Crimson Rebellion

The armored individual began walking forward toward the last obstacle in their way. As he pressed towards the beast, the male had drawn out Vajra once more as a twist of crimson energy gathered around its edge. One last enemy before their true foe would be forced to fight. One last obstruction left to be blown away. Goetia was just over the horizon. Faced before the might of Team AKARA, there is no way the Demon King would be able to prevail. All he had to do right now was present an opportunity by slaying this enormous monstrosity.

As the Stormbringer continued to walk forward, the creature had taken note of his individual presence. Its eyes began to glow with a dark pink energy signature taking aim at the youth. Its concentrated power grew more and more with each passing moment before it would be released. Mimicking the attack potency capable of obliterating the multiverse in a single shot, the monster had launched its beam. As the blast approached, Raizo could only afford to smirk underneath his mask.

He raised his left arm. Responding on instinct, the Janus Armor had morphed the plating around his limb into a small disk. This surprised the boy.

´´That's new…``

From the steel plate emerged a massive cerulean blue shield that protected the youth. The blast collided with this shield instantly. As the weight of the concentrated blast pressed upon the man, Raizo steel managed to continue walking forward without delay. The particle of light was being absorbed into the shield before it was converted. At that point, the monster's energy flowed from the shield and transformed into a golden electrical long sword.

"Heh, this armor comes with a lot of new perks to it…all right then. Now, what was that thing that Mom did earlier when she fought Dantés? Oh…I remember now…"

Taking off faster than the eye could blink; the Crimson Harbinger had stampeded at his foe. The moment he drew close, he ran along the tree-like legs of the monster and began to swing his swords. The young man dashed around the body of the beast from the base all the way to the crown of its head slashing wildly across every inch of flesh he came across. As he rapidly swung the sharp edges of his blades up to the top, the boy leapt into the air above the monster.

"Now disappear like your brothers before you…" Raizo uttered as he descended upon his foe delivering the final cross-slash in a combo that resulted in 7,777 strikes.

"X-Calibur, Maiming Strike!"

With that, the amalgamation dissipated into crimson light. The secondary blade crafted from its energy had disappeared. Raizo twirled Vajra around with his hand before tucking it back in its sheath. After that, the other 6 members of the team joined up with him.

"Now that was one hell of a finish," Adena approved.

"Not bad kid, not bad at all," Inari complimented.

"Good show, Raizo-san," Vesta nodded.

"You've been trained well," Akame said whilst low-key bragging on her teaching skills.

"Heh, your Mom would definitely be proud if she saw that one," Akaro smiled in kind.

"Indeed, now we have one last person to deal with," Kimiko concluded.

The Goddess-Above-All could feel the eyes of the other warriors that she summoned here watching them. For their sake, as well as all of creation, this war would reach its conclusion.

A fraction of a second later, the seven warriors had appeared before the throne where the wounded Demon King sat holding the Arcana Grail in his hand. With a distant gaze mixed with no remorse and disdain, he stared down at Team AKARA with great irritation.

"You have done well to plunder my forces. The prowess of Team AKARA and its allies are without equal. Truly you are humanity's greatest heroes," Solomon complimented.

"Cut the shit, King of Mages. It's time for you to explain yourself," Kimiko brutally declared.

"Yes…I suppose a promise is a promise; then so be it. Izunia—or the Architect rather—before his demise had shared the knowledge contained within the last page of his grimoire, the page that contained our destined end.

You have seen it, haven't you Raizo? The life that you once lived as Raizo Mercer, the God Killer, it was one of six you have experienced in the past. You see…we're perpetually trapped in a never-ending cycle of Life and Death. For in the end, we all die at the hands of the Fallbringer—Azoth.

Akasha and Azoth, absolute creation and absolute destruction, the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega, they are two sides of the same coin. For six cycles you have tried to stop it and each time you always failed in the end. That is why we must stop the cycle by returning the world and its history to the beginning—by burning everything and restarting anew in a world without death. You all should be on my side!"

The explanation for his actions had sunk into the atmosphere for a moment before anyone had reacted.

"This guy has got to be fucking kidding us, right?" Adena called out first with a tone of disbelief.

"Creating a world without death by founding it on a graveyard is quite possibly the greatest bout of irony I've seen in a long time. It's contradiction at its finest," Vesta declared her opinion on the matter.

"A world without death…guess that would mean that I'd be out of a job," Akame passively joked to ease the quiet anger building in her chest.

"I…I got nothing…not even joking, I'm literally speechless," Inari sighed heavily.

