Last Rewards

After everything was finished, their food portions eaten and the fires exhausted by their wills, Castiel waved his hand and magically stored away his cooking utensils back into his little pocket dimension. This was the fate of the portions Castiel had been intending to give to his comrades and teachers back in the Tower too, already he could imagine Saber and Berserker salivating at such delicious meat being handed to them on a silver platter. It had been enough to make Castiel chuckle in amusement, ignoring the confused looks that Nico sent his way.

Shaking his head, Nico pocketed his hands in his Trench Coat before looking up to the skies above. His eyes carried a melancholic gleam to them as memories of the trials flashed through his mind like a fast-paced movie. "Whelp... looks like we've finally cleared all this shit. The last trial's been completed." he stated, already seeing the massive 'MISSION ACCOMPLISHED' drawn in the skies with smoke. To be frank, part of him almost didn't believe that this was real, that there would be some 'surprise, bitch!' moment where thy would have to complete over 1000 trials or something as trollish. It sounded like something that crazy old timer would do anyways.

"Pretty much, yeah. Not long now before we can get back, but first we gotta choose our rewards for this Trial." Castiel stated as screens appeared before them, full of different items that could be rewarded for them. If any were to ask, he would say that he kind of understood the feeling coursing through Nico right now, as he felt it too. Now, at long last, they had FINALLY cleared the trials that they had been tasked to complete. Gaining all sorts of different goodies from someone who would be classed as, quite literally, a 'multiverser'. He almost couldn't contain himself with the inevitable reunion with the girls he so dearly treasured. To him, none of these treasures were as important to him as them. In his eyes, the girls along with anyone who ends up being lead by him, were worth everything to him. Castiel felt like his father would have been similar to this method of thinking, from what he had learned of him from his teachers.

Turning to his companion, Nico formed a question in his mind that he asked soon after, a curious glimmer in his light blue orbs. "You think that these rewards would be in higher quality now that we've cleared the last trial? You know, like in games where you get really good rewards for beating the final boss?" he queried before shifting his gaze over to the screen. Thanks to his question, Nico had a harder time choosing which kind of reward would come from this. It didn't help that his overly cautious nature was acting up right now, either.

Castiel however, had already thought of this possibility. He wasn't an idiot who played no games in his life and instead masturbated to anime porn all his life. If he had, then his teachers would have had something to say, and THAT thought had been enough to fill him with dread. "No doubt on my mind that this will be the case." he stated, cupping his chin as he gazed down the list of rewards with a calculating glimmer in his mismatched irises. "Knowing uncle Zelretch, he likely saved the best for last since he likes to mess with people that way. People, but not games. He loves how creative people could be." the Heir explained. 'All these rewards seem quite good, and I can only imagine how beneficial they could be for myself, my comrades or the Tower. But since I can only choose one, I'll have to pick carefully.'

"I guess so..."

"Yooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, what is UP everybody?! How's it shakiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin'?!"

All of a sudden, whilst they deliberated on which reward to choose from, both boys suddenly heard the loud, boisterous for the 'gamemaster' of this little dimension. Both of them rolled their eyes in unison, before looking over to where it originated from to see the familiar smug grinning face belonging to Zelretch. The only thing was, he was dressed like a thug with a massive bat in his hand which says 'put me up an emo's ass!' whilst having WAY too many ornaments draped over his outfit. Not only that, but he had several large women holograms doing the hula-hula in tight police outfits.

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"... #GROAN#, hey there Uncle Zelretch/Zelretch."

Seeing this man enter the level like this, both Nico and Castiel exhaled with irritated groans, addressing the man before them whose smug grin only widened at their emotional responses. One thing they likely would NOT miss from these Trials, would be having to deal with the 'creative' entrances this man made all the damn time. Fortunately, he hadn't done too many of them throughout their stay here so they could leave with their sanity somewhat intact. Though, neither of them dared to push their luck in this case.

'I wonder what he would do if he met Slaanesh…'

'Please no, this troll and the prince of pleasure? Fucking hell, that'd be a nightmarish pairing if I ever saw one...'

Whilst Nico shuddered at the thought of Zelretch in cohorts with one of the more... sensual of the Chaos Gods, Castiel looked over to his uncle and questioned him about their recent topic of discussion. Always better to have confirmation than just assumption after all. "Hey Uncle, are these rerewards greater in quality now that we're at the end of your trials?"

At this, the old Vampire chuckled with a nod of the head. "Yup, since you both beat the boss, I saved the best rewards for last." Zelretch replied, finally confirming both their thoughts as he gestured to the Heir. "Take a look at the G section, I'm petty sure you'll like what you will find there." he suggested thoughtfully, though with that smirk on his face, it painted him as a mischievous trickster.

"Well, at least there are a lot of good options." Castiel commented as he saw many things that would be great for him. One thing in special caught his eyes as an idea flashed through his head but he'd need more information over what it would entail to know if it would really be worth it or not.

"Oh yeah, just before you go off on the deep end with your thoughts, kid, look at the rewards. There should be something that is QUITE fitting for this situation we're in. I'll leave it up to you to figure out what it is." Zelretch stated offhandedly after Castiel gained his stuff, catching Nico's attention.

What did that guy mean by that? That question repeatedly flew around Nico's brain, waiting to be answered. As such, the redhead looked at the variour rewards, searching through them with rapt attention. Each item he examined, Nico would review what he knew about them, ruling out those he had nothing on and considering the ones he did. However, this only happened for like 4 minutes, before his eyes landed on something that REALLY caught his eye.

'Primal Twin - A clone of the original user which forms when the original places half their soul within a vessel made from the solid manifestation of a primordial element. The Primal Twin is a second body which can communicate with the original over any distance, be it in alternate dimensions or universes, whilst also being able to grow in power alongside the original. A Primal Twin can fight alongside the user once strong enough, but once created the user will have to spent some time to restore their weakened Soul to its previous condition. Should the Primal Twin die, it will not impact the user too much, for they will merely need to split their soul into a proper vessel in order to make another one. Unfortunately, vessels for Primal Twins are rare, thus losing Primal Twins is not considered a wise strategy. Hmmm, interesting...'

After reciting what he read about the technique in his mind, Nico's brain whirred with thoughts, plans and ideas around this ability. He could honestly see how this could benefit him greatly, especially if he could have this clone reach his own level after restoring his Soul back to normal (Soul Edge would help there, alongside his Archdevil Arms). He could use this Primal Twin to explore the countless Hellgates and venture across dozens of Demon World, wrecking untold having behind enemy lines whilst unleashing the full might of a Multi-Continent Class DPU. They'd still be able to communicate between one another like Biko, his Ghoul Persona and himself. Being in multiple places at once definitely sounded like a powerful tactic, one powerhouse would do tons of damage, MULTIPLE powerhouses however...

There was indeed a downside though, for one this Primal Twin wouldn't be very useful in getting stronger, they'd be like two separate people in that respect. If he DID want to use it for training, then he'd have to make it powerful enough so that it could count as a sparring partner, and then train that way. Not to mention its physical strength wouldn't be very good so close combat training would not be feasible. Additionally, it would seem that making a Primal Twin continuously if he kept losing them, wouldn't exactly be doing his Soul any favors, and considering how he had the biggest weakness to Soul attacks... yeah.

In the end though, weighing the pros and cons against one another, Nico eventually decided to go for it, but first he needed some information. Information which Zelretch expected him to ask him about judging by the look on his face right now. "... Could I possibly have the resources needed to make one alongside the technique? I'd like to make a Primal Twin, but in my own time."

"Sure, kid..."

After Nico was done Castiel moved to his uncle.

"Uncle Zelretch, I have a question for you."

"Sure, as long as it isn't my three sizes I can answer anything." Zelretch said, Castiel's bows twitched slightly but he quickly stoped that.

"Can you help me identify everything I collected?" he said. Honestly speaking he caught so many things during this last mission that he honestly didn't know over half of them, a interesting but terrifying prospect for sure as Castiel had too much knowledge when compared to most others.

"Oh, that? Sure, let me see them." Zelretch said as Castiel opened the pouch he had obtained on the first trial. AS he took out hundreds of items Zelretch and Nico sweatdropped seeing this.

'The hell!? You foodie, why did you even snag the dirt?' both thought as lots of mud and earth were removed from the pouch.

Ignoring that Zelretch started to explain everything Castiel had obtained. The more Castiel heard the more he made connections with some of the stuff he heard in the Alchemist God's Grand Canon, and the more excited he got. With what he had and with enough time he would be able to create divine medicine that would make him and his friends much stronger and some are also good to help pass by bottlenecks like the one between the Ultimate and Super classes.

However, the best part was when Zelretch explained a final detail to him.

