"S-Serra!" I said, eyes wide as the tail punctured his chest. 

"Serrano!" Azami yelled, slicing the demon's tail off. I rushed over and grabbed my cousin while the prince flew at Anestarte and stabbed her through the chest.

Anestarte gripped his sword and covered it in think vines. "You'll be next."

Azami gasped as Leviathan's tail slammed against his back, flinging him into a boulder.

Osamu gritted his teeth and threw his sword at Leviathan's tail, pinning her to the ground.

"Osamu, take care of him," I said, holding Serra out to him.

He gasped but took him anyway. "What are you planning to do?"

I spread my wings and flew into the air. "You'll see." A black aura surged around me, causing a vortex to form above me.

"He's mad now. If only I could've made his cousin that furious. Maybe he will be when he sees his dying brother," Anestarte said, chuckling.

I warped behind her and slammed her in the back, flinging her into the air. I kicked her face in, slamming her through the tip of the one of the three surrounding mountains.

"Anestarte, you screwed up," Leviathan said, shaking her head. She stared at her pinned tail and gritted her teeth.

"No! The one who messed up here is that guy!" Anestarte yelled as energy crackled around her. "Argh, if only this world didn't restrict my powers!"

"You still wouldn't be a match against me," I said, appearing over head, slamming her straight down back into the mountain. The earth trembled as she pummeled into several layers of rock.

"Tetsuya, don't destroy the mountain! Azami is still there! Plus, the surrounding villages will get damaged if you do so!" Osamu yelled.

"Don't worry, I focused my strength so that it wouldn't." If I hadn't, that mountain and surrounding parts of the range would've been gone by now, leaving behind a crater wider than Grand Chasm.

"That does it!" Anestarte screamed as a multitude of dark vines flew at me. I slashed them down with my sword. Felt like throwing a sphere at her, but doing so would likely have destabilized the mountain beyond what I could account for. The villagers, animals, and my family who called this part of the valley home didn't deserve that.

I turned around as Leviathan lurched at me. My elbow slammed against her scales, shattering some of them. Pain raced across my arm. Had I broken something while hitting her? No wonder I heard a snap close to home. Just how tough was her skin?

My eyes widen as she body slammed me and coiled her tail around my body. Her head lurched at my neck. I intensified the aura around me, causing her scales to clang.

My breath increased as her fangs pressed against my aura. I might've been an abysmal, but poison would mess up even those with regeneration.

I focused some of my aura toward my sword and threw my sword into the air.

Leviathan whacked it and let out a scream. The aura expanded the sword's length, stabbing her near the spot where Osamu's sword had hit.

Shivers ran up my spine as something touched my aura. They were vines, but thankfully they were weak enough for my intensified aura to disintegrate. I looked toward the mountain that Azami and Anestarte had struck. The ground rumbled as something quickly rose to the surface.

"You haven't forgotten about me, have you, Tetsuya?" Anestarte asked as she emerged from the crater. Her hair had transformed into thorny vines like some sort of plant gorgon.

Both she and I gasped as something slashed her hair. We turned to look at the king, but it wasn't him who had thrown the silver beam. Rather, it was the one he held in his arms who had attacked her.

"Serra!" I said, smiling.

"Great, your boyfriend is fine. Now will you power down so that I can kill you?" Anestarte asked, curling her hair-like vines into a cone.

"As if! And he's my best buddy, not my boyfriend!" I said as I pushed Leviathan away from me with my bare hands. It was easier to get a hold of her after she had loosened her grip.

She slammed her tail against my stomach, knocking the air out of me and nearly reverting me back to First Heaven, in other words, my base form.

"Uncle, deal with Anestarte," Serra said as he jumped off of his arms.

"Wait, are you fine?"

"Yeah. At least enough to fight." He cupped his hands together.

"Now I do wish that you were out for the count," Anestarte said as she flew down. She smirked. "I'm not sure whether that not giving up attitude of your cousin and yours is attractive or a total turn off."

Hope it was the latter. I didn't want to turn on someone like her. Would she have said the same thing if Serra and I were ugly?

"My, you think that I'm shallow?" she asked, glancing back at me. She chuckled. "An ugly guy with an attitude is hot in his own way."

Wait, she read my thoughts?

She laughed. "We demons can read emotions."

"Indeed. I knew that you felt fear as I was about to devour you," Leviathan said as she stared directly into my eyes.

Wait, she was going to eat me, not poison me? But she wasn't at her full size. Wait, why was that? Could she be preserving her strength?

Anestarte flew up as an orange streak went flying past us. "I'm tired of listening to you demons yapper on and on. Truly, you're a bunch of flies," Osamu snapped as he u-turned.

"Flies? Those would be our brother's underlings, literally," Anestarte said, smirking as she blocked his attack by curling her hair-like vines into a shield. She was acting haughty again. Did she think that they had us on the ropes?

I eyed Serra. He was still charging his attack. Hurry up buddy, I'm not sure how much longer I can hold off this overgrown snake!

Leviathan's mouth grew wide, big enough to swallow me whole even through her body remained the same size. I'd forgotten that snakes could do that...

"I'm not about to become snake chow!" I said, forming claws out of my black aura. Leviathan shook her head as my claws shattered her scales. "My, your skin is really dry that it's cracking. How about returning to your home in the ocean?"

"Haughty brat!" Leviathan said, whacking my head with the tip of her tail. "Die!"

Blood trickled down my face. This situation reminded of the battle against Satoru. While I almost died in our two battles, fighting his grandmother made me realize the limits to my regeneration. It wasn't like what my father had.

But, it could be worse. In the battle with Takon, I died due to being badly hurt without my core nearby. Would the same thing apply to half breeds like my dad or full breeds like my grandfather?

