“Let me go, dammit! I’m going to kill him!”

In Elon, a raging Shòu was being held down by Bastian.

“Calm down, you idiot! If you go there you’re playing right into his hands!”

“I don’t care! I’m going to kill him! How dare he kidnaps Hana?!”

Shòu’s eyes were bloodshot as he screamed at the top of his lungs.

“Gear, what do you think?”

Bastian turned to Gear who was sitting behind his desk with a strange expression.

“….I say we let him go.”

“Huh?”

Even Shòu froze when he heard what Gear said.

“Are you mad? You’re literally sending him to his death! Shòu isn’t a Pillar but he’s still one of us!”

Gear didn’t answer immediately and stared at Bastian.

“…You, you’re afraid of Miko, aren’t you?”

“What?”

“Since you’ve fought him, you’ve been uncharacteristically cautious regarding anything to do with him. You even went as far as to beat Natasa to a pulp just so that she won’t be able to go to him. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen you go all out to stop her, not even when she went to take on the capital by herself.”

“….Gear, you should be aware of what kind of technique I use. It might be nothing but a knockoff compared to Natasa’s Thousand Beast Incarnate but I’m still able to use the abilities of multiple beasts. This causes my senses to rival a beast’s.”

Bastian clenched his teeth and started gritting them.

“When I faced that monster, all of my senses screamed, “Run, don’t even try to fight back. There’s nothing you can do to win against that thing”. So, yes. I’m afraid of him and you would be too if you faced him as I did.”

Gear stayed quiet for a bit before turning to Isabel Luna who was leaning on the wall.

“What do you think?”

“Well, I think Bastian is right to be cautious. After facing him myself, I can say with full confidence that if he has truly gotten stronger then he’ll be our biggest obstacle in this war.”

Gear nodded.

“Listening to your words and taking the report about him attacking the capital in consideration, I’ve made my decision.”

He stood up.

“We will attack the Red Light District.”

Bastian let go of Shòu and he looked up at Gear.

“However, we need to be safe. So Shòu, you’ll lead the attack with less than half of our forces alone. None of us will give you a hand. In other words, your survival will be on you. Do you understand?”

Shòu nodded.

“Then go and get your woman.”

“With pleasure.”

Shòu walked out of the room with a determined expression.

“You’re sending him to his death.”

Bastian glared at Gear.

“Not necessarily. Shòu has great potential and power, but what’s holding him back from tapping into them is his self-restraint. Facing Miko might be able to get rid of that for us.”

“What if Miko kills him?”

“Unlikely, because Isabel will be there in secret to prevent that from happening.”

Isabel nodded as if it was obvious.

“Also, Miko attacked the capital and kidnapped that crazy bitch, Chrome. There’s no way Jin Makoto will let that slide. According to our spies, Jin is preparing to lead an attack on the city as we speak. Being attacked from both sides with Shòu and Jin leading them, not even Miko will come out of this unscathed.”

Gear started smiling.

“If Miko dies, we win. If he kills Jin Makoto, we win. If Shòu realizes what he needs to protect his lover and grow from his loss, we win. As long as Shòu returns we win. Isn’t this the best situation we can ask for?”

He started laughing.

“……..”

Bastian, on the other hand, was quiet.

(It sounds like the ideal situation but something feels off. I can’t shake the feeling that this attack will be disastrous.)

Newgate City. Jin was standing on a stage in front of hundreds of soldiers. He scanned the crowd with a stern gaze before speaking.

“My comrades, we have many enemies; but I’m sure that you’re all aware of that.”

The soldiers nodded.

“There are many out there aiming for our queen, the woman we’ve all swore to protect with our lives. However!”

He clenched his right fist in front of him.

“There is none that is as hateful as the one we’re about to face, Miko!”

The soldiers started gritting their teeth.

“Not only has he betrayed our queen’s trust and bore his fangs at her, but he has also continuously stood in our way preventing us from destroying those traitors calling themselves the Four Pillars! There is only one Pillar in this country! What is the name of that Pillar, Comrades?!”

“Bloom Newgate!”

The soldiers’ roars shook the city.

“That’s right! There is only one Pillar, one ruler and that is our queen. So it’s natural that those undermining her authority should be punished, right?”

“Yeah!”

“But that hateful Miko and his allies are standing in the way of that. That’s unforgivable!”

Jin’s body trembled.

“To make matters worse, he attacked our queen’s sanuaury, this city and wreak havoc! Not only that, but he also stole one of our comrades and seriously injured two others! Is that acceptable?!”

“No!”

“Is that forgivable?!”

“No!”

“Good, then we feel the same.”

Jin paused a bit before anger was painted over his face.

“I don’t know about you but I’ve had enough. So I’m going to destroy the Red Light District whether I’m alone or with an army behind me.”

He lifted his fist up into the sky.

“Who’s coming with me?!”

“OHHH!”

The soldiers all throw up their fists and shouted up at the sky.

“Good, we leave now.”