"These three are called Spiritual Stoves. They are items that would reside in your soul and evolve with you as time passes, the one in the right is called Saitn Spiritual Stove and has an ability called Pull that forces an enemy into focusing exclusively on the user regardless of what is going on around him. The other is called Spiritual Stove of the Demonic Darkness, it is a dark element spiritual stove which is not harmful or overbearing which is comparatively rare amongst the element, the characteristic is that you can take the blood of someone who has some specific way of using darkness and copy its effect, the more blood used the larger the duration of the copy. The final one is called Spiritual Stove of Lights Blessings, a light-based Spiritual Stove that can create a barrier around the user with a radius of 10 meters, those inside this will not only be protected but also helps them and you in recover all energy twenty times the normal speed they would if resting properly." Zelretch explained, making Castiel's jaw drop.

But it was the next thing that Zelretch explained that made it truly shocked Castiel's system. "And this one here is called Lifeseizer Flower, it is a very dangerous item and must be used only as a last resort. If you pour energy into it directly until it is filled completely it will bloom and when it does anything below a certain level will be instantly killed no matter how formidable they might be. It is an item to use when there is no other option as it kills everything on an area of several kilometers without regard to anything else, even the user will be killed if he is too close when the flower blooms."

As Castiel heard this he had one very simple thought on his head. 'Hell no, I don't want to carry the equivalent to a nuclear bomb around, fuck no.' As he thought until this point he turned to Nico and threw said flower to him.

"Huh?"

"Hey, you said your world is in trouble, right? Wars everywhere and things like that, so this might help on desperate circumstances. But, I'd advise you to get a Clone Technique before using it as I don't think you would be truly of the suicidal-type."

Deciding to ignore whatever talk Nico was having with himself Castiel decided on what he wanted. Actually, it was not that hard to choose considering everything.

"I want this." He said pointing at an item that made Zelretch raise an eyebrow to.

"Hoh, to think you would want a pill furnace of all things. Any specific reason for it?" Zelretch commented.

"Simple, this pill furnace was great enough to be on this list and I want to make the best use of all these herbs and the Alchemist God Grand Canon I obtained earlier and this should help me towards it." Castiel explained.

"Well, I can't deny that one. Especially since this pill furnace is quite special indeed, it has been used to create tens of thousands of medicines and just the aura around it makes any pill created through it much easier to make and of higher quality, not to forget that it has absorbed the fire sources of hundreds of different types of flames throughout the multiverse and can release flames that would not lose out to the ones used by the Phoenix or True Dragons like Great Red. Truly a good choice." Zelretch said nodding approvingly.

In the end this option would lead to the highest rewards in time, he had much to learn about alchemy and fire control but with this pill furnace and the Alchemy God Grand Canon in hands he was sure he would become great in time.

Now that both boys had their own rewards completed, each of them took a moment to reflect on what they had gained, comparing it to what they started with when they began these trials (albeit against their wills).

Needless to say, they felt OH so glad they had.

On Castiel's side, he found this to be the PERFECT place to get stronger in order to better protect the Tower and his precious comrades. He got items and powers for them, as well as for himself. If he hadn't come here, then there would have been absolutely ZERO chance that he would have achieved this kind of result so quickly. The Tohsaka Tower had many enemies in his world, enemies which had already made their moves against them. Therefore, someone like him would need to get stronger as well as make his forces as strong as possible too. Heck, he'd even managed to solve some of his body's own internal problems, a MAJOR plus in his book. Sure there were things that he hadn't gained much progress on if at all, like the hero seed, but he wasn't too worried there. To him, it felt like he was a weakened lion, finally regaining the strength it had long since lost after a period of humiliation, and now would be to re-assert its dominance once again.

As for Nico, the redhead couldn't help but feel like lady luck had decided to cut him some slack for once. Even though Zelretch merely brought him here on a whim, Nico couldn't help but revel in the benefits it had brought him. The skills added to his arsenal aside, he had already gained a few insights in how to improve his skills further, not to mention he had gained answers to the problems plaguing his mind recently. Though, some of those answers seemed harder to comprehend than others, especially the ones revolving around the girls he was with. Though, Nico felt like he'd be able to come to his own conclusion with them if he pondered on it some more... hopefully. Gaining another Archdevil Arm, testing the abilities of his Dual Pistols, gaining anew Spirit Bone, and all the stuff which happened to him on these Trials really opened the doors to him. It was like a sleeping demon had finally awoken from its long slumber, ready to run wild and WRECK UTTER HAVOC.

All the while, Zelretch just quietly watched in the background, an all-knowing smile planting itself on his lips.

Back with the boys though, just as he finished admiring his newfound power, Castiel got an idea. He glanced over to Nico, who looked to be thinking, although the blonde Heir got the feeling he was probably talking with his other selves at the moment. 'Now that I think about it, we never DID get to finish our fight thanks to Uncle. I'll admit that I MAY have gotten a little carried away back then, but then again I refuse to let someone weaker than me not know his place. I may have underestimated Nico back then though, as my defence is immensely powerful, but his is not weaker. I'll not be making THAT mistake again, plus I can get a chance to test out some of my tricks on him. He'd be the perfect test dummy-I mean, sparring partner for this...' he thought, an excited smirk slowly spreading onto his features. "Yo, Nico?"

"Yeah?"

Castiel advanced towards him with an eye smile like that of Kakashi Hatake, though when Nico saw it he immediately went on guard... though he kept it hidden. "Since it won't be long before we head back to our worlds, why not have a little rematch? See whose strongest between us. You and I BOTH grew in strength these lest few trials, plus we never DID finish our last one." Another reason, one which went between them in a bond of mutual understanding, was that neither of them would accept a draw between them. Both boys felt like they were stronger than the other, a form of masculine pride one could say. Thus, neither of them could accept the outcome of their last battle.

When he heard his question, Nico's eyes widened in surprise. He had JUST been thinking about that! Challenging Castiel to a rematch, he meant. He didn't want to take away a draw from this little outing between them, plus it wasn't like he didn't have anything he wanted to test out on this victim, either. Castiel had more than proven that he could take a beating, just like he can, plus previous spars with him proved to be valuable learning experiences. If they fought again, Nico wasn't sure on the outcome anymore, but he doubted it would be a walk in the park for either of them. In any case, no way was he backing down on this one, his competitive side rearing its head within him whilst he felt his various weapons squealing in delight for this opportunity. A dark grin spread across his face whilst his Kakugan manifested. "Heh, i'll take that bet Emiya. Lets see who is strongest between us then, shall we?"

"Heh, watch what you say dude, them's fighting words. Anyways, lets head on over to the side, and hopefully uncle won't have to step in this time."

Later on, both Nico and Castiel faced each other, standing with a good 30 meters distance between them whilst eyeing each other with their own looks of tension. Their surroundings became silent, nothing even doing a damn thing, for if they did, then they felt like they would have been sliced to pieces. Both boys generated their own vicious, domineering and borderline tyrannical auras, on one side Castiel's divine and evil aura swelled around him, spiraling like a tornado whilst the surroundings crackled in the air. All the while, Nico's demonic aura on the other hand pulsated around him, beating like a living heart, Demonic Power coursing through the surroundings with such a toxicity that any life who would have gotten near him, would have been choked to death.

Even so, both of them stared each other down like two cowboys about to have a shootout in the wild west.

Just then though, one of them acted...

And low and behold, unlike before it wasn't Nico, as Castiel burst forwards whilst drawing Hrunting. 'Alright, unlike before, I'll not let him get the drop on me! I'll just end it with this one attack, then he'll see I'm the stronger one!' The young Heir thought whilst he had acted first. Unfortunately for him, Nico didn't even blink as he closed the distance between them, summoning Rebellion and getting into the combat stance which Okada had taught him best fit his build. This resulted in it looking like this: his body bent forwards slightly like a hunchback, with both hands on the hilt of Rebellion which was angled downwards. His legs were in a crouching position, with the right leg in front of the left.

Just before Castiel slashed at his neck to try and cut his throat (he wasn't too worried about fatalities, Nico could heal from way worse), the redhead angled Rebellion into the blade's path, as well as to the side and forcing the blade away from him. Castiel didn't let this stop him as he stomped his foot onto the ground, launching a vicious snap kick towards the redhead's defenses, although said redhead simply pivoted around the swing and swung towards the exposed side of Castiel's defenses. However, thanks to Hrunting coming in for a clutch moment, that strike got blocked, though the blonde heir found himself surprised at the sheer strength behind that strike.

Though, that would only be for a second before they broke off, Castiel kicking up a cloud of dirt to try and knock out Nico's eyesight like he had before. Unlike back then though, Nico didn't fall for it as he covered his face in one hand just in time, bringing it down back to Rebellion and parring the following slash fest. Castiel then blasted forwards, pumping his legs with Mana as he slashed towards Nico's legs, only for the redhead to suddenly Warp away from him and catching the Heir off guard. 'What the?!' he thought, only to suddenly gasp when he felt a series of slash marks appear over his body.

