Flesh is Weak

All fear the Omnissiah, for he brings doom.

The night was long, and the strange dream returned again. The eye was back and it was extremely intense tonight. Looking for whatever it was desperate to search for and find. It never ceased, and I am not getting what or who this is. I squinted at the eye and finally saw something beside the eye. It was attached to something humanoid. Before I could get a clearer picture, I woke violently.

I woke suddenly and in pain. The source of this was a violent series of knocks on the door to my room. I felt claws in my chest, and I looked at the cause of that. It was Kuroka in cat form with said claws extended. Rias whined from my right shoulder as I jumped. Kuroka retracted the claws and jumped off me transforming into the normal her whose face was apologetic.

A quick smile is sent her way before I move to the door. I opened it and looked out to see Raynare and Mittelt. They both look worried. I raised an eyebrow to them and Mittelt said with a soft voice.

"They found something and said to bring it to your attention."

I grew grim.

"Thank you for informing me. I'll be there when I can. Ray, I assume you're joining this?"

Raynare nods before I order her to get Kiryuu and see if Murayama is free for this. Raynare runs off to do that, and Mittelt stays. She does not like this because she said it while nervous.

"It's a big base. Conner said that Jean is ready to do field work."

That was bound to happen.

"I will have gear ready for her."

Mittelt looked nervous again before she grew determined.

"I'm coming too. I want to help in other ways as well."

I didn't expect that.

"You and Hetvia can work our drones if Hetvia comes along."

Mittelt smiled, relieved, and promised her support before rushing off. I closed the door, and Kuroka and Rias were wide awake. I gave Kuroka a look, and went to the shower. Rias was silent as I went to the bed and sat beside her, and she said softly.

"I want to help, but I know I am not strong enough yet."

I reassured my redhead.

"You will be. I'll make you the machine before I go. Just do this for a few days and then practice with me. You will get better as I started below you and got better fast. You're ahead of me and a natural with the blade."

Rias smiled at my compliment. The eagerness to help is apparent. Kuroka was out, and that let me take a shower. Rias kissed my cheek when I was out and wished me good luck.

In the basement next to the teleporter was the entire peerage. Thoron and Hetvia were nervous, and my rook asked me.

"Who would we be fighting? Kitty only told Via and I bits."

I noticed that Rias was here with her peerage, too. They had snuck in behind me, as had Issari.

"We would be fighting people working for a fallen cadre head named Kokabiel."

That made everyone freeze except the people in the know already. Hetvia widened her eyes as did Rias and her peerage. Thoron grew grim, saying with a slightly hesitant voice despite his battle-fanatic self.

"He's a big threat. Why are you against him?"

I say to my future wife and her people along with mine.

"He helped in the 1997 subway attacks here in Japan. Ten thousand people lost their lives because of that. He was trying to kick-start the Great War again, this time with humans included. I will not allow that to happen or go unpunished. He has a new plan to get this war. I won't let him do that either."

That got looks of horror from the new people and Rias's people. Akeno looked sick with Kiba. Shirone was silent and Hetvia was scared by the name. Then she remembered the oath. Thoron understands, he however asked.

"Why are you not taking this to the Satans?"

I gave him a small frown but answered.

"Tokyo is not devil territory. How would they be able to do anything? They couldn't. I can do something because I have support from the Shinto and their approval. Mittelt and Raynare are from his cadre. The people they were staying with have confirmed that he did the attacks, along with others who are all trying to start the Great War again."

Akeno glares at the two reincarnated fallen. Mittelt confirmed my story.

"He is telling the truth. Our former boss did the attacks and more. I'm here for asylum. He has extra protection from Grigori, so that's closed down. This thing that the boss is forming can do something."

Akeno softens her glare a bit for the fallen. The room is silent for two minutes before Kiryuu says with a blank voice.

"My parents died there. I will join to fight that crap."

Murayama was grim.

"I stand against that. I am a knight with honor there is none in gassing people."

Kuroka gives her silent support now that it's out. Her tails around my waist. Issari says with no hesitation.

"He has killed people in my family, too, and I won't let him exist. I am with the Legio Solar, which will fight dogs like that."

Raynare said with glowing eyes, and that off put everyone but me.

"The second children have been forgotten by many. He and many others have turned their backs on them. I won't."

Mittelt didn't say anything, but she nodded her head and joined the growing oath. Thoron looked at them all as did Hetvia. She surprised us with this move.

"I am with my king. I will be brave. My dad lost his brothers in the Great War and I don't want that again."

Thoron smiles big and shows teeth.

"My family did, too. I was going to say yes to helping regardless just wanted a full story. I'm in."

Rias looked at our determination. She became braver than ever before and extremely attractive to me as she said without hesitation.

"I will help the man who helped me despite our start. I will join."

Akeno smiled, sadistic. My eyes met my cousin's, and she said now with understanding.

"I'll help just tell me what to do."

I rolled my eyes at Akeno before Kiba surprised me.

"I will help because Murayama-chan is correct. There is no honor in that from him. I follow the Omnissiah and get it now. It has helped me with something that was almost gone, and I was putting off. I would like a sword so that I can hear them again properly."

