Disclaimer: I don't own any franchise that is used in this story nor do I make any profit from it whatsoever.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Chapter II: The Demon & the Reaper

Lelouch remained still as he watched the world erupt in a blinding light, staring just as wide eyed as the teenage girl beside him as they watched a man heralded as Rondel's greatest Sage obliterate a horde of countless undead backed by a sandstorm that had dragged the desert itself into the sky. The light from where Cato had pierced the desert detonated in a dome of white energy, spreading beyond where the mortal eye could see as it engulfed the undead horde.

The young travelers didn't know how long it had been as they watched the purest light either of them had ever seen before it began to fade, but eventually all things must one day fade. So to was it the case of this light. Slowly, much slower than when it had first expanded, the dome of light began to collapse in on itself.

Eventually, all that remained was a tired old Sage leaning heavily on his staff as he panted harshly. The hordes and the storm on the horizon had been utterly vanquished, not a single sign that either had ever existed remained on this plane. Turning, Lelouch took in the sight of the town that had been behind the trio and wound up gaping as he saw not a single home or business damaged by Cato's spell, the only damage solely from the earlier sandstorm and even that was negligible compared to what could have happened to this town should the horde have reached it.

"Master Cato!" Lelei ran out after her Master collapsed into the desert sands, unconscious. Kneeling by his side, ignoring the sand as it got into her robes, the apprentice cast a basic diagnostic spell on him to see if there was anything she needed to do immediately to save his life. Finding nothing save for exhaustion of stamina, Lelei sighed in relief. The cyan-haired girl picked up her Master's staff with reverence, holding it over her shoulder as she grabbed Cato's arm to try and drag him back to the inn.

Lelouch saw what Lelei was doing and quickly made his way over to her. "Here, let me help you." He spoke carefully as he grabbed Cato's other arm and held up the old Sage, putting the man's arm over his shoulder. Cato's breathing was harsh and Lelouch could feel his body trembling with exhaustion. "I'll take the cart back to the inn, but you'll need to watch him in the back, is that okay?" Lelei nodded seriously as she gripped her Master's staff tightly, determined not to let it go until he was ready to reclaim it.

Now, Lelouch had never driven a cart before, but thankfully it wasn't too dissimilar from horseback riding as far as directing the horse went. The problem he had was going slow enough that Cato's books wouldn't fall out and making sure that Lelei was able to hold on to the elderly Sage without the exhausted, shaking man falling out of the back of the cart. Regardless of the minor trouble he had, Lelouch managed to direct them all back to the inn safely as people began to leave their homes in wonder to stare at both him and Lelei as they escorted Cato back to the inn.

The stables were filled with terrified horses, but Lelouch and Lelei ignored them as they carried Cato up to their room quietly.

After Lelouch laid Cato down on his bed, Lelei carefully placed the man's staff beside his body and kneeled by his bedside with her hands clasped together as she prayed. Lelouch, not knowing what else to do, knelt by her side and assumed the same position Lelei was in. He was having a hard time recalling his lessons on the Gods at the moment, but he knew which one he wasn't praying to.

Hardy's servants had just tried to kill them all, so it seemed like a bad idea to pray to the Goddess of the Underworld right now.

It was some time later that Cato finally stirred, his body's shaking finally subsiding as the man awakened. "Am I dead?" His weak voice rasped softly, drawing his two companions from their prayers.

"No, Master Cato." Lelei spoke softly, shifting so she was sitting by her Master's head as she channeled her magic into a recovery spell that would hopefully help Cato regain some of his strength. "You yet remain among the living." A soft glow expanded from her hand as she cast her spell over Cato's body.

"Hm, a pity." Cato's voice rasped, an incorrigible grin on his face. "Imagine the legend I would have had if I died facing those hordes."

The only reason Lelei didn't smack him for that crass comment was because she knew that his body was already in unbelievable pain right now. Still, she couldn't repress an annoyed groan as it escaped her throat. "Ugh, you're…" Lelei ran her hand through her hair, abandoning her spell as Cato's eyes slowly flickered open as they shifted over to her. She let out another sound of frustration, lacking the vocabulary to articulate her annoyance with her Master.