"For 250 years, you terrorized the Earth. You secretly orchestrated the demise of mankind from the shadows and played a game to obtain pieces of a divine jewel to meld with the ancient wish granting device in order to bring this about? This is more foolish than the ideology of bringing about Heaven's Feel!" Akaro yelled out with fierce criticism and frustration.

Kimiko was unusually silent as she processed these words almost as if she was double checking something. For Raizo, he took the time to vanish inside his mind for a moment. Upon the mention of his previous self, Solomon's words rang within his ears before another voice began to speak.

"All I ask of you is that you break the cycle. Remember her words and hold them close to your heart," the voice of the God Killer echoed.

"It is finished when seven become one…?"

"Precisely, those words mean a great deal. Over time, you will come to understand. Just never forget that you are not alone."

"The seventh…" he mumbled to himself.

The protests of the other team members had ceased as their eyes turned to the armor-wearing youth. Solomon raised an eyebrow as well.

"What?" he asked in a bellowing tone.

It was then that a strong surge had struck something in his heart. The memories of all his adventures so far had passed through his mind. His greatest trials, his greatest failures, his greatest victories, as well as the experiences he gained from meeting so many different people. This included the allies he's gained since he began this journey in this chronicle of judgment. All of the bonds he forged and the ability to overcome his darkest days had swelled up within him. In spite of all of this darkness and despair, there was always a light at the end of the tunnel.

Raizo's helmet had disappeared. His eyes became dyed with the garnet shade as he looked up towards the corrupt king. The ground around the male had begun to shake as sparks of purple and white electricity began to arc around his body. He stretched his arms out to the side. In his left hand, the body of the angelic scythe—Nirvana—materialized from the Astral Plane. In his right hand, the dull blade of Morana sprung from its amber sheath and instantly transformed into the giant scythe.

"These blades in my hand become like day and night…

The hellfire who captures the sun

The winter who embraces the moon

Give life to the Earth and become one

Synchronize to bring me total victory…"

The Stormbringer abridged the chant of the dual-scythes with the invocation of his will.

"Celestial Fangs of Heaven!"

As the two scythes transformed into the Eclipse Blades that he used to defeat Gilgamesh, his body instantly donned the Omen of Eternity transformation. The power within the youth had exponentially increased as his fury was directed at the man before him.

"Let me get something through that skull of yours. There is something different about this cycle, this life. Akasha has a plan, I believe it wholeheartedly. Even if we're on a highway to Hell, I will never stop believing that she has a plan for us—for all of us. She's the only one…the only God that I ever need to place my faith in!" Raizo proclaimed.

In an instant, the Crimson Harbinger vanished. The indication of his disappearance was a singular rift that was opened up beneath his feet. Taking stock in the way his fight with Tiamat went the first time, the male had instantaneously cast Cosmic Foundry from the confines of his mind and traversed the entirety of the self-created multiversal reality. Gathering the momentum from his trip in his weapons, Nirvana spiraled with crimson energy whilst Morana generated indigo energy. Another rift opened just before Solomon's throne as Raizo exited ready to deliver his final attack.

"Take him down, Raizo!" Adena cried out.

"Show that son of a bitch who we are!" Akaro supported.

"End this once and for all," Akame spoke out as well.

"Do it, Raizo-san!" Vesta exclaimed.

"Send him to Hell!" Inari declared.

"....." Kimiko remained silent even still.

"Kieru…" the male went in from the grand finale with his ultimate technique.

"It's a shame," the Demon King sighed, "You'll die a monotheistic fool. Nevertheless, I must fulfill my promise to the one inside of you."

It happened unexpectedly. In a sudden display, the golden light from the Arcana Grail had captured the Stormbringer in the air midway before his attack. The mythical object had drawn upon a wish contained deep inside the boy; however, it was not his wish but someone else's. Someone, who had taken root deep inside his body while waiting for this opportunity for a very long time, had seized this moment.

What happened next was the literal definition of a horror put on display for everyone to see. The gleam of the light from the Grail had even drawn the Golden Hind closer to the scene in order for the fighters to bear witness. Raizo was baptized in a waterfall of pain and suffering. It was like his skin was being peeled away by a razorblade as the muscle tissues and tendons were boiled from the inside out. His nervous system became stimulated by the sensation of being punctured by a coffin of needles like that within an Iron Maiden torture device. The blood within his body was ripped from every open pore on his skin's surface as every droplet was divided up. One half was siphoned away while the other was cycled back into the boy's body.