I will, Kiba. Shirone looked directly at me. Her eyes are shame filled.

"I will join for my noble prince, who protects others as he does me, nya. I will prove I am not the past nya."

Shirone got her first real acceptance there from me. I realized something, and it's funny. We just formed Team DXD or this version of it in the Legio Solar. I took this, and I know what to do.This becomes our Oath of Moment. For those in the faith, old and new, we power our deity.

Fallen, hybrids, humans, youkai, and devils united in pursuit of something bigger than us. Despite everything, we want to protect our world and, eventually, more to come. The Machine God witnesses this and says thank you. I tell him now that I am ready fully to be his champion. He smiles and says he will give every single helm I made for the Legio a war mask.

Before I got ready to leave with my peerage, I made the machine for Rias. She was weirded out by the explanation, as was Hetvia and Mittelt. Murayama grumbled that I cheated. I raised an eyebrow and said, while amused.

"You still need practice it just gives you the basics."

Thoron looked intrigued at the machine. Kiba takes his chainsword. He held it, and in just a moment, he smiled at it wistfully. I hear them, too, as does everyone who is in the faith. The spirits of these kids tell me their story alone. It was like canon. Kiba listened to his dead friends in his sword tell me the story. I don't say anything and understand why he is like this. He had let most of it go; he just wanted the right person dead. Not the blade. When I looked at him, I saw that his British accent was out in full force.

"Be a stupid thing to hold onto innit. I held onto that for the longest time but stopped when I remembered the good that was there in the institution. Not just the bad. My sin-feeding helped me there, too. The charity is named after the one who helped me escape it all. She gave her life for me to let one of us make it. I turned that pain towards helping others and I want the right person gone."

A logical Kiba is new and he shrugs before he conjures demonic powers that coat the sword. Issari smiled at Kiba, and it was lustful. He takes that smile and doesn't respond. We prepared to go, and Rias kissed me once again, whispering to me to be safe. I tell her softly to only run on the property because Kokabiel was targeting her for his new plan. Rias said to me softly as the team moved out.

"That explains why Heniya was relieved I was here now. I'll be careful. Please be safe my Lord of Iron."

I surprise her with a kiss of my own before I say back.

"I will my Crimson Princess of Ruin."

I quickly made a flock of servo skulls at the station for Hetvia and Mittelt to run. Hetvia was not put off by the skulls. Instead, they deeply fascinated her. She asked what they were, and I replied that they were robots. A quick explanation is made, and Hetvia is in deep now.

She pesters me with a new found drive to learn robots. I tell her that I'll make more of them and that they can act like familiars. She smiles wide, and Thoron explains.

"She was never strong enough for familiars."

I have a wicked idea.

"I will eventually be making what I call castallan robots. You can be our robot expert, Hetvia. I'll teach you how to use them and make them."

Hetvia seems very keen on this getting a big smile out of Thoron, seeing his friend this happy. Kuroka had gone to get Jeanne with Mittelt when this happened. I noticed that Raynare was excitedly talking with Murayama about stuffed animals. Issari had her armor ready and then said to me with determination.

"Make me a boltgun."

I do along with rounds for her before I warn her.

"They kick hard so aim carefully. Why haven't I seen you much lately? Besides Akeno."

Issari was silent before saying.

"I'm preparing to do upgrades. Senpai knows I need her help with them. I'm doing them this weekend because my parents are out of town for a small vacation. Senpai knows I will hurt and promised me something fun to make it better."

I noticed something. A lock of purple ribbons on Issari's armor near her heart. She caught the look and growled. I know what that is.

"Treat my cousin right, iguana. If you break her heart, I will break every single bone in your body multiple times. Understand."

We immortals watched each other. Issari growled at me with her dragon growl. That startled Hetvia and Thoron. Murayama reassured them it was fine. Finally, my best friend stopped growling.

"I would do it to myself before you. Senpai accepts me and understands I can't help with my gaze. She said it's ours, not mine."

I don't care and shrug.

"Just so you know Pervert."

That got a huff out from Issari.

"You are a machine petter."

We laughed together and was the scene Jeanne walked into with Kuroka and Mittelt. Jeanne looked at the power armor suits alongside the empty suit for her. She grew excited before she grew serious and handed me a tablet, which I read. I gestured at everyone to cluster around me before reading through the tablet and explaining.

"This is Jeanne and Jeanne, this is my peerage. I have your armor ready to go. Now, fair warning to everyone new to this. You will feel weird when you put your helmet on. Don't remove it. Hetvia, you and Mittelt are going to be running our servo skulls and doing overwatch. Kuroka will disguise the skulls as birds so as not to arouse suspicion. Jeanne, where are they located?"

Jeanne took up the role of intel officer well.

"They are located in an old JDF base recently shut down because of funding problems. "

This won't be fun as Jeanne continues.

"The force is mostly rogue exorcists, a few magicians, and a few youkai criminals. The base commander is a six-winged fallen."

