Miko silently observed Touma, while keeping an eye on Paige who was lurking in the shadows.

He held both his swords in his hands, preparing himself to launch or defend at anytime.

“Oh, what’s this?”

It was at that moment that Alec was seen walking up to them with Kirika and Momo behind him.

“Two big bad Tyrants ganging up on a little boy who isn’t even 15 years old yet.”

Said Alec.

“You wouldn’t mind if we join in to equal the odds?”

Momo said.

All three of them drew the weapons that Miko had granted them.

“We’re ready whenever you are.”

Kirika said.

“I don’t mind.”

Touma answered with a grin.

“But I don’t think you three are enough to level the playing field. As such, I alone will fight you.”

She said.

When the three of them heard that, they all frowned. Touma was obviously belittling them, which made them a bit angry.

“Wait, Touma.”

That’s when Paige interrupted their convo.

“I know.”

Touma answered without hearing what she was going to say.

She looked towards the south.

“The boss is returning.”

“?!”

When the trio heard that, Lennox’s face immediately appeared in their minds. They all looked in the same direction as Touma on instinct.

“Well, fuck. The monster’s here too.”

The moment Alec said that he and the others saw Lennox and Kirin on a flaming chariot heading towards the capital.

They weren’t the only ones. Everyone from both sides stopped and looked towards the approaching Lennox. All except, Miko.

He looked like he didn’t care about Lennox in the least. He instead was talking to Tia.

‘Tiamat, could you repeat that?’

He asked in his mind.

(Three of the gates to hell were forcibly opened in the Southern Region.)

Tia said.

‘Which gates? There are countless hells, which three were opened?’

(Jigoku, Yomi, and Tartarus)

Tia answered.

‘Are you saying that Japan’s and the Greek hells were both opened? How is that possible?’

(During the war, those three netherworlds lost their masters. Enma was slain by an Irregular in the form of a sword, thus leaving Jigoku without a ruler. Izanami was vanished to the Void Realm by her husband freeing Yomi from her presence. Tartarus never really had a specific owner, but all those Zeus placed in charged there were slain as well leaving it unsupervised.)

Tia replied.

‘How could they be casually opened like that?’

(Their entrances were never sealed, so as long as you know the method you can freely open them. However, I can’t believe that someone actually knew the method to open all three of them.)

Tia replied.

Miko thought about it for a while.

‘Do you know who opened it?’

(No. They seem to have a method to conceal themselves to the point even higher beings can’t peek at their movements.)

‘This person is really mysterious.’

Miko said.

Having three hell gates open means that the residents of those hells are free to invade this plane; more specifically this continent.

Oni from Jigoku, dark beings from Yomi, and all kind of vile monsters from Tartarus. These beings could be invading the continent as they speak.

He finally looked in Lennox’s direction.

“It looks like they went to the Southern Region to find out who the third party is. From the fact that the gates of hell were opened, they must have pissed off someone they shouldn’t.”

He said.

“I’m gonna find out who that person is.”

He spurted his wings and shot into the air.

“Wait, Miko?!”

Everyone was shocked to see Miko directly charge towards Lennox.

“Old man, Rouge, back me up.”

He said.

After he said that, Nero and Rouge were seen flying towards Lennox as well. The reason why Miko asked for their help was to minimize the harm surrounding himself.

Illogically plunging himself into battle with no preparation wasn’t something he wished to do after all.

“We got company.”

Kirin said as he saw Miko and the others approaching.

“Whew~. Miko, the boss, and Rouge huh? Talk about a grand line up.”

Lennox said when he saw them.

“Alright, let’s see what they want.”

“I think they want our heads though.”

Kirin said.

“Don’t worry, once I give the signal we’ll go wild.”

Lennox replied.

Everyone watched as Miko arrived in front of Kirin’s chariot with Nero and Rouge behind him. They halt to see how this meeting will turn out.

“Yo, Miko. How you’ve been?”

Lennox said.

“I’ll cut to the chase. Who is the third party in the Southern Region.”

Miko said.

“What? That’s what you wanted to know? And here I thought you were here to hang out.”

Lennox said.

“Are you going to tell me or not?”

Miko asked.

“Hm? That’s strange. I can’t feel any emotions from you. What happened?”

Lennox asked.

Hearing that, Miko sighed.

“I see that talking to you is a waste of time. Well, I think the third party will make themselves known to me pretty soon.”

He pointed both swords at Kirin and Lennox.

“I’ll just get rid of you guys before then.”

Kirin summoned one of his Regalia in his hand when he heard that.

“I don’t like your attitude.”

He pulled the bow and aimed at Miko.

“Be gone.”

He pulled the bow and released a godly arrow towards Miko. Rouge stepped forward and cut the arrow down the middle with a slash of his sword.

*BOOOM!*

Having been split in two, the arrow exploded in two different directions.

“Hey, brat. Didn’t your partners teach you not randomly fire arrows at other people?”

Rouge placed his sword on his shoulder and said.

“To be honest, I’m in a really bad mood right now. You see, the capital that I’ve been protecting for centuries suddenly turned into rubble. So I’m looking for a way to relieve my anger.”

His body was leaking a thick bloodlust that looked like it was visible to the naked eye.

