As the heir of one of the 72 pillars, Raise was not unaccustomed to displays of opulence. Devils as a species were liable to engage in showy displays of their wealth, liberally spending gold on massive manors, lavish adornments and excessive ceremonies. To fail to provide sufficient spectacle could be said to be a serious faux pas in devil society and one that would cause other members of the nobility to question the state of their family. It had never been to the young devil's taste, he much preferred the simple austere beauty of nature.

However no hint of distaste was felt within his heart as he gazed upon Takamagahara. The beauty of the Shinto heaven was in an entirely different dimension to that gathered by the devils. The entire area was filled with light and Raise could feel his very body soaking in the energy. If he had been a typical devil he would have already been burnt to a crisp, but thankfully compared to his brethren he could be considered… altered. He had briefly wondered if he should start introducing himself as Raise the Devil God Sage, but even thinking of that name caused his face to flush slightly in embarrassment.

Not that he was much of a god at the moment. Amaterasu had informed him that she was forced to draw off the majority of the divine energy from his body to prevent it from harming his as yet unacclimatized body. Right now his divinity apparently sat at the level of a particularly strong demigod or a weak minor god. Not that he blamed her or felt bitter about it in anyway. In any case, the insight that he had achieved from the momentary infusion of divinity far outstripped the actual divinity itself.

He drew his thoughts away from his own contemplation of divinity, instead focusing on the surroundings again. Takamagahara consisted of a collection of palaces, temples, shrines, gardens as well as other places of wonder. The place was constructed of no earthly material; in fact Raise was still not entirely sure what it was made of. According to Amaterasu the place had come into existence at the same time as the eldest of the gods in a completely independent manner.

"Are you sure you are feeling better now," Amaterasu said as she walked besides him down the white streets. "You've been quite subdued ever since you've looked into that mirror. Not that I blame you. I am unashamed to admit that even three weeks after gazing into that dark reflection I was still not recovered fully."

"I do not think recovered is the correct word to use," Raise said. "That implies that I am going to go back to normal. I think that bridge has been burnt. If I ever want to return then I will have to build a new bridge. It would likely be the last bridge that I would build."

"That's ominous," Amaterasu said with a radiant smile. "Remember that the mirror only shows what you yourself know."

"I know," Raise said nodding but inside he was not nearly so sure. The first version of him was powerful, bearing an overwhelming aura of destruction. The first stood as an epitome of the idea of a model devil Raise that he had scorned all his life; but for all his monstrous power he paled in comparison to the second being that came out of the mirror.

The second was simply unfathomable to Raise. He radiated not a speck of energy of any kind but there was this unnerving feeling as he spoke that put Raise on edge. Unlike the first one Raise couldn't quite comprehend him, as if there was a film between us, a fragment of the unknown that prevented me from transitioning into him, an uncomprehend ideal.

"So, where to next for the journey of the great Raise Gremory?" Amaterasu asked. "If you wish to stay in Takamagahara I can set up a room. Maybe in a few dozen years you will join the pantheon."

"Stagnancy is like a coiled rope around the neck," Raise said placing a few fingers against his throat with his good hand. "Do you know the best time to mould iron?"

"When it simmers with heat," Amaterasu said immediately grasping his meaning. "And you believe that this is your time to be forged."

"I'm practically boiling over," Raise said clenching his fist. "I'm looking forward to see what I become." He stopped speaking for a moment. "I'm not good with saying goodbye, which is quite unusual considering the number of times that I've left people." His words were solemn. "I suppose what I am saying is that I was grateful for our time spent together Lady Amaterasu."

"I hope whatever path you find yourself on contents you, Raise," Amaterasu said. "I am grateful towards you for getting my mirror back and slaying that monster."

The two of them stood for a moment in silence remembering the last few weeks before Amaterasu let out an unfeminine chuckle.

"You have no idea how to get down, do you?" she said snickering at the awkward Gremory.

"Give me a break," Raise said chuckling back. "I didn't even know we were up until ten seconds ago. I am not a follower of Shintoism, after all." They laughed but it wasn't really funny.

"I can open up a portal to wherever you want to go," Amaterasu said. "Except for the underworld of course. If I were to open a portal there it would set off some serious alarms."

"I feel like I need to meet a pair of foxes before anything else," he said. "I don't have the address but I do have this talisman," he said pulling out an ornate jade fox talisman. "It operates as a beacon for teleportation. Can you send me there?"

"That looks a bit familiar," Amaterasu said as she picked it up, examining the intricate carving of a fox. "It reminds me of one of the previous heads of the Youkai faction," she said after a moment's contemplation. "Tell me have you ever met a fox named Kareta Katonori?"

"I've met a fox by the name of Kareta Saito," Raise clarified. "My intuition tells me the name was not just a coincidence."

"That's odd," Amaterasu said as she heard it, her face morphing to a look of refined bewilderment. "Kareta was one of the previous heads of the Youkai faction until his daughter and her husband were killed in a failed recruitment attempt by devils. As revenge he slaughtered over two dozen pure-blooded devils in just less than two weeks giving him one of the highest bounties placed by the new Satan Faction. After that he abdicated the position to his son and left."

"I'm surprised that there's still a relationship between the two factions by now," Raise said. "Considering the amount of friction that is generally caused by wayward devils, why do you still let them in your lands?"

"They are still a powerful faction and while the young are often uncontrollable the elders are quite reasonable," Amaterasu said flatly. "Or at least your Satans are. You would be astonished at the attitude of some of the other factions. That's why we have no diplomatic relationship with the Olympians."

"Sounds like everybody has it hard," Raise said somewhat sympathetically. "I happen to know somebody who worked in the diplomatic corps and she was constantly overworked."

"Tsukuyomi basically does diplomacy for the whole Shinto faction," Amaterasu said, with a poor hidden trace of gratefulness in her voice. "He apparently loves it. Still I'm surprised that a devil hater like Kareta would apparently have a good relationship with you."

"If there's one thing I've learnt about the world is that all people have the capacity to change," Raise said thinking over the events of his life. "They just sometimes lack the will to do so." The two of them stood in silence and Raise was about to suggest they get something to drink when Amaterasu nodded.

"This talisman does have a location geared to it as well as a key," she said. "I can set a portal to a place close to that location. Would that be okay?"

"Sure," Raise said. "I should recognize the landscape. A bit of walking never hurt anybody."

"Says the man who still has a twisted leg," Amaterasu said childishly. "She reached into the sky and a beam of sunlight hit a spot about two feet away from Raise splitting the space in two and creating a hole in the world through which he could sense a very familiar environment.

"My thanks Amaterasu," Raise said politely before he smiled and jumped through the hole giving a jaunty wave as he disappeared into the tear in the firmament of the world. The next second the tear closed behind him and he was once more in a very familiar part of the world; a place where he had spent three years training. Right on his left was a peach tree that he had sat beneath after a hard day of training. It had withered since he had last been here and displayed none of the bounteous fruit that he had snacked upon previously.

Still that was the effect of time and Raise chose not to dwell on it instead heading over the grassy knoll and hopping across the stream as he headed towards the house that he had lived for so long. There was a breath of nostalgia in the air compared with the bittersweet realisation that it was a different Raise who temporarily made this place his home. Raise frowned slightly as he realised that the peach tree wasn't the only thing that wasn't looking as healthy. In fact to his eyes it seemed as if every plant had just a little bit less vitality.

Slightly apprehensive now, the one-armed devil lengthened his stride until he swiftly arrived at the quaint looking house that he had stayed at for so long. Without pause he raised his hand and rapped on the wall to announce his presence. He instantly felt a source of ki inside the building explode into motion and he dodged to the right as the door exploded showering him with splinters and an arm as thick as thick as both of his legs lunged out towards the place where his head had just been.

