act like armor. A loud crash was heard as the impact between Lyndworm and Zazie occurred, sending a small shockwave of air into the crowds, pushing any unsteady demon off their feet.

Zazie winced painfully as she blocked the blow from the massive sword infused with light. She was pushed back a full meter until she stopped the force of the sword. "...That doesn't hurt as much as it should for two reasons. The first is the reason you stated before: the light isn't at full power. The second, I'm not entirely a demon right now..." Zazie showed a rare mischievous smile.

Asmodea couldn't fathom what Zazie meant as she watched from the sidelines. However, she knew that Zazie was being truthful. The violet succubus just didn't feel like a full demon anymore. As if she was possessed by something. The physical changes didn't mean much, but the aura Zazie gave off was more mysterious than anything. "Just what are you, Zazie?" Asmodea mumbled to herself.

End pondered Zazie's words with serious endeavor. "Alright, then I think I will gamble a little bit." End focused more of limitless amount of strength into the Ravager once again, changing Lyndworm's properties to give it a new enchantment.

Zazie found herself by dozens of knives, left over by a slain demon of the defensive side. She looked remorseful for only a second until the urge to dispense justice overtook her. She reached down and picked up an armful of knives and tossed them at End one by one. Each dagger seemed to leave behind an afterimage thanks to Zazie's immensely increased strength and power as the knives fought the laws of physics and aimed for End.

A hint of worry flashed before End's eyes, though he looked down at the massive sword he wielded and sighed in relief. He proceeded to dodge each dagger as if they were a harmless sideways rainfall. "This time. This time I will cut you. I deny the fact that I will not be able to cut you this time with my sword."