A dark, crimson, cloud of mist had formed and was pulled into the chalice like wine being poured in a glass. The mysterious bubble of condensation was the materialized substance of Indra's Judgment—the teigu charged with all of the powers of the Lesser Deva God it was named after. As more of the liquid had been extracted from the person who originally consumed it, the youth felt like his body was being split in two. To emphasize, it was like every cell that composed his physical form was forcefully divided to extract something while simultaneously pieced back together again. All of these sensations culminated into a cry that literally pierced through any concept of sound that was present in the air.

"GYAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" the Stormbringer cried out.

The heart-wrenching noise filled the ears of all warriors gathered on the Golden Hind both above and below deck while piercing the hearts of Team AKARA present firsthand. The sight combined with the sound was enough to warrant anyone to move to tears or some form of intense emotion. However, the person whom it hit the most was none other than Kimiko.

"Tch…" the girl gritted her teeth tightly as she attempted to step forward.

In that moment, something had snatched her away from everything around her and brought her to a plain of flowers separated from the existence of the current world.

"You cannot go," a familiar voice said as plain as day.

Turning around, she saw the visage of herself. The lotus printed kimono, the endless trail of hair that dragged along the ground, those blue eyes mixed with pink and purple, yes…it was her once again. For the second time in this fight, Kimiko Hanate had come face to face with the true version of herself: Akasha.

"Why are you stopping me? Can't you see that he's suffering?" the girl stated whilst restraining the desperation she was feeling inside her heart.

"It is necessary for the prophecy to be fulfilled," the ultimate deity answered simply.

"But…I love him…WE love him. Didn't we promise him that we'd never leave his side? So tell me…why?"

"All shall be answered in due time. This moment shall define the future to come. That is why neither you, nor anyone else can interfere."

Akasha had reached out and touched her other half's shoulder thus snapping them back to the present world. During the time in which she was "away", the Golden Hind had weighed anchored nearby as some of the Heroic Spirits and the Symphogears elected to get close. Everyone looked towards the throne wanting to do something. The most anxious of the entire swath of heroes were the members of Team AKARA. Adena, Inari, Vesta, Akaro and Akame were about to spring into action. However, that thought was immediately killed when a bubble of vector energy visibly spawned over them thus preventing anyone from getting past.

"What the hell?" Adena shouted in response whilst reaching out and swinging the longsword form of Prometheus at the shell.

"I can't get through!"

"Allow me to try then," Vesta proposed thus drawing upon her speed to make her body intangible and pass through the wall; it did not work out.

"Then I guess I'll give it a try…" Inari stepped forward upon seeing the former parties fail, however…

"It's no use," Akaro calmly expressed after he had turned his head towards Kimi's location.

"Indeed…everyone needs to remain calm," Akame sighed slightly upon realization of what was happening.

"What…Big Bro, Aka-nee, what are you…" Adena started to say before looking over at Kimiko, whom was standing there idly as a visible aura had grasped her body.

"Aneki…why…why are you stopping us from helping him?" Benihime inquired painfully on the brink of tears.

At this point, Kimiko slowly turned her head to face them. The eyes of Akasha had taken hold which instantly brought the team to a halt. However, there was one thing different that had never been seen before; something that even the Red-Eyed Hero was astonished to witness.

"Kimi…you…" he opened his mouth to say something, yet he held back.

The strongest member of Team AKARA, the ruler of the Omniverse, the Goddess-Above-All…was shedding tears.

"LET US THROUGH, ANEKI!" Adena screamed aloud upon rushing over to grab Kimiko's shoulders with both hands.

In the meantime, Raizo's body dropped back onto the ground. His blades fell from his hands and lied in the dirt while his armor began to shut down on him. Mustering what little strength he had left, the Son of Mercer managed to raise his body up on one knee. He reached inside his armor's pocket to grab a hold of that necklace to give him strength. On the other hand, the puddle of blood inside the grail was expelled in the form of pure energy. It then changed itself into the form of a naked deity with a muscular build. The tall figure had pale skin, red eyes, and black and white hair much like Raizo. With four angel wings protruding from his back, this was none other than the resurrected thunder god, Indra.

"You have done well, boy; however this is as far as you go," he spoke.

"Indra…you…look like…me?" the Son of Mercer muttered in surprise.

"Consider it a parting courtesy in honor of our time spent together."

The rebirthed god then struck the powerless youth with a simple lightning bolt, which was more than enough to place the youth at the brink of death.

It's…so cold. Everything is fading to black. I…don't understand this feeling. It's different…than before. Hey…I should be regenerating by now, right?

Such ramblings had run through the course of the male's mind as he desperately tried to make sense of what was happening. His mind was too far gone to understand. He turned his sight towards his family and friends whom all had expressions of sorrow ridden across their faces.