Everyone looked worried at exorcists and light guns while Issari shrugged.

"Light guns just use a small amount of holy energy in a regular bullet. They are nothing special, and they won't pierce the armor. The churches don't have a specialized manufacturer to make the rounds. They use bullets bought as cheaply as possible."

Everyone but Kuroka and I looked at her in question and Issari shrugged. I explained.

"The last user of her gear was an exorcist. Meet the Red Dragon Empress."

Jeanne, Mittelt, and the purebloods went wide-eyed. Raynare did something different, looking incredibly sad.

"I'm sorry for them."

Issari turned her brown eyes on Raynare.

"You're not them. I am not going to hold that against you and know that you are not judged by him either."

Raynare smiles as Jeanne gets into her armor amazed at its second-skin nature. With her gear, she makes several swords for herself. The mask is applied for everyone, and they all feel the buildup. My new people look at me in confusion while I shrug.

"We have a patron. Don't remove helms. Jeanne, you want to be behind Murayama. She is our tank and goes in first alongside me. Thoron Jeanne, and Issari are in the middle, while Kuroka and Kiryuu are back. Ray watches our flanks and prove you're the sneakiest pawn ever. Mittelt, you and Hetvia, please call out anything to the rest of us you see with the skulls. Big heavy hitters, especially. Once the fight begins, we will coordinate through what I call a vox. It's a significantly better radio. It's built into your helms and will help this operation. Teamwork here understood?"

Issari replied first and firmly.

"Yes Alpha."

That got agreements from everyone else. Jeanne provided a picture of the base on the tablet. Kuroka and Kiryuu worked together to make the portal for us. When it's open, the other side shows a small ditch next to trees. I went through it first, followed by everyone else.

In the ditch, the skulls fly off to investigate the base, and we immediately see wards. A closer look at them by a skull shows multiple cracks. Kuroka and I, under Issari's guidance, found the worst crack at the edge of the scheme. We applied pressure there and easily broke the stone. The forest around the base was thick, so we could move closer to it without going over rough open ground. Skulls were flown in, and the immediate report from Mittelt and Hetvia confirmed most of the information.

However, there were significantly more exorcists than described, along with six fallen not one. Those were gathered in the main barracks at the back of the base. The skulls are positioned around the base to give a clear 360-degree view. Before we do our helms, Hetvia and Mittelt don't like our new zombie-like state, Jeanne said over the vox with a blank voice.

"What the hell is this?"

I explained to my peerage and Jeanne.

"It's called a war mask. It was made by things that you won't believe at first. Don't worry about us, Mittelt, Hetvia we will be back to normal after they come off."

As we moved toward the fence through the trees, Thoron asked in the same blank voice.

"What made these?"

We were still away from the fence section that was to be our entry point, so I answered him.

"They were made by a species called the Aeldari. They are sort of like elves, arrogant and all-times fifty."

Hetvia asked a question.

"Aeldari? I have never heard of a species called that."

Mittelt was frowning deeply because she said in that same confusion.

"Neither have I. What country are they from?"

I answer the question.

"A place beyond. You will understand soon."

The two skull operators went silent when we hit the fence. I extended my wire cutter mechadendrites and began to cut the wire with ease. Murayama got next to me and prepped her storm shield. Kuroka and Kiryuu prepared their magic while Issari, Jeanne, and Thoron prepared their weapons. Raynare disappeared from sight to start her role.

I was through the fence, and we moved in a line through the hole and out of the shade of the trees towards the row of barracks. We were next to the second old barracks building when we heard movement on the left side of the building. Two voices, a man and woman clearly smoking cigarettes, were heard.

I prepared the boltgun and quickly asked for a feed. Mittelt put a skull close enough to see down the alley, and it's not two people. There are eight. All wore protective gear in a church priest-like style of black and white. The eight were standing around a man with blonde hair carrying a light sword and a gun in the shape of a revolver. On the chest pieces was Kokabiel's emblem. The blonde's comrades also carried those weapons and emblem. I prepared a bolt. Then, let the skull get its tiny flash bang launcher ready. I took control of the skull, cutting the feed for the two others, and opened the fight.

Throwing a flash bang from the skull, and the grenade immediately hit the floor before going off. The sudden light shocked the exorcists before I quickly entered the alley and fired three rounds.

All three find marks and the three men hit explode into pieces. The barks confused their ranks with the sound of the rounds exploding. Kiryuu throws an ice bolt and kills another exorcist with a headshot. The sound of the body hitting the floor. Two of the exorcists attempted to draw guns while still blind. One fired off a round from the gun, and it pings off my right arm.

That makes a woman shout out.

"Foes get to cover!"

The exorcists remaining try to find said cover but two more explode from bolt shells fired by me. The last two try desperately to do something. One goes down cooked by Kuroka. The last one runs towards the other end of the alley. Only to go still as claws extend out of his stomach. They were then ripped apart by Raynare coming into sight before vanishing again after the kill. The sound of the explosions from the rounds brought more people to us.