The attacker in this case was a large bald man with a red beard and an impressive moustache. His red eyes glared at Raise as his nine red tails proclaimed his place as one of the pinnacles of the youkai race. His face was flushed with rage that was evidenced as an unstoppable swarm of tails rushed out to crush Raise under their titanic weight.

Limited in his options Raise chose not to go for the most destructive options and instead he simply shaped the air in front of him in the form of a dome before infusing it with Touki. Unstoppable force met unbreakable object and immediately proved the force was a liar as ground cracked and burnt, trees were blown apart and the stream evaporated while Raise sat unmoved in a six foot circle of tranquillity.

"Sleep," he said enforcing his will using Senjustu illusions and he watched with slight admiration as it only made the nine-tailed fox sway a bit before once more his eyes were open with malicious intent. He wasn't actually too bad, judging by that power he was at the very least on the level of an Ultimate Class Devil and he was probably much greater. Raise would have to hit him just a bit harder if he wanted to put him down.

"Stop Uncle Eigo," a familiar voice hit Raise's ears and he honed onto the other source of ki around. Exiting the house right behind the brawny man was the familiar figure of Kaika. "He's Raise, this devil was friendly." Despite Kaika showing up something felt off to Raise and he immediately voiced his question.

"Where's Kareta," he asked, receiving a grim look from the so-called Eigo and a look of sorrow from Kaika. "Oh," said Raise vacuously as the pieces all clicked. "My condolences." This place that had looked so familiar looked very lifeless at the moment.

"He was old," Eigo said as he relaxed. "My old man was past his prime even before I was born. I'm sure that he's happy wherever he is with the rest of his family that have already gone ahead." Despite his words and stoic expression Raise could feel the sadness radiating from Eigo. "Still he left me with quite a surprise," Eigo said chuckling as he stepped backwards and placed a hand on Kaika's head. "Trust my old man to stumble over and adopt a nine-tails."

"Are you going to take care of Kaika now," Raise said, feeling slightly ashamed to hope the answer was yes. He wasn't even sure where he would be in a few days from now and that lack of stability precluded him from adopting her himself. Regardless it would be best if she were to be able to live with her own kind.

"Of course," Eigo said and Raise could almost see his heart lighten as Kaika looked up at him. "My father was always giving me gifts. How could I not accept such a thoughtful final present? Hey girl, you can call me Papa if you feel like it, you don't have to hold back."

"Are nine-tails common?" Raise asked thinking of the many run-ins he had with the subspecies by now.

"Not at all," Eigo said before he looked at Raise in an evaluating manner. "Oh, it's you," he said after a short while. "You're the one who kicked the shit out of my brat of a son."

"I can't really find it within myself to be sincerely apologetic about the matter," Raise said thinking about the very unpleasant kitsune.

"Yes he can be a bit of a prick," Eigo said. "I was the same at his age until my old man put me on the right path," the man said and while his voice held steady there was the clear feeling of pain and nostalgia in his words. "I heard that you returned the mirror to Amaterasu. The youkai faction owes you a debt."

"Any debt that you would owe me was more than paid for by your father," Raise said. "Did he say anything to me before he…" his voice trailed off but the implications were obvious.

"No, I'm afraid just didn't wake up one day," Eigo said. "He had sent out a letter to me a few days before and then he just expired I guess. That was four days ago." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Hey, we are having his funeral in two days. If you want to attend to say your goodbyes then just swing by."

"No thanks," Raise said instantly, shaking his head. "He won't be in attendance."

"Well really it's just an excuse to drink," Eigo countered but he didn't offer again. They weren't friends but merely fellow acquaintances of a dead old man. "Hey do you want to come in to get some lunch? We were just making."

"No thanks," Raise said. "I still have at least two appointments today. I better not keep them waiting." He was about to walk away when he sensed a Kaika suddenly run towards him. He stopped his motion allowing the diminutive kitsune to wrap him in a hug.

"Goodbye Raise," she said as her tails encircled him. "I'll miss you." Her voice was choked as she spoke but there were no signs of tears.

"I'll miss you as well," Raise said as well awkwardly; for what more could he say? Seeing the future wasn't within his abilities. There was a very good chance that this was their final goodbye. He withdrew himself from the embrace after a short while longer before he casually waved as he turned away from the pair of foxes.

The wilted garden possessed a far more sombre beauty as he left the garden. The surroundings seemed determined to follow their owner to the land of the non-living and it made Raise wonder how his own garden would look after three years, or even if it still existed. Maybe if he ever saw the garden again he would think that it wasn't so special or he might even dislike the old arrangement. Maybe the next time he grew a garden he would include more vegetables.

He walked onwards in a meandering fashion that would seem purposeless to any outsider. They would be wrong of course; Raise's purpose was perfectly fulfilled by the walk. He absorbed the energy of the world with every step tasting the malice and benevolence of the world. He walked unseen past fields of rice grown by farmers, past merchants and markets, past eagerly conscripted soldiery and their corpses. With each footstep he affirmed his place in the world and then cast away his affirmations until nothing mattered except the walking. Eventually he found himself in a clearing that was rather pleasant to the eye. Hopefully it would make the upcoming conversation a bit more pleasant.

"You can stop hiding and come out now," Raise said to the trees. "It's futile to try and hide from a Senjutsu master."

"You're even more scary than you were three years ago kid," Severean Agares said as he appeared on a branch. "How long did you know I was there?" The older devil was dressed in blue armour with the Agares crest and a red cape with a symbol Raise didn't recognize.

"Since yesterday," Raise said focusing on the older devil. "Hello again, Severean. I believe we have unfinished business."

"I am supposed to be the one seeing the future," he said as his lips twitched in what could have been amusement. "I thought you would have forgotten about me by now."

"What sort of person lacks the ability to remember those that promised to kill them," Raise mused to himself. "I had a feeling that you would show up at this time. Are you going to try?"

"I never did really want to kill you," Severean said as he hopped down from the tree. "Aren't you curious why I wanted to fight you?"

"You are working with Zekram Bael," Raise said his voice casual as if he was discussing the sunny weather. "You were the one who sent him my way. You were the one who led to the pain I suffer for years." His voice didn't waver and his eyes were clear but the reaction that he got from the Agares was not what he expected. Instead of denials the older devil burst out into bitter mocking laughter.

"I used to cooperate with him," Severean stated his tone casual but filled with wrath. "The Agares are meant to be rulers of time; although I will admit that most of them are not worth the cost of their meals. As one of the very few competent members of the family sometimes I get flashes of possible futures in the form of glimpses of potential that can be dredged out from small-minded youth. Who better to exploit and mentor that talent then the Great King?"

"Just say three Hail Marys and call me in the morning if the guilt doesn't go away," Raise said snickering before he sobered. "I've already guessed all of this. Apparently I have some scary abilities and Zekram screwed up causing us both to get hit with them. I have no interest on dwelling on the past."

"But the past informs the future," Severean said with a smug look. "That's practically written over the door of every Agares dwelling. So Raise Gremory," the other devil said as his face became serious. "Will you come back to the Underworld with me?"

"You and I both know that was never a future that was going to happen," Raise said as he straightened up his posture before letting his Touki rise to just below his skin and using Senjutsu to strengthen his life force. He had never forgotten the boasting of Severean over his mastery of time and his claims that he was the strongest of the Agares and he resolved not to take him lightly.