Stumbling forwards and applying some healing Spells, Castiel turned around whilst the magic healed his wounds (fortunately they had been shallow), he found Nico to be standing there and... licking off some of the blood from Rebellion's blade. A look of utter revulsion escaped his face when he saw this, causing Castiel to call out. "Dude, what the hell, man?! That looks unsanitary as all fuck-"

BAM!

Instantly, he got shut up before he could finish, as Castiel soon got himself hit in the side of the head by an invisible Tentacle which had came from his right flank. Fortunately, Hrunting protected him and he'd managed to reflexively apply Blut Vein to improve his defense some, but the sheer impact behind the Tentacle's attack sent him rolling across the ground. Quickly using the momentum to get to his feet, Castiel looked up and saw the Nico licking Rebellion suddenly shimmer out of existence, revealing another Nico standing where the Tentacle had came from.

Pretty soon, his look of confusion turned into one of understanding. "An afterimage, huh?"

Nico nodded his head at this, retracting his Rinkaku into himself. He had to admit, he felt glad that Hrunting hadn't been able to absorb any of his Kagune's RC Cells just then, otherwise that sword would have been WAY more annoying to deal with. "Yup, the Star God's Broken Shadow. Pretty nifty trick, if I do say so myself. Anyways, now that the two of us are warmed up..." Nico replied, swiftly switching out Rebellion for his dual Pistols Ebony and Ivory and pointing them at him. The moment they were primed, both Guns began charging up large crimson orbs of condensed, dangerous and violently crackling Demonic Power, something which INSTANTLY rang alarm bells inside Castiel's mind. "How about we kick things up a notch?"

"Well, if you want long distance I don't see why not. Come, let's see what you have." Castiel said, confidence exuding out of him as he caught his Gandiva while his right eye shined a bit.

"Whelp, since we're doing this, I might as well see how this attack steps up. Ebony and Ivory: METRALLETA." Immediately after speaking, Nico's Pistols began unloading a massive shower of Ceros upon his opponent, descending upon him without any form of mercy.

However, said opponent didn't mind as he pulled the string of his bow.

"LICHT REGEN!" Castiel said as instantly light energy concentrated in his shoulders as thousands of arrows of light energy were launched at Nico. Not only that but Castiel also used his eye to manipulate the light energy in the air before dispersing after the shock to reinforce the other arrows, making his arrows faster and stronger the more time passed.

This led to Nico having to use his Rinkaku's fast attacks to try and overpower Castiel in mid-long range, but that only managed to keep them in balance as Castiel now could clearly see all the movements from his Kagune, due to actually focusing his right eye. The result was that in this fight of long distance Castiel was winning, in contrast to their first bout when that Kagune made him resort to using Hrunting to keep up.

'Okay, but how will you deal with this?!' Nico thought as he used one of his Tentacles to hit the ground and launch himself high into the air. this ended up helping him the arrows that were already gaining up on him. This would be the chance he needed to test out one of the fiery techniques he had come up with during his training, though he had required multiple types of fire to do so. Luckily for him, he now had those. While in mid air, he raised his left arm to the air and focused on his three flames (Hellfire, Blue Geocentric Lotus Flame, and Golden Crow Flame). These three flames manifested above his left hand, spiraling together and combining into...one HELL of a twisted, demonic looking crimson and black Lotus flower with a massive fiery aura. Its size easily matched that of a single story house, heat racing through the surroundings.

"Try this: Buddha Fury Flame Lotus!"

As Nico said that he flung his arm downwards, launching the massive Lotus at Castiel. Normally he would have long since used his wings to defend himself but this time he wanted to test something out. Taking out his Heavenly Pill Furnace with his right hand and activating it together with the fire energy from his right arm spirit bone, the result was an explosion of flames that actually matched equally Nico's flame Lotus, but as it was something that Castiel could keep suplying energy while the one from Nico was something he launched, he eventually managed to overpower the Lotus flame. However, something strange happened as instead of exploding the flames from the Lotus were absorbed by the cauldron.

Castiel was confused by it but didn't have time to think about it as Nico came in close distance and used Rebellion to try and cut Castiel's shoulder, which was only stopped by an instinctive usage of Blut Vene.

"Fuck, this still is fucking hard! Did you already used that Siegfried spell to make your body even harder to damage?" Nico complained as he jumped back to avoid a swipe of Castiel's right hand that was still holding the cauldron, fear of receiving its flames making Nico's body be covered in cold sweat.

"No, no I did not. My body is just tougher now. Now, please imagine how it will be after I use the spell, combined with Blut Vein AND put on my Armor."Castiel replied smugly, pride oozing from his form.

'Tch, yeah that sounds like some tank-like Defense there!'

Taking a split second, Nico mentally calmed himself from that brief spiel and analysed the situation. His mismatched eyes narrowed into a calculating gaze. 'Okay, it looks like from that collision, his body indeed has greater base defense stats than it had before. My flame attacks likely won't yield that many results either if I use them simply for attacking, too. Odds are, it'll only get harder to cut him with just Rebellion alone, which means I'll have to use something a little stronger...' Nico thought, as an idea came to mind.

"Heh, I see." Nico replied, a smirk forming on his lips. "So I'll just take you as If you were this colossal Tank who hits as hard as he blocks." he mused further, dismissing Rebellion and activating his Bikaku alongside hi Rinkaku. He then flicked his hand, and in a burst of dark violet Lightning, appeared the first Archdevil Arm he had ever gained: Ouranos. The massive blade thrummed with Electrical power, the surroundings being affected by this demonic energy more than a little bit. "Since you do so well against fire, I think a change of elements is in order."

With that said, Nico held Ouranos in his Two-Handed Killer Stance, one of his Tails flicking forwards to launch its Talons at Castiel. Said Heir merely swung his sword in well-timed arcs, deflecting and blocking the Talons from hitting. The Heir felt them hit, but their impact was nothing he couldn't handle, didn't even make him step backwards. However, what he hadn't taken into account was them exploding all around him, creating a whole smokescreen which ended up covering their battlefield.

However, utilizing his right eye, Castiel's vision sharpened, allowing him to see through the smoke. 'If Nico thinks this will stop me, then he's got another thing coming.' Castiel thought, looking around for any sign of the redhead fighter. However, instincts stopped him when he looked down and noticed the cracks on the ground, memories of before coming back to him whilst he jumped backwards, dodging a Bikaku Tail which had been aimed... right at his balls.

Sliding to a halt, Castiel glared at his opponent, who appeared at his left flank in order to swing Ouranos at his neck. Castiel responded by dodging by jumping upwards, when suddenly he felt all his motion instantly leave him, as well as his form instantly freeze in place. "Ugh, shit!" the Heir cursed, especially when he saw Nico's Evil Orca King Spirit Bone shining on his arm. He quickly deduced it had some kind of spatial manipulation ability, but couldn't act on it when he saw the redhead rearing his sword back for a thrust... whilst his arm coiled around itself like it was becoming a Spring. "Okay, dude, that looks freaking nasty..." he commented, shuddering at how his arm looked.

"Meh, but hey at least I have something I can use to break that pesky 'shield' of yours." Nico retorted, his sword Technique DRILLSWORD prepped and ready to go. Add in the enhancements of his recently activated DEMONIC OVERDRIVE, activating his Sin Multiplier, the Demonic Power enhancing abilities of his two Rings of Rage and Hatred, Ouranos having absorbed the Kinetic energy Castiel had generated before being locked in place by his Spirit Bone, he hoped this would work. Maybe this would be a bit overkill, though, but he ignored that. Nico didn't want to lose to Castiel, and that would be reason enough. Plus, Ouranos held much more power than Rebellion in terms of destructive capability, so it should he able to deal more damage to him than it.

At once, Nico launched himself towards the locked-in-place Castiel, his Sword arm rotating so it looked like he had a large, electrified drill for an appendage. As a result, the attack hit, and Castiel bit his lips to prevent from crying out in pain when he felt Lighting surging through his system in huge quantities. Thanks to the fire trial, he had strong resistances to fire, plus there was the cauldron which had absorbed Nico's flames. However, that did NOT mean that he had the same benefits for lighting. 'That's right, I forgot Nico has an arsenal of weapons which try to kill him in exchange for power! Fuck, this burns!' he Heir thought. Heck, he even felt his body instinctively activate Blood Vein to defend himself, but it hadn't lasted long as the Archdevil Arm cut through his skin like a butter knife thanks to the technique and power enhancement.