"Master Cato." Lelouch murmured as he rose from his kneeling position, staring down at the man as his apprentice sat by his side. "I would like to sincerely request an opportunity to study under your guidance." Lelouch placed his hand over his heart, looking at the man who had created such a beautiful light. "Please, teach me how to use magic." Lelouch felt something indescribable when Cato's spell had washed over him.

He would do anything to feel that light's benevolent warmth once again.

And that was how a Demon became the Sage's second apprentice, desperate to understand the power that created such a beautiful, all-encompassing light.

A little over half a year later

A pounding at the door awakened Lelouch from his memories, far more pleasant than his last dreams. "Wake up in there!" The voice of a slave trader grated harshly as the pounding on the door stopped and the door opened. A man barbaric as all those who were in his "profession" walked in, dragging Lelouch up by his arm and pulling him out of the door. "It's time for you to head to the Pits." A sadistic laugh escaped the man as he led the Demon down into the darkness.

'A mass slave trade, held right under the Emperor's nose.' Lelouch snorted in derision. 'No, it'd be more accurate to say with the Emperor's blessing.' Ignoring his disgust for the barbaric nature of the Empire he had recently been captured by, Lelouch redirected his internal musings to the slaver's words. 'The Pits?' Lelouch wondered silently, allowing himself to be dragged down by the man, though he could barely be called such considering his "profession", deeper into the catacombs beneath the Capital. Torchlight framed the hall, but soon the two found themselves in a wide-open area lit far more than Lelouch had been expecting. Light burned his eyes, forcing him to close them. Screaming and cheering assaulted his ears as he found himself standing on a platform a little above what indeed appeared to be a pit.

What Lelouch was seeing reminded him of an ancient arena. The platform he was standing on was closest to the arena floor and encircling the arena were stands that were filled with probably at least a few thousand people, though the empty areas showed that it was able to accommodate far more than those that were currently in attendance. Robes of high quality revealed the nobility in attendance while the elaborate staffs held by other robed attendees revealed the priests, armor revealed those who were off duty soldiers, and simple clothes revealed those who had decided to attend the function despite their lower status. Segregated seating prevented all those in the higher class from mingling with the soldiers and commoners, but it was clear the nobility were disturbed by the robed priests as they stood atop a platform well above the arena.

With a wave, a priest wearing an elaborate cloak silenced the crowd as the bodies of those who had been fighting to the death against a Wyvern were removed and the Dragon was chained down by some spellcasters and shoved back into a hole at the floor level of the arena, a cage door coming down immediately once the Dragon was returned to its cell despite its protests, violent screeching and roaring sounding out as it was forcibly caged by its so-called "tamers".

"It appears that once again, the Wyvern is the victor in this event." The priest spoke amusedly, chuckles echoing around the underground coliseum. "But now, those of us that have been blessed by the Lady Hardy, the Goddess whose bosom we shall all one day rest, have a real surprise for those who have chosen to attend The Games."

'Hardy.' Lelouch felt his hands become hot before he suppressed his instinctual rage at the Goddess' name. 'So close. I can sense it.' The Goddess' domain wasn't limited to the Underworld, her very presence permeated the underground caverns and caves of this world. It wasn't always "awake", but her presence was always there. He'd heard rumors about this cult, but he didn't expect them to be part of the slave trade. A sadistic grin graced his shadowed face. 'It's here!' Lelouch resisted the urge to laugh, playing the part of the beaten prisoner well as he was shoved off of the platform into the arena. He landed with a grunt, rising to his knees to stare up at the cloaked priest, their shadowed eyes meeting for the first time.

"Behold!" The cloaked Head Priest of Hardy gestured to the man dressed in rags that had just been tossed into the Pits. "The Demon that destroyed a city by defying the will of our great Goddess, brought low by our glorious Empire." Lelouch felt his eyes and grin widen at the voice, daring them to reveal what they had hidden beneath their cloak. "And we have another surprise for our glorious guests." Another gate opened up, prompting Lelouch to turn his head to his right as vulgarities he had yet to learn, despite his current mastery of Sadera's language, spewed forth in a tirade of epic proportions as a young girl dressed in the tattered remains of a gothic style dress was tossed into the Pits beside Lelouch, only short distance away from where he had landed. "The Apostle of the dark God Emroy, Rory Mercury. Emroy's Reaper, brought low by our Goddess' will as she will–" the priest found themselves cut off as Rory directed her rage at them rather than the fool who had tossed her in the arena.