I see…so I am…at the end of my rope. So this is what it means to…

His lips barely managed to move, but he conveyed a final message:

It's up to…you now…

"You made the wrong choice, Raizo Mercer," Solomon remarked before snapping his fingers.

Robbing the male of the kindness of a peaceful last breath, a ghastly flame was hurled at the man as his soul was ripped from his body. In that moment, it was like hundreds of hands had reached up and grabbed at the boy thus pulling him down into the abyss. The light of the surface had faded away as the male felt like he was truly outside of himself. Everything grew darker…and darker…until the light no longer existed. From there, it was a one way trip to a place that no person has ever had the privilege of telling the story of.

*****

Within the span of what felt like a blend between a lifetime and an instant, the Stormbringer died. Standing over his body was the man who was previously the source of all his power. With a wave of his hand, Indra had absorbed the essence of Relepagus that lied dormant within the former Stormbringer's body. Adding onto this, the revived deity had reached down and pulled Vajra out of the youth's scabbard. He then proceeded to summon black and gold gladiatorial armor to cover his body with six sheathes on his hips and a white sash around his waist.

During this time, the barrier that inhibited Team AKARA as well as any other fighter had been lifted. Boiling over with emotions that were far removed from the spectrum of control by any conventional means, Adena and Vesta had powered up instantaneously. The fire princess had erupted into her Dragonheart form as her hair became dyed in purple whilst her eyes shifted to a deep red hue, her flames also shifting to a violet shade. Meanwhile Vesta donned the Heart of Eternity form that served as the basis for the Omen of Eternity transformation that Raizo picked up.

In a flash that surpassed the senses of many present, the two women rushed straight towards the man who essentially murdered their beloved right before their eyes. They did not care if this dimensional space could handle the force of their rage or not, all that mattered was enacting their insatiable desire for revenge. With their weapons at the ready, they sought to deliver the kind of punishment that would make Hell blush and freeze over in embarrassment.

As the females approached him, they caught a glimpse of the Lesser God's face. The striking resemblance to the fallen Stormbringer had caused their fury to subside for a brief moment. The face of their beloved worn by their target created an opening, one that would be exploited.

"How foolish," Indra said in a disappointed tone.

With a singular motion of his arm, virtually invisible to the eyes of his coming opponents, the man had swung Vajra. Adena and Vesta then found themselves caught in seas of shock as their chests were slashed open by the illusive blade. Their blood sprayed in the air like fountains of water instantly dispelling their transformations and rendering them helpless before the might of the deity.

Despite of having Indra's powers inside of her from the absorption of his power throughout multiple timelines, Vesta still paled before the might of Primordial strength. As for Adena, she had yet to tap into that threshold regardless of the vast sums of power that she possessed.

"So this is the extent of my power with my father's essence? I see no wonder why you tried to deny me of its strength. Which is why I stand here today and you rot in the edicts of the past. You lacked vision, Father," Indra criticized before casting a judgmental gaze down over the body of the former jade dragon.

"It is time to put the final stage of our plan into motion."

Indra had reached inside Adena's body with an intangible hand and grabbed something that served as the core of her being. It was something that had assimilated inside of her much like he did inside of Raizo.

"UAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!" Adena screamed out.

She experienced an insurmountable feeling of suffering much like the boy beforehand. The pain was like she was chained on top of a bed of iron nails as her body was pressed by millions of branding rods. It was like her skin was forcefully being boiled off of her body while her muscles were being liquefied and drained from her. In one swift tug, Indra had ripped out a crimson orb that served as the basis of the soul of another Lesser God which was stowed inside the girl. This caused her body to revert back to its original state without Agni's Radiance.

"As for you…" the God of Thunder pondered whilst focusing his attention to Vesta's weakened state.

He extended out his other hand over the girl's weakened vestige. Casting a web of electricity over her, the angelic male began to drain her energy like a vampire. He used his bolts of lightning to probe her body and suck out the countless sources of power that she had taken from other Stormbringers across a multitude of different timelines.

"AH…AHH!!!!" she cried before her voice was silenced.

The sensation she experienced was like she had been penetrated by hundreds of straws, her insides being sucked out of her like a cold drink on a hot summer day. As refreshing as it was for the Lesser God, the pleasure was directly proportional to Vesta's suffering. For her, it was as if her very existence was being forced through a meat grinder churning her into millions of pieces before forcefully molding her back together again. When the process came to an end, she lost consciousness.

"The time has truly arrived," he spoke whilst twirling the soul of Agni in his hand while torrents of electricity radiated around his body.