In the end, Castiel got sent flying across the battlefield, crashing into the ground while creating a 10 meter long fissure. Once he stopped, the Heir looked up to see Nico already on his way to finish the job, Ouranos dangerously crackling with energy. 'Don't wanna get hit by that again! I'll test out my right leg Spirit Bone then!' Quickly reacting, Castiel sprouted his Wings, healing himself with his magic (though it took WAY longer than it normally would have due to the sinister nature of this Lightning), and activated his Right Leg's Spirit Bone. Immediately he hopped into the air, several floating clouds appearing wherever he stood which allowed him to charge towards his opponent. He'd also activated it's 'Weight of Sin' to put a weight proportion to the sin Nico had committed in his past to slow his movements.

To that end, Nico IMMEDIATELY halted himself when he felt the weight. 'Ugh! This feeling…!' he cursed within his mind, quickly glancing to his enemy and figuring out he was doing something. 'Feels like a Spirit Bone Ability! No matter!' But instead of ceasing his attack, Nico just gritted his teeth and continued on, pushing through the weight through sheer WILLPOWER as it reminded him of his resolve and the hellish training he'd went through, partially impressing Castiel as he charged forth with Flayed in hand, the two colliding like two colossal titans.

Nico's weapon was strong, stronger than Castiel's easily, but when the two had just impacted once and Nico's weapon stopped for a second Castiel moved quickly. His breath held as he simulated an attack he had seen hundreds of times while growing up and one he always aspired to copy some day.

"Tsubame Ganesha." As Castiel said that Nico had the clear impression that space itself distorted in front of him as Castiel's katana appeared in three places at the exact same time. He had no option but release all the energy of Uranus to explode in front of himself while also throwing himself back desperately. The result was Castiel being thrown back by the explosion but no big damage to himself due to his ridiculously tough body and Nico getting three cuts on his body, all deviated from vital areas.

'Okay, the FUCK was that all about?' Nico thought as he showed a incredulous face, he had never seen ANY sword do that before, and the fact it looked like pure skill instead of energy that did that didn't help his doubt.

"Oh, I see. You didn't understand this one. Well, if this was too hard to understand I hope the next is easier." Castiel said as he launched sword first at Nico. This time he was ready and was going to try his damn best to defend against that previous attack, however this was not the attack Castiel was about to execute. "Mumyou Sandan-Zuki"

As Castiel said that when already close to Nico the effect was something that Nico's mind couldn't wrap around as he had put his Ouranos in front of the attack and he still was sent flying, Uranus 'unbreakable' as it was, now had cracks along its form of varying sizes as Nico was launched more than a hundred meters back.

Turning to see Castiel he saw the young men with a relaxed expression.

"That was the second technique my mentor in katana usage taught me. The first one was an original of his that could compress space and time to strike at three separated places at once. A technique that goes beyond True Magic. The second one is one he heard by my father and copied to himself, it is similar to the first one as it attacks three times at once, but instead of being three separated spots it is all at one point combined. The result is an attack that pierces even space and time, completely unstoppable.

"Then again, I couldn't copy it properly otherwise your fancy weapon would be cut in half by now instead of just having some cracks." Castiel explained.

"Okay, first the hell is wrong with those techniques? That should be impossible! I have seen the apex of what pure sword skills can reach and-"

"Don't speak nonsense!" Castiel said, shutting down Nico. "The path of using a sword is nearly endless, how can someone say he knows everything? Even my master, someone who can use these techniques to the apex and even fuse the two don't dare to boast he has even caught a glimpse of the apex and limit of swordplay so don't go speaking nonsense anymore. Now, let's continue." Castiel said as he finished casting Siegfried as well as stimulating the White Tiger Divine Blood in him, his body surging with energy as he launched at Nico like a tiger attacking a prey.

Nico didn't have much of a choice but retreat using his Star God's Broken Shadow as the physical strength Castiel was showing was just outright cheating.

'Okay, this is fucking ridiculous. How the hell is a freaking MAGE stronger physically than ME!?'

'I fucking HATE this technique of his! Attacking his fake bodies all the time is making me look fucking STUPID! I am LITERALLY almost pulling my hairs out in frustration, his speed is just too cheaty!'

'I call HAX!' the two thought the last part at once as this continued, really angering both to no end. For the next five minutes, the two duked it out like vicious animals, explosions dotting the entire training area which had spanned across the entire pocket dimension. Energy crackled through the atmosphere, and if there were any signs of life in this place, they would have been annihilated from the two male's combined sheer energy output alone.

Yet, even so, neither Nico NOR Castiel gained any ground in terms of their fighting. Whilst Castiel on one hand EXCELLED in physical destruction, defense and energy control, making huge AOE attacks on the fly and using massive amounts of energy, something he could afford to waste thanks to his Magic Core, he couldn't take Nico on in terms of sheer Speed. The guy wasn't any weaker than Castiel, but his speed, like the Heir had said, simply outclassed anything in Castiel's arsenal. Likewise, Nico may have gotten more hits in thanks to his speed, but nothing truly got through this defense Castiel possessed, neither could he beat him in sheer destructive power. It was like trying to destroy an entire mountain range, his strength boosted by the Great Way of the Buddha being the only thing which helped keep him on a level playing field with him. Even then, he had to rely solely on his Speed, amplified by his Star Gods Broken Shadow as well as Ouranos's WARPSPEED and KINETIC VISION.

All the while, Zelretch watched it with some popcorn and coke.

After one of their struggles for supremacy which resulted in the two breaking off, both boys slid across the ground for well over 200 meters, prompting them to switch weapons once more. Grandiva appeared in Castiel's hands, which he followed up with puling back the bowstring and launching a LIGHT REGIN, wanting to fill Nico's body with holy arrows. On the redhead's side, instead of just countering with a smaller barrage of Ceros, AKA the METRALLETA, he instead went with another option. His Ebony and Ivory, pointing at the incoming wave of Arrows, each unleashed Two MASSIVE Ceros at once; the Cero MIRADA. These two massive beams flew forth from their guns, straight into the hail of Holy Arrows and colliding with them.

At first, Castiel thought his strikes would have been able to pierce it with Grandiva being a divine weapon, however thanks to the MIRADA being constantly powered by Nico's Devil Arms the beams overpowered the arrows and continued on their path towards him, causing the Heir to cursed under his breath when he crossed his arms in front of himself. The moment the Beams hit, a massive explosion occurred, one which looked to be able to reach the very heavens above them. Nico meanwhile, switched out his weapons, going for Absolution since Erebus wasn't needed yet, and Rebellion plus Ouranos were still reeling from their previous uses. His Rinkaku and Bikaku remained out in case of any sneak attacks.

Good thing too, cause the moment Castiel burst out into the scene, his mismatched Wings spread for all to see. "Sorry, but that won't work on me, buddy!" he yelled. His eyes shined with ferocity as he dived down towards him, Hrunting in hand.

"Figures, but hey I believe this weapon will be Hrunting's weakness!"

"Oh Yeah?! prove it!"

"With pleasure!"

Holding Absolution at the ready, Nico swiftly activated its DC Avatar form, Castiel recalling it as the weapon he used to fight the Scorpion King. He recalled everything he'd seen about it, which wasn't exactly much considering he'd been 'occupied' at the time. The form completed itself instantly, and with a loud battle cry Nico spread his 4 Bat-like wings to take flight RIGHT towards Castiel, intending to engage in a head on collision. At first, Castiel wondered if this guy had some screws knocked loose, half-expecting this to be another one of those fake bodies of his, but to his surprise the guy didn't do that one bit. Instead, it really was just a head on collision, the two entering an extremely vicious deadlock with sparks flying from their specified weapons.

After a few seconds, Castiel succeeded in breaking their deadlock and sliced through the form's shoulder, expecting it to empower Hrunting due to its organic appearance. However, upon looking at the blade, he soon realized WHY exactly Nico had said what he did, as instead of blood there was nothing but black ooze. 'I see! So this form uses ooze instead of blood, which makes it so that whilst it looks organic, since its not made from blood Hrunting can't power up from it! I can only rely on its auto counter ability then!' the Heir thought, rearing back and going for another strike to the form's face.

Unfortunately for him, Castiel forgot about Nico's Kagune, which still protruded out of the body he was inside as the Bikaku coiled around the blade itself to halt its movements. All the while, his Rinkaku set about wrapping around Castiel's legs like serpents, causing Nico to smirk darkly behind his new Form as he swung the guy around the space above his head like a cowboy rope. "Yeeehaw! Get along, little doggy!" He shouted, mimicking a cowboy's accent whilst slamming Castiel into the ground below with a massive BANG!

