Ynda’s back had been burning for a while now but she couldn’t stop. She clawed at the air, pulling herself along as fast as she could. 

“He’s getting away!” she shrieked.

“Not this time,” Megura growled through clenched jaws. “He’s not getting away from us this time!”

The angel who had been at her side, Modette, continued to stay with her, sending wave after wave of light blasts, knocking down any enemy Divine they came across. Ynda would cut them with her ice lance, or utilize burning water orbs to incapacitate them enough for her people on the ground to have their chance. They’d been at it for an hour, attacking, flying haphazardly through trees and over wide valleys that had been decimated by the merge as they pushed on, dodging any incoming attacks, and praying Hero would hurry the hell up and get to them quickly.

She knew where he was, knew he was close, knew who was with him; he was still too far away and Renzo Ackerman wasn’t killing his speed for a chat. Ynda sent blast after blast after him, succeeding only in destroying more of the landscape or, at best, knocking him off course briefly. She thought she had skimmed his wing at one point, but he didn’t react if she had.

“Ynda!” Modette called to her. “Give me your hand, I have an idea!”

Ynda hesitated but Mei gave her a reassuring wave, tinted with an eye roll. She reached for the angel who grabbed her wrist, a coil of blue and white energy twisting around the two. 

“When I say, send as much ice energy into this coil as you possibly can.”

“What are you going to do?”

Modette smiled. “Take him out of the sky for good.”

Ynda raised her brow.

The angel laughed. “Ever watch My Hero Academia?”

Ynda’s eyes widened. “Two-person Shoto Todoroki.”

“Icy Hot!” 

At the same time, they sent a huge amount of power into the coil, ice from Ynda, fire from Modette. Once the coil was fully powered up, they pushed their fists out, aimed for Ackerman’s wings, and fired. A deadly double helix of fire and ice spun in the angel’s direction, hitting him right in the center of his back and spreading over his wings.

Ackerman screamed in pain and dropped, his wings now completely ruined.

The two women dove down, closing the distance between themselves and their prime target. Without even wondering if it would work, Ynda sent core energy into her hands, extended them both out, and fired, blasting the angel faster into the ground until he slammed into it, a burst of dirt, rocks, and other debris flying into the air. They landed among the rest of their team, running hard, collapsing their wings back into themselves. Ynda had never felt more relieved.

“Don’t underestimate him!” Mei shouted. “He may be down, but he’s likely not out.” She pulled her knives from her belt, holding them blades out to attack. Ynda formed her own daggers made of glass and fire, an element she had only recently begun to master.

The team continued forward until they reached the crater, all of them fanning out to the edges prepared to attack should Ackerman come after them. They watched with bated breath for the dust cloud to subside. When it finally did, Ackerman was staggering to his feet, his hair in disarray, his gray eyes dark. His wings were destroyed, feathers and blood falling to the ground around him. He glared up at them, stopping his survey when his eyes landed on Megura.

“Damn,” he huffed, his British accent coming through quite clearly. “You’re not dead after all.”

“More the fool you,” the anishif growled, baring her fangs. 

“I would assume correctly, then, that the brat Prince and his human whore are also alive?”

Ynda snarled, gritting her teeth. A swirling cloud of energy wound around her feet as she glared down at the man who had actively tried to kill her brother and Natsu the day the barrier was sealed. “My brother and his husband are currently fighting your partner back at Helman Hall, and I promise you, they will kill him.”

Ackerman’s grin was foul. “You don’t know Finrel.”

“You don’t know the Devil God,” Mei shot back. “Give up, Ackerman, you’re through.”

“I think not, little lady,” Ackerman chuckled. “I’m only just getting started with you.” He leapt from the crater, aiming directly for Megura. The large gray wolf juked out of the way, kicking out with her hind legs as she spun, connecting with his side. He flew to the right, landing heavily and sliding a few feet before coming to a stop. Darius took the opportunity to lunge, grabbing the angel by the leg and chomping down with such force, everyone could hear the bone snap. Ackerman screamed, aiming an attack and missing by a wide margin.

A demon got his arms up behind him, lifting up enough for Ynda to make her way over, a chain filled with enough energy to bind even the worst Divine clutched firmly in her hands. Ackerman’s eyes went wide, feeling the thrum and warmth of the energy before Ynda got close enough to wrap the chain around him.