Twenty exorcists and three magicians, by the looks of their robes, ran toward us from another building across the open parade grounds. They had guns and swords out. The skull moves above us, and then flash bangs are fired at them, causing shrieking from the foes as they are attacked by what looks like a bird. We move as one down the alleyway. I give orders to the peerage via Vox while we get ready to fight. Murayama is in the front, with Jeanne and Thoron behind her shield. Issari and I take the middle. Kiryuu begins a spell, while Kuroka throws a nasty-looking spell past the melee people, and the spell slams into a magician. He stops running and begins to cough up his organs. Blood spills out of him, coating the ground.

Kiryuu throws her spell at that moment. The blood freezes, making the foes slip and slide. Badly shot bullets start pinging off us, and spells hit Murayama's shield. Mittelt calls out to me, a magician powering up. I fired a shot at the magician, who was preparing to throw barriers around her comrades. The shot missed and kept flying away to explode four seconds later.

Jeanne formed her swords and threw two into a foe. The foe blocked the first blade with their sword, while the second took a leg, making him go down screaming. Gunfire and spells flying around this area intensified in strength with each passing second. I gave an order.

A magician froze before being ripped apart by Raynare. That confusion let our people enter melee. Murayama swings her blade, cracking it before said blade cuts an arm off a foe, they go down screaming like the one-leg man. Three exorcists charge our tank to slice at her with swords gleaming in the sunlight.

Jeanne kills one with a sword while Thoron stabs with his spear, and the spear goes through the woman. It was a clean kill as she toppled boneless to the ground. Murayama slammed her shield into the final man, and he flew backward. Smashing into a magician, he sent him to the ground with his comrade before both died to swords from Jeanne.

Issari shot a round from her gun, advancing forward with me. She said boost, and the shot tore through a foe before entering another enemy. The second man exploded and showered their comrades in gore. While the first fell to the ground with a massive hole in his chest. The two actions make the final magician back up in fear. He runs shouting out to a communication spell.

"We are under attack and need reinforcements! Unknown forces are tearing us apart!"

I blow his guts open with them flying out onto the ground. As each minute passes, the fighting slows as the enemy dies or attempts to run. By the end, only two foes are alive both badly wounded. They die to a sword from Jeanne and an ice bolt from Kiryuu. We all move up towards the next line that the base has set up.

That line was set up by exorcists with submachine guns that immediately opened fire on us, and there was little cover here on the grounds. Kiryuu prepared a spell while Kuroka summoned earth walls to give us cover. I take control of a skull behind the enemy wall perched on a roof before firing its launcher. A frag grenade flew out and into the middle of the line. It exploded with multiple screams being heard. The gunfire lessened, allowing us to move forward again.

Raynare popped two exorcists with her claws before hiding once again. She was going after targets called out by us all very bad potential foes. When she popped a very determined magician that had been ready to throw an electrical storm at us, that's when we finally get supernatural creatures appearing. Three fallen angels, each with four wings. They were leading more exorcists and magicians out to fight us. The angels take off as soon as they exit the base's command center. Issari kicked her jet pack on, extending her metal wings and holstering her boltgun while getting her chainsword on. The loud roars made several exorcists look at the spinning teeth in pure horror and fear. They began to back away from the fight.

I help the air battle by blowing a hole through a fallen man. His guts dropped onto the exorcists below him. The other two fallen are in shock, allowing Issari to close the distance with a boost and slice at a fallen. I fire another shot at an exorcist who seems to be the commander. She dodged, and the round exploded once it hit the wall. Showering the back foes in concrete, wounding several.

Kiryuu unleashed her gear along with magic at Kuroka's direction. A freezing cold hits the exorcists, with many shivering. Another grenade is launched with two legs blown off the shivering foes flying up into the air. This gets Jeanne and the others to the line. Swipes from swords and a spear take limbs and we are cleaning them up fast. The exorcists here were not coordinating well. Each was fighting like an individual despite their commander being former military. She desperately tried to get her people to fight better by snarling orders to them in a very pissed-off Spanish accent, but they ignored her. We are fighting like a machine. The skulls, along with the masks, are helping us push them back towards the barracks.

A body tumbles into the ground. A fallen, missing their arms and head. That head lands on an exorcist who shrieked out, throwing the head randomly away. It hits the still-living commander, who tumbles forward onto Thoron's spear, right through the spine. The fight was fierce, but the few exorcists left ran into the building in pure fear of us. Especially from the roaring chainsword.

Issari roars boost making her roaring sword go through the fallen's chest. The woman gushes blood out of her mouth before being kicked off the sword. The body tumbles onto the ground. Kuroka summoned clones that went off to burn the bodies we had killed. Issari lands with her jets clicking off.

Fighting strays had been worse than this. This was just a slaughter. Murayama advanced into the building with her shield facing forward with myself to her right. Issari to the left. My axe is roaring, as is the sword from Issari. I asked Mittelt through the vox.

"How many are inside the building, and how many exits?"

Mittelt answered with a professional tone. That also contains a hint of fear.

"Ten. From the scans, three fallen, four Youkai, and the three exorcists who ran. Two exits have skulls watching them. You guys are fast and are ripping them apart. I don't want to get on your bad side."