Nico didn't stop there however, as he swung Absolution and Launched a black Tidal wave of DC mixed with Tendrils towards his opponent, retracting his Kagune at the very last second. The wave descended, and immediately covered Castiel's body, entrapping him within its embrace. 'Ugh, disgusting!' he thought, flexing his muscles to break free. Fortunately, his cheat-like strength made breaking through a piece of cake, something he took pride in. After all, despite the sheer power and versatility it possessed, a Devil Arm wasn't ANYTHING in comparison to a bloodline from a divine beast. The White Tiger as well, at that...

Only for Nico to appear right behind him with Absolution's reverse end ramming into his back.

'Ugh!' the Heir cursed when he fell down from the surprise of the attack, sliding along the ground and then using the momentum to twist towards the redhead's direction and grind to a Halt. What Castiel didn't notice until later, was that Nico had also tried to cut him in half with another unseen swing, only to miss thanks to his fast reflexes. 'Sneaky bastard... he used my distraction as a way to get in close and deal another blow! Like Siegfried himself, this defense Spells marginally weaker when targeting the back, the area where Siegfried was said to have a weak-spot. In that case...!'

Mumbling under his breath, Castiel swiftly experimented with his Curse power, applying various ones on the body that Nico was in as it charged at him. Almost instantly, did the form start slowing down, something Nico noticed, and didn't take very long to deduce the cause. Therefore, he deactivated the form and closed the distance between them via Star God's Broken Shadow, swinging at Castiel's head. The Heir of course, blocked it, and the two traded a few more blows before Nico retreated via his movement skill, further annoying the half Angel.

That annoyance didn't last for long though, as he soon saw a trail of black spikes rising out the ground in his direction, making him swing Hrunting and smash the ones in front of him. "Hah, that all you got?!" Castiel sneered at his opponent, who merely smirked darkly. The reason why soon became apparent when Castiel's instincts screamed at him to move, and he did so by jumping backwards. This ended up serving him well, since a second later several masses of DC converged on his position, promptly exploding afterwards.

Sensing danger beside him, Castiel glanced and saw Nico already there, having Warped to his position with his weapon of choice being Ouranos, the massive blade coated with Lightning as he swung towards Castiel. The Heir felt Hrunting race to block it, only for something to lock it in place. Castiel immediately deduced it was that spatial Spirit Bone, so he instead jumped away from him, flapping his wings to get some distance. He intended to charge right back in with a flying kick to that bastard's face... but then he saw the Ouranos swiftly begin another swing, glowing red all the while.

'Another offensive!'

Oh, how right he was, when he saw a human sized wave of crimson energy race towards him from the blade.

If it was before fighting side by side with Castiel Nico would have thought he got the heir there. It was just near impossible to not at least get injured after this sort of attack exploding so close to oneself, but as Nico now accurately knew Castiel was impossible to fully get an attack in right. So, when he saw the heir put his hand in front of the wave despite the energy of his spirit bone locking the space and taking the entire attack on his arm just for the attack to be absorbed by that same arm.

"Spirit bones, you gotta love them." Castiel said with a grim as the energy around him was devoured by his left arm spirit bone, the speed it devoured energy now was such that energy attacks like the one from Nico just now were near useless against him, the only way they could be useful were if he was to be aught in surprise or if the energy was too much for Castiel to devour.

Seeing this both simply continued ducking it out, Castiel created a total of eight magic bombardment attacks around him using his previous knowledge adding the runes he saw during the fire trial, the effects were great as the runes and the whole magic theory behind them worked as a way to better contain energy making him able to push more energy into the same attacks before releasing them, the added benefit of it slowing slightly sealing the enemy when hit was also an added bonus. Meanwhile, Nico used his Star God's Broken Shadow to avoid the majority of the attacks, not letting a single one hit in a critical place, even if the ones that grazed him still pained him greatly. Ouranos had the specialty of movement under its belt along with Lightning Manipulation. As such his movement speed with this weapon made hitting him a near impossible task, even for the improved magic attacks Castiel generated. The redhead even followed up with a Warp to Castiel's rear, intending to decapitate him in one fell swoop. Of course that never worked as, while Castiel was slower than Nico, the difference wasn't that absurd as Castiel used Mana Burst and the power of the White Tiger Divine Blood within him to have a higher explosive speed than Nico but less maneuverability.

This continued for around five minutes until both jumped a distance away, both not wanting to continue on a pointless struggle when they obviously were, again, equally matched.

"Okay this is getting ridiculous, let's go with our respective Armors before we just waste more of our time." Nico groaned in frustration, something which go mirrored by his opponent whilst Castiel nodded, following that both males summoned their respective Armour's.

By the time that they finished, both boys stood opposite one another like two sides of the same coin. The two's armors looked, again, equally strong but total opposites as Nico made him look like an executioner demon from hell Castiel made him look like a sacred angelic warrior descending to bring salvation.

However, before the two started Nico opened his mouth.

"Hey, if we are doing this, and we ARE doing this, how about you try entering that same state as you did during the Water Trial?"

"...You do realize that facing me on that state is a BEYOND stupid idea, right? I seriously doubt most people could never hope to defeat me in such state and I don't even understand it well yet. I could accidentally curse your soul into a twisted thing that would want death and not ever be able to obtain it." Castiel explained. No one else really understood how utterly terrifying that mode was, how he'd NEVER use it unless he was facing someone he wanted to suffer and there was no one else around.

"I know, but back in my world I feel that I will be facing others with crazy powers that could even match that one you showed so I want to test out and use this chance to try and figure out a way to defeat these sort of odds." Nico said.

Castiel sighed.

"Fine, but I will instead try it on my Holy energy instead as it is likely less dangerous." Castiel said before closing himself with his wings.

'Huh, if the wings still have the same characteristics of before about defense then he still has air-tight defense even under this transforming situation. But there still are some small holes I could use here and there.' Nico thought to himself.

'Yes, but do remember him mentioning how with his power increase he'd get two more sets of wings.'

Biko spoke within his mind, making Nico dread at the thought a bit. Castiel was already ridiculously hard to injure, if he were to get two more sets of wings and be able to completely seal himself then facing him would be an utter nightmare.

Regardless, he was thinking about the wait. Last time it took about 5 minutes to complete so this time it will probably take that long aga-

And not even two full minutes in and Castiel started opening his wings. His appearance didn't change much, but what changed was the 'air' around him.

It was like Nico was standing in front of the sun. Limitless, endless light and fire was all Nico could feel from Castiel but the worst part was how he also felt a wave of unwillingness to attack Castiel. Like his mind was slowly starting to desire to prostate before this man, this God of salvation that would bring him to a glorious fu-

'NICO! YOU HAVE TO DEFEND YOUR SOUL RIGHT NOW!'

Biko's voice echoed in his mind as Nico instinctively obeyed, circulating his Samsara Intent with all he had, applying the Berzerker and Avenger packages he got from the River Styx, and used his energy to get as far away from Castiel as he could.

'Whoa, dude what the hell?!' The redhead exclaimed in shock when he did so, especially when he sensed something go HORRIBLY wrong just now. Circulating the Samsara intent to protect his soul wasn't something he had done too many times, since he'd been preoccupied with other things let alone those packages which he had to manually activate, but the moment he did Nico felt like... well, like something had been reflected off a mirror. Yeah, he'll go with that. Each of his Archdevil and Devil Arms all cried out in instinctive fear and anger, each of their ire focusing on Castiel's current form.

Obviously seeing this happen, the young Heir smirked in amusement, knowing that Nico had foreseen the danger just now. "Hoh, so you did manage to stop it." Castiel commented in good humor. "Sorry about that, I almost ended up making you forget everything to instead become a servant of mine. Sigh, these states of mine are just too dangerous."

"The hell did you do?"

"Me? I used an untrained power without knowing its results, that is what. This mode, I suppose you could call it Scion of Light, has a few effects. First, it is much less dangerous to my mind so I can keep it for longer, second is that the light I emanate naturally makes others feel reverence towards me and if they are exposed to it for too long they will lose themselves in this reverence and become little more than slaves, and the final one is that my body now is light itself." Castiel explained what he managed to understand from this power, there was likely more he could unravel but this was his first try.

'I see... so THAT's how it works...' Nico remarked thoughtfully, absorbing this information with his mind running a thousand miles an hour as it threw around all sorts of calculations and plans. Plans on how to deal with such a power, a power which would be for all intents and purposes his arch nemesis. He could feel it right now, how the energy seemed to be suppressing his Demonic Powers, he could sense it very well. That meant that he couldn't transform into his Crimson Soul form, nor could he use many of he powers associated with that trait. Only Ouranos and Erebus were available to him right now, as well as Soul Edge thanks to this suppression, everything else felt like it wouldn't be enough to stand against this holy energy. He gripped the handle of Erebus which trembled in his grasp, narrowing his eyes behind his Helmet. Perhaps he could use the weapons in his Amour to deal with this problem, but then again something told him that they may not be as effective as he hoped.

Wait, didn't he say something QUITE important just now...?