With a good shove backward, he threw the demon off him, getting his arms free long enough to release a concussive blast that sent Ynda and everyone else flying backward. She landed on her back, the wind almost completely knocked out of her.

“Ah shit!” Ynda groaned, rolling to her side, coughing and breathing deep as she tried to get her air back. “Fucking bastard.” She looked over the rest of her team, all of them doing their best to get back to their feet, a few of them already letting loose with their own attacks. To her horror, Ackerman swatted away a large arrow shot at him from an elf, grabbed him up by his throat, and twisted, killing him instantly.

“No!” she yelled, desperate not to lose any more people. Her fathers would be so disappointed in her if she let her team die due to her own ineptitude. She fought to get to her feet, trying to pull energy from her core but finding it difficult. She wasn’t breathing correctly; if she couldn’t get ahold of herself, not only would more of her people die, so would she. 

Ackerman grabbed his leg with both hands, a healing light glowing from his palms. Modette took advantage of the moment and blasted him with three rapid fire heat blasts. The angel fell back with a yell. He tried to return his own attack but Modette got airborne, flipped, then landed with one foot to his chest. She had one hand in front of her, prepared to blast him in the face, when he grabbed her leg and twisted. She flipped around, landing on her stomach. Before he could do any more damage, Mei charged him, slicing him across the side before ducking out of the way. 

Ynda, still on her back, sat up in a crunch position, manifested two pistols, and fired, hitting Ackerman in the shoulder, the arm, grazed his neck, and further mangled his already broken leg. He staggered back, giving another demon an opening to run low, a crowbar formed from his energy landing a heavy blow to his knee.

“Goddammit!” Ackerman shouted, falling back to the ground. “This is fucking rediculous!”

“What?” Ynda called out. “Can’t take the fact you’re getting your ass beat by a couple of girls?” She manifested a whip and swung it at him, getting him by the neck as she hauled herself up. “Just give up, asshole! You’re dead already!”

“No!” he yelled. “I’ll die when my mission has been completed and not before then!”

Darius rolled his coyote eyes. “Oh, please you can’t be that stupid. You’ve already lost! You’re not blowing anything up anytime soon.”

Ackerman laughed, his maniacal grin holding less of a threat than Toji’s. If he had hoped to inspire fear, he was playing to the wrong crowd. All these people had seen and gone through enough in the last several years, much of it perpetrated by Ackerman himself. They were no longer afraid of him. If anything, they were pissed.

“That’s what you think, you mangy beast.”

Darius’ hackles went up as he lowered his head, snarling viciously at the corrupted angel. 

Mei’s eyes went wide. “Get out of the way!” she yelled as she saw the ground around Ackerman begin to glow, the light spreading out in a large radius. Ynda scrambled backward, helping another demoness to her feet and grabbing Modette’s hand as they all began to run. 

“Get in the sky now!” Ynda barked. She couldn’t get her own wings opened before she felt a massive weight hit her from behind. Sprawled on the ground, she looked up to see Ackerman hovering over her on his good leg, an angel blade in his hand. The ground where it was glowing began to waver as though it were a mirage in a thirsty desert. She could see Mei running toward the tree, urging her to get as high up as possible.

Her heart pounded in her chest. Fuck, I’m gonna die…no, I can’t die yet…I still need to marry Mei!

She ducked, covering her head as Ackerman raised the blade high above his head, his eyes bright with madness. 

“Die, you filthy abomination!” He swung down as hard as he could.

The blow never came. 

Slowly, Ynda uncovered her head and looked up to see her father holding Ackerman by the throat, the angel blade twisted in his hand and pointed right at the side of his own head. She couldn’t see Hero’s face, but she knew he was livid.

“Don’t you dare call my daughter that,” Hero Grace Helman growled. “She’s a goddess, you feckless prick.” With that, he shoved the blade that was held in Ackerman’s own hand, deep into his skull. He dropped the angel to the ground, the body crumpling in a heap at his feet.

“Daddy?” Ynda said, her voice quivering.

Hero spun and knelt down to help her up, his ruby red eyes filled with fear. “Ynda, are you okay, baby?”