"You're not even allowing me to vent," Severean said before he grinned. "You truly do have the ability to be a great devil."

Raise spat out blood as he flew backwards in the air crashing through tree after tree and rolling to a stop until he landed on his feet allowing him to bleed off some of the momentum in the form of friction. His abdomen burned like fire as it felt like he had been smashed by a burning steel bar. In front of him Severean casually walked forward as if all the time in the world belonged to him. Unfortunately the attack that hit him just now could only have one possible horrifying conclusion.

"I didn't think that the Agares could stop time," Raise said as he focused on Severean again. "You haven't borrowed Balor View have you?"

"That third rate Sacred Gear?" Severean questioned sounding amused. "That cheap thing has the ability to momentarily freeze a beings progress through time; if you can see them and if they aren't too strong. Honestly if I somehow got my hands on that gear I would take it back to old whatshisface for a refund."

"I don't really see the difference," Raise said gesturing as a prison filled of Light Spears surrounded formed around the Agares. The next second Raise's illusion broke and the tree limb that he had been hiding on shattered beneath him as he was driven into the ground. He raised his head from the dirt to see the prison of light spears having been shattered.

"Light spear radiates an energy that can harm devils," Severean said casually as he landed in front of Raise. "Radiation is a process that happens over time. By stepping between the discrete intervals that constitute what we know as time I become invulnerable to that type of thing."

"Then how do you walk through the air," Raise said as he stood up and dusted off his clothes. "The normally weak air pressure should hold you like an inescapable cage. If the air doesn't move then how can you breathe? If there's no light how can you see? That's why my illusions don't affect you. When you stop time you can't see or hear." A booming sound reached Raise's ears in the next second as his shields of air crumbled instantaneously and he almost felt his neck break as an enormous force impacted upon his chin and he was launched upwards and out of the forest.

"Great deduction," Severean said placidly as he also flew above the treetops. "The World Between Instants is a cold, quiet and lightless place. The only sense I can rely upon is my unwavering image of the future."

"That's quite an annoying ability," Raise said as his mind worked overtime in order to think his way out of the predicament. Severean had been brutal with his attacks but he had already recovered thanks to the power of Senjutsu. Still deciding to stall until he gained comprehension of the abilities of his opponent he decided to use the most powerful move he created so far to stall him at least if he couldn't kill him outright.

"Mahapadma," Raise said as the land cracked apart to be devoured by an icy blizzard abyss. The sky froze blotting out the sun before it cracked and fell from the heavens and trees withered unable to bear the cold for a second as they cracked and buckled turning the earth into a desert. All the minute sources of ki, the plants the insects and the small creatures that hadn't already fled perished in an instant. The omnipresent malice of the world disappeared as if purged in the surrounding perdition. Only Raise stood alone unaffected by the icy desolate world surrounding him. A cold surpassing cold fell upon the earth sapping the world of light, sound and energy. From the barren ground white lotuses bloomed from the cracked and broken forms. Energy of all kinds poured out of his body and mind as an illusion of hell manifested into the world.

In the last instant Severean had retreated rather than stepping forward into the frozen hellscape and this instant of relaxation gave Raise some time to think. There was obviously a weakness to his control over time otherwise he would be one of the Satans or at least famous from the Great War. The worst outcome would be if the limitation was something time-based as Raise could barely last a minute against him so far. Light magic didn't work and Raise judged that fire would likely not work as well for the same reason. The lack of any energy still created by the lowest hell of Naraka was something that he couldn't cross but Raise doubted that it would hold him for long. His brain whirred as he came up with a few plans on how to beat him until a sudden flicker of ki reached his senses.

A howling bitter wind spread through the otherwise frozen world; its icy jaws beckoned the return of sound, motion and heat. The sky and ground melted and the weak pale light of the sun brought the temperature slowly up towards freezing. A tremendous fog descended upon the world as the earth breathed again expelling the ice from its lungs. The malice of the world was still there if muted and Raise could once again sense his opponent's energy; which brought a combination of a grin and a grimace to his face as the implications were made obvious. Finally the white lotuses melted turning into a combination of sap and ichor with the occasional few drops of blood.

"And their body cracks into pieces exposing their organs to the cold. They will suffer in the pale lotus field frozen hell for an age, but eventually with time they will be freed from suffering," Severean said as his silhouette hovered in the air out of range of the icy mist. "I wasn't aware you were Buddhist."

"I'm not religious," Raise said as he tried to regain his energy from the exertions caused by the illusion-made-real. "You accelerated the time of my illusion causing it to expire. Why are you not a Satan? You are without a doubt the strongest person I've ever fought."

"Haven't you already figured it out Master of Senjustu," Severean replied. "When I was younger I was able to stop time at a whim. With a flex of my magic I was able to turn a decade into a second and turn an angel into dust." His words that were so firm were broken up by a hacking cough. "Sorry," he said as the mist cleared revealing a face that was considerably more wrinkled than before. "But when you use time recklessly, a cost is extracted. Therefore I must ask you one last time. Would you come back to the underworld with me? The Agares clan will support you in your endeavours. Within a decade or two you might be one of the great rulers of the underworld that we so desperately need."

"I have already made my choice a while ago," Raise said as he assumed a stance summoning his armour of Touki while enhancing his own aura. Severean just shook his head at the continued resistance. Once more an attack occurred instantaneously but this time the roles were reversed and Severean stumbled from the sky. His blue armour had a single opening in the form of a handprint and through that opening the flesh was scorched and burnt.

"The Power of Destruction," Severean said struggling to his feet with a look of amazement on his face. "You're using the Power of Destruction."

"The Power of Destruction has the ability to reduce all things to nothingness," Raise said as his body released misty wisps of black and red. "Including the World Between Instants. I admit that while I do not like this power I am no longer the immature child who would recoil from it. You should be lucky I've learnt control though otherwise your organs would have been made out of void right not."

"I suppose I should thank you for that," Severean said before he stood up from the ground and his flesh returned to healthy colours as his armour was rebuilt; the whole process taking only a couple of seconds as his body returned to his prime condition looking no worse for wear. But his dipping ki told Raise the full story.

"You really are dying," Raise said as he inspected his life force. "You probably only have a decade or two left at most. If you continue to fight the time will only shorten."

"What is the point of having all the time in the world if you don't use it," Severean said shaking his head. "I've already solved most of my regrets and if I have to spend the rest of my time to finish off my last one then I will."

"You can no longer beat me," Raise said as he descended from the sky until his feet alighted upon the ground. "Trying to put up a strong front against a Senjustu user is a pointless task."

"You are still too young and inexperienced if you believe this is the extent of my hundreds of years of training," Severean said as out of nowhere his aura flickered and swelled to an enormous degree surpassing that of Raise. A more youthful sheen appeared over the elder Agares features as it felt like his years melted off him in that moment. He examined his hands that looked so much younger in that moment Raise could feel the power concealed inside him at the moment as he stood in the form of a young adult.

Not a word was said as Severean moved lunging forward with a speed that belied belief and Raise was forced to rely on his instincts to block the blow. Even then his armour of Touki cracked and his Senjutsu enhanced strength was insufficient to fully bleed of the momentum as he slid backwards from the sheer force of the blow carving in a trench in the still ground that was composed of rotting plant matter. Tails composed of Touki appeard from behind Raise and he lashed out like a whirlwind towards the now young looking devil.