"Wait, what you mean by 'my body is light'?" Nico asked, already imagining what he meant and dreading the answer.

BANG

A kick to the gut before he could react and being launched half a mile away really did wonders in Nico's starting to understand how bad things were.

'This speed, it is simply unreasonable.' Nico thought while seeing Castiel approaching slowly, Nico's mind fighting with all it had to not let him fall to his knees in worship.

Crashing into the ground, rolling for several seconds before using the momentum to get up into a crouching position, Nico slid to a halt and looked towards his opponent. Said opponent merely leapt forwards, and kicked towards him whilst having immediately closed the distance between them.

'FUCK!'

The redhead cursed, barely using Star God's Broken Shadow to evade the attack in time, and even then only a millisecond passed before the beam of light which shot from Castiel's kick reduced the image to nothingness. Not a trace of it remaining, ringing more than a FEW alarm bells in Nico's mind. 'Shit, that's fast! If Light is meant to be the fastest thing in this universe, then this form's speed surpasses mine with or without Erebus's help!' he thought in dismay. In addition to that, Nico hadn't been feeding his Archdevil Arms many Souls, which meant that they were slowly draining the strength from his own soul, which replenished faster than they could leech, in order to regain their lost powers. In essence, their full potential wasn't available to him, which put him in a tight spot right now.

Yet, even with that, Nico STILL tried to search for a way to regain some form of advantage in this fight. He did NOT like the thought that he would have to run and hide all damn day till this power of his expired this 'time limit' that he talked about. He had even said it was longer than that of his Evil Spirit Form, so the thought of having to play defence for a while did NOT appeal too highly to him.

In a flash, he saw an opening and Warped over, swinging Ouranos towards one of Castiel's arms.

SLASH!

Nico, after using all of this managed to get a clean hit. Castiel's arm was sent flying away as Nico smiled in pride, he had managed to do some damage. Now, he only had to keep going and he could win!

PUNCH

However, when the severed arm simply flew back at light speed and punched Nico with a power that could make even most Demon Prince's shy away in embarrassment he felt his bile and a bit of blood come out of his mouth.

"I said that my body is light itself, even if you sever a part of it or destroy it entirely there is no way to truly damage me as I can simply create another body part to replace it with my magic core. And with my Skull Spirit Bone helping the only real way of dealing with me on this form is to either outlast the time I have before deactivating this mode, outlasting my reserves as I don't have infinite reserves while on this mode, or seal me away." Castiel explained, even he thought he was now pure BS in this mode. Seriously, if it was not for the time limit and the fact he doubted his power would make two shits when against someone much stronger than himself then he might have actualy believed he was invincible.

'Well, in that case... I guess... there's no other option for me.' Nico thought as, thanks to this brief exchange, he understood how dangerous Castiel had become. If he wanted any chance of victory, he'd have to stall for time till he can't use it anymore. It sucked in his eyes, realizing that for the first time, he found a foe he couldn't defeat, it damaged his pride, but he would do what he could to pass this hurdle.

As such, a war of attrition it was, Nico thought while switching to Erebus. He'll use its power to keep on the defensive, spawn countless constructs to keep Castiel away from him while defending his mind with the power of darkness. This and his speed were his best weapons at the moment.

Just at this moment Castiel extended his hand, he was clasping Clarent for the first time during this entire fight and it only made the powers he was subconsciously exuding that many times worse. But, to really put a cherry on the top Nico could see Clarent changing to become more golden in color and his instincts of both DPU and Ghoul screamed at him to NOT be touched or even face that blade head on.

Of course, even then it was not like he now WANTING something meant it wouldn't happen.

Before he could bling Castiel was upon him, the modified Clarent pressing down on him from above. He readied Erebus to stop it but upon impact he felt like it was not a sword that was bearing down on him but instead an entire planet.

'Heavy' was all Nico could think as he used Erebus's power to teleport away. He saw that Castiel didn't press down on him right after but he was thankful as he needed a second to heal the damage in his arm.

"...It wasn't quite right, it was supposed to be harder and to have such an attack it should be more flexible." Castiel mumbled to himself before moving at Nico again. This time Nico again defended just like before but he focused more power in his arms to defend himself from damage better. However, in impact the blade was even harder now and part of the light continued even through the impact, the result was that now it was Nico's arm that was severed.

Something which prompted him to immediately create an army of 60,000 black Bloodletters with purple Hellblades, 30,000 Juggernauts and a hundred Bloodthirsters. Nico even followed up with the Army of Anubis, spawning 100,000 ghostly humanoids with dog heads, every construct having flaming purple eyes which glared at the approaching Castiel.

Thus, the fight continued. Even if 'fight' being a strong word as Castiel didn't need to do a single thing as his light shown it's effects by turning the creatures that Nico created against him as soon as they approached Castiel.

"The fuck?" Nico said as he had to start dodging attacks in masse coming from his his own creations. "How can you even do that? I made these myself!"

"*SIGH* Do you really think that the light I am emanating is incapable of rewriting something like loyalty in a fake being like those you made? My light makes a sensation of reverence in others strong enough to make even rational beings give up everything to follow me, now imagine if there wasn't even a rational mind inside to begin with. Creating those was a mistake by trying to take a easy way out." Castiel said, his voice gentle but distant all the while.

When he heard that, realization dawned on him, and Nico couldn't help but facepalm himself. His Armour's Helmet made it so that he couldn't ACTUALLY palm his face, but it felt like one. 'Ugh, Nico you dumbass, you just HAD to summon an army filled with mindless drones against someone with a hypnotic ability which has massive levels of efficiency. Note to self: make sure to bop myself on the head to NOT do this again in the future.' he thought to himself, shaking his head while sighing.

Still, seeing as his own forces were approaching him, the redhead knew he had to act and fast. 'Fine, then I will just dispel them...' Nico thought, raising Erebus to dismiss the army... but nothing happened. Confusion filled his mind for a brief second, before he put together the information he'd gotten from Castiel and realized he couldn't do that either. 'Shit, fuck! Since they're under Emiya's control, they will be sustained by Erebus's power, but Emiya will be able to keep them around indefinitely.' he thought, scowling as the light of comprehension shined from his eyes.

These thoughts soon got confirmed by the transformed Heir himself, seconds later. "These forces are mine now. You made them and it is your power sustaining them but they will not disappear unless I tell them to." Castiel said before jumping in mid air. "Yasakani no Magatana"

As his words fell more than a thousand light bombs were launched at Nico who couldn't avoid them due to the army swarming him. If not for Erebus controlling the Darkness which spawned from its form, providing some defense and Castiel deliberately avoiding hitting Nico directly, the boy might have died. Even his Demonic Armour provided little defense against the raw potency of the light element attacking him.

'It can't get any worse... and I just jinxed myself, good job, Nico...' Nico thought, panting heavily whilst his Armour mended itself at high speeds, same with his body. Thankfully for him, his regeneration had become as powerful as it was right now, otherwise this so-called 'fight' (really more like a one-sided slaughter), would have knocked him out long ago. His Bikaku had succeeded in wiping out the Army attacking him by splitting apart into its smaller forms and launching their Talons, destroying everything around him including the Army. It WAS meant for widespread annihilation after all.

Of course, though, the fact remained that he'd jinxed himself. A fact proven moments later by Castiel suddenly raising one hand as the sky changed, from the sun a light dozens of times stronger than normal descended while tinted in holy golden. This had the effect of Nico's strength being sucked away from him like he was being caught in a vacuum. His throat dried, and his energy consumption increased exponentially as well. And, to rub salt in the injury, Castiel also released the effect of his Left Leg Spirit Bone, Purity Halo, to weaken Nico's demonic energy further by purifying it as well as his Right Leg Spirit Bone's Punishment of the Sinner, the result was that Nico was unable to even move properly as Castiel pointed his sword at him.

That state continued for about 5 seconds before Castiel ended his transformation and relaxed again, the energies surrounding Nico dispelling at that moment.

"Phew, sorry for that last bout there. I guess I failed in reigning in the Holy aspect properly and it's instinct against Demonic energy made me almost kill you."

Nico sighed when he felt his power returning to normal, his Satanic Treasures helping him restore his reserves using his powers whilst his Kagune receded into him. Erebus vanished as well, allowing his arms to fall to his sides, though his Armour remained active. That had been one of the weakest moments he had ever felt in his whole life, he'll mentally admit that but never out loud. To feel something suck away his ability to use Demonic Power like that, he did NOT want to ever deal with it ever again. If he did, he'd likely have to rely on his Ghoul side or his SP powers, which were both weaker than his Demon Powers.

Speaking of powers...