“The Walking Apocalypse, huh?”

Kirin withdrew his chariot and bow.

“Lennox I’m going take him on.”

“I see, then….”

Lennox looked at Nero.

“What do say, boss? How about a rematch?”

He glimpsed at Miko.

“I’m more interested in fighting you than a passionless machine. I’m sure I’ll enjoy it more.”

Nero laughed.

“Fine. I’ll punish you for getting ahead of yourself and pointing your fangs at my clan.”

He said.

*BOOM!*

They heard an explosion and saw a group of monks battling their way through the rubble.

Andreas was seen clashing with Hanzou, while Nen was fighting the monks with Alesia and Al-Shura.

*BOOM!*

A bolt of lightning was seen clashing with a black dragon. This was Skylar and Raven fighting.

Raven who was in his dragon form released a burst of black flames from his mouth to clash with Skylar.

Skylar retook his human form wielding a mullet made of lightning in his hand. He swung it and slammed it up side raven’s head, blowing him back.

At that moment, Miko appeared behind him swing both swords. Skylar quickly turned around and swung his mullet.

*BOOM!*

An huge explosion formed between them, blowing both of them back. Raven took that opportunity to attack Skylar from behind with a kick. He then gathered golden light in his hand.

“Great Dragon Strike!”

*BOOM!*

His palm slammed on Skylar’s chest and caused a beam to pierce through him and hit some mountains in the distance.

“Hm?”

Raven saw Skylar’s figure literally discharged before his eyes.

“A lightning clone?”

At that moment, a lightning spike burst out of the ground thrusting towards his heart. Raven desperately avoided it with a side step and stomped the ground causing it to burst open.

Skylar was revealed to be hiding underground, but he immediately followed up with an attack the moment his position was revealed.

“?!”

However, his arm was severed before it could reach Raven. Skylar saw Miko appeared out of nowhere thrusting his sword towards his face. He turned into a bolt to desperately evade the blade.

“It’s really hard to detect someone with no killing intent or bloodlust at all.”

Skylar appeared in the sky and said.

Miko’s lack of emotions and desires paired with his assassination skills made it hard to detect him. This made him the ideal person for sneak attacks.

“………..”

Lennox and Kirin had to watch from in the sky, unable to intervene because of the two monsters who stood in their way.

They were eager to fight them but their experience as warriors told them that any hasty moves on their part could be fatal. This was the reason why they were rooted to were they were. They had to take this battle seriously or it could be their last.

“Not going to make a move?”

Nero suddenly spoke.

He smirked.

“Then allow me.”

He activated his Qi and behind him appeared an enormous Being with red skin and four arms and a ferocious expression, each hand held a burning sword that stretched for miles.

“H-Hahahaha. You’re battle avatar is impressive as always, boss.”

Lennox said with a nervous look.

“But won’t you destroy your allies if you use it here?”

Nero smiled in response to his question.

“Don’t worry. My family aren’t that weak.”

When he said that the Being swung down its enormous swords on Lennox and Kirin.

“Shit!”

Both of them took immediate defensive actions.

*BOOM!*

The four swords crushed down on them and forced down to the ground.

*BOOOOOM!*

Four enormous cuts of fire slashed through the earth, scorching everything in their vicinity. Walls of fire erected into the sky and could be seen all across the country.

When they faded, four new canyons that stretched for miles appeared in the country. The ground was pitched black, and ashes were everywhere.

“T-That crazy bastard….”

Kirin who laid at the bottom of one of the canyons cursed Nero.

“He didn’t care about the country in the least. If I hadn’t summon one of my defensive Regalia I would’ve been turned into ash. So this is Demon Dragon God Nero.”

“Cough! Cough!”

Lennox laid at the bottom of one of the canyon covered in burns.

“T-This why Boss will always be the Boss.”

“…………”

Miko once again found himself on his back after being hit by a shockwave caused by Nero’s attack.

“Now this is getting ridiculous.”

He said.

He sprung to his feet and saw Raven on the ground like he was. Not only Raven, the already flatten city was even more damaged than before. From this he could imagine the extent of damage that the country might face.

“Raven, I want you to go and move every citizen in the empire to the Primus World. I have a feeling that the entire region will be destroyed today.”

He said.

“Alright.”

Raven got up and said.

“Ah, I’m giving you back your Proxy powers. Once you’re done, rejoin the battle as quickly as you can.”

“Roger.”

After saying that, he left to carry out Miko’s order.

Miko then spread his senses to locate the members of his team who were probably blown away by Nero’s attack as well. After discovering that they were nearby, he sent a telepathic message.

“Attention, all members of the Imperial task force is now permitted to use the weapons and techniques granted to you.”

He looked up in the sky and saw that black clouds were fastly approaching where they were. He could tell from the sinister feeling he was getting, that something of an evil nature was coming towards them.

He judged that the residents of the three hells were about to make their debut any second now.

“I repeat. You all are now permitted to use everything at your disposal. Failure to do so will lead to your death.”

Miko saw a pair of sinister red eyes forming in the dark clouds. It was as if it was the manifestation of someone’s anger.

“All troops, prepare to welcome hell.”

The three-way hellish war was about to begin.