Severean didn't even hesitate and his hands curled into fists before they multiplied flickering as if several arms existed at one time. A tide of tails met a herd of hands and they two collided in a show of force that sent shockwaves everywhere cleaning the barren land of even the detritus. This show of force lead to an agonizing second of collisions as the number of hands multiplied and Raise responded by coating the Touki tails with the Power of Destruction. Instantly Severean leaped backwards and jets of purple light burst exploded beneath his fingers. Raise swung out with tail after tail to block the lights but immediately moved backwards as the lights ate through his Touki instantly. He drew on more and more of the Power of Destruction to negate the power of the all-consuming purple lights. Not a single purple light missed him and not a single purple light failed to get through his defence.

Suddenly one less ray was impacted and Raise through his head to the side as a bolt of that yellow light reappeared in front of him. Simultaneously the rest of the other purple beams disappeared in front of him winking out of space time before appearing in front of his body. Raise acted quickly and modified his Touki to shield him, folding the armour of life force to increase the density that the beams would have to eat before he summoned the Power of Destruction to burn away the devouring light.

"Destruction Spear," Raise said as he raised his fingers towards the enemy time user as dark red energy coalesced into the form of light spears before accelerating at terrible speeds towards his opponent. The spears passed through Severean as if he was an illusion and Raise clicked his tongue before he angled the spears upwards allowing them to soar to the sky where they exploded a few seconds later devouring light, cloud and atmoshpere leaving a vacuum that sucked in the nearby air.

"Had enough yet," Severean said laughing casually.

"Some form of time displacement," Raise mused as he looked at him with annoyance that was tinged with admiration. "If that is your best then you should probably just retire instead of continuing to force yourself to fight me."

"That's excellent," Severean said and there was a smile on his lips. "Shall I show you a devil's retirement then. I have always wanted to test how the bloodline of Bael can stand against that of the Agares. He raised his hands at that moment and Raise felt more than saw a massive outpouring of energy as his body visibly aged. A cold chill went up Raise's back as his instincts warned him of the encroaching danger and he raised his head to look towards the sky and froze.

A massive gate had opened up above splitting the sky and revealing a misty greyness from which hundreds of orbs descended. With each orb exiting the gate Raise shuddered a bit as an immense source of energy entered the world. Water, fire, earth, air, light, destruction, ice and a dozen more that he couldn't recognize. These attacks descended trapped in their bubbles as if an army from every mythology had taken the field against him.

"I've fought a lot of different opponents in my years," Severean said his voice coming out significantly hoarser. "I like to store some of their attacks in a space outside of time. It would be a pity if I died without using them."

"Severean. No!" Raise began turning towards the steadily aging devil knowing that the wave of energy would easily wipe out Japan if they hit the ground.

"Try and block this Raise," the now skeletal Severean said and his rotting flesh formed a rictus of a grin as more and more life faded from his body before he collapsed to the ground his remains swiftly decomposing.

"Oh crap," Raise said as he looked towards the now falling orbs that had started to shatter. He created an illusion of air and using his Senjustu he created a ceiling to prevent them from falling, but as soon as the first orb hit it exploded into a wave of lava that shattered the air ceiling and broke the other spheres. He winced as the sheer vastness of the energy caused his teeth to buzz and once more during this fight he drew on the Power of Destruction within his blood. His expert control over illusions was easily transferred to the normally volatile power and a wave of destruction surged upwards towards the exploding spheres.

Raise's attack was a double edged sword in that moment as the lava was immediately swallowed by the red-tinged wave of blackness. Unfortunately the Power of Destruction didn't stop at that moment and instead eagerly proceeded to bite down on all the other spheres which hadn't been broken yet releasing a massive torrent of energy into the world.

Raise's eyes widened and he immediately began to draw on more and more of the power of destruction from his body. If he didn't disperse the energy then Kaika would certainly die and Amaterasu might be ruling over a land of ash. An all-out war between the Shinto and the devils would probably result and that is not something Raise would ever want. Every second felt like ten as Raise eked out the power of destruction in a desperate attempt to devour the myriad of magical meteors that plummeted downwards. For the first time in his life Raise pushed his Power of Destruction to its limits and he found to his surprise that his limits were a lot further than he thought they were. Just as the Raise felt his limits the last of the foreign energy was finally consumed by the Power of Destruction turning the sky inky black.

Raise closed his eyes and collapsed on his back. More specifically he collapsed on a rock on the ground that was currently digging into his back in a manner that caused pain but no long term damage. He could barely even move and every part of his body felt leaden as if his bones had swollen too large for his skin. He lay on the hard, cold mushy ground with a stone poking into his back just breathing and trying to recover. That was probably the most harrowing fight he had ever fought and for a moment there he couldn't figure out how to obtain victory.

He didn't speak, feeling that the vigour that it would cost would not help his already overdrawn energy budget. Suddenly his eyes snapped open as his Senjustsu announced a familiar presence albeit one that he hadn't felt for a long time. No, make that two familiar presences. The second being in particular could lead to quite an awkward reunion considering how their last meeting went. He was of half a mind to just leave but he quickly decided against it; and not just because he couldn't move his legs right now. He had run from his problems last time when he felt caught in an escapable net that he couldn't see the end of. If he were to run this time as well then it meant his three years of learning were all for nothing.

Soon enough a pair of thuds announced people touching down to the ground and there was the sound of somebody sucking in air, obviously from surprise. Raise couldn't actually see any of this because he was lying on the ground and had his eyes closed once again. Still his mind's eye was trained enough that he could practically see them touch down and start looking around somewhat frantically at the destruction.

"It's been a while Serafall," Raise said as he lay on the ground unmoving. The sudden fluctuation of ki was enough for him to know that he had received her attention and there was a sudden burst of movement towards his location.

"Raise?" his best friend said with confusion. "Raise," she said and the confusion was gone to be replaced with pure joy. She reached down and hugged him pushing him down into that unfortunately placed stone. Still it felt nice, and not just due to her, ehm… assets pressing into his chest. Until now he had truly forgotten just how much he had missed her. It was as if he had been living with an omnipresent ache in his heart that he didn't quite realise until now.

"It's good to see you again Serafall," Raise said still not opening his eyes. "Hello Delilah," Raise said awkwardly. While he couldn't feel any negatives to her life force he was still aware that he should have crippled her the last time. She probably wouldn't be happy to see him again.

"Hello Raise," she said her voice neutral before her voice adopted a more playful tone. "It's good to see you again fiancé."

"Wait, what?" Raise said barely managing to lift himself off the ground. His eyes opened as he looked towards the source of the news. She was clad in a black covering everything except for a single brown eye. Her cloak carried some magic that prevented someone from being able to see inward but to Raise who had spent his whole life staring through illusions it provided no resistance. Burnt scarred flesh covered half of her face and one of her eyes was clearly hollow giving her an appearance that matched the ruler of Helheim.

"In order to gain victory in the rating game one has to actually show up to the ceremony afterwards," Delilah Bael said. "It was a ritual specifically set up to catch pesky gods who would show everybody up and then run afterwards, but devils have adopted it when they first began the rating games."

"Again," Raise said remembering a previous incident in the past only to hear Serafall giggle on his chest. "You're getting pretty clingy Sera," he said. "Even for you."

"I haven't seen you for a long time Raisin," Serafall said as she looked at him so closely their noses were almost touching. "Of course I would be a bit excited."

"Raisin," Raise said stuttering at the sudden closeness and not really appreciating the new nickname.

"You sort of look like a dried grape right now," Serafall said sticking out her tongue at such close proximity she actually licked the tip of his nose. "What happened here by the way?"

"What is the name of the other devil," Delilah said and Raise turned his head slightly to see her poking at the remains in an advanced state of decay.

