Ayaza and Ryuzaki were in a forest clearing offshoot from the festival grounds.

"Long story short, I need free labour."

Ayaza stared at Ryuzaki blankly.

"No way, no, way, no way. You'll overwork me to death! I've heard the horror stories from Inu!"

"Huh? Are you stupid? I'm not asking you to help out."

"You aren't?"

"No, I need you to revive two people for me."

"Hang on, you want me to revive two people? Did I hear you right?"

"Yes, you did. Call them Ryuzaki Alters 1 and 2. While your ass was busy being edgy and trying to revive a God of Destruction, I was doing the important jobs, like watching my sister and Payic butt it out like it was Keijo."

"You have a sister?"

"That's the first Alter we're reviving. Ryuza Mikazuchi!"

"You're kidding me... there's no way I'm reviving another person, reviving the people Backlion killed already halved my lifespan seven times. Another two makes it nine! I'd die at the same age as you guys!"

"I see that as a dub. You don't have to be sad about everyone else's death if you die first."

"That's... strangely nihilistic. Anyways, I'm still not doing it. Reviving people willy-nilly is a stupid idea, and I know you know that too."

"Oh yeah, we shouldn't bring back dead people for fun, but this is actually important."

"Can't you hire some dude off a street? It worked out really well for you last time."

"I'm a lucky man, but I'm not hedging my bets again when this festival is really important. I need people I can trust. And who better to trust than yourself? Twice even!"

"I'm going."

"If you do this for me, I'll buy you a life time supply of flapjacks. Final offer."

"Forget it, I have a job with my own disposable income now."

Ayaza turned around to walk away, but Ryuzaki smirked.

"What if I told you I know you smuggled an illegal immigrant into the USR once? You owe me one for that."

"And if I refuse?"

"I'll call border control. Not any border control, but Cray border control. I'll get you deported back to your home planet."

Ayaza turned back around and sighed disparagingly.

"Fine... do you have any item related to Ryuza I can use?"

"No, why?"

"I need to use "proof" of their existence as a base to revive them. Think of it like a source of origin so their souls can come back into the living realm."

"Oh, good thing Inu simped for my sis then. Just a sec."

Ryuzaki put two fingers in his mouth and whistled. Inu came rushing over.

"Ryuzaki, what's up?"

"...you're just like a dog!"

"Shut up, you're a literal dragon!"

"Do you still have Ryuza's hair by any chance?" Ryuzaki asked.

"Huh? Yeah, I keep it in my back pocket so I can sniff it whenever Riku breaks up with me."

"You dirty mutt... can I borrow it?"

"No fucking chance. This is my treasure! If you want your smoking hot sister's hair, you should've thought about taking a sample before we killed her!"

"I feel like I'm missing some context here..." Ayaza muttered.

"What if I said we're using her hair to revive her?"

"Deal."

Inu handed a small plastic baggie over to Ryuzaki. Inside the baggie was a strand of Ryuza's hair.

"Inu said he sniffed this... this won't accidentally revive one of his dead relatives, will it?"

"Nah, you're talking to the tyrant of Dragon Empire. My powers are pinpoint accurate."

Ayaza put the sample of Ryuza's hair on the ground and set it on black fire. Inu screamed, seeing this happen. Ryuzaki had to hold him back from attacking Ayaza as he was chanting an incantation to revive her.

A few seconds later, Ryuza Mikazuchi emerged from the flames, flipping her long black hair over her shoulder. She gasped, opening her emerald green eyes in surprise.

"Welcome back to the world, onee-chan."

"Brother... if my head wasn't pounding right now, I'd kill you...!"

"Huhhhh, if you do that, Payic's gonna bash your head in with a bat again."

"R-R-RYUZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Inu launched himself at Ryuza's feet, wrapping his arms around her waist and crying into her crotch.

"MY EX-GIRLFRIEND BROKE UP WITH ME! PLEASE GO OUT WITH ME! I'LL EVEN SIMP FOR YOU AND GIVE YOU MY PAY CHECK!"

"You... you're that stupid electric rat. Get your filthy hands off me!"

Ryuza, despite being freshly revived, kicked Inu with enough force in the balls to send him flying back to the festival grounds.

"Ouch... but good call. I'd rather die than have Inu date my sister." Ryuzaki gagged.

"So, what stupid OVA plot are you doing this time? I can't imagine you'd revive me by choice."

"Oh, I didn't revive you. My good dragon friend over there did!"

Ryuzaki pointed to an unamused Ayaza.

"He doesn't look half bad. Better than a spineless brother like you." Ryuza spat at him.

"I sometimes wonder how we're related. Anyways, I'll explain in just a sec, I need to revive someone else. Bring out Ryuzaki Alter 2!"

"I'm going after this one." Ayaza sighed, pinching his nose.