"I will rend your flesh from your bones if you dare imply I lost to that fucking bitch!" Rory promised violently, her eyes glowing with a dark, twisted madness as she glowered at Hardy's priest. "I will carve by name into your very soul as I send you to Lord Emroy with glee." Rory's attention was directed to her left as she heard a snort, turning to stare a man dressed in rags. "What are you laughing at, you degenerate, wallowing, piece of–" Rory found herself cut off in turn as the man responded.

"Finish that sentence and I will burn you alive." Lelouch the Demon declared to Rory the Reaper, the two of them glaring daggers at one another. "If you think you're going to be the one to kill that fool up there then you need to get in line." Turning his attention to the cloaked walking corpse, Lelouch grinned madly. "What are you waiting for, oh servant of Hardy?" He taunted, rising to his feet despite his bondage. "Why don't you begin your show."

"The Demon and the Reaper will be our next offering to the great Goddess Hardy!" The Head Priest declared as he ignored the byplay, waving out a staff that Lelouch knew all too well from behind his cloak as he gestured grandly. "And the ones who shall give our Goddess this offering will be none other than their fellow prisoners!" Cages all around the arena opened as prisoners, men, women, and the occasional demi-human were thrown to the floor. "The one who lands a killing blow and strikes down one of these two who dared stand against our Goddess shall be set free with all crimes they have committed in the past and may commit in the future officially pardoned by the Empire!" Killing intent rolled off the prisoners in waves as they all simultaneously directed their eyes to the two the Head Priest spoke of.

"Fuck." Lelouch and Rory spoke at the same time, though in different languages since Lelouch had yet to learn how to curse in Sadera's language. The two eyed one another, each sizing the other up as they decided on a course of action. "Work together until we break free and then kill that fool up there?" Lelouch offered, a sadistic grin splitting his lips.

Rory shuddered in ecstasy as she felt the bloodlust rolling off the prisoners that were let loose in waves and bit back a moan at the bloodthirstiness dripping from the man's voice as he spoke to her, offering her a temporary alliance for as long as they remained in these Pits. "Rory the Reaper." The Apostle of the God of Darkness introduced herself to the man who would be her current partner. "I serve the God of War and Madness, my lord Emroy, as His Apostle of Death." She bent over and tore the chains that had shackled her feet together off of her ankles then she broke the chain that bound her arms together with barely an issue, the spells that had allowed them to trap her in the first place finally having corroded enough to the point she was able to break their hold on her.

Lelouch chuckled as he flared his magical power, burning away his shackles and disintegrating the chains that bound him. "Lelouch the Demon. I serve no God, but I stand gladly against the Goddess Hardy." He felt sweat begin to form on his forehead, still not fully used to wielding the power of fire so close to his body.

Holding her hand out before her, concentration clear on her face as tools of war were tossed into the Pits for the prisoners to wield against their two targets, Rory snickered with her eyes closed. Opening them to stare at her ally, a bloodthirsty grin flickered across her face. "Well, Mister Demon, today you serve Emroy and, if you fall today, I hope you die a glorious death!" Throwing her arm to her side, her primary weapon of choice answered her call. Screams echoed from down one of the hallways that led to the cells that housed prisoners as a powerful wind burst forth before a large metallic weapon, unlike anything Lelouch had ever seen in his life, broke through one of the gates and flew into Rory's open hand.

Lelouch watched in slight awe as the young girl dressed only in the rags of a gothic dress that barely managed to remain decent twirled the halberd that appeared to have been fused with an executioner's axe around as dexterously as Cato once wielded his staff. Looking up at the Head Priest, a fond look flickered in his eyes as he caught sight of said staff before he hardened his heart. "Emroy, huh." Lelouch felt a dark grin flicker on his face. "There are worse Gods to serve in this moment, Rory the Reaper." Flames flickered in the palms of his hands as he decided to forgo summoning his shield, a move that likely would have resulted in Cato smacking him with his staff for such foolishness, preparing to use his magical energy to purge the enemies before him and reclaim what belonged to Cato's heir.