"Severean," Raise said neutrally gaining looks from both Delilah and Serafall. In the end he still didn't know what he thought of the devil or what his motives even were. Feelings of rebellion stirred when he wanted to return Raise to the underworld but he had barely put any effort into that instead fighting Raise head on and expending his life force to show Raise the true extent of his powers. Honestly if he was a few hundred years younger Raise would have likely turned tail and run.

"Severean," Delilah repeated before she brought her foot down and the remains were reduced to nothingness under her Power of Destruction. "All I saw was the corpse of an immensely powerful stray devil. Congratulations on defeating him."

"What?" Raise said only for Serafall to pat his cheek.

"Severean was not very popular, but he was still a member of one of the pillar families," Serafall said. "Better to just avoid the trouble."

"He was also one tough devil," Raise said deciding not to think on the strange man anymore. "Why are you here anyway?" Raise said focusing back on the two girls.

"Looking for you of course, Raisin," Serafall said pouting. "You caused some havoc earlier that ended up on my desk Raise. You're not supposed to do stuff that ends up on my desk. Well I'll forgive you this time. How long have you been in Japan Raise?"

"I've been around here for the past three years," he said trying to shrug before realising that he literally couldn't. This was quickly picked up on by Serafall.

"You look awful Raise," she said as she got off of him.

"I see you've lost another limb," Delilah said. Her voice sounded surprisingly snarky and Raise realised that Serafall may have rubbed off on her slightly. "Are you going to continue this obsession with losing limbs in the future until you're only a head floating around?"

"Says the person who still hasn't healed her face after three years," Raise retorted immediately before his brain caught up to his mouth.

"Oh, but if my future husband desires me to look like this then who am I to let him down," Delilah said in a tone that spoke of some submissive sorrow that made Raise feel terrible. "Relax, it stopped hurting after one month and stopped people approaching me for the remaining time. If you want I can try and restore my face in time to perform my wifely duties."

"Serafall, please make your subordinate stop," Raise said trying to play it off as a joke while simultaneously keeping the colour out of his face. A shake of her Serafall's head told him that his attempts didn't entirely work.

"Why don't you stop her yourself," Serafall said with a sudden gleam in her eye. "Is it that you can't move?" Raise didn't even have the time to respond as he was lifted up off of the ground and that annoyingly pointed stone and held bridal style by Serafall. "Wow you really are quite light Raise," Serafall said. "I think you've even gotten lighter since last time."

"I'm missing a limb Sera," Raise said without any emotion.

"Why don't we head back to Serafall's mansion and we can have that limb grown back," Delilah said as she approached the both of them. "I can heal my face at the same time," she said as Raise contemplated the offer. "It would go much smoother with a Senjustu Master on hand."

"I…" Raise said opening his mouth before closing it again as he felt a sudden surge of anticipation from the girls. "I would like that," he said truthfully.

"That's great to hear," Serafall said joyously and Raise felt a surge of reflective glee to see his friend so happy. "We're going to be having a slumber party every night and telling stories and reading the latest books by notable devil authors that touch upon the struggles of ordinary devils thrust into lives of adventure."

"No telling the family," Raise said. "I'm not really ready to get into that."

"Not even Sirzechs," Serafall said with a slight frown and a turn of the head.

"Maybe Sirzechs after a bit," Raise allowed.

"I have not spoken to my family for over two years so there is no danger in that," Delilah said as if to assuage him. "I'll stock up on a few easy to make meals and give the non-essential staff their leave."

"Perfect," Serafall said with a wide grin and Raise felt his spirits lift as he saw sincere elation in her expression. "I just know we're going to have a lot of fun in future." She looked down towards Raise and for a moment Raise could see her eyes turn watery before it disappeared. "Raise," she said, her voice a bit choked. "I'm glad you are back."

"I'm glad to be back, Sera," Raise said truthfully.

Many years later

A solitary devil sat a desk alone in a bright room with a few piles of paper on the desk idly marking off a few of the papers as he took deep sips of a glass of orange juice. Lining the room were pictures of so-called magical girls from Japan. That country had gotten weird since it had been nuked twice and while he didn't enjoy it he wouldn't begrudge any fun that his darling would have. A silly smile lit upon his face before he downed his juice and with a snap of his fingers destroyed all the paperwork that had been assigned to him. If the documents that they sent were important then they would have told him in person. He shook off the stiffness for sitting for so long before he flicked up his hat on the desk with his right hand sending it soaring into the sky before it fell on his head while his other hand removed the headphones from his ears.

Without much of a pause he stood up and headed out causing the two maids that were standing waiting for him to open the door for him and follow him out. It was a ritual that ground on his nerves but people would probably replace it with something else equally inane if he didn't. Thankfully they knew just how unappreciated they were and kept out of his way for the most part. Raise had barely stepped into the corridor before somebody else tried to get his attention.

"Yo, Raise," the woman said and he noticed that it was one of the members of his harem; a Valkyrie that was enthralled by his power apparently. Apparently Serafall liked her way of flirting and tried to get them together and there was some politics involved or something. Anyway the amount of leather that she wore was at least two cows worth and she had the self-awareness of a wooden block. She reached into her brassiere and pulled out two tickets. "Want to go catch a rating game, I've got box seats?"

"No," Raise immediately started. "Who's fighting?" he said after a moments contemplation.

"It's Diehauser Belial and Ruval Phenex," the woman said immediately as if she had been waiting for him to ask.

"An invitation to watch a Phenex get beaten up," Raise said musing. "That might be interesting," he said. "They haven't liked me ever since I ended that engagement a few years ago."

"I think that threatening to reduce the pillar families to 31 was the thing that destroyed that relationship," the Valkyrie said. "You see," she said making an irritatingly accurate attempt at Raise's voice. "All the political alliances you make in the end mean nothing. Please will anybody stand up and side with the Phenex, but only if you wish to be buried among them." The girl said before her faux-dignified look collapsed and she hugged herself. "Ah, I'm getting a little wet. Not a single one of those supposedly supreme devils stood up. The next day that engagement was cancelled and so many family alliances were ruined."

"Sirzechs had already stepped out by then and Serafall was away," Raise mentioned as continued walking down the hallway. "They had no other choice."

"Oh by the way," the girl said as she sped up to match Raise's walking speed. "What are you doing for your birthday this week?"

"I'm hosting a period of self-reflection in a place so far off the grid even the tax collectors won't be able to find me," Raise said flatly. That was no small feat as devil tax collectors were quite likely the most feared brigade in the whole government.

"Is this because Serafall is still at that meeting in North America," the girl said and Raise pondered lying briefly before briefly nodding causing the girl to pout.

"Then you know that Lady Serafall would be upset if she saw you moping," a more familiar voice roused Raise from his contemplations.

"Delilah," Raise said as he looked back at the devil that may or may not be his wife. The marriage agreement was a very complex business with three signatories and Raise had better things to do then deal with devil law. "If you're back then…" he said broke off as she nodded her head.

"Try look in the Monarch's Garden," she said naming one of Raise's gardens that he went to whenever he wanted to get away. She might have said something more but Raise had no patience to listen anymore as he was already walking away. He noticed that the maids were still following him and the Valkyrie looked like she was going to continue and so with a word a wall of blackness formed in front of him before he walked through it. Composed of pure Power of Destruction if anybody tried to pass through the wall they would be instantly destroyed with no recourse.

Raise sped up as he continued walking feeling hope stir in his breast as he walked towards the Monarch Garden. He actually seldom went to that garden but it was right next to the Swallowtail Garden which he frequently ventured into. He walked past that garden and into the next one and then froze.