'Huh?' The moment he looked down, Nico found that his body had suddenly transformed, becoming Crimson Soul before his mind could even realize it. This of course, surprised and confused him, though the mind of a DPU had been efficient in stabilizing his thought process for logical thinking. 'Hmmm, this is indeed curious... My body and mind have turned into that of Crimson Soul's without me realizing it...' the male thought, before closing his eyes and feeling out his Demonic Power. When his mind brushed against it, they INSTANTLY shot open when he felt it.

Rage.

Raw, primal, storm-like FURY.

A fury which was unlike anything which the chaotic energy had ever been before surged within the depths of his being, struggling to lash out at the cause of its irritation in front of him. 'My power... it calls for his blood, it is angry... Biko, is this due to...?' he began to ask his Demon Persona, who soon gave him a response to this situation.

'Indeed. It appears that the Chaotic Energy does not take too kindly to being suppressed, let alone suppressed by something like Light energy. As a result, when it was finally released from its imposed 'prison', it quickly transformed you into your DPU Form without you realizing it, and as a safety precaution, your mind unconsciously began restraining it before you could go out of control in a Berzerker Mode 2,0 holy and Light Energy within Emiya is still enraging it, though since you've been used to it so long its not influencing you. My guess is, that this is a natural reaction to your opposing energy, not to mention the wild and untamed nature of your energy makes it so that it gets way more agitated if someone forcibly suppresses it.'

'I see... i'll have to take a few moments to calm it down then, otherwise things could get out of hand... i'd rather not let what happened to Emiya happen to me as well.'

After a few moments, Crimson Soul did indeed calm the raging maelstrom which was his Demonic Energy, preventing it from causing catastrophic damage to his surroundings. Castiel, using his energy sensing abilities, took note of this as he realized something. 'Looks like Nico almost lost it just like I had right now... well, at least we're on the same boat there...' he thought to himself, though thanks to everything they had went through together, Castiel didn't feel too miffed at Nico having lasted this long. It just began making him think along a certain thought process.

Back with the transformed Redhead, Crimson Soul glanced back to Castiel, floating atop the ground whilst summoning Soul Edge's true form. The mighty blade pulsated with latent energy, creating a foreboding atmosphere around it as its wielder levelled it towards his opponent. "Yeah, I get it. Do not worry, I understand how unwise it is for suggesting that you transform like that..." he stated solemnly, before his eyes lit up. "On the other hand, positive outcomes indeed happened because of it: A, you got a taste for how it works, which will help you control it in the future, and B: I myself managed to gain a few insights on some things. Hopefully that'll help me develop my powers further."

"Sure." Castiel replied, before noticing something with his senses. "Looks like your energy's back to its original levels before I put my foot down, so what say we continue where we left off? Aside from those Transformations, I think we both can agree we need to settle the rest of this fight like men." he suggested while holding out Clarent. His mismatched wings (the extra pair from his transformation having vanished) spread open wide, while his Armour gained a slightly more holy glow to it. Clarent got covered by this aura as well, and slowly began to shine like a miniature sun. The raw POWER which the Heir emitted right now would have staggered his friends and family if they could see him now, plus behind him one could see a vague silhouette of what looked like a tall 12-winged Angel, clad in brilliant golden Armour and expressing an angelic presence through the surrounding areas as the pure golden color started to also have tints of red from the automatically stimulated Divine Blood of both the Vermilion Bird and True Phoenix...

A presence which got beat back from Crimson Soul's position thanks to the ROARING surge of Demonic Power which affected the atmosphere, even if it only covered the DPU's side of the arena and couldn't go further than that as the golden light was just too eye catching and strenuous to observe. Castiel then decided to take things up a notch by also bringing forth Hruting on his left hand, darkness and evil abounded from his left side as the angelic figure that was behind him curved slightly before positioning behind Castiel's right side. Meanwhile, on his left the darkness and evil that remained even purer than the demonic energy from Crimson Soul made manifest as a silhouette behind it as well, a silhouette that looked like a purple evil humanoid god as the energy around Castiel turned from pure black to a sickly and evil-looking purple. This humanoid's eyes shined purple, reminisced of violet fire whilst releasing unending killing intent that was inherent from the Divine Blood of the White Tiger.

However, as if in reaction to that, behind the DPU, a shadow appeared as well, hovering behind him whilst floating slightly above him. It took the form of a crimson haired man, whose very presence emanated an unending power of slaughter that looked like could kill all that existed. His form remained concealed behind a crimson coloured veil, similar to the thick black mist which concealed the evil-feeling God behind Castiel, though it failed to hide the bloodthirsty shine that protruded out from the crimson haired man's eyes.

Looking at them from his place Zelretch shook his head. 'Truly, I might have created two true freaks.' Is what he thought as he looked at the faint images behind the two teens, the meaning behind them were clear as day for Zelretch and their meaning as well.

Racksha God, Angelic God, and Asura God. Three beings that reached beyond Leader-Class just as Zelretch did but that died long ago, even if dying might be the wrong word as they were powerful enough to never truly die as they left their power and will behind to chose new receptacles, others that would be able to take their legacy forward and it just so happened that these two young men were compatible with them. Now how it will become and even if they will truly become the second coming of those guys was something that was hard to say, but the possibility existed because of where they are as this was not locked into any pre-existing dimension the talents of both Castiel and Nico were more easy to connect with these, something that would normally be impossible where they were before.

Whilst this happened, as well as remaining unaware of the events happening around him (same with Castiel), Crimson Soul nodded his head in acceptance, his own aura covering his body like a cloak. He held Soul Edge in the Two-Handed Killer Stance, his eyes narrowing behind his Helmet while his own fiery wings spread out as well. His Tail swayed to and fro behind him, pent-up energy clearly visible from its movement whilst experimental cracks rang from it. All the while, Soul Edge's aura caused the sword to become dark and menacing, its PREDATOR ability boosting its power so that it didn't lose out to the level that the Heir to the Tohsaka Tower was emitting. Behind him, the crimson haired male strafed to one side for a moment to allow something else to manifest on Crimson Soul's right: The silhouette of a Demon, tall and imposing just like Castiel's angel and evil manifestations, manifested with glowing hellfire pits for eyes, sharp fangs and a vicious demeanor which promised pain for any who dared go against it. Tendrils emerged from its back, mixing with nightmarish bat-like wings whilst its arms pulsated like they were their own being, resulting in a truly intimidating figure.. if the fact that it also had features from his Ghoul side wasn't already enough of an indicator of its ferocity. "Agreed, let us see once and for all... who is the BEST out of us."

"Hah, you read my mind!"

With that, both men gave their own war cries, breaking forth into mad sprints towards one another. At that moment, the silhouettes had vanished, leaving these two to their last strike. Even so, the atmosphere remained a sign of their appearance whilst their movements not too different from bolts of lightning. Instantly they closed the distance between one another, Castiel using a Mana Burst Spell for an explosive speed boost, while Crimson Soul strained the limits of his Star God's Broken Shadow. Raising their blades, Clarent, Hrunting and Soul Edge each madly pulsating with their own violent energies, the clash which followed...

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

… Yeah, it resulted in an atomic explosion which pretty much filled the majority of the arena's centre. Thanks to their attacks however, the smoke and stuff which would have remained from the explosion got dispersed by the following shockwave, one which blasted both of them over 400 meters apart. As a result, both boys ended up suffering high damage and not being able to move from the explosion of energy that was greater than what it should normally be from this one clash. Heck, both of them became unable to maintain their respective states, and as such returned to their normal human forms whilst lying on the ground, their bodies completely numb like they had been hit with tranquilizer darts.

However, neither was that unsatisfied. Both knew that they could still stand despite their bodies suffering this much damage, but they couldn't really go much further than that as while Nico took more damage, his regeneration remained leagues faster, but as a payoff his RC cells ran dry and he'd ended up using WAY too much demonic energy. He wouldn't be able to restore his reserves with his Rings either, as they had expanded their power too and needed time to recover. Instantly after he stopped moving, the sounds of sizzling could be heard as his regeneration kicked in, mending the damage done to him rapidly.

Meanwhile, Castiel had taken much less damage by comparison, something he personally knew would have been the case due to his better defence and endurance. but the payoff here though, was that his healing did not surpass Nico's ONE BIT. Plus, he still didn't know nearly as much as he wanted about healing magic effectively in a body like his that was absurdly durable now (something he intended to fix as soon as possible) not to mention both his evil and normal energies were dangerously low.

If they wanted to compete with only their bodies now they could, but neither wanted that. Castiel's body was not one Nico thought he could damage that well using only his hands and feet without any demonic energy or weapons (note to self:: possibly upgrade his martial arts skills when he got the chance), while Castiel knew that even if he did fight hand to hand his entire style was made to kill or man an enemy, kill was out of the question as this was just a spar and even if his energies were low Nico would be able to return a twisted arm to place with no problem. Plus, without his transformations and powers, Castiel knew it'd be nigh impossible to truly kill Nico due to the broken abilities afforded to him by his various halves.