"Indeed, I wish you the best of luck," Solomon concurred thus separating the Arcana Crystal from the Holy Grail. With its power assimilated inside the chalice, there was no penalty for the ancient relic's separation from the sacred treasure. The hollow crystal was entrusted to the God of Thunder.

"Thank you," he uttered before disappearing in a flash of blue lightning.

Solomon had truly claimed victory. Now he was able to celebrate. Or so he thought.

"Guh…?!" he coughed as blood escaped his mouth and the chalice fell from his hand onto the ground.

As soon as he looked down, he saw that Akaro's Svarog was buried deep in his stomach and out through his spine. The presence of the blade impaling his body like this was enough for the Demon King to feel his own mortality. He lifted his gaze to meet the eyes of the Envoy whose stare was as cold and unforgiving as the Red Knight of old.

"I'm going to kill y-…"

"No, Akaro…" Kimi interrupted in a rough and uncaring voice.

"This son of a bitch is mine."

The aura of untouchable elegancy had evaporated on a whim. The beautiful Akashic blue eyes were currently replaced by a pair of deep, glowing crimson eyes. The usually short hair had become longer and messier, its dark brunette color being invaded by the same crimson glow.

Upon seeing this, Akaro immediately removed his blade and stepped back away from Solomon thus leaving the King of Mages to hold his wound. The man who had become a demon struggled yet found the strength to share his dying words.

"All I did…was for the greater good. Sakinah Vashti…and the Arayashiki shall save us all from the Fallbringer. They will succeed where you have failed…time and time again."

"Too bad you won't see the fucking day when we prove you wrong."

In a snap, Kimiko had grabbed Solomon by his face and threw him into his throne. The body of the Demon King instantly shattered the luxurious chair into thousands of fragments just from the girl tossing him like a ragdoll. He would not be allowed to get up as the woman instantly rushed at him hovering over his broken form. She stomped the ground once as the momentum caused the male's body to fly up in the air to which the girl had instantly followed.

In hot pursuit, Kimi began to beat the ever living hell out of her target with her bare hands throwing punch after punch, then kick after kick. She juggled the body of the Demon King in the air for quite a bit before drop kicking him down towards the ground once more. It was then that she spread her fingers apart on both hands. In response, her densely packed aura bled down her forearms and was channeled into the flexed area in question forming crimson claws over top. As she hurled herself through the air towards her target, she began ripping his skin to shreds with her razor sharp blades. She essentially assaulted the man like she was a wild tiger after fresh prey.

Breaking his body down to size even more, the woman then threw him inside a bubble of vector energy. She pulled out two of her daggers and threw them inside the bubble essentially making them attack the male from all directions. She severed every artery that she could possibly cut which brought her foe to his knees as his blood seeped out of every orifice of his body.

"This is not enough…it's not nearly enough."

She cut the concept of his wounds to heal him up momentarily, then paused. Tossing him back inside a vector bubble, she channeled the blood flow in his body to cause his muscles to contort and expand so much that they were torn from their sockets. Once she maimed him, she reversed the damage done again.

She used her powers to burn him to death, drown him, slow torture him, boil him from the inside out, hack into bits and pieces, crush him with the weight of gravity, reverse his blood flow to where his body imploded, peeled his skin off one layer at a time with her knife, caused his body to detonate, and various other killing methods again and again. It was a repeated process of kill and revive that occurred at least a thousand times in under minute.

As he broke down before her trembling on his hands and knees, he shuddered with fear attempting to look up towards her. He dared not beg for mercy.

"Now then…allow me to demonstrate what it felt like for me when you took him away. When you robbed me of my happiness right before my very eyes, just allow me to show you firsthand what they felt like before I allow to die one last time," Kimiko uttered.

She held up one hand and pressed her hand against the man's chest. Making that hand intangible, she passed through his body and grabbed the Demon King's heart and squeezed it in her hand.

"This is what it was like for me…"

She began to gradually pull on the muscle taking extra care to ensure that he felt every vein and artery around it snap. After an agonizing 10 seconds that seemingly lasted for an eternity, she ripped it out of his chest and crushed it before his eyes.

"That's what it was like…for me…I suppose now I can let you die. But…for good measure," her eyes glowed as she stared over the Demon King's form.

The body of Solomon began to combust into flames as he was erased from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

"Hell is too good for you. Any form of the afterlife is too good for you. So instead…I'll store you in a place where I know you won't escape. I'll allow you to become a page in my book…that way I can read over your suffering for all eternity. I am the author of your fate."

With that, Solomon met his demise and the war against the Demon Gods had come to a close. The Arcana Grail had been won and now, there would be a chance to fix things to some degree. However, the loss that was suffered today still hung over everyone's heads like it was a major defeat.