Ryuzaki took out his Ryuzaki Gauntlet and placed it on the floor. Ayaza set it on fire.

"You're being sacrificed for a good cause, my sweet, sweet Ryuzaki Gauntlet. Oh, how I'll miss you! If only you weren't a Deus Ex Machina that will become annoying for the writers if you exist in the future. Adieu, au revoir, sayonara!"

"Shut up and let me concentrate!" Ayaza exclaimed, casting an even longer incantation than before. He broke out into a sweat trying to revive this Alter.

A ripple of rainbow coloured light shattered the Ryuzaki Gauntlet. Emerging from the pool of distilled flames was E, a Ryuzaki from another universe.

When he ate the Ryuzaki gems, he became E Rainbow Man temporarily, but Ryuzaki used the gauntlet to kill him using the United States of Asking if Payic's boobs are real on live TV.

"So much wasted potential throughout infinite universes... within every universe, no mind can be compared to ours. Isn't that right, CCEU Ryuzaki?"

E glared angrily at his murderer, lunging at him. Ayaza clicked his fingers, summoning chains made of black flames that wrapped around E and linked to a tree, holding him back.

"Woah, nice reflexes." Ryuzaki gave a thumbs up. "Aight, you can fuck off now, thanks for the help!"

"Thank God. Never ask me to do this again."

Ayaza turned into Dragonic Overlord the Black and teleported back to the Star Gate event.

"He can do that? What was the point in flying over here for then?! Ayaza, you sly bastard!"

"Stop shouting into the sky and explain what's going on. I'd rather die than listen to your scratchy voice for another minute."

"Biggest hot take of the century. My Japanese VA is Takehito Koyasu and my English VA is Doug Erholtz, you silly bitch."

"And my VA is Saori Hayami. Checkmate, atheists."

"Fuck you're voiced by Hayamin, Fox's gonna simp you too. What about in English?"

"I don't have an English VA since they haven't dubbed the OVAs yet."

"They haven't? Oh those bastards in America, just wait until they hear a piece of my mind! OVAs are never treated properly, smh."

"Oi, you two dipshits, I'm chained up by that scalie's black flames, free me!" E screamed.

"I'll free you if help me work at festival."

"Hah, lame." Ryuza laughed at E.

"I'm not afraid to punch a girl!" E snarled at Ryuza before turning to Ryuzaki. "What shit are you making me do then?"

"Do you like yakisoba?"

"You don't have to say anymore. I'll cook the best god damn yakisoba you'll ever have and shove them in freshly baked brioche buns."

"You live in the wrong timeline. Also, wee wee baguette."

"Don't tell me you also want me to help work at that yakisoba stand..." Ryuza sighed.

"Nope. I want you to work at the maid booth as the big tiddy goth gf maid! Payic refused and I don't know any other big breasted black haired girls."

"I'm not wearing a fucking maid outfit you pig."

"You can talk like that to the customers while wearing a maid outfit."

"Deal. I'm only saying this to fulfil Fox's gross fetish of verbally abusive cosplaying older woman voiced by Hayamin and because this chapter needs to advance somehow."

"You learn the art of 4th wall breaking quick, onee-chan."

Ryuzaki and his two alters returned to the festival grounds, where Raijin Komamura and Fubuki Ansei were organising their takoyaki stall, Mini Vanguardine. Raijin handled coordinating the organisation while Fubuki handed cooking as their head chef. He was surprisingly adept with a knife.

"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE WHERE'S THE MOTHERFUCKING OCTOPUS?! I TOLD THAT FUCKFACE TO GET ME MORE OCTOPUS AND INSTEAD HE RETURNED WITH MOTHERFUCKING CARROTS! REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK DO I LOOK LIKE TO THIS DIPSHIT, A FUCKING RABBIT? REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"Maybe we shouldn't have gotten Ira on shopping duty..."

#49.5 is still more relevant than Ira Hitsuzen in any chapter.

"Carrots are getting expensive, it's better that we stock up now instead of getting caught out by inflation."

"IRA YOU BRAIN DEAD BASTARD, LISTEN TO WHAT I FUCKING SAY NEXT TIME, YOU SACK OF CAT PISS! MY GOD DAMN MOTHERFUCKING SUPER SECRET ULTRA TASTY LOADED ASS TAKOYAKI THAT MAKES BITCHES WET BETWEEN THEIR THIGHS DOESN'T EVEN USE SHITTY CARROTS IN THE RECIPE REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! IF YOU WERE GONNA GET THE WRONG FUCKING VEGETABLE, THEN AT LEAST GET ME ONIONS IN YELLOW RED OR GREEN REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"Well, if he bought it, we have to use it. Budget's tight as it is, we can't afford to waste money. Carrots and octopus have to go together, right? Like, the sweetness and saltiness... or something."