Standing side by side, the Demon and the Reaper waited until the prisoners had armed themselves with the weapons the spectators had tossed into the arena. Once their enemies were armed, together the pair struck.

Rory led the charge with her axe, a twisted laugh escaping her lips as her weapon bit deep into the first fool who fell within reach. Blood splattered to her cheeks, prompting her lick her cheek in sadistic glee, to taste the blood of the man who she had just sent to her God. A man behind her attempted to pierce her with a spear, only to find his head set aflame by one of Lelouch's spells.

Lelouch allowed flames to blast from his hand, targeting those who appeared to present the largest threat to him and his current ally. Sidestepping a spear, he blasted a fireball at another spearman as he charged Rory from behind. Not looking to see if his spell was on target, the screams that sounded before they were silenced by a squelching sound as his head was removed were proof enough that he didn't miss, Lelouch plucked the spear that had been thrown at him from the ground and twirled it, using it as a rudimentary staff as he pierced the heart of one of the demi-humans, a man who had a pair of cat ears on his head. He yanked it out and smacked a blade away by beating the flat of the blade away from him as he stepped back, adjusting his stance as he used the spearhead to slice across the other attacker's throat, the man dying with a gurgle as he collapsed like a puppet with its stings cut.

Using a basic levitation spell, Lelouch sent the blade into the storm of slaughter that Rory had found herself in as she lost herself to her bloodlust, cackling madly as she twirled around with her weapon, slicing bodies into pieces with all the grace of a butcher in their shop. Piercing one of the few who had managed to slip through her whirling blade of death, a woman was stabbed in the neck by the blade Lelouch shot forward, the tip of the blade escaping from the opposite side of her neck as she choked on the steel and blood that filled her throat.

A disgusted frown came across Lelouch's face as he once again blasted a fire spell, a stream this time, at a broad-shouldered man who held onto an axe of his own. The man collapsed with a scream as his face was burned beyond recognition by the stream of flame before he was put out of his misery when Lelouch pierced his heart with his spear.

He had killed many people before in his world, and had killed a few people by mistake in this one, but this was the first time he found himself in the thick of things on a personal level with so many people trying to kill him. As Lelouch sidestepped a desperate stab leveled by a woman who appeared not to have eaten in days, he disintegrated her head with a powerful stream of flame in retaliation. Lelouch wasn't fond of this kind of personal killing, he preferred killing in a Knightmare to this kind of killing, if only because he got less blood on his clothing.

That, and at least in a Knightmare he could avoid the stench of death and decay mixed with the disgusting scent of burning flesh.

Blood pooled at his ankles as the prisoners who had held back from charging the two targets designated by the Head Priest trembled in fear. Rory came down from her high for a moment as she dug her weapon out from one of the many people she had killed, Lelouch walking up to stand beside her in the center of the arena, having abandoned his spear after it broke after one too many strikes. They were surrounded by the corpses of the people desperate enough to charge in headfirst without a thought as they thought a young man and a little girl would be easy targets.

They had promptly been proven wrong.

Rory's kill count was much higher on account of her wild slaughter dragging her targets in much like a twister sucked in those that surrounded it, and in part due to the fact that she had been less methodical and more maniacal in her killing than Lelouch. But that wasn't to say Lelouch hadn't done his part, as the bodies that had been scorched beyond recognition behind the pair standing in the center of the Pits would attest to his prowess with fire magic.

It was kind of funny, in a way. One of the few spells that he had mastered, aside from the shield spell that Cato had taught him before anything else, had been the basic fire conjuration spell. He had learned a little more than that before he began this journey, but his talent lay in the devastation he had learned to bring as he adapted his capabilities to wield his flame with devastating efficiency.