The Monarch Garden was still a work in progress and Raise hadn't quite decided what theme he was looking for yet. It was doubtlessly beautiful, dominated by a large willow tree with vine adorned walls from which various fruits grew but it lacked that completing feature. Today however there were some new additions to the garden that made it look better than ever. Sitting beneath the willow tree was a large four poster bed and sitting on the bed was Serafall dressed only in a red ribbon draped alluringly over the most mysterious parts of her.

"Happy Birthday Raise," Serafall said standing up in a manner that caused the ribbon to flex as her curves jiggled slightly. "Do you like your birthday present?"

"Sera," Raise said somewhat struck dumb with the situation before he felt what was undoubtedly a cheesy grin appear on his face. "You're back. It's so good to see you."

"Aren't you going to unwrap your present," Serafall said as she took a step up to him. She leaned forward and this close Raise could see two hard nubs that pressed against the ribbon. She leaned into him and Raise felt his breath quicken as her smooth skin brushed against him. "If we have a girl her name is going to be Usagi," she said before she turned around and headed back to the bed giving Raise a good look at an equally tantalising side of her; that ribbon hid even less of her back.

"That would make me very happy," Raise said with a genuine smile as he walked towards his best friend and wife Serafall.

Good? End

xxx

"I have already made my choice a while ago," Raise said as he relaxed. Despite the danger that the older devil presented he felt quite peaceful at this point in time. Almost as if by confirming the facts in his head he had lost the last traces of reluctance in his heart. "A strange thought has just passed my mind," Raise said calmly. "I wonder if Time is to you what Illusions were to me when I was younger. Did exploring Time give you a sense of joy? Did you feel pride when you realised there was a domain over which you exerted ultimate influence? Did figuring out a new aspect of Time brighten your day and give you a thirst to explore further?"

The next second he was standing with a hand penetrating through his chest as Severean stood with a serious look on his face. The Time-controller was about to say something before he froze in shock. The Raise in front of him was turning into a swarm of butterflies that flew away causing the entire area to be smothered in the insects. However in the next second they faded away into the environment causing the entire forest to look exactly as it was before Raise froze it.

"How?" Severean said with pure shock in his voice. "Just how did you fool my Future Sight?"

"So you call it Future Sight," Raise's voice sounded out throughout the forest but Severean could no longer sense him. "The reason I could fool your Future Sight is right there in the name. 'Future Sight'" he emphasised. "While I cannot see the future, there is no doubt that you can. I just altered your interpretation of it somewhat."

"Primordial illusions," Severean said with a slight sneer. "Also called internal illusions. All I have to do to break out of that is remove your energy within my body and then we will be back to square one." As he spoke he did just that looking through his body to attempt to purge any of the illusory energy within. As he did that his Future Sight returned and he knew that if he attacked at a certain space he would hit the young Gremory.

"Are you sure you want to do that," Raise spoke up from his position sitting on one of the illusionary trees. "That may not be the best idea." Another Raise spoke up sitting opposite him. "Well I won't try and stop you." A third Raise said leaning against a tree on the ground. "Experience can only aid in your future." A fourth Raise said speaking a few metres in front of Severean. "Sometimes the greatest failures lead to the greatest triumphs." A fifth Raise said disinterestedly as he spoke behind him. "I guess you could say we that our failures make us who we are." Multitudes of Raises said as they occupied every inch of this clearing.

A drop of sweat ran down Severeans cheek as he tried to stare into the correct future. Dozens of possibilities showed him running through one of the Raises and each time it resulted in a different spot. Yet when he tried to look forward past the time of the illusion he saw nothing else. Even though his Future Sight was limited in the short term he should still be able to verify if the attack was successful and yet he could not. His mind spun and he staggered briefly before he deactivated his future sight.

"Alright you've managed to effectively cast illusions around my future sight," Severean said as he regained his composure. "I have no idea how you did it but…"

"Would you like to know?" Raise said as all of the Raises disappeared leaving only a single Raise who sat on the ground facing away from Severean. "I don't really feel like fighting you. How about we sit down and talk about Time and Illusions. Maybe it will bring back you back to the time that you cared about more than petty politics."

"Politics pervades all of life," Severean said seriously as his hands glowed with a purplish light. Instantly the glade was bathed in that glow causing the trees to decompose and rot before they collapsed under their own weights leaving only refuse to decorate the forest floor. "Do you think that you can waste your life unconcerned with the world outside you? Naïve."

"Please do not project your own failures onto myself," Raise said standing within a corona of pale light as the forest collapsed around him. "You're giving this whole 'I have a tragic backstory and that is the reason I am doing this vibe.' It's quite a specific vibe," Raise said chuckling humourlessly. "I amend my earlier statement by the way. I think it's how we react to our failures that make us who we are."

"And you think you would be any different," Severean said as he focused the power of the purple light onto that shield of light.

"Do you know I think that Time is an Illusion," Raise said casually and Severean actually stopped the purple light as his thoughts caught on Raise's words trying to discern meaning. "Actually I think all of reality is an Illusion. I'm pretty sure a few billion years ago lifeless mud looked at itself and started believing that it had a soul. After that it started inventing concepts to explain the phenomenon such as Life, Death, Time, Space, Self, Nature and God," Raise said.

"What is your point?" Severean said trying to figure out the meaning behind the odd tangent.

"I guessed that later that pure Belief in the Illusion of substance turned into Divinity, Ki, and a hundred other energies. Even the Power of Destruction probably came about only after Destruction was imagined. So I wondered if everything came from the same place then maybe I can sense Time as I can Nature and maybe I could create Illusions of Time as I do Light? It turns out I can," Raise said and there was a smug joyous grin upon his face as he said that."

"So that's how you managed to fool my future sight," Severean focused on the point. "You created an Illusion a few seconds into the future. Why are you telling me this?"

"I wanted to see if my theory would stir a sense of wonder in you," Raise said sounding vaguely disappointed. "You're the first person to hear about it. I still haven't decided on a name."

"You aren't even taking this conversation seriously aren't you," Severean said frowning.

"What you value is not the same as what I value," Raise said. "I think your younger self and I would have likely been friends."

"Shall we see about that then," Severean said and for a moment Raise could practically feel Time convulse in strange and unusual ways. The image was blurry and he immersed himself in the complexity of the motions even as Severean started to physically shrink before him as years after years receded until what was standing in front of Raise was a teenage version of Severean. "This is how I looked right before the start of the Great War. Although I am a lot stronger then I was since then."

"Only in some ways," Raise said as he raised his hand in an expression of readiness but there was no motion from the younger Time devil.

"No you're right," Severean said after a moment's contemplation. "New brain cells," he said as he tapped his head. "There are so many ideas that I've wanted to try but never got the time. I'll have to apologize for trying them out on you."

"Well then let's-Only in some…" Raise started before his body flickered and he stopped bewildered as his intuition told him something was wrong. "What just happened?"

"I could tell you but you would soon forget," Severean said almost apologetically.

"What—Only in…" Raise said flickering before he clutched his head wincing in pain.

"Intriguing," Severean said as he watched on with some excitement in his eyes. "You don't seem to lose your memories even if you reset."

"Only…" Raise said stumbling before gritting his teeth.

"I wonder if that is because you can sense time that you can retain your memories," Severean said.

"Only… a time loop," Raise said as he didn't stumble as he flickered this time. He raised his hand and an Illusion half-formed only for the flickering to resume and he returned to his original position.

"You can rethink your life choices," Severean said casually. "If you return to the Underworld then I will release the loop. Otherwise you can only rely on your own power to break it."

"I see," Raise said. "-Only can you tell me the difference—only between reality and an Illusion."

