Touya was blinded by rage. He could only see Kagenou, and he knew he was at fault for what was going on. Sakura and Leen, his two beloved wives, got captured by the Cult of Diabolos because of him. He will make the Cult pay, yes. But not before he made Kagenou pay.
He saw Kagenou charging at him with his crowbar in hand, and smirked. He would be defeated with such a childish tactic.
Before his opponent could lift the arm containing the crowbar, Touya used his null spell.
"Slip!"
And just as Touya had planned, he fell on his back. Taking advantage of the situation, Touya jumped and shot multiple times over his enemy. The bullets, enchanted with the spell, 'explosion', impacted his opponent as Touya landed.
"Touya..." said Yumina.
"Touya-san..." mumbled Elsie.
His other seven wives were staring at him, worried.
"He deserved it! He brought those monsters with him!" shouted Touya.
The seven girls couldn't say anything. They have never seen Touya this angry before. Then, Touya turned to Alpha and aimed his weapon at her.
"You too. They have Leen and Sakura because of your master's game! You deserve to be destroyed too!"
The elves and the beastkin women seemed calm, almost indifferent.
Touya's finger came closer to the trigger, but suddenly, his instincts warned about the imminent danger right behind him. Touya turned, only to receive Cid's crowbar right on his chin. The impact sent Touya flying, but right before he landed, another crowbar hit him on the back of his head, forcing them to the ground as his opponent landed smoothly before him.
Shadow played with the crowbars on his hands and aimed one at Touya. "I don't know what made you attack me, Mochizuki-kun. But consider this your first and only warning. I cannot be defeated by someone like you."
Touya stood up, releasing his power in a menacing aura of destruction that surrounded him. "I WILL DESTROY YOU!"
He raised his hand. "Come to me, oh light. Turn into my weapon of justice, Shining Javelin!"
A spear made of pure light stabbed Shadow, but Touya was far from finished. He jumped, turning Brunhild into blade mode, and made sure to pierce his heart. The light attack had stabbed him in the abdomen, so he would be weak and couldn't avoid his fate. Or maybe not.
A kick right in the gut brought Touya back to reality, followed by Shadow's elbow impacting his cheek, sending him to the ground.
Touya let his divinity flow all over his body and rolled away just in time to avoid Kagenou's boot about to smash his face. A huge crack was created by Shadow's stomp. He grinded his teeth and jumped over Kagenou, sending a divinity-charged punch to his open wound.
Kagenou groaned in pain as he was sent flying. Knowing that it was now or never, Touya shot more explosive bullets at him. Shadow then started to spin in the air to regain stability and land elegantly on one foot. He looked at the bullets coming at him, and simply moved his crowbars, diverting the bullets and sending the explosions all over the Duchy of Brunhild.
He grinned. "It's been a while; I haven't had a conversation this interesting, come at me, TOUYAAAAAAA!"
Touya screamed in anger, fully releasing his Apotheosis and preparing to fight one more time.
...
It was a calm and beautiful afternoon at Brunhild, where the citizens were busy with their day-to-day activities, working, having picnics to celebrate the nice weather, or training in the soldiers' case. Kids were returning home after a day of school. Just another day in Brunhild. And suddenly, several zones all over the Duchy started to explode, including the clock tower.
A lonely child was about to be crushed by debris from the clock tower, but a soldier pushed him out of the way.
"What's going on here? Are we under attack?"
"But who could do something like this?"
"What's going on?"
The knights ran to help the population, guiding them to the underground shelter the Great Duke had made for them, protected with the Duke's most powerful spells. Touya thought they would never use it, but it was better safe than sorry.
Commander Nikola was busy trying to get the civilians to safety, while more troops ran to where the explosions were coming from to find out what was going on, and put an end to it.
But they found out the truth when they saw their lord landing before them, with longer hair and emitting a golden light, golden eyes, and an overwhelming aura. He had his weapon in hand, sending blow after blow at his opponent, who was calmly blocking them and diverting the projectiles.