Jin jumped off the stage and started walking, the soldiers marched behind him. They had serious and determined expressions on their faces. They knew that many of them might not return but that didn’t stop their feet from moving forward. Their resolve strengthened with every step they took. They marched to eradicate their enemy at any cost.

At Romix, a similar march was taking place as soldiers headed towards battle. Two different armies led by two men who hated each other were going after the same hated enemy.

As fate would have it, the two armies arrived at the city around the same time but on opposite sides. Of course, the leaders of both armies would receive word of this.

“What? Jin is on the other side?”

“Yes, General. It looks like they’re here for the same thing as us.”

A soldier reported to Shòu.

“That’s right. I heard that Chrome was kidnapped as well. They must be here for her.”

“I don’t like it but it seems like we’ll be doing a pincer attack with them.”

(I must be the first to find the hostages. I can’t rule out Jin killing Hana if he comes across her.)

On the side, Jin was having similar thoughts.

“Chrome is a dangerous enemy to him, now so I doubt he’ll let her live.”

He mumbled to himself.

“Alright, we’ll use them to ensure that Miko dies. After that, I’ll look for a chance to kill him.”

He past down his orders to the soldiers waiting.

“Shòu is a traitor but the target of his anger is Miko so he won’t attack us; so don’t provoke them. If it’s to kill the enemy don’t hesitate to work with each other. However, if they are hostile kill them too.”

“Yes, Boss!”

A soldier went to pass around Jin’s orders.

“Now then…”

Jin cracked his fingers while Shòu cracked his neck. They spoke at the same time.

“Attack!”

The pillars’ soldiers fired bombshells from their armored vehicles while Jin’s men attacked with high-powered lasers. The attacks headed straight for the buildings in the Red Light District.

*************

Meanwhile, Miko was sleeping on top of the roof of a random building.

“……..”

He slowly opened his eyes and smiled.

*Flash!*

“What the?!”

Outside the city, Jin and Shòu’s forces had just witnessed their attacks getting swallowed up by a bright light. The city then started illuminating.

“Look, the ground!”

Strange markings started appearing on the ground. These markings went around the city creating a circle.

“Did we activate a spell of some kind?”

Both forces stood in awe as the space in front of them became distorted. The silhouette of the city vanished and a different silhouette replaced it. The space stabilized and the soldiers were now facing a completely different structure.

“A fortress?!”

In front of them was a black, sinister-looking fortress that looked like it came straight out of hell. Both Jin and Shòu were shocked out of their minds. But, they weren’t the only ones.

“What the hell is going on?!”

Those inside the city were panicking as well. After all, they were suddenly inside what looked like a city-size castle of some kind.

“This is the Demon Fortress spell Miko had me learn.”

Momo, who was sitting on a throne in a grand hall for some reason, was one of the few who knew what was going.

“Momo, there are a lot of spells I want to have you learn but this is the one you must master immediately.”

Miko handed Momo a book just a few hours after waking up from his coma.

“This spell is considered a treasure among demons because of its extremely powerful defenses. It normally takes dozens of spellcasters to use it to its full potential and cover an entire country, but I think you alone should be able to use a downscale version.”

Momo took the book and looked at Miko with a weird gaze.

“When did you learn spells like this?”

Miko smiled.

“I’ll tell you later.”

***************

“The spell only uses my mana when it’s active so I forgot about it….More importantly, if it’s active then the city is under attack.”

“That’s right.”

Tia appeared beside her.

“I think this spell was created by one of the Great Kings of Hell, Paimon. I haven’t seen it since the war. Miko got his hand on something incredible.”

(Paimon? He’s one of the great demon kings under Lucifer! One of the strongest demons!)

Momo paled.

“I wonder where the other spells Miko gave me came from.”

Tia looked at the throne Momo was on.

“Don’t get off that throne. It connects the user to the spell. If you get off it will be broken.”

“I see. But what should we do? We’re under attack.”

(Leave that to me.)

Miko’s voice echoed across the fortress. Soon his image appeared in front of everyone.

“Don’t be alarmed. I’m merely allowing you to witness how I’ll put some rude guests in their place.”

Everyone could see the sky above Miko and wondered if he was outside. He was actually standing on top of the fortress. He looked down and everyone could see hundreds of enemies attacking the fortress but were unable to even scratch it.

“Miko, where are you?! Let us help!”

Hina’s voice reached his ear.

“Don’t worry. You all still need to focus on preparing for the final battle. I’ll handle this on my own.”

“But!”

“Don’t worry.”

Miko grinned.

“It’s them you need to be worried about.”

He jumped down and gently landed on the ground in front of Shòu’s forces.

“Miko!”

“Yo, Kaido. Oh, I heard it’s Shòuxíng now. Anyway, what’s up?”

“Give back, Hana!”

Miko shook his head. Shòu clenched his fists.

“Then I’ll just have to kill you and take her back!”

Miko laughed and spread his arms wide.

“Whether it’s you or Jin, you’re all welcome to try.”

“Then I’ll take up that offer!”

Jin and his forces came around from the other side of the city and faced off against Miko along with Shòu’s men.

“Good, everybody’s here.”

Miko grinned.

“Then let’s get this massacre started.”