"That's more your thing isn't it," Severean said as he turned away from Raise. Maybe he could find some adequate stump or something that something else to use as a chair while he waited.

"Only. There's far less of a difference than you would think," Raise said and there was a severe tonal shift in his voice that froze Severean. Somehow he knew that what he when he turned around he wouldn't see a trapped Raise anymore. As the seconds dragged on without another 'only' the feeling grew stronger. After a long few seconds he shook off the paralysis and whirled to see…nothing.

"Are you looking for me," Raise spoke up from behind him and Severean jumped and turned around once again to face…Raise but a wholly different looking Raise. For a moment he thought that Raise had copied his power and summoned his older self but his ability absolutely did not work like that. Raise stood about half a centimetre taller and was dressed in weird jacket that hung loosely over a shirt and short pants with sandals. He had both hands in his pockets and there was an air of terrifying casualness about him as if he stood above any possible effects of a messy world.

He grinned at Severean as the Time devil tried to put him in a time loop only for his powers to fail. No his powers didn't fail but they just didn't do anything. He could feel the time loop establish and even feel the flow of time reset but this this version of Raise just seemed to ignore it as if it didn't affect him. He casually raised his hand and Severean watched as the woods reconstructed themselves until they were just as they were before the start of the fight.

"Who are you?" Severean said eying his old opponent in a new form.

"Just mud with dreams," the other Raise said as he slowly walked towards Severean every step causing the flowers to bloom. "And who are you?" the other Raise asked as he walked towards him and Severean's sense of danger swelled with every step.

"You already know who I am," Severean said as he reached into his Paused Space and unleashed a blast of Holy Lightning that he had taken from Baraqiel. The blast rampaged towards the different Raise who merely stood there. A millisecond before the lighting impacted Raise moved instantly grabbing the lightning and cupping it within his hands in a manner that was impossible by Severeans understanding. A second later he opened up his cupped hands releasing a storm of butterflies within that fluttered around for a moment before they morphed into draconic creatures and swarmed towards Severean.

The young-looking devil backed away releasing more and more of that purple light that proved immensely ineffective. They couldn't be trapped in a time loop either and so he released Power of Destruction he had leached off from the Baels over hundreds of years. A second later his eyes widened as the mouths of the dragon butterflies opened up and without any preamble devoured the Power of Destruction whole.

"How," he said, the words slipping through his lips without any conscious thought. What he saw was impossible but it clearly happened. 'Was it illusory?' he thought unwilling to believe otherwise.

"Just because its illusory doesn't make it unreal," Raise said. "You could travel to heaven or hell or even outer space and you will never escape the Illusion."

"Then if I can't escape the illusion," Severean said, not trusting the other devils words. "Then all I have to do is destroy you." As he spoke he fully opened up his Paused Space attempting to release his entire arsenal only for it to fail unexpectedly. "What," he repeated dumbly looking at his hands only to swallow in disbelief at the sight before his eyes. Each one of his fingers had turned into Chinese Dragons that looked back at him and as he looked more and more of his hands turned into dragons that moved independent of his thought.

"Forgive me if I don't want to let the fight drag on," Raise said chuckling at the bad joke. "I'm just a mild Illusion that happened to reflect a bit of sentience." He replaced his hands into his pocket once more as he walked towards Severean and the Time devil stepped backwards only to fall on the ground as he felt his legs writhe independently of his control. "Once I had a dream that I was a devil named Raise. Then I woke up and realised that Memory is just an Illusion."

"What are you talking about?" Severean said his teeth chattering before he felt him loose control over his mouth and tongue as well. More and more parts of Severean collapsed into draconic creatures and he felt his entire sens of self start to unravel bit by bit. His senses failed as his ears morphed and then his eyes and then his nerves. By the time blackness finally took him there was no space even for dying thoughts as his brain uncoiled.

Raise stood alone in the forest watching a sleeping Severean. For some reason he had forgotten the last two minutes of his fight with the Time devil. A chunk of his memory was hidden from him but he didn't panic. He could feel that the memories were there but hidden by an Illusion and so he sat down to inspect the Illusion and see if he could look past it. After a few minutes of relaxed inspection he came to an interesting conclusion. He couldn't.

The last thing he remembered was casting an unremembered Illusion on himself and the next he remembered was standing refreshed in the middle of a beautiful forest. His right arm was looking as if it had never been damaged and both of his wing and leg were completely pain free for the first time in his memory. It felt like he had been healed on a transcendental level. Suddenly he felt a flash of memory as if he had been in this situation before and he focused on the world around him as two familiar energy sources arrived.

They saw him immediately as they touched down and he made no attempt to hide. Regardless of the rightness or wrongness of his actions these two were people he had no right to avoid. He owed them that much at least considering the consequences that his actions had inflicted on them. He decided to take a seat on the ground and then only realized that he was not alone. Sitting on his shoulder sat some weird mix between a dragon and a butterfly; maybe a dragonfly or a butter fairy. It had wings like that of a butterfly, more specifically Raise's butterfly, and possessed the body of a Chinese Dragon with five toes.

"What's your name," Raise said to the Butter Dragon as he lifted up his finger to stroke its chin causing the creature to rub against him but give no answer. While it was a weird creature he wasn't able to focus on it too long and so he simply snapped his fingers and wrapped light around him a second before the twin thumps landed on the ground. It had been a long time since he had seen Serafall and he practically drank the sight in. She hadn't changed at all since he had last seen her. To devils three years wasn't a very long time in the first place and many devils tended to slow down in life after the first thirty years or so. Still she looked as if she had being doing well and Raise felt anticipation well within him at the thought of speaking to her.

It took him a long few seconds before he tore his eyes off of her and looked towards her companion and he was slightly surprised by what he saw. For some reason Delilah had refused to heal her wounds, maybe to match his own or maybe to prevent suitors or maybe for some other reason; he had never learned how to read minds. While this likely wouldn't be a pretty conversation he was glad that he could confirm her survival. Maybe he had really instinctively held back so as not to kill her. It was a nice thought if it was true.

"Good morning," Raise said and then mentally kicked himself at the formal tone that he had adopted. "Nice weather we are having," he continued doubling down on the awkwardness as he faded into existence leaning against his tree.

"Raise," Serafall said as she launched towards him and for a moment Raise considered moving before he simply stopped and let it happen. The Satan crashed into him causing the tree that he was leaning into to shake somewhat. The hug felt warm but Raise couldn't really enjoy it as guilt churned in his stomach. "You look much better. Did you fix your leg?"

"It's good to see you Serafall," Raise said feeling somewhat bittersweet. "Hello Delilah," Raise said as he looked at the cloaked figure. "I see you still have not healed." He was certain that none of the remnants of his power remained. It should be relatively easy to regenerate the flesh and even the eye could likely be replaced with devil magic.

"Unfortunately when my face finally finished aching I discovered there were some benefits," Delilah said somewhat cagily in her response. "But if my fiancé were to command me then I will surely restore my good looks."

"Fiancé," Raise said somewhat confused. Had she been placed in another arranged marriage, but if that was the case then her face would have been healed already. He felt that he was missing something.

"Raise," Serafall said as she pulled back slightly looking at his face while never releasing her grip. "When you 'won' that battle three years ago you didn't show up and so they awarded you second place automatically. It was ruled as if you lost," Serafall expounded as she closely studied Raise's reactions.

"I forgot about those stupid rules," Raise said as he thought back to his loss in Kyoto. Back then he had to borrow magic from Serafall in order to win the competition, but right now it felt as if he could plunge all those beings into heaven and hell with just a thought. He briefly contemplated for a moment what younger Raise would have thought of his current self and then gave it up as an exercise in pointlessness. "I haven't had to deal with them for years."