I say to Mittelt as we go down a hallway.

"You probably won't."

In the building, we don't immediately hit resistance. Hundreds of black feathers stopped our push down the hallway toward the command center, along with bullets and spells flying toward us. Murayama puts her shield straight into the ground. It absorbs most of the attacks, with the clacking of feathers hitting the shield. My body takes the other half of the feathers, having been in the front. One extremely sharp feather pierced into my right leg kneecap. It almost got through the first layer.

Issari snarled boost, flying down the hall past us through the hail of feathers. She swiped at something, getting the feathers to lessen. I moved up, seeing our foes.

The three fallen are angry. One is dueling Issari with a light sword while throwing feathers at her. The other two are behind the first, with three monkey youkai and a kitsune. He is the magician, while the monkeys all have gleaming swords. Behind them are three badly shaken humans. They are backing away from us while the supernatural advances.

I prepare to go for the base commander. The six-winged fallen is pissed off horrendously. She summoned a wicked-looking light maul that had jagged spikes. I extended my mechadendrites with all the swords turning on simultaneously. The roars make the other fallen nervously twitch. The monkeys lost control of their tails, hearing the roars. The fox man was about to throw a spell at me when an icicle hit him through the skull from the ceiling, putting the fox on the ground dead.

Jeanne moves with Thoron towards the monkeys, who now don't like this fight. The humans stopped firing and ran now with pure fear. Kuroka cooks one as he runs. The other two are about to flee completely when the six-winged fallen throw light spears into them. The spears pin the humans to the wall, and they die there. I give an order to Murayama and Thoron.

"Clean up the monkeys with Jeanne. Kuroka, Kiryuu, I need a fallen alive. I have plans for them."

Not a servitor at first but a source of ground information. Issari was still dueling the fallen man while this happened. We started the push forward with Kuroka and Kiryuu preparing a spell together to try for the third fallen or the commander. The monkeys looked nervously at us before one tried to start something by picking off hairs and summoning clones that went down the hallway toward us. Jeanne kills a clone with a thrown sword. The clone pops into a cloud of smoke.

The two other clones slammed into Murayama and Thoron, clanging and clattering swords off the armor. Thoron sliced with his spear, popping a clone, while Murayama bashed a clone with the shield. It, too, popped while the fallen snarled at the reluctant monkeys.

"Fight, or I will kill you myself. Now!"

That doesn't make them move. A bolt shot makes them even more reluctant when the center one explodes from the bolt. The two left alive eye each other than us. Before they pushed up to fight us. Thoron immediately engaged a monkey, getting his spear cracking in its preparation. Jeanne makes a new sword, a roaring chainsword. The ghost blade is thrown at the other youkai.

He dodged it. He was now extremely nervous about fighting us. He finally hoots out to us over the swords roaring.

"Bitch I'm not dying to these people!"

He runs fast away from us towards a side hall. Kiryuu throws a spell that is a massive, weighted net aimed at the commander. But the monkey man takes the net and goes down, shrieking from the net. The base commander smiles before dodging the next net. She prepares to kill the coward. I get a poke from the Machine God and the Shinto. I give an order.

"Murayama guard the youkai."

My knight speeds off, planting her shield in front of the downed monkey. Raynare finally makes an appearance and does her strike. Ripping off wings from the commander. The woman screams at the loss of wings, which allows nets to hit her. The nets shocked the fallen and knock her out. She screams till that happens. Her comrade tries to help his commander, leaving himself open for Jeanne. A roaring chainsword goes through his chest, making the man fall to the ground. Thoron finishes his fight with a swipe that takes the monkey man's legs and then ends him with a downward slash into his guts. Issari snarls out boost.

The blow cuts the fallen in half vertically, with the halves falling to the ground. The fight was over now. I give orders to everyone.

"Clean bodies up. Mittelt and Hetvia move skulls into the buildings to search for stragglers and/or information. Raynare, do your loot finding. Kuroka, pack up that fallen I need to practice for him. Everyone else, take a breather. Good job."

Swords go off, letting the youkai's whimpering be heard as he hears boots move around him. I move towards him with Jeanne and Thoron. Murayama is still over the monkey man. Her shield has hundreds of scratches on it, along with feathers. I move towards the face of the youkai and get a proper look at him.

He was young, around seventeen. Brown, black fur covering him with his face, showing his youth with baby fat still there. His grey eyes were wide, and he shook, hearing the boots of my armor clacking on the floor. I want to know why the Shinto insisted he be left alive. I removed my face plate, breaking the war mask. The young youkai looks up at me. The rebreather on still making my voice more intimidating, I demand from him with my red eyes peering heartlessly into his grey.

"Your name. Now."

The teen shakes more than ever, hearing how heartless I am. He stammered out sputtering.

"Irkou… what the hell are you all!"

Kiryuu moved into my vision. Ice formed around this hallway, making his shiver worse. I studied the monkey teen again. I gave an order to Kiryuu.