In short, neither of them could truly defeat one another. They wee well and truly opposites in fighting powers yet also equals at the same time.

The two, realizing that... pretty much exploded into laughter, pleasure and satisfaction shining within their hearts at how this battle turned out. Whilst parts of them still wanted to defeat the other completely, their masculine pride being the source of these feelings, they couldn't help but be satisfied with their current standings.

"Hahahahaha...! #INHALE, EXHALE# Heh, you're something else, Emiya. You know that?" Nico remarked as he sighed in relief, feeling his body already in the final stages of his regeneration. Only a few more seconds until his body was back to optimal mobility, though he had no intentions of continuing the fight when it finished. Not even close, instead he had to admit to himself that Castiel Emiya provided him with one heck of a good fight. He felt like he had been pushed to his limits and beyond right about now, his problems back in Gamindustri not dampening his mood in the slightest. "Been a while since I had such a fulfilling fight like that." Whilst saying this, the redhead let 2 of his Rinkaku Tentacles emerge, using them to help his upper body lift itself into a sitting position until it could support its own weight. Only then, did they vanish back into his Kakuhou, as his RC Cell reserves would need to recover for some time before he could use them to their fullest capacity again.

At these words, Castiel himself smirked smugly, then winced as he kept applying what limited healing magic he had on his form. Right now, his right hand glowed in a pale green light whilst he constantly casted the healing spells he knew from his teachings in Magecraft. Ugh, he REALLY needed to see what he could do about healing, but right now this pain served as a pleasant reminder of these events. Events he likely wouldn't ever be forgetting in his lifetime. "Yeah... you could say that." He felt glad that he'd done more damage to Nico than vice versa, no doubt about it, but that healing he had seemed to be pretty BS in its own right, just like that speed of his. Still, he had gotten a LOT out of this little stress rel-SPAR, yes spar! Yeah, he'd gotten a lot out of this spar, with how he could develop his skills further (one big point of interest being the Spirit Stove which had absorbed that lotus. He mentally noted to look into that later, then there's his transformations). "Still, since neither of us can fight on with a definite winner, perhaps we should do a rain check for when we're stronger. Its obvious that we still have room to grow before we reach our full potential, so our fights don't end here."

What he didn't say was that he wanted to absolutely crush Nico under him, bring him into his ranks as the king and him the servant. That was merely his kingly pride talking, as he knew Nico would NEVER let that happen. If Castiel himself was the king, then that guy was the Demon.

"Sure, I don't want to leave our fight like this anyways." Nico replied with a nod as he slowly got to his feet, stumbling a bit before he regained his balance. He held the side of his head with one hand, feeling like one hell of a migraine was assaulting his senses, although it vanished alongside most of his other injuries moments later. Taking out some healing items from his Inventory, Nico healed himself and restored his various reserves back to full power. Something which Castiel also did when he took out some Phoenix Tears, as well as a small sack of green bean-like things which he put into his mouth. Instantly, he returned to full health just like Nico had, something which made the redhead's brow twitch madly. "Showoff..."

"Pot calling the Kettle black there, dude."

"... Touche."

"Alrightie ladies. The time for your lovers quarrel is up, i'm afraid."

The moment Zelretch stepped in whilst clapping his hands, Nico and Castiel glanced over to him, seeing two portals having opened up behind him. "Looks like you two have duked it out long enough. Time for you two to get your scrawny asses back to your own worlds." Zelretch told them, before gesturing to the one to his right. "This one is yours, emo kid. It'll lead back to where you were when I found you. Minus the whole wardrobe... maybe." he spoke with a teasing, trollish grin on his face.

Nico rolled his eyes at this, having finally gotten used to Zelretch's antics. He didn't feel like this was the last time he saw the Vampire either, though he didn't say that in favor of counterattacking. "What, like how you dance about like a ballerina on a sugar high whilst on cocaine and showing some swag like a snoopdog ripoff?" he remarked, a lopsided smirk forming on his lips while he pocketed his hands into his Trench Coat.

"Oj please, you are making this old man blush. I just did something to see how it would go and it was quite fun. And as for you, godson o'mine." The man continued, gesturing to the opposite portal. "Ya gonna be going back to heaven in your world. Gotta be there for that peace meeting of yours."

At this, Castiel groaned, mentally face-palming at the reminder about that. True he had some of his girls back at Heaven, but that place would HARDLY be one of the places he'd want to be at right now. He'd rather like to see if his friends at the tower were alright. "Ugh, all this fighting actually made me forget about all that shit..." he moaned behind his hand, causing the redhead to look at him oddly.

"You, a part of heaven? Um, no offense Emiya, but you definitely don't fit the bill. You feel more like someone who belongs in the underworld ripping through countless sinners than being in a holy place. Maybe charm a few angels fall from grace while your at it. God must be rolling in his grave in your world, huh?" Nico commented, an amused twinkle in his eye to show that he was just messing with the guy.

"Sorry, I doubt he is rolling on his grave as no one knows where grandpa was buried. But, I must explain that I am more of a 'guest'/prisoner of Heaven due to some reasons, politics are a bitch when you don't yet have the power to do shit about what the higher ups decide. Also, I do know the Underworld well since some of my friends are devils anyway and I trained there for quite a while, nice place really with a lot of energy in the air and many enemies to face. If given the choice, I'd much rather be in the Underworld even if now I don't know how well things would go, being an angel now and all that."

"Huh? How would that be-"

"Politics, lots and lots of complicated politics." Castiel said, making Nico shudder a bit. Politics, the very bane of the redhead's existence. He'd already set his own opinions on them, but even so, the level of annoyance they must cause may have even exceeded his expectations. Thus, whilst he somewhat admitted that he needed to understand more of politics to better understand people's thought processes, it clearly seemed that it was not something he would like knowing more about.

After all that stuff got settled, Zelretch vanished from their sights, leaving the two portals behind for them to step into. As the boys approached the two portals, each of them felt a sense of trepidation and excitement. They'd spent at least 2 weeks in this place, so it would take some time for them to get back into the swing of things in their own worlds. They would have to get used to their problems being relevant again, and odds were it was likely that they would never come to this Dimension again... unless it was a whim which Zelretch had and in that case they would have to prep their buttocks for some SERIOUS ass whooping.

Just before the two could get inside though...

"Yo, Emiya?"

"Hm?" Blinking in surprise when Nico called out to him (although he had a mix of annoyance for being held back from seeing his girls again, and curiosity on his intentions), Castiel turned towards him with an arched brow.

As a result, he became witnessed to Nico offering a hand for a handshake. "It was a pleasure fighting with you. I'm sure we'll meet again, we still have a score to settle." Nico stated, a competitive fire in his eyes.

"Heh, don't bet on it, but if it happens i'll welcome the challenge." Castiel replied, before he grinned and shook the redhead's hand. Maybe it was because of the fight they had just had, but the guy seemed a bit more easygoing right now. Definitely made him look less edgy and more approachable, as far as the Heir was concerned maybe he could make it so that he's less of a wimp towards the ladies, THEN he'd be set. "But yeah, when we fight again, do NOT think i'll go easy on you."

"That's my line, you'll be dead meat in my fangs."

Both males chuckled after concluding the handshake, grinning like sharks with a competitive spark flashing between them. Eventually, Nico shifted his gaze away and back to his Portal, offering a two finger salute whilst turning as well, letting his coat flutter in the generated breeze.

'Heh, showoff...' Castiel thought, making to enter his own portal...

"Oh yeah, Emiya: Here's a little advice, as little as I can give considering the knowledge gap between us: Never weep for the stupid, cause you'll be crying all day."

"Humph, truer words have never been spoken, dude. Guess even the spineless harem-protagonist has some sense, eh?" Castiel retorted with a slight laugh as he created a slight wind to make the coat of his suit of pristine white and gold flutter on the wind, though since Nico had already stepped towards his portal he didn't pay that much attention. Instead, a competitive smirk formed on his lips which gave way to the following counter attack.

"Says the King of Blue Balls himself."

"I at least show I want to, unlike a certain edgy redhead I know."

However, in the end Nico's trollish laughter echoed as his portal closed behind him, same with Emiya's. Neither of them knew for certain if they would meet again, but one thing felt certain. Both boys had influenced each other in their own ways. Castiel had gained a new rival (one he DIDN'T want to kill... most of the time), as well as finally returned to what he would have been if not for the actions taken against him in his birth (which he now could at least not be as mad about since he have had the time to think and, especially, opportunity to vent quite a lot), and Nico had gained a whole new WORLD's worth of insight.

Overall, the two evolved to a whole new level, and both felt ready to face what the world has to offer with surety they are no longer weak.