"You're lucky," Serafall said pouting but there was seriousness beneath her childish actions. "I wish I could have a holiday."

"Why don't you," Raise said seriously. "There's a lot to see out here. I can guide you around for a bit. It's quite a big world."

"The Underworld is bigger than Earth, Raise," Serafall disagreed. "We don't have over half of our land covered in water."

"Yes, but lacking so much diversity in comparison," Raise disagreed. "Besides when was the last time you spent taking in all that landmass that exists away from your desk."

"Raise you know just as well as I do that I have many functions all over the Underworld," Serafall responded and there was a hint of unwilling confrontation in her voice as if she knew where this was going but didn't want it to, but Raise smiled sadly at her opposition.

"I'm not going back Serafall," he said noticing that Serafall clamped down on his torso as he did so. "While I've made a lot of mistakes," he said his eye darting to Delilah's ruined face for a second. "I've looked back and I don't think that leaving was one."

"There are people waiting for you back in the Underworld," Serafall said with her voice barely above a whisper.

"I'll send Sirzechs a card," Raise said. "And Grayfia also, I suppose." While he did not have an inordinate amount of affection for his sister in law she did care for him for a lot of his life. Any bridges between his parents and him had been burnt to the extent that he didn't care enough to rebuild them.

"What about your marriage?" Serafall said and Raise almost scoffed before he realised the subject was still there.

"No offence Delilah," Raise said catching her eye. "Even if I did lose I was never going to honour the agreement." Raise tried briefly to discern any kind of emotion from her face, and failed to gain anything discernible from her eyes of stone. Instead she turned around and walked away, heading into the forest.

"What about me?" Serafall said her voice rising in an explosion of anger. "What about me Raise,'" she repeated softly.

"Will you leave with me and explore the wide world Serafall," Raise reiterated what he said earlier.

"I have responsibilities," Serafall said in a stammering manner. "I am one of the Satans of the entire devil faction. If I don't do my job then the entire faction suffers."

"That is true," Raise said his voice level. "It's a heavy duty you accepted a long time ago. You obviously consider it very important."

"It is very important," Serafall said. "I just told you that if I don't do this job then people die."

"All things have their importance to somebody," Raise said melancholically. "Serafall I love you," he said out of the blue and for a moment it felt like the world froze. "You are my best friend. You are one of the few people who I never grow tired of talking with. I think I might even love you romantically, I'm not used to these feelings." Raise paused at this point as if unable to spit out the words he would say next.

"I love some things more than you," he said with the finality of a requiem.

For a long time the glade was silent and Raise and Serafall lay there unmoving until degree by degree the temperature started to drop. The Butter Dragon left Raise's shoulder to fly away just as Raise felt his clothes start to ice over.

"I won't allow it, Raise," Serafall said firmly with a tinge of despair in her words. "I will not allow it," she repeated with some fury. Briefly out of the corner of his eye Raise noticed Delilah appear and grab the still unconscious Severean before running away. In a second that forest that had so recently recovered froze again trapping the flora in an icy unmoving image. "You are coming back with me Raise," Serafall said as she tightened her grip around the young Gremory. Suddenly the Raise in front of her shattered as if he was composed of nothing but light and Raise stood a few dozen metres away from Serafall.

"How," Serafall said frantically looking at her hands.

"I've recently learnt how to change places with my Illusions," Raise said tonelessly. "I've forgotten how it works though. I think it involves the Source of the world which is a place I cannot touch quite yet."

"I will just to freeze all your Illusions then," Serafall said as she took a step menacingly towards him.

"Wait, wait," Raise said. "Can we not taint this goodbye? Let's just leave on good terms."

"Do you think you leaving would ever be good Raise," Serafall said as tears of ice dripped from her eyes towards the ground. "I know you hate to hear this and I'm sorry but I'm doing this for you as well as me. I won't let you ruin your life due to your unrealistic notions of freedom."

"You're a good friend," Raise said morosely. "Do you remember our discussion about primordial Illusions?" he said with a bittersweet smile. "About how they work." Abruptly a huge amount of magic was released from Raise before concentrating into an orb that he held in his left hand. Second upon second the amount of magic swelled until Serafall wondered how Raise still had any more energy left in his body and Serafall prepared to dodge the attack while keeping alert for any Illusions.

"This is a primordial Illusion Serafall," Raise said as he instantly appeared from behind her and Serafall swivelled freezing the incoming attack before it could hit. "Nirvana," Raise said a second before he was frozen, but Serafall didn't contemplate those words for long. As she quickly recalled Delilah and transported the three of them back to her mansion.

For the next few weeks she kept Raise in his room restricting him from leaving, but neither did she inform any of the Gremorys. Instead she spent most of the time relaxing with Raise and while he was quite sullen for the first few weeks she eventually managed to grind him down over time. Eventually he admitted that he hesitated to fight back on that day because he actually did want to go back with her, but he just couldn't admit it.

Their relationship grew better and a year after he came back she and Raise were officially married as well as Delilah. The three of them joined married life and Raise decided to spend her days helping out with her paperwork. Eventually both she and Delilah both got pregnant at the same time and Serafall decided to recruit Raise a harem in order to slake his lusts while they were expecting. The pregnancies went easily and Serafall gave birth to a pair of twins a week before Delilah. The children were a mix between her and Raise but lacked the degree of rebelliousness that Raise had.

A hundred years later Raise had become the newest Satan and the two of them were leading the devils into an era of prosperity…

"That's a terrible thing to do," Delilah said to Raise as she walked up to the Illusion devil. Severean was nowhere to be seen, the Bael had probably discarded him somewhere. Raise was standing looking at the happily sleeping form of Serafall that lay comfortably on the cold ground.

"I feel there were no good ways to do this," Raise said sighing and Delilah thought she saw tears drop from his eyes before they disappeared suddenly. "I'll leave her with a lovely dream." The Butter Dragon landed on his head as he glanced towards Delilah before he snapped his fingers causing her scarring to disappear and her eye to grow back.

"How did you…" she started only to hold herself back. While she was curious she didn't feel like talking to Raise in these circumstances.

"I've gotten strong," Raise said to himself as much as her. "My Illusions are almost as good as Reality now. I really want to see what is behind the curtain when you strip away all of the Illusions."

"I hope that when you see what you desire, that you don't regret the choice," Delilah said diplomatically.

"I hope so to," Raise said giving a half smile that looked mingled nervousness and dread. "Unfortunately I know that if I don't go then I will regret it forever." He gave a smile before he turned away. "Let her have that last happy dream please."

"Where should I tell her you are going," Delilah said as she crouched down examining the sleeping Satan.

"I'm heading further than heaven or hell," Raise said not looking back. "Just tell her that I'm climbing a waterfall."

? End

Alright its done, freakin' cheesy last line not withstanding. Thanks for the motivation Lucienda and screw you I did finish it. Actually I had the basic gist of this chapter when I finished the previous one but I put it off because it was going to be bloody hard to do the actual writing. Regardless of the hate or love the last chapter gets I want to thank everybody who reviewed and gave me the motivation to finish this fucking thing. I had so much I wanted to say but I just can't find the words right now. 75000 words. Three Serafall chapters. Three Raise chapters. Two endings. One exhausted writer. I guess technically this story was also inspired by a story called 'Those Who Love Monsters' by Gabriel Blessing(a far far better author than me) but the link is so weak there is probably no visible overlap. Ah, I can't wait to hit complete.