"Ease on the ice. As for you, Irkou, we are the Warriors of Mars. Now tell me why I shouldn't kill you for helping a disgusting pig crow."

The ice goes away. Irkou looked up at me in fear. He looks bone white in terror before saying in a shaking voice.

"I didn't have a choice. It was this or go back to Kyoto to get killed by a crazy fuck."

I'm not impressed. Neither is anyone else, even with the helms on; I can see that by their body language. Irkou was silent for several minutes before he said in a whisper.

"Please let me go, Mars man. I didn't do anything wrong."

I narrow my eyes at him.

"You're here helping fucks that want a second Great War. That's more than enough to be considered doing wrong."

I extend my mechadendrites with the swords. Irkou froze seeing them. I activated one. Saying as he sweats seeing the teeth move.

"You have three chances to justify your life to me. You used one. Try again."

Irkou sweats more than ever as the sword comes closer. He tried again.

"I can give you a connection to a god! My ancestor is one, and he wouldn't want me dead!"

The sword approaches him, along with three more coming out and on.

"I have connections to multiple gods. I don't need yours. Last chance."

That finally got him shrieking out in fear.

"I know of a plot to kill Lady Yasaka of Kyoto! I beg you, please spare me!"

I keep the swords near him.

"Talk."

Irkou began babbling out his fear.

"I was hired before this to scout the palace of the Lady! I did that without hesitation the money was good! The client asked for guard scheduling and ward strengths! I did everything I was asked to do!"

I asked now in a bit of curiosity.

"Who hired you? If the money was good, why are you here working for crows."

Irkou shakes.

"A human hired me! He was older than me by a few years. I'm here because that asshat double-crossed me! He tried to kill me after the job was done and has been hunting me since! I ran here because the crows promised me protection from him! I thought I was safe till you fucks came here! What the fuck kind of group like yours is so damn brutal!"

I smile smirk here.

"A group that is tired of shits that abuse people. You are scum for helping a fuck that gassed ten thousand people in subway tunnels along with helping someone prepare to kill Lady Yasaka, a representative of the Shinto. I think you are done."

The monkey man shakes hearing my swords roaring. I put my face plate back on. The teen begged for his life.

"Let me go I told you a reason! I didn't know they did that with the incident I'm not them!"

I am ready for the kill. The Shinto, however, stopped me saying that he needs to live because of Sun Wu Kong. They want him dead, too, but the fighting Buddha is too powerful for them to fight right now, and with the possible civil war with the Clans, they are down half their needed manpower to fight his people. I growl internally before I cut the net reluctantly.

Irkou had closed his eyes, fearing the end. When the net is cut, I snarl at him through my rebreather.

"Get the fuck out of my sight. You're lucky to escape me now. Help the crows again, and you die next time."

The monkey teen jumped off the floor and ran. I hate that he got away. The Brigade might be getting ready for Yasaka, or someone else might be preparing to try. Murayama shakes her head.

"He's a rat."

Kiryuu makes the ice disappear completely, and I shrug my shoulders.

"He is and I hope they get him. The only reason he's alive is because of Sun Wu Kong otherwise, I'd end him. Are you good, Murayama-chan?"

My knight replied with a bland voice.

"I will be when I get the helm off. It's so weird being in three different places at once. The Aeldari must have been extremely strange to come up with something like this."

I snort as Thoron asked now.

"Where are these Aeldari from? That's been bothering me so much since we started."

Thoron and Jeanne waited for the answer. She had been silent till now, listening to me with the monkey. Seeing the looks I begin my tale.

"They are a species of aliens that very likely exist beyond our solar system. The mask was designed to counteract their extremely powerful emotions. Yes, I said alien. It's a long story and I have proof that I will share."

The tale was told to an astonished trio of people. Mittelt had been the hardest disbeliever for it till she saw Koriel. Hetvia was fascinated completely by the tale listening in amazement, imagining forge worlds. Thoron focuses heavily on foes. Ork, Eldar, and more feed his very obvious sin of being a lust-based battle fanatic. Jeanne had believed first when her voices supported me. Her dreams of Knights made her friends with Murayama quickly. Mittelt had, after everything was told, said to us here in this ditch.

"That's why the tech is fully formed and why it's so easy to repair. It's from another reality."

Mittelt looked at Koriel in her robes, which we all wear. Jeanne looked at her armor in amazement. Her blue eyes were dark, and she imagined a place with the God Machines and her knights. Hetvia had finally said something.

"I wish to be like them in The Legio Cybernetica. Making robots in service to the red planet."

Hetvia and I bonded when I learned that she had always wanted Mars, too. She and Thoron had been taught better than Rias and didn't have pure disbelief hearing humans had gone to Mars via robots. Hetvia has eyes that have Mars in the center. I tell Mittelt now, along with everyone else.

"I plan to make a device, Mittelt, that I would like your help in. It's called the Akashic Reader. With it, we can pull technology from multiple realities thanks to the warp and from multiple species in our home reality, too. Yes, we would be getting a finished product however, we can work backward until we understand how it works."