Touya jumped backward and switched the bullet type to the ones he had charged with divinity in a desperate attempt to defeat his opponent. But once again, Shadow easily deflected them, sending the bullets to random spots all over, destroying houses, fields, and even areas of the forest. Touya roared in anger, as his own power was being used to destroy the country he had worked hard to build. He was fuming.
"My lord!" said his knights, charging at Shadow with their swords in hand.
But they were rejected by the overwhelming areas, golden and purple, respectively. They couldn't even come close to any of them.
"Are you going to keep shooting, Touya? This is starting to get monotonous."
"I'll show you what I'm capable of. Accel-boost!"
Touya moved at hyper-speed, disappearing from sight. He materialized right behind Shadow, stabbing him in the abdomen. "You are done for, Kagenou."
Shadow smirked, grabbing Touya by the neck, and forcibly turning him as he transformed his crowbar into a black sword, and made a deep cut on his throat.
"My Lord!!" shouted the guards.
"Touya!" cried the seven queens, running to save their husband.
Touya tried to contain his bleeding with his hands. And with the last bit of air he had, he changed the spell:
"Cure heal!"
In the meantime, Kagenou healed his wounds without having to chant.
"You know that being stabbed in the abdomen gets you in the perfect position to immobilize and expose your enemy's throat? As long as your vital organs are left unharmed, you are safe."
Touya glared at Cid, with anger burning in his eyes. "You know? Since we were at school, I've always wondered if you had an official diagnosis or what, you damn lunatic."
Shadow simply shrugged and gave Touya his best smile.
"Time to get serious!" said Shadow.
Touya grinded his teeth and covered his body in divinity.
"Show me what you have!"
Shadow extended his hand creating hundreds of strings of purple strings of magic energy that immobilized Touya's arms and legs. Once he made sure his enemy was helpless, Shadow grinned and charged at his opponent. Touya generated a golden aura from his fist, dissolving Shadow's magic strings, and being able to block his punch, and respond with one of his own. Shadow was sent flying to the clock tower that collapsed over him.
Touya was waiting, preparing for the next round. But he knew this wouldn't be enough to stop Shadow. And he was right. Shadow emerged from the debris, laughing.
"That hurt, it hurt a bit! Ahahahahahaha! It's been a while I evert felt pain other than self-inflicted. You did well old friend, what about this?"
He charged at Touya again, giving Touya the opportunity to use one of his signature spells.
"Slip!"
He thought that he could made Shadow fell, but he didn't fully put his foot all the way down, it was just a faint touch with the tip as he semi-floated in the air, and jumped to Touya with his two crowbards in hands making them spin like tonfa battons.
Touya ran toward Kagenou, still furious.
Kagenuo's bars descended at full speed, ready to smash Touya's head, when a sword blocked the attack. The impact waves were so big that they sent the cobblestones covering the main street flying. Moroha have joined the battle.
The Goddess of the Sword pushed Kagenou back as Karen, Goddess of Love, have materialized behind Touya and immobilized his armpits under her arms.
Touya struggled to get free. "Let me go, he has to pay!"
"Touya, don't! Remember what Kamisama told you, if you two fight you may destroy everything!"
Touya didn't listen. He just screamed in anger and kept struggling. In the meantime Shadow lowered his crowbars and stared at Moroha with a blank expression. "So, is over?"
"Either you stop right now, or I'll stop you." warned Moroha.
Shadow shrugged. "I didn't started this."
"I believe you." said Moroha, turning to Touya still struggling against Karen's hold.
Touya was still screaming profanities, ready to keep fighting, when the girls ran to him. Seeing his family finally made the trick, and she finally calmed down. Just a little.
Yumina walked firmly to him.
"Yumina?" asked Touya.
She slapped him.
"Yumi... na?"
"What the hell are you thinking?! Didn't Kamisama warned you what would happen if you two fight? Look around you! You are lucky he didn't use his 'I am atomic' right in the middle of Brunhild. Are you stupid or what?"
This made Touya finally come to his senses, and realized that almost the whole main plaza was destroyed, not to mention the explosive bullets that Shadow blocked have caused several damages on the surrounding. The weight of what he have done hit Touya like a bucket of cold water. Finally, Karen released him and Touya collapsed out of exhaustion for using his divinity in excess.