Lelouch stared up at the Head Priest that held on to something very dear to him and grinned darkly. "Servant of that worthless Goddess Hardy!" He began, offending every priest that had dared to remain to witness the slaughter. The nobles and many others had fled the coliseum once it became clear that Lelouch the Demon and Rory the Reaper would not die so easily, fleeing to try and protect their identities to avoid being hunted down. "I'm coming for you." Looking to Rory, Lelouch spoke quietly under his breath. "You think you have the strength to throw me up there with your weapon?" A plan to reclaim what he had been searching for came together in his mind.

Rory raised an eyebrow at the man whose bloodlust had impressed her, even if he had killed with fire rather than by tearing his enemies apart himself. "If you kill him before I do, I will make you pay." She promised, understanding that there was something more than hatred behind this man's motivations. "I want to send him to that stalking bitch myself." Lowering herself slightly by squatting, she shifted until her weapon was on its side, allowing Lelouch to step on the flat of the blade. With a grunt, she tossed him up into the air towards the platform and shouted after him. "Don't die Demon!" Her attention shifted away from the man who she was sure Emroy would gladly accept as a priest and back to the fools who dared stand against her. "Now, which one of you wants to die first?" Her psychotic grin grew as she saw not a single one of the prisoners back down.

"Good, die on your feet and make Lord Emroy proud to lay claim to your souls!" Lelouch ignored Rory's mad declaration and the sound of slaughter as it once again began in earnest, stumbling slightly as he managed to land on the platform mere feet away from Hardy's Head Priest. Somersaulting, Lelouch bounced on the balls of his feet as he stood before the man who wielded something that did not belong to him. "Return that staff to me." Lelouch whispered, his tone ice cold as he blasted twin streams of flame at the two priests who charged him after he rose before their leader. Their screams were far from his mind as they fell off the platform, fire consuming them as they landed in the tornado of death that Rory was as she killed all those who stood in her way with laughter. "Or you will suffer until not even your Goddess could recognize your soul." Lelouch's quiet threat prompted an expected reaction as the man fled down the hall, running for his life. "You can't hide from me!" Lelouch yelled loudly as he ran after the Head Priest.

Straight. Right. Left. Right. Right. Left. Down a side door that concealed a staircase. Left. Right. Down a diagonal hall to the left. Patterns became blurred as Lelouch hunted his target with purpose, ignoring the painful burning in his sides as he breathed harshly. He had never been one for physical activity, hence why he rarely stepped away from his original starting spot in the battle and merely reacted to each attack that had been sent his way while occasionally backing up Rory if someone looked like they were about to get the drop on her. But this wasn't the time to collapse in agony, no matter how hard his heart was pounding against his ribcage.

Weaving throughout the catacombs, Lelouch found himself moving deeper and deeper underground as he tracked the Head Priest. Eventually, Lelouch managed to corner the Head Priest of the Goddess he despised in a room shrouded in darkness. The former apprentice panted as he stared at the cloaked priest as he desperately pushed against the wall, his fear almost palpable before he turned around and stared in fear at the enraged eyes of a man who he had tried to execute using his fellow prisoners. "What do you want?!" The Head Priest screamed in fear as he pointed the staff that had been given to him for his devotion to Hardy only a few months ago.

"That staff doesn't belong to you." Lelouch growled, stepping forward through the priest's clumsy jab and ripping it from the cloaked man's hands. He felt the staff thrum in recognition, resonating with the power within, but it refused to accept him as its Master. 'As I expected.' Lelouch ignored the staff's rejection of his claim, tenuous as it was considering his short time under Cato's tutelage, in favor of staring down the cowering waste of space who had dared to lay a hand on what didn't belong to him. He remained silent for minutes, just watching the cloaked figure cower and beg for his life, before a dark grin split his face. "You wish to repent?" He asked rhetorically, his grin widening as a twisted glint sparked in his eye. "Then BURN!" Lelouch pointed the staff to the man's body and, despite his lack of true claim, acquiesced to his desires nonetheless.

The man's cloak disintegrated, as did his hair, while his skin bubbled and popped, cracking as he burned.

The screaming was music to Lelouch's ears and the sound of this man's suffering would only be second to the screaming he would drag out from Hardy's throat by whatever means necessary to make that Goddess pay for what she had stolen from Lelei and himself.

"Hey!" Rory stomped up behind Lelouch, distracting him as he stopped his stream of fire, leaving the man a wheezing, smoking wreck on the stone floor. The man's blood was boiling as it flowed from the cracks in his skin. "I thought I said not to kill him!" She demanded, her eyes flashing dangerously as she stood in front of Lelouch to poke him in the chest as she stared him down. "We had a deal." She whispered dangerously, glaring up at Lelouch.

"Yes, we did." Lelouch nodded, gesturing to the cowering priest as he crawled towards them desperately. "He remains alive, but I needed to make this man suffer." He wasn't about to tell the Apostle why, she should just be glad he had left enough of him alive for her to execute herself.

"Please…" The Head Priest whimpered desperately as he grasped at Rory's ankle, staring up at her as he begged. "Please…" He wheezed, his eyes wide with madness from the burning. "Hurry up and kill me!" He screamed and laughed, and would have cried if his tear ducts hadn't been disintegrated. His psychotic joy was cut off as he lost his head to Rory's halberd, the mad laughter echoing in the room even after the Head Priest of Hardy lost his life to the Apostle of Emroy.

Where his soul would end up was an interesting conundrum, but neither Lelouch nor Rory gave a damn about that.

Rory had recognized the twisted madness in the man's eyes as he begged for death, it was another one of her God's domains after all. The man was reduced to a hairless, bubbling body that had been burned beyond all recognition. A shudder passed through her as she beheld the unrestrained result of Lelouch's bloodlust after she cut off the man's head and she turned the man who had been gifted the title of Demon with a lustful smile. "You know, I think I like you." Rory licked her lips, slowly reaching up until she had a hold of the collar of Lelouch's shredded tunic, pulling him down so she could stare him in the eye. Her gaze was filled with heat, unnerving Lelouch as she switched from being enraged to excited. "How would you like to be a Priest of Emroy?" She asked, dragging her finger up and down his chest suggestively as she stared up at him, still excited from her earlier slaughter and even more turned on after having watched a man being driven mad simply by this man's flames.

"I'm sorry, what?" Lelouch blinked as the Apostle offered him something so… he didn't even know how to describe it.

Before Rory could get into the benefits that could come with being a Priest to her dark God, namely herself because damn was she excited after all the blood that had been spilt today, the room shook around the two living embodiments of carnage. "No! Rory, you belong to me!" The voice sounded from everywhere, insanely possessive and just generally insane.

Rory switched from horny, bloodthirsty temptress into genuinely scared girl in an instant, clutching Lelouch's shirt in a much different way as she trembled, watching as the room began to shake around them, the corpse of the Head Priest being devoured by the stone and soil. "Hardy!" Rory buried her face into Lelouch's body, feeling him grab her by the hand and run as fast as he could.

Lelouch grabbed Rory almost as soon as she spoke the Goddess' name, gripping her hand with one while he gripped his old Master's staff with the other and ran. As much as he despised the Goddess of the Underworld, he was nowhere ready to face off against a Goddess, even with an Apostle by his side.

He had barely managed to remain ahead of weak and desperate prisoners, only defeating them with his mastery over his basic flames, but against a genuine Goddess? There was no chance in Hell he would be fighting. And so, with fight not an option, his flight instinct kicked in and he dragged Rory with him as he fled for their lives.

Rory didn't stop shaking until they were leagues away from the Pits beneath the Imperial Capital, out of fear that her stalker would finally manage to sink her dirty claws into her and drag her to the Underworld. Lelouch had attempted to split up with her once they managed to find an exit, but she refused to let him go, knowing how much Hardy hated men. Rory held onto Lelouch's hand as the two of them ran as far as they could from the Capital, fleeing as fast as they could.

Eventually, the pair stopped running as Lelouch tripped over a tree root in the forest they were running in. Lelouch's body tumbled forward, dragging Rory with him as she refused to let go of his hand. They rolled painfully through the bushes, over roots, and crashed into more than a few trees before they found themselves laying together in a small clearing where a small lake provided sustenance to the forest's creatures.

As Lelouch and Rory caught their breath, the Apostle took in the scent of Lelouch's blood, shuddering as she could almost taste the amount of death and destruction that stained his soul. The few wounds he had accumulated during their slaughter weren't large, but they were good enough for Rory to be able to get a feel for the kind of man she was laying on top of once she smelled his blood and she certainly didn't object to her findings.

"You can move now." Lelouch's chest rumbled, distracting Rory from her musings. The Apostle just grinned as she shifted her head to rest her chin on his chest instead of her cheek, smiling up at him cheekily.

"I don't want to move." Rory purred as she licked her lips, feeling the heat that had evaporated at Hardy's voice return with a vengeance the more she tasted the aura of devastation that she could sense within this man. His bloodlust had faded after she had ended the life of Hardy's servant, but there was something far more… intoxicating that she could sense within him. His bloodlust was only a portion of the true darkness she could sense inside him. It was faded, but whatever this man had done left a mark on his soul, much like a scar, and whatever violence he had wrought in his past that left such deep marks sent jolts of excitement throughout her body.

Here was a man who had seen Hell and conquered it with great prejudice, or so the scars appeared to tell her.

Unfortunately, despite her desire to remain where she was, Lelouch shoved her off to the side, eliciting a cough from her as she hit the ground and rose to sit up. Her eyes narrowed at the man who was called a Demon as he rose to his feet, summoning the staff to his hand with a basic levitation spell.

"If you're worried about me being too young, I'll have you know I'm over nine centuries old." Rory rose to her feet as she spoke, watching as Lelouch froze for a moment at the edge of the clearing.

'What is with my luck and meeting immortals?' Lelouch thought silently to himself as he heard Rory's words, knowing them to be true. He could feel his skin knit itself back together as it had done back when he had been wounded in the past, slowly healing him back into the condition he had been in when Lelei found him in that damned river.

Rory had many legends about her over the centuries, so Lelouch knew that the gothic Apostle wasn't lying just to tempt him, but he had other things on his mind. "It's not your age that concerns me." He admitted, leaving the Apostle of Emroy in peace as he walked away. If that had been the case then he would have most certainly had an issue with C.C., though he had never found out just how old his witch had been. "I would rather focus on my own obligations at this time." Lelouch wasn't prepared to swear himself to any Gods, not even one whose own aspects called to the darker parts of his soul with such temptation.

Rory groused silently to herself before she sighed in dissatisfaction. "I will expect an answer when next we meet, Lelouch the Demon." With that, she turned on her heel and began making her way to a separate town. She needed to repair her apparel, Rory may be immortal due to her contract with her God, but she could still feel cold.

Lelouch smirked as they left their separate ways. "Hopefully I will have one for you, Rory the Reaper." He murmured quietly as he walked into the darkness of the forest, planning on acquiring some new clothing in the next town he found himself in and continue his travels.

With that, the Demon and the Reaper walked their own paths, neither knowing of the future that awaited them.

Not every prisoner was sent into the Pits to fight Lelouch and Rory, just those that accepted the offer of the guards to kill two people for the chance of freedom and a full pardon for life. Those who accepted were only the most desperate, but many more refused for reasons either noble or not (some didn't think it was right, others thought it was a trap, and others have escape plans or other plans of their own, think Tyuule, and so refused).

For Lelouch's fighting style, think Roy Mustang only without the finger snapping. He doesn't move much when he's fighting, rather he waits for his enemy to come to him if they can somehow manage to avoid his flames.

Rory could sense the scars Lelouch has from his time as Demon Emperor, scars that exist because of the atrocities he committed to make himself the most hated dictator in all of history.

If you like this story, feel free to check out my other Code Geass stories. One is a unique take on canon, using characters from a number of different Code Geass materials, while the other is a crossover with Highschool DxD. Hope you enjoy them.

Also, I will be studying to take the LSAT again in September so that I can try and get a better score to get into the law school I want which means that I will be busy studying and so I may not be able to update again until late September or early October. I will do my best to make it an update with multiple chapters though, that much I can promise.

Pretty sure that's everything. Please review if you enjoyed the new chapter.

Happy Independence Day to all of my fellow American readers!

King Draconias Over and Out.