Everyone looks in awe when they think about that. Mittelt had greed in her eyes. She looked again at Koriel. My sis smiled softly, her cybernetic eyes in pride. My mutation pawn immediately committed to this.

"I will help you there. This will surpass anything we have ever made in all history."

I smiled there at my mood kindred.

"We three will have the credit for building this as will everyone else in the peerage who helps in this job. We will make my dad's invention look like nothing compared to this."

That made everyone in the Warriors of Mars look wide-eyed. Jeanne was in awe, and Issari had been her horny lizard self, sitting next to the blonde swordswoman. Jeanne had noticed immediately that the pervert was hyper-focused on her. She hadn't seemed offended and simply gave the Red Dragon Empress a smile of a challenge which was returned.

Hetvia is committed fully now.

"I will help you here. Just tell me what to do, but please make me more robots. I want them!"

That was said with pure eagerness in her voice. Thoron smiled, seeing the enthusiasm there.

"Give me fights against stronger foes, and you have my eternal support. I want to be like the space marines!"

The mood rose sharply after that, for this and other reasons. The base had a vast treasure chest of loot. Money that was being brought in for future operations by the cadre to hire mercenaries. That was split between everyone. Jeanne was surprised by her and the share for Conner and Kalawarna. I told her they had helped with this, so they got money. As well as back payments from the Legio to our personnel. She was eager to help me more by speaking to me privately as we were preparing everything for extraction.

"Conner was extremely worried about me doing fieldwork. He wanted me to continue doing background work because of the effects killing has had on him. I live on the floor below them in the building, and I still hear him screaming in the night sometimes despite the spells they use. However with the mask, I don't remember anything I did. I'll tell him that to reassure him. I want to do more fieldwork for Legio. Teach me the skulls, and I'll prep bases with them to gather information."

I felt bad for Conner before I made Jeanne her skulls and the operation manual on how to run them. I stepped through the portal that Kiryuu opened for us last. Everyone else had passed through it with big smiles on their faces at this operation going as smoothly as it had.

Money is paid out to everyone equally. Kiryuu goes pure greedy, and she invites Hetvia and Thoron out for a shopping spree. Issari bounces and joins them, as does Raynare, who brags she will get more stuffed animals for her growing horde. Jeanne leaves her armor here at the station next to the other power armor suits. Mittelt said to me, with greed in her voice, that she would get back to research but was excited to start on the reader. I informed her.

"We need to increase the power amount from the current power equipment so that when we build the bigger ones, we can immediately improve on them. The power needed for the reader will be extensive. You work on that side, and Koriel can move forward with another aspect of it. We will work in sections to get this made slowly."

Mittel smiled and immediately promised she would devote her time to that. She eagerly skipped off, excited to have this goal.

Kuroka looked at me and asked what I would be doing with our prisoner. I said to her, as the second-to-last person Murayama left for her dojo search with Katase.

"She is a shit person. He told me that. I'm going to pump her for information and then make her a servitor."

My brave cat kissed my cheek, knowing me. She left me to go home and, in her own words, take a good nap. I went to where we had put our prisoner.

That was in an old bathroom. In the center of it, with a single torch on the back wall, the fallen was strapped down on a metal slab connected to machines to help keep her alive regardless of my next moves. I put my helm and rebreather on again. Before I slapped her awake. The fallen shrieks and her brown eyes are bloodshot. She looked around the room quickly before she focused on me. She glared at me through her light purple hair.

"Fuck you I won't say anything! You pissed off the wrong person, you shit stain!"

I broke her left hand with a punch from my armored hand. She screamed loudly, but it wouldn't get out. A noise damper machine and spell up for my torture pit. I say to the fallen after she stopped the worst of the screaming.

"I don't care who I pissed off. Rabid dogs have no right to kill without fear of consequences. Now answer my questions, or I'll break every single limb of yours. The more you stall, the worse it gets. Now, how many fallen do you know of in the cadre?"

The woman stopped screaming but remained defiant. I broke her left foot by slamming my boot onto it. The bones breaking in it makes her scream again. I repeat my question. She whimpered but spat at me.

"Fuck you. You risk fighting the Angel of the Stars. We have most of Grigori on our side. You will die soon, bastard."

I broke her left kneecap. I was saying with a bland voice right in her face.

"My parents were happily married, Crow. I'll break him like how I'm breaking you. Answer the question. If you continue stalling, I have a fate worse than death for you."

The fallen whimpers in pure pain. Two bones are jutting out of her foot black like her wings. I take no pleasure in this session and she stalls once more by calling me a bitch. I broke the leg totally. She screamed again loudly as I tell her again, using the bland voice you use when discussing the weather.

"No one can hear you scream crow. It's just you and me in here. Your comrades are dead. Your intelligence from the base is mine. Keep stalling, I dare you. Do you want to know what I will do to you in the end if you stall too much?"

The fallen whimpers more than ever. I began to describe what I would do to her in slow, agonizing detail, going over every single detail to the micro level. She grew bone white hearing her possible fate.

