Deciding not to start some stupid plot, Ethan simply walked toward the computer. He had seen it countless times in his dreams and used it before, so at least he knew what to do with it. But before he could take more than a few steps, the chains suddenly began to move.
Ethan glanced back, and the sight immediately sent a jolt of fear through him.
The enormous demon was reaching toward him. The chains wrapped around its arm stretched as it followed the movement, pulling taut against the pillars but holding firm. The sheer size of the hand coming toward him made him instinctively step back.
He barely had time to react before the massive fingers closed around him.
"Let me show you."
Ethan struggled against the grip. "I'm not freeing you."
"I know." The demon brought him closer, the chains stretching farther across the darkness. "You don't need to."
The hand tightened slightly. Then the power came.
His entire body went rigid as something immense surged through him. It wasn't simply an increase in strength — the sensation was deeper, as though something inside him had been slightly out of place his entire life and had only now been pushed correctly into position. The connection between his human self and the Spirit of Vengeance tightened and stabilized, and the power flowing through that connection was something else entirely compared to what he'd carried into the estate.
---
Outside, Sirzechs was already preparing to leave when something strange appeared on the ground where Ethan had been destroyed.
A large circle of Hellfire formed across the stone, its intricate pattern burning brightly without spreading beyond its own lines. The flames moved along the design before suddenly rising toward its centre. A human-shaped outline began to emerge from the fire, and every second brought another bone into being within the flames — ribs, spine, arms, legs, each one forming as the fire built upward. When it reached the skull, Hellfire immediately ignited inside its empty eye sockets. The rest of the body completed itself as flames flowed over the finished skeleton, followed by his clothes forming around him as though the fire knew exactly what he had been wearing.
The flames surged once more, as if checking one final time — then the circle disappeared.
Ethan was standing again.
Inside the hall, the nobles watching through the magical viewing screen had gone completely silent. The resurrection played out in clear detail on the projection above them — the Hellfire circle, the bones assembling one by one, the skull igniting last. No one spoke. Someone near the back of the crowd dropped their glass, and the sound it made hitting the floor was the only noise in the entire room.
Rias was gripping Akeno's arm without realising it, her knuckles pale against the sleeve.
Even Riser, for once, had nothing to say.
Outside, Sirzechs simply watched. He could feel it before anything else registered — something about the presence coming off Ethan had changed entirely. It wasn't simply that he had recovered. The power within him felt denser, heavier, more settled than before.
The sensation reminded Sirzechs of the original Satans. His expression changed as the weight of that comparison settled on him.
Before the thought could go any further, the Hellfire around Ethan surged, and he lunged straight toward him.
Sirzechs' eyes widened.
The distance between them collapsed almost instantly. Ethan's fist was already coming toward his face, forcing Sirzechs to raise his arm and catch the blow. The impact still drove him back a step.
Before he could counter, Ethan opened his mouth. Hellfire erupted at point-blank range, washing across Sirzechs and forcing him to turn his face aside for a fraction of a second. That fraction was enough. Ethan's other fist came through the flames and struck him squarely in the body. The ground exploded beneath Sirzechs as he was driven downward.
Inside the hall, the crowd watching the screen flinched back almost as one. One of the Phoenix family members rose from his seat without thinking, panic settling openly on his face.
Riser's jaw tightened.
He hadn't moved from where he stood, his eyes fixed on the projection above the room, watching Sirzechs get driven back a step, and something cold and practical was already working through the back of his mind regardless of what his expression showed.
The four retainers still hadn't reported in.
He hadn't thought much of it this morning. He still didn't want to think much of it now. But the skeleton hadn't come here for the Rating Game. Riser was many things, but he wasn't slow.
He turned slightly and lowered his voice. "Yubelluna."
His Queen stepped closer immediately.
"Find out quietly," he said, keeping his eyes on the screen, "whether our four retainers in the Human World made contact with anyone yesterday."
Yubelluna didn't ask questions. "Understood." She simply gave a small nod and withdrew.
Riser looked back at the projection. Sirzechs wasn't going to lose — he told himself that plainly, the way you state something that simply cannot be otherwise. The man was a Maou. One of the four rulers of the Underworld. Whatever that thing outside was, it wasn't going to be enough.
But the rational part of him, the part that had quietly watched four retainers go silent and was now watching Grayfia wrapped in burning chains on a magical screen in the middle of a noble gathering, understood that not going to lose and I need to do nothing were not the same thing. If somehow — by some outcome he refused to fully picture — Sirzechs faltered, every eye in this room would immediately turn to the question of why that creature had come here in the first place. And that question had an answer Riser wasn't prepared to give in public.
Whatever happened next, he needed to be ready before it did.
Outside, Ethan followed Sirzechs downward, then something moved into his path.