"Now that it's over, can you tell me what was that all about?" asked Shadow.
The two vice commanders Norn and Nikola aimed their swords toward Shadow. "Cid Kagenou, you are under arrest for..."
"No!" said Yumina.
"My queen?"
"I hate to admit it, but this incident was entirely Touya's fault. Kagenou-kun was just acting in self-defense."
The guards stared at their lord in disbelief, but he was too weak to answer.
"So, what happened that made him react like this?" asked Cid.
"Shadow-Sama!" called Alpha, followed by the others.
"Alpha, just in time. What happened here?"
Alpha bowed as she apologized. "This incident happened because we got delayed when you commanded us to retire while you purified Yulong's territory with your great power. During those precious seconds, the Cult's minions kidnapped two of the wives of your beloved friend. Leen-Sama and Sakura-Sama are now under the Cult's custody due to our negligence."
This made all the guards gasp in horror, as Cid sighed.
"All of this because of that?"
This made the girls really angry. Especially Elsie, who used her attack 'boost' to teach Kagenou a lesson. But he was able to stop her with one hand without even bothering to turn to her. Instead, he stared at Touya, who seemed to want to continue to fight.
"Touya, if your wives got kidnapped, why didn't you tell me from the start? We are childhood friends; I will be more than happy to give you a hand."
The girls finally calmed down and nodded.
"We would really appreciate your help, Shadow Garden." said Lu. "Please, let's work together to rescue our partners!"
Touya mumbled something, but he was too weak to even talk. But Shadow was able to hear it with his superior senses.
"Apologies accepted; you were under a lot of pressure, and you gave me a good laugh. Of course I am going to help you." Then he turned to the wives. "Now, what happened before I arrived?"
"Some assassins from Yulong came and turned into horrible monsters. We fought them, but this was only a distraction. They took Leen and Sakura and disappeared in a black light," explained Sue.
"Did you notice something else?" asked Shadow.
"They used some sort of artifact before disappearing." said Hilde, who was the closest.
"A black jewel?" asked Beta.
She nodded.
"An artificial Black Rose." mumbled Epsilon. "I see, they are in our world."
Alpha frowned. "I understand. Beta, go to the inn right away and take the Black Rose we used to get here. We will go to our world, and bring Leen-Sama and Sakura-Sama home."
"We are going with you!" declared Sue. "We will rescue our friends, the other queens of Brunhild!"
Alpha nodded. "As you wish. We'll all go together."
Touya tried to stand up but felt on his knees. He mumbled something, and Hilde and Elsie helped them stand up and distribute his weight on their shoulders.
"You have to recover, Touya, then we will go to rescue our friends."
Touya mumbled something again, when Beta returned with the Black Rose they stole from the Cult of Diabolos.
"We are ready to go."
"My lord, my queens!" said Norn. "Be very careful. Remember that the Cult of Diabolos has proved to be very powerful opponents."
"We will!" assured Yumina. "And don't worry. When we get back, Touya will be cleaning up all the mess he made."
With that, Touya, the queens of Brunhild, and Shadow Garden crossed the portal to Kagenou's world, in the kingdom of Midgar.
"Epsilon, you go first and tell Gamma we will have guests," commanded Alpha, as she pulled the smartphone out of her pocket and handed it to her. "And give this to Eta to analyze."
"On it, Alpha-Sama!" said Epsilon, disappearing in the shadows.
Then the group started to walk to the capital.
"And where are we going now?" asked Yae.
"The first stop, Mitsugoshi. Our headquarters and the public face of Shadow Garden," said Beta.
They started walking but couldn't go as fast as they wanted due to Touya's current state.
"By the way, Kagenou-Kun," said Linday.
"Yeah?"
"Alpha mentioned something about you purifying Yulong. Can you tell me what you did?"
Cid grinned. "I am... you know the rest. If it was nothing but a bunch of ruins before, now there's nothing left but a crater."
The girls shivered. The sooner they deal with the Cult of Diabolos, the better.