"Experiments are needed for science fallen. I know the theory of making them, but I still need to know the actual process. I'll probably make many mistakes on you. Talk, and this gets easier for you. Don't, and I keep breaking your bones in your limbs before I replace them with machinery. I am debating making you into a cleaner or into a new thing. Flesh is weak fallen. This is your choice. Talk, or that is your fate. I'm fifty-fifty on you right now, leaning towards the crueler half."

The fallen looked into my helms red eyes. She whimpered out in pain, trying to buy time.

"God will look on you with disgust. I was made by a being of light. You're risking damnation if you take that action!"

I removed my rebreather. My lower half is now in her eyesight.

"I'm dammed already fallen, I did that to myself. He isn't my God. My God agrees with me that beings like you deserve that. They are not here to save you. Your boss or Lord Almighty. You're not a creature of light. Creatures of light don't gas people in subways when they are going to work. Going to pick up their children and doing things that are normal. Your boss did that to them. You dammed yourself by helping him. He's a monster. I'm the monster that kills monsters. I am the monster that will make you into my servant. I'll have you slave away in a burning hot forge using nothing but your bare hands picking up bars of steel. You will remember just enough of who you were before that. To have no mouth and must scream. Talk. Time is precious fallen you're wasting mine."

I extended my mechadendrites and activated the swords. The fallen finally broke when I moved to cut off her broken leg.

"Seven hundred fallen! That's how many we have!"

I smile and bring the sword backward. I ask my next question.

"How many bases are you aware of?"

The woman was weeping in pure shame.

"Seven bases."

The interrogation continued for another hour. Sound recording devices kicked on before the confession recording the process of becoming a servitor and after for collecting the information. When it was over, I made my first servitor and stuffed it in a pocket spell.

Cao Cao looked at the corpse of the monkey youkai that had long escaped from his forces. The monkey had run into him and three others in a town an hour from his last hiding place.The youkai told the young, reincarnated hero a fascinating story of a group that fought like a well-oiled machine and was extremely deadly. They had killed six fallen, fifty exorcists, ten magicians, and three youkai.

According to the rat, the leader of the group appeared completely human. He and his people used many dangerous weapons, including guns that made you explode and swords that roared like chainsaws. They had armor that withstood horrendous amounts of damage. He was intrigued by this group. If true, they could be extremely useful for his faction. Cao Cao wanted to meet these Warriors of Mars. He was deep in thought in the old building where they had caught the rat when the sound of footsteps came from his right. Then a voice.

"Glad we tied that up, boss. He escaped me multiple times in the past few weeks. I didn't want our cover blown to Grigori by attacking the crows."

Cao Cao shrugged at the voice's owner.

"I don't fault you, Hercules. People can keep believing you're an idiot. They don't see you playing that up to make them underestimate you. I want you to, when done here, take five of our people and investigate this base the ape told of me. He told an extremely interesting story. We might have found a potentially dangerous group of recruits."

Hercules wasn't going to question his boss. He was used to being the groundwork man. Everyone thought Georg was the second in their faction as Georg was the inventor and the one who made everything for them. Hercules let people believe that.

"I'll do so. The lizard is getting uppity again and demanded from me a status report for our plan. I told her to talk to you. Why are we putting up with them?"

Cao Cao answered his question with a simple shrug, getting his long black hair to curl on his shoulders.

"They are gathering up all the scum. When we are fully prepared, we can turn on all of them and make the world safer. We all swore to do that. I don't want the world to be like it is now where they get away with their crap."

Hercules understands immediately. Let the mice come out of the woodwork to the bait of power that the lizard is offering. Then, chop off their heads all at once. Be what they truly represented.

"Noted, and I'll let the inner circle know that. Fredrick is just worried we are betraying our goal with helping the OSF and Nilrem. As a reincarnation of Fredrick the Great, he doesn't think too hard about stuff, unlike his first self."

That was said with a sigh of dismay from Hercules. Cao Cao understood. When he had recruited Fredrick, he hoped that the past him would have been there more. It wasn't there. Just an angry young man who was highly aggressive. Why others in the faction flocked to Fredrick was a mystery that Cao Cao couldn't get. He was brutish and a boar with no sense of strategy or forward thinking. Just pure brute force aggression. Cao Cao wished he had convinced the reincarnation of Joan of Arc to join. She was sensible and had a good head for teamwork. Instead, he got Fredrick. Cao Cao didn't begrudge the Maid of France for saying no. When he gets into his element of his dislike of the supernatural world, Cao Cao admits he comes off badly sometimes. That had just been one of those times.

Cao Cao replied to Hercules.

"Thank you. I know he is troublesome. Before you leave, get me Stanly. I will have him dig into the possible recruits and see what else he turns up."

Hercules nods and prepares to do his orders. His metal boots clank as he leaves the room. Cao Cao looked at the corpse again before he burned it. The Warriors of Mars. That name was strange but the supernatural world was that, too. Cao Cao wanted a better world and not the one they had now. The past was always with him as he remembered his family again and how they suffered from this world. It needed to be better. For them here and the ones unborn. The young man leaves the room that now holds nothing but ash. A hero's work was never done.