I gritted my teeth as Leviathan constricted me. The arm I had broken had healed, but it felt like it was breaking again, but this time in more than one place.

My eyes widened as I glanced back at Serrano. Had Osamu healed the demonic wound or did Anestarte's tail not cause the skin to blacken and heal painfully slow? If so, maybe I was safe from it too as long as I avoided Leviathan's fangs. I didn't want to endure a repeat of when her older grandson stabbed me with his claws. That was agonizing.

Serra smirked. He was ready! Fire away, buddy!

Leviathan moved her head toward Serrano and opened her mouth wide. The blast hit her head on, but all of that energy was being sucked up as if falling into a void or a black hole.

I drove my claws in deeper to get her to move, but she held firm, continuing to absorb the blast Serra had worked hard to accumulate mana for.

She closed her mouth as the beam died and shook her head. "Ugh, that boy is purer than I thought. Rage is probably the only thing he has going for him. Go die, the two of you!"

"How romantic!" Anestarte jeered.

Osamu appeared behind her and slashed her in half, causing her to dissolve green specks.

Anestarte laughed weakly. "No matter, I was thinking of departing anyway. I leave them to you, sister."

"I was doing most of the fighting anyway," Leviathan said, lurching at me.

Ugh, forgot for a sec that the archdemons couldn't be killed other than by their angelic counterparts or the divine couple.

"Tetsu!" Serrano yelled, jumping into the air. He grabbed me and flew back as Leviathan swung the tail at us.

Osamu dashed forward and began to spin as someone else joined him.

"Dad!" Serra said as silver and orange streaks formed a helix.

"Gemini Meteor!" the two shouted in unison. The archdemon of envy growled as the ran up her body, slashing through her thick hide.

"Damn you!" she screamed, raising her head to the heavens. It almost sounded as if she were cursing out the Sky Father.

A sphere of darkness emerged from her gaping mouth.

BOOM

My cousin and I hit the ground. Agnes formed a barrier around us even though she hadn't manifested.

"No," Azami said as he and his twin landed next to us.

I raised my eyes and saw a widening crack in the sky. A multitude of demons filled the air like flocks of crows during the turning of the seasons. Instead of heading toward us, they flew toward my home and the surrounding areas.

"We got to stop them!" I yelled, taking to the skies again.

Serrano nodded.

"Leave Leviathan to us," Azami said.

"Thanks, Dad!" Serrano said before taking to the air.

Azami smiled. He must've been overjoyed to be called Dad. Know mine would've been...

I held up Agnes, forming a barrier around the village, leaving only our houses exposed.

"You aren't protecting our homes?" Serra asked.

"Need to corral them into a single spot."

I smiled as lightning zapped several of the demons. Beams of light also struck them down. It was a good thing Osamu decided to call the Raiyama-Kuroichi siblings here to train with us. Guess he wasn't actually a good for nothing king like I'd thought...

The guy was usually cold, even with his daughters. How had Rosa gotten close to him in the first place?

I shook my head. Had to assist Rosa and the others first. Just thinking couldn't accomplish that.

"Ximena?" Serrano said.

I looked ahead and saw Xime and Yuko fire off attacks at the demons.

Yuko beamed. "Master, Sir Serrano, you're okay!"

"Is that Leviathan?" Ximena asked, turning to look at the dragon as it flew toward the portal.

"Oh, no! She's trying to draw Dad and Uncle into Cianio!"

Osamu halted and grabbed his twin by the arm, pulling him back down.

"Seems the king isn't dumb to fall for it," I said, grinning.

Osamu dove down as vines shot out of the portal.

"No, she's back already?"

"I knew that leaving things to you was a good idea," Anestarte said, chuckling as she emerged. Unlike our other encounters, she didn't look like a young teenager. Instead, she was a tall, voluptuous woman in a red leotard with spikes on the shoulders.

"Not really, I have a few things to do," Anestarte said, chuckling as Leviathan flew into the portal. That said, brother, destroy the portal."

My eyes widened at the sight of the white haired demon from the tower. Who was he?

He smirked and fired off a blast at my barrier, causing it to dissolve in an instant. The demons swarmed into the countryside, chuckling and making funny sounding noises.

Darn it! If only Takuya we're here.

Ximena closed her eyes and started chanting stuff under her breath quickly as she held on to prayer beads. "Holy Arrow!" she yelled forming a bow and firing it into the vortex.

Anestarte stepped out of the way white and white haired guy flew forward and surrounded himself in a strange sphere resembling a void. However, the arrow stopped just before hitting him and unleashed verdant mana around it. The tear in space crackled as it began to close down.

"My, my, seems that our little reunion was cut short!" Anestarte yelled. "If you overcome our generals, then I'm sure we'll meet again. Of course, that's a big if!" Her laughter echoed in the sky.

I rather would've fought Leviathan all over, coils and broken arm included, than to see and hear that woman once more.

"There, it's closed," Ximena said, falling down. That attack must've drained her completely!

"Xime!" Serrano yelled as we flew after her.

A crimson blur flew across the sky, zipping back and forth among the demons. My eyes widened as the ones the blur had come into contact with burst into golden flames.

Camio? No, those flames didn't appear to be demonic. An abysmal?

"Xime!" Serra yelled, reaching his arm out for her as she neared the ground.

He and I had to swat multiple demons of our own away. Their aim appeared to be her, not us.

I gasped as the red blur flew over and took Ximena before coming to a stop in midair. A tall, muscular, redheaded young man with lynx-like ears held my childhood friend in his arms. He wore flowing vermilion robes that looked like a combination of a vest and priest clothing. On his arms were golden gauntlets.

"Is that guy related to Miki too?" Azami asked as he finished plowing through multiple demons of his own.

Osamu furrowed his brow as more demons burst into golden flames. "No way..."

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter ^^.**