Fubuki grumbled, looking at the crates of carrots before him. He rubbed his chin, trying to figure out how to incorporate the vegetables into his dish.

"Mama Komamura, what do you think?"

"Don't call my mom that dude, it's weird..."

Fubuki turned to Sakura Komamura, who was preparing the utensils and equipment. She was going to help him cook the food when the festival opens.

"I was thinking we can chop it up, sauté them with the mushrooms, and use it as another filling. It's not dissimilar to the pickled ginger texture wise. Another thing we could do is offer okonomiyaki alongside the takoyaki and put the carrots in there, as the two dishes already share a lot of ingredients."

"Your words of fucking wisdom are the shit Mama Komamura. I know just the thing to turn these shit load of carrots into something fucking tasty. REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Fubuki started going ham on chopping the vegetables. Raijin turned to his father, Madara Akaze. He was also helping the two boys out by being their accountant and cashier.

"Hey dad, could you go buy the octopus for us? I don't think I can trust Ira with the shopping anymore..."

"Sure thing, son. Let me check how much Fubuki needs." Madara quickly checked both the budget and current stock, before doing a series of calculations in his head to reach his answer. "One kilogram of octopus should be more than enough, right?"

"THE MORE THE BETTER, REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Backlion winced as Fubuki's shouting managed to reach Rina's booth.

"I wanna give the guy that keeps screaming a piece of my mind..." Backlion smacked his fists together angrily.

"Someone's screaming?" Wyvon was so engrossed in his work he didn't even notice Fubuki.

"Yes! For the past hour we've been here, every five minutes, some dumbass is kicking off with a "reeeeeeee"! What does that dude think he is, a chicken?!"

Backlion smashed together some wood and metal. He was currently helping Wyvon construct the moving stall he designed.

"What are you guys making exactly?" Akari peered inside the large metal drum Sanda was simmering the broth in.

"We're making ramen!" Rina chirped as she kneaded the dough.

"I'm in charge of the soup, she's in charge of the noodles. We're gonna smash it out of the park!"

"Ramen sounds good... but are you sure this is a good combination? If the stall is moving, wouldn't the soup go everywhere?" Akari pondered.

"Lids exist." Sanda tapped the cover of the drum.

"Is that secure enough? I'm genuinely worried..."

"I have complete faith Wyvon will find a way to make his idea work! He always does."

Rina started to pull the dough and stretch it out. Akari watched her whip the dough into noodles in amazement.

"I didn't know you could make this by hand. You're going all out for this, huh?"

"Hehe, yeah. It's all for the customer's sake. I want them to smile when they eat my food."

Akari smiled slightly seeing how much Rina was enjoying herself while cooking. Her phone started to ring unexpectedly.

"Lucine? What does she want...?" Akari answered the call. "Hello?"

"Akari, are you at the festival right now?"

"Yeah. You coming tonight?"

"I don't have a choice. Could you do me a favour?"

"Uh... depends on what it is."

"I need you to bring Shisue to the festival grounds, right now."

"Shisue?"

"Yes. When you do, contact me, and tell me where you two are."

"This is a weird request... did you need something from her?"

"Something along those lines... just, please! Please do it!"

"Alright, alright. I'll drag her over. Knowing her, she's reading some BL at her house."

"Thank you!"

Lucine ended the call. She turned to Rentaro.

"The trap's been set. Return to base, I need to get something from Yuuki-nii."

"Roger that."

Akari sighed, running her fingers through her hair. She called Shisue next.

"Yo." Shisue picked up the call.

"Hey, could you come to the festival?"

"Rina needs a few extra hands, huh?"

"Oh, no. Lucine said something about-"

Shisue ended the call. Akari, perplexed by what happened, tried calling again. However, an automated response saying Shisue's phone was turned off was all Akari got.

"...did her phone die on her? Guess I'll have to make a visit in person then..."

Akari approached Backlion, and lightly kicked him in the butt.

"Hey!"

"I need to pick up Shisue and bring her to the festival grounds. Can you give me a lift?"

"Finally, an excuse to escape—"

"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Fubuki's roars of anger echoed through the sky.

"—from that damn scream... is this okay with you, Wyvon?"

"Yeah sure, I can work on this by myself anyways. Oh, while you're out, get me some more superglue, we're running out."

"Sure thing. Let's hit the gas then!"

Backlion and Akari arrived in front of Shisue's house. Akari knocked on the front door, but no one answered.

"Strange... she should be at home, shouldn't she?"

In the underground, Kizari was blasted to the floor, and her Battle Sister cards were swept off the table, fluttering around her.

"W-who... are you...?"

As she squinted at her assassin weakly, her consciousness started to slip away.

"The sole survivor of the Mitsuki's purge. Iqumashi's Priestess of Ataraxia."

Shisue looked down at Kizari.

"Ata... raxia... