DxD: Fusion-Chapter 60: Death

As Toshio and the others began to head to the front lines, the ground began to quake.

"What’s happening now?!" Kunou yelled out, trying to maintain her balance.

The quake intensified, and Toshio’s enhanced senses screamed a warning a split second before the earth behind them erupted.

The ground cracked and crumbled with the same violent precision as it had at the cave’s mouth—stone fragmenting, dirt cascading inward as a new chasm tore open behind their position. The allied forces spun to face this fresh threat, exhaustion forgotten in the face of survival instinct.

A ramp formed from the collapsing earth, and what emerged made even the hardened youkai warriors take involuntary steps backward.

1|| Oppressors.

Massive, hulking demons that dwarfed even the largest oni present. Each stood at least twelve feet tall, their muscular frames wrapped in thick, segmented armor that seemed to be part of their crimson flesh. Bone wings protruded from their backs—not for flight, but as additional weapons, the edges sharp enough to cleave through steel. Their faces were nightmarish amalgamations of rage and hunger, eyes burning with intelligence and malice in equal measure, with large horns of various shapes protruding from their skulls.

And there were a thousand of them.

They marched in disciplined formation, their heavy footfalls shaking the earth with each synchronized step. Unlike the chaotic demon troops that had poured from the cave earlier, these moved with military precision—a professional army rather than a rabble.

Toshio’s Observe skill activated automatically, parsing threat levels that made his blood run cold.

{Demonic Oppressor

Level: 95-110

Threat Level: A to A+ [A+ to S with leyline power boost]

Descriptive Insight: Elite demon shock troops bred for war. Possess devastating physical strength and moderate magic resistance. Highly disciplined and coordinated in combat.}

The youkai formation—already battered and exhausted from hours of combat—now found itself perfectly surrounded. Demons ahead, empowered by the corrupted leylines. Oppressors behind, fresh and eager for slaughter, sharing that same power up.

A figure emerged from behind the oppressor formation, walking casually up the earthen ramp as if taking a pleasant stroll. The oppressors parted ranks with military precision, allowing him to pass until he stood at the front of their line.

Nurahiyion.

The youkai elder’s robes were immaculate despite the chaos around him, his expression one of smug satisfaction as he surveyed the trapped forces. His eyes found Kunou immediately, and a smile curved his lips—the kind of smile a cat might give a mouse it was about to devour.

Toshio wasn’t surprised. The pieces had been there all along—Nurahiyion’s convenient absences, his knowledge of supply routes, his access to sensitive information about Yasaka’s movements and the leyline network. He saw the betrayal coming a mile away. Without proof, though, he didn’t want to be accusatory, especially since the alliance between them all was so new. Not that is mattered now.

"YOU!" Kunou’s voice tore across the battlefield, raw with betrayal and fury. The young princess’s golden eyes blazed with foxfire, her aura flaring despite her exhaustion. "You SNAKE! You traitor! You—" Her voice cracked, rage warring with the tears that threatened to spill. "You’ll PAY for what you’ve done!"

Nurahiyion’s smile widened, clearly savoring the moment.

"Oh, little princess," he said, his voice carrying with supernatural clarity to every warrior present. "Did you really think your mother’s capture was mere chance? That these demons simply stumbled upon Kyoto’s leyline network?" He laughed, a sound devoid of warmth. "I orchestrated everything. Every movement, every vulnerability, every precise moment when Yasaka-sama was isolated from her strongest protectors."

The youkai warriors around Kunou growled and snarled, weapons rising despite their exhaustion. Several took steps toward the traitor, murder clear in their eyes.

"I spent decades," Nurahiyion continued, his voice taking on a lecturing tone as if explaining to children, "carefully positioning myself, earning trust, learning the intricacies of our defenses. All so that when the demons came—when the real powers of this world made their move—I would be on the winning side." His eyes gleamed with avarice. "And now, once they claim victory, I’ll rule the entire Japan front. No more bowing to that fox bitch. No more pretending to respect traditions that mean nothing. Just pure, absolute—"

The oppressor’s club came down without warning.

One moment, Nurahiyion stood there mid-gloat, his face animated with visions of future power. Next, the massive spiked club—wielded by an oppressor that had moved with shocking speed for its size—descended in a brutal overhead swing.

The impact was catastrophic.

Nurahiyion’s upper body simply ceased to exist—pulverized into a red mist that hung in the air for a brief moment before dissipating. His legs remained standing for a heartbeat, a grotesque testament to the sudden violence, before toppling forward and hitting the blood-soaked earth with a wet thud.

The oppressor that had struck pulled its club back, gore dripping from the spikes, and returned to formation as if nothing had happened. The other oppressors didn’t react at all—no surprise, no acknowledgment. Just patient, disciplined waiting.

Even the exhausted Allied forces stared in shocked silence.

Toshio understood immediately. The demons had no use for traitors, even traitors who served them. Nurahiyion had been a tool—useful for achieving their goals, but ultimately disposable once his purpose was fulfilled. There was a brutal efficiency to it that spoke to the demons’ true nature.

"So much for ruling anything," Kiba muttered beside Toshio, his voice carrying equal parts disgust and grim satisfaction.

The oppressors began to advance in perfect lockstep, their formation tightening around the allied forces. Behind them, the empowered demon troops pressed forward with renewed aggression. The trap was complete.

Toshio’s mind raced through tactical calculations. Approximately seven hundred yokai remained combat-capable out of the original two thousand. The devil forces had been whittled down to perhaps one hundred and fifty. They were surrounded, exhausted, and facing fresh elite troops while their enemies grew stronger by the second from the corrupted leyline energy.

The situation was grim. They were going to lose.

Inside the void barrier, Serafall Leviathan’s breathing came in ragged gasps.

Her magical girl costume was in tatters, the left side completely burned away from Lucion’s earlier attack. Third-degree burns covered her left arm and shoulder, the flesh angry red and weeping despite her attempts to heal it. Her right side wasn’t much better—cuts and bruises from near-misses, magical exhaustion making her limbs feel like lead.

She’d pushed her ice magic to its absolute limit with Absolute Zero—a technique that literally attempted to reduce the temperature of everything within the barrier to the point where molecular motion ceased. It was her ultimate attack, the kind of magic that should have ended any opponent.

Lucion stood across from her, his magma blood sun pulsing behind him like a miniature star. His armor was frosted over, cracks running through the ice coating, but he was still standing. Still smiling.

"Impressive," Lucion admitted, genuine respect in his tone. "That attack would have killed most beings in this world. The temperature drop alone should have shattered my physical form into frozen fragments." He raised one hand, examining the frost coating his claws. "But I am not most beings."

Then everything changed.

The corrupted leyline energy flooded into the barrier—Serafall felt it wash over them like a tidal wave of malevolent power. The void space she’d created wasn’t perfectly sealed; it couldn’t be and still allow them to exist within normal spacetime. That tiny connection to the outside world was all the corrupted energy needed.

Lucion’s aura exploded outward.

The frost coating his armor didn’t just melt—it evaporated, turning to steam in an instant as power beyond anything he’d displayed before surged through his form. His magma blood sun doubled in size, then tripled, its heat becoming so intense that Serafall could feel her ice constructs beginning to sublimate from the ambient temperature alone.

"Ah," Lucion said, his voice carrying a note of satisfaction. "There it is. The full power of Kyoto’s leyline network, corrupted and redirected. Do you feel it, Leviathan? This is what true demonic power feels like when properly channeled."

Serafall tried to gather her magic to respond, but exhaustion and injury made her movements sluggish. She’d already pushed herself beyond safe limits with Absolute Zero. Her reserves were nearly depleted.

Lucion began walking toward her, his steps leisurely, as if he had all the time in the world. The corrupted leyline energy swirled around him in visible currents of crimson and black, feeding into his form with each breath he took.

"You know what I find most amusing about you New Satans?" Lucion’s voice carried across the void barrier with perfect clarity. "You inherited titles you never earned. Power you never truly understood. My father, Mephisto, and the other true demon lords—we built empires across dimensions. We shaped reality itself through will alone."

Serafall tried to form ice constructs, but they melted before fully manifesting. The heat radiating from Lucion’s enhanced magma blood sun was too intense, the temperature within the barrier climbing with each passing second.

"You devils are pale imitations," Lucion continued, his eyes fixed on her with something approaching pity. "You took our legacy, diluted it with your political games and Rating Game theatrics, and called yourselves rulers. But you’re just children playing dress-up in your parents’ clothes."

He stopped ten meters away, close enough that Serafall could feel the waves of heat washing off him in pulses that made her skin prickle.

"The ritual is complete now," Lucion said, gesturing casually toward the barrier’s edge. "Kyoto’s entire leyline network flows through us. Every shrine, every spiritual node, every drop of sacred power that once belonged to those pathetic youkai—it’s all ours now. And with Kuoh’s nodes added to the total..." He smiled. "Well, we’ve exceeded even my most optimistic projections."

Serafall’s mind raced despite her exhaustion. Kuoh? They’d attacked Kuoh while the defenders were here? She’d left Sona there, sent her away to safety, but if demons had infiltrated the city...

"Oh yes," Lucion said, reading her expression with ease. "Your sister’s territory is currently being scoured of its leyline energy as we speak. Or rather, it already has been. Such a convenient distraction you all provided, gathering your forces here while we secured the final pieces we needed."

Rage flooded through Serafall’s exhaustion, giving her a moment of clarity. Ice magic surged from her hands—not an attack, but a desperate attempt to reinforce the void barrier, to seal it completely and cut off the flow of corrupted energy feeding Lucion’s power.

Lucion watched her efforts with mild interest, making no move to stop her.

The barrier thickened, layers of crystalline ice forming over its interior surface. Serafall poured everything she had left into the technique, her magical reserves scraping bottom as she fought to isolate them from the outside world.

"An admirable attempt," Lucion observed. "But ultimately futile."

He raised one hand toward his magma blood sun. The miniature star pulsed, its light intensifying. The sphere of fire then collapsed in on itself, growing incredibly dense. Then with a wave of his hand, it rocketed through the air, smashing into the translucent barrier. Sparks erupted from the contact, but not much later, the miniature blood sun pierced it.

The barrier cracked and crumbled like glass, shattering and dissipating into magic particles. Serafall watched with a grim expression, an expression that hadn’t been seen on her face in decades.

Toshio and the rest immediately felt the heat blast over them, looking away from the marching Oppressors and towards the floating blood sun.

"Do you see now? Worthless devils. Youkai. This is what true power looks like, what the world’s rulers look like. Once I’ve wiped you all out, the rest of your kind will be next." Lucion held his arms wide, a sadistic smile on his face.

"Toshio," Akeno whispered. "If we don’t make it..." Toshio took her hand in his.

"We’ll make it," Toshio said with confidence he didn’t really have. Analyzing the situation from every possible angle, the current situation couldn’t be won. Something had to change. He cursed his lack of power. Toshio let go of Akeno’s hand and stepped forward.

"I’ll help Serafall distract their leader." Toshio looked at his friends with a sad expression. "Please, escape." A tear rolled down Toshio’s face; his emotions intensified and less controllable due to his shikai. He looked at Rias, Kiba, Kunou, and Akeno.

"NO! You’re not throwing your life away!" Akeno screamed out. "We fight together!" A spell began charging in Toshio’s hand, dense blue light forming around it, a complex series of magic circles forming into existence.

"Rias, you know this is the best chance we have against them. You have have to warn the other factions. Take them with you." Rias was conflicted. She knew what Toshio was saying was logical and the best course of action. But she hated the thought of leaving Toshio behind. Could she really doom her race to die with the person she loved?

That thought shocked her, causing her to flinch a little. She was interrupted out of her brief stupor by his next words.

"Akeno, I’m not throwing my life away; I’m buying yours." Toshio looked to each of them.

"Kiba, Rias, Akeno..." His eyes remained on Akeno. "You all have helped teach me how to live. Let me return the favor." Tears streamed down Akeno’s face. Toshio turned toward the most terrifying presence he had ever felt.

"Go." Rias, reluctantly accepting his words, cried as she gripped Akeno’s arm. "We’re leaving. King’s order," she choked out. She hated using the King’s command over her peerage. But she was left with little choice. Akeno was shocked and began crying more.

"I’m not leaving my mother behind! I’m staying too! I must! I have to save her!" Kunou cried out.

"Kiba..." Rias said softly.

"I got her." Kiba picked up the Youkai princess and threw her over his shoulder.

"I’ll open a path. Now go!" Toshio yelled out.

"Toshio, I love you!" Akeno cried out, her body being compelled against her will to leave.

"I know."

Toshio raised his hand to the side, his spell ready to be fired.

"Yūgō: Multiple casting - Wave Motion Beam." Intense blue light lit up the night, as 10 beams of pure gravitational destruction, each 5 feet wide, blasted out. All 10 beams ripped through the far end of the battlefield, the gap between the two demon forces, carving out a much larger hole to escape through. The demons touched by the beams ceased to exist. Over 300 oppressors and over 750 demon troops were obliterated by the attack.

Not waiting for them to leave, Toshio flashed toward Serafall. Rias and the rest took the opportunity and escaped through the gap made by their friend. The oppressors tried to close the gap made, but couldn’t reach them in time.

The youkai, encouraged by the sudden attack, pushed forward, reengaging the remaining demons. They weren’t going to die without killing every last demon they could!

Toshio appeared next to Serafall near the mouth of the cave.

"I admit, you’re quite powerful for a human without one of those pesky sacred gears," Lucion drawled. He looked toward where Rias and the rest fled from. "Those insects escaping means nothing. After I finish you and this pretender, their lives will be forfeit, as all of those who oppose the great demon faction."

"You sure like to hear yourself talk. Try shutting up for a change," Toshio called out. Lucion did not appreciate it.

"Serafall, can you fight?" Toshio said in a low tone.

"You should have ran, Toshio. You aren’t his match." Serafall said gravely.

"I never said I was. Now answer my question." The maou glanced at him, a tired smirk forming on her face.

"So demanding, Toshi-tan." She snorted and stood from her kneeling position.

"I don’t have much left in me. He’s stronger than I could have imagined."

"Let me charge everything I have. Try to trap him in ice. If that’s too hot," Toshio indicated the blazing sun. "Use earth spells. I trust you know a few?" Serafall simply nodded. Toshio knew that Serafall was at a disadvantage, her ice against blazing heat. Toshio was going to pour everything he had into this next attack.

"Petty, insignificant words from a worthless existence. Know your place, human." Lucion raised his hand, spikes of molten blood racing toward Toshio. He flashes away using his max speed in runic shunpo. Serafall slammed her hands on the ground, magic circles flaring to life. Spikes of earth shot toward the demon lord. He merely scoffed, using his blood magic to shatter the attack.

"You are clearly just a weak woman without your ice magic." Serafall didn’t let up. She dodged his blood magic, doing her best to distract him. He was underestimating her and Toshio. She desperately hoped that whatever Toshio had up his sleeve would at least wound this monster. Lucion paid Toshio barely any mind, casually sending strings of molten blood wherever he flashed two. He seemed to be enjoying trying to instill despair into Serafall. Likely his grudge against a so-called "Satan."

Once his spell was charged, he shouted out to Serafall. "NOW!"

Serafall didn’t hesitate, creating the densest, thickest earth her remaining magic power allowed, forming a tall cylinder over 50 feet tall and 100 feet thick. Lucion would only have a few feet to move around. The earth near the blood sun still floating in the air instantly turned any earth near it into ash. But it was enough.

"Yūgō: Multiple casting - Wave motion beam, x60." His reiryoku, having replenished, was immediately emptied, casting his strongest attack ever. Multiple casting had ranked up to Rank 6. A half dome of magic circles lit up the sky, the blue energy beams slamming together to create one massive beam of destruction.

Toshio estimated that this reached around 1/100th of the original wave motion cannon, an attack that might punch a hole through the moon. The original wave motion cannon could disrupt the very fabric of the universe, easily able to destroy an entire galaxy, after all.

The tremendous attack slammed into the trapped demon lord, erupting the surrounding earth walls and ground, creating a crater over half a mile wide and dozens of feet deep.

Toshio, wiped from the attack, landed roughly next to Serafall, who had retreated from the attack.

"Toshio, what kind of attack was that?" Serafall was shocked. That kind of power, while easy for a devil of her strength to replicate, was practically unheard of for a human without a sacred gear. Had she taken that attack head-on without defending, it may have gravely wounded her.

"An attack that apparently wasn’t enough." As the dust cleared, Lucion, surrounded by his magma blood sun, stepped out of his ultimate defense. He wasn’t wounded, but he expended a lot more energy blocking that than he could accept.

A mere human!

"You must die." Before Toshio could react, the blood coming from Serafall’s wounds crystallized, forming spikes of molten death.

In slow motion, Toshio slowly looked at the incoming attack. He couldn’t block. He couldn’t dodge.

His final thoughts were not of death. Not of the battle. Not of his previous life. No, they were consumed by the faces and memories of Kiba, Kuroka, Rias, and Akeno.

He smiled.

Serafall watched, eyes wide with shock, as her own blood pierced the skull of the human she had grown so fond of.

PST!

Serafall watched in horror as the blood melted; a quarter-sized hole remained in Toshio’s head. She could see the night sky through it as the blood dripped out of it.

PLOP!

Toshio’s lifeless body hit the ground.

"TOSHIO!!!"

{Health 0/100%}

{YOU DIED.}