Grayfia had already recovered from the shock of his resurrection and was coming straight for him, one leg extended with the kind of precision that left no margin for error. The movement was so fast that Ethan had no time to reposition his body properly. His eyes caught her at the last instant. Instead of trying to block, he thrust one hand beneath himself and released Hellfire. The burst of flame accelerated his descent. Grayfia's kick passed over his skull by a fraction as he dropped beneath her, his body shooting toward the ground.
He hit the earth hard enough to crack it.
Before she could follow, his palm struck the ground. Hellfire raced beneath the surface in every direction at once. The earth around her erupted as thick chains burst upward, twisting around her legs and waist before she could reposition herself. More chains followed, wrapping around her arms and tightening with burning links that bit through her demonic defences.
Grayfia's expression finally hardened as the heat reached her. She immediately gathered her power around herself, preparing to break the restraints.
On the viewing screen inside the hall, the image of Grayfia — the Strongest Queen, the woman every noble in that room had spent their entire lives deferring to — bound in burning chains sent a murmur through the crowd that no one tried to suppress.
Outside, Ethan slowly rose from the impact crater, his burning gaze fixed on her.
Grayfia's expression tightened as the burning chains continued to coil around her. She tested them once with her demonic power, but the Hellfire resisted rather than yielding. Forcing them apart would accomplish little, so she immediately changed tactics and vanished in a flash of magic, leaving the chains to snap shut around empty air before reappearing several metres away with a few scorched marks across her clothes. Her eyes found Sirzechs at once. He was already climbing from the crater, the front of his clothes torn and blackened, the Hellfire burn still visible across his chest.
"Let's handle him together. He's become considerably more troublesome."
Sirzechs glanced at her before returning his attention to Ethan. "Understood."
Ethan stood across the ruined ground, Hellfire flickering steadily around his body as the massive chain dragged behind him. Sirzechs raised one hand, and several spheres of the Power of Destruction shot toward him. Ethan moved through them rather than away, slipping between the attacks as he accelerated forward. The chain swung the moment he closed the distance, forcing Sirzechs to raise a barrier. The burning links crashed into it and bent the defence inward as Ethan pulled sharply to the side, but Sirzechs flooded the barrier with destructive energy and shattered the chain before the power could travel back along it.
Ethan abandoned the weapon without hesitation and drove his shoulder into Sirzechs' chest. The Maou slid backward across the broken ground, blocked the punch that followed, then caught Ethan's wrist and released a concentrated burst of destruction. Ethan was thrown sideways, struck the ground, rolled through the dust and rose almost immediately. The damage across his body was already disappearing beneath the Hellfire.
If he still had a face, Ethan would have been grinning.
"Now this feels better."
He rushed forward again, the chain reforming in his hand as he swung it low before snapping it upward around Sirzechs' ankle. Sirzechs destroyed the links and countered with a blast that forced Ethan back, but Ethan pushed through the attack and struck him across the jaw, sending him several metres away.
Before Ethan could pursue, Grayfia appeared between them. A wall of demonic magic rose in his path, and Ethan smashed through it, only for Grayfia to teleport several metres above him. A concentrated spell formed in her hand before she sent it straight down. Ethan looked up and immediately jumped backward. The spell struck the ground where he had been standing, blasting stone into the air.
Ethan landed and immediately charged toward her. Grayfia remained several metres above the battlefield, keeping herself safely outside the reach of his hands while several magical arrays formed around her. The spells fired downward one after another, forcing Ethan to weave through the attacks as he continued across the ground. One tore across his shoulder, another struck his side hard enough to stagger him, but he recovered and kept moving. When he reached the point directly beneath her, Ethan bent his knees and launched himself upward, Hellfire bursting beneath him and adding force to his jump. He shot toward Grayfia with his fist raised, but she teleported away before he could reach her.
With nothing left to strike, Ethan dropped back down, his body falling several metres before his boots finally struck the ground. He landed heavily, straightened and looked toward Grayfia, who had already reappeared farther away.
He understood what she was doing now. She wasn't trying to overpower him directly. She was using her mobility to keep him away from Sirzechs, forcing him to waste time and energy.
Ethan let the chain reform in his hand, but instead of chasing Grayfia, he turned toward Sirzechs. The Maou had already recovered while Ethan was dealing with her, and the moment Sirzechs was ready, he attacked.
Ethan met him head-on. Their fists collided on the ground, the impact cracking the stone beneath their feet. Sirzechs reinforced his physical strength with the Power of Destruction, while Ethan answered with his own strength and Hellfire.
Unfortunately for Ethan, a destructive blow was more than enough to knock him backward, but he dug his feet into the ground, swung the chain around Sirzechs' arm and yanked him forward. Ethan stepped into the pull and drove a Hellfire-coated fist into his stomach. Sirzechs tore through the burning links and answered with a blast of destruction that sent Ethan crashing through a nearby stone structure.
Ethan emerged from the rubble almost immediately. The chain shot forward and wrapped around Sirzechs' waist. Ethan yanked him off balance, then charged through the debris and struck him across the face before he could recover. Sirzechs staggered, and Grayfia appeared beside him to steady his position.