She nodded. “I’m fine.” She let him help her to her feet as she scanned the area around them. “We need to move fast. This whole area is about to blow.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Havik said, approaching quickly with Hawk at his back. He put his hand to the ground, a bright red light pouring out of and engulfing the explosive energy Ackerman had laid down. Within seconds, the ground stopped shifting and the energy faded.

Felix, Liza, and some big hulking force of a man with a serious face joined them.

“We need to hurry,” Hawk said. “There’s more coming.”

“You can’t be serious,” Mei said, hurrying to Ynda’s side. “We just took out two large groups of these bastards, and Ackerman’s dead.”

“Who said anything about the Purities?” Liza said. She pointed up at the sky. Everyone looked up, their eyes filled with dismay as they saw the barrier above not only shatter, but a giant building making its way through the space that was just created. A rumbling under their feet directed their attention toward a copse of trees that were being lifted, the ground waving and shifting as the massive amount of energy being released from the Divine Realms collided with the natural energy of the Earth itself.

“We are so fucked,” a fairy said, her mouth agape.

“Eloquently said, thank you,” Felix responded. He looked to Hero. “What are your orders?”

Hero shook his head and looked to Havik. “This is your game, kid. What’s our next move?”

Havik looked over at his sister. “Have you heard from Toji?”

She shook her head. “Not for a while. Last bit I got was Finrel’s army had just arrived. After that…” She lifted her hands at her sides.

“Same,” Havik nodded. “We can’t wait much longer on this. The merge is becoming far more destructive than we thought, and much sooner than expected.” He turned to the large man with them. “Nikolai, you’re going with Ynda, Mei, and Megura to the eastern border point.”

“Sir,” Nikolai responded with a bow. 

“Dad, take Liza and two of Ynda’s people to the northern border point. A demon and a mythic should be enough.”

Hero nodded, pointing to the elf who had spoken earlier, and the demon who had tried holding Ackerman down. “What are your names?”

“Gene,” the demon said, fist over his heart.

“Emma,” the elf said, following Gene’s example. 

“Great, let’s go.” He traced a line in the air, a bright light shining through. Everyone’s eyes lit up with amazement. He looked around him as the door opened. “The barrier is gone, we can create doors now. These ones won’t last long, though, so we need to hurry.” He reached for Hawk, kissing him once. “I’ll see you soon.”

Hawk nodded. “Be careful.”

With that, Hero, Emma, Gene, and Liza were gone, the door shutting quickly behind them.

“Pater, you, Felix, and Darius head to the western point.”

“Got it.” Hawk made the same motion, and a moment later his team was gone.

“Where are you going?” Ynda asked her brother as he made her door. 

He waved to the two remaining Divine, Modette and Carla, a demoness, to join him. “The Southern point.” He gave her a pointed look. “Toji’s at the center, just as we planned.”

She frowned. “This isn’t right, Havik,” she said in a low tone. “None of this is fair to him. Giving him the bulk of this rebuild was wrong.”

“I had no choice, Yin,” he said, his expression impassive. “He’s the strongest of us. He’s the only one that can pull it off, you knew that going in.”

“And what happens if he ends up getting hurt in the process? Or if it backfires somehow and he ends up dying?”

Havik looked away, stepping back for her to get through. “He won’t. We made him this way for a reason, Yin.”

She shook her head. “No, Havik. You made him this way.” With that, she, Mei, Nikolai, and Megura walked through the door, leaving Havik with his own small team. 

He stared at the empty air before him, swallowing hard. Did I make a mistake? He shook his head. No, he couldn’t have. Everything went exactly as he had planned it to go. He hadn’t felt good about sending Toji to Hell, ordering Nox to train him the way he did to make Toji into the…person…he was now, but he knew it was necessary. If he hadn’t, he couldn’t carry the Sword of Obliteration, the barrier never would have been destroyed, and his part in the rebuild wouldn’t be possible.

I just hope he doesn’t hate me for all of this…

He took a deep breath and created the final door.

“Highness?” Modette said softly, catching his attention. “Are you alright?”

He gave her a small smile, patting her shoulder. “Don’t worry about me,” he said gently. “Let’s go build a big wall.” He took a deep breath and stepped through the door.

-*-