"Sirzechs-sama."
"I'm fine."
He pushed himself upright, though the damage across his body was becoming harder to ignore. Ethan was already approaching again.
Grayfia watched him carefully. "He's becoming more accustomed to fighting us."
Sirzechs' expression hardened. He had felt it too. Ethan was no longer hesitating between attacks or struggling to control the Hellfire. It moved with him now, instinctive and responsive.
"Then I'll stop giving him time to adapt."
Sirzechs rose into the air, putting several metres between himself and the ground as the Power of Destruction gathered around his body. Ethan looked up at him, then bent his knees once again and launched himself after him. Hellfire burst beneath him, adding force to his jump and carrying him higher before gravity could pull him back down.
They collided in midair.
Sirzechs' fist struck Ethan's skull, but Ethan caught his arm with the chain and used the momentum to pull himself closer. He drove a fist into Sirzechs' stomach, followed by another across his jaw. Sirzechs answered with a massive burst of destruction that tore through the chain and knocked Ethan away.
Ethan began falling.
He opened a portal beneath himself before he could hit the ground and disappeared through it. A second portal opened beside Sirzechs, and Ethan emerged from it at his level, swinging a knife made from Hellfire toward him. Sirzechs raised a barrier. The burning links crashed against it, cracking the magical defence.
Ethan pulled harder.
Sirzechs reinforced it.
The Hellfire spread across the barrier as the two powers struggled against one another, but Sirzechs finally released a violent surge of destruction that blasted Ethan away. Ethan dropped rapidly toward the ground, opened another portal and vanished before impact.
He emerged several metres away on solid ground.
Sirzechs descended after him.
Power of Destruction flared around Sirzechs' hand as he struggled against the chains. Ethan caught his wrist and forced it against the ground, but the crimson energy continued gathering around his palm.
Ethan looked at it for a moment before reaching for his gun.
He drew the weapon and let Hellfire crawl along the barrel, making the flames burn brighter than before. Then he pressed the muzzle against Sirzechs' mouth.
He didn't need to say anything.
Sirzechs understood the warning immediately. If he released the Power of Destruction, Ethan would pull the trigger, and this time the bullets would carry a great deal more than he'd be ready for.
The crimson energy around Sirzechs' hand continued to burn for another moment. Then, with the gun still pressed against his mouth, he slowly allowed the power to dissipate.
Only then did Ethan ease his grip on the wrist, though he kept the weapon exactly where it was.
The message was clear enough. If Sirzechs chose to continue the attack, Ethan would fire.
A figure suddenly appeared between them.
"That's really not angelic behaviour."
Ethan's burning gaze immediately shifted toward Azazel.
He knew exactly what Azazel was saying — the man had heard him boast about the angel behind his power.
Under normal circumstances, Ethan might have answered with something sarcastic.
Not now.
The word angelic was the last thing he wanted to hear.
Ethan slowly pulled the gun away from Sirzechs and pointed it directly at Azazel instead. Hellfire crawled along the barrel, burning brighter.
"Don't talk about—"
Azazel blinked. "About what?"
Ethan stared at him.
"The angel thing."
Azazel's eyebrows rose slightly. "Oh, did you find out that you can't sprout the wings?"
Ethan's grip tightened around the gun.
"It's not funny right now."
There was enough irritation in his voice that Azazel finally raised both hands in surrender.
"Fine. Fine."
He glanced past Ethan toward Sirzechs, still pinned beneath the burning chains.
"Well, looks like you won."
Ethan kept the gun pointed at Azazel for another second before lowering it. He looked back at Sirzechs, then slowly released the chains. The burning links dissolved into Hellfire and disappeared.
Grayfia immediately moved to her lord's side.
"Sirzechs-sama."
"I'm fine." His voice was strained, but steady.
Ethan said nothing. The satisfaction of winning the fight was there somewhere, but it was buried beneath everything else occupying his mind.
He had wanted to test the power he had just gained.
He had certainly done that.
But now the word Azazel had casually thrown at him was still echoing in his head.
Angel.
Ethan looked down at his hand.
For the first time, the word no longer felt like something he could proudly throw around.
Azazel looked toward the ruined garden and sighed.
"That was supposed to be a garden."
Ethan glanced around at the shattered stone and scorched earth.
"They can fix it with magic."
Azazel stared at him for a moment.
Ethan simply looked away, his mood considerably darker than it had been when the fight began.
Author's note: grandfather have send his 5 childrens to visit me who constantly telling me just close your eyes in take a rest he believe since your already be corrupted by the lord of pleasure I should just acceptible blessing of course I have no plan to accepting this so there might be some interruptions but I would try to continue.
Is it to understand in language, basically, I have a bad stomach, feel like I'm on drugs, which I am not; headache, body pain, cold, fever and coughing, which means the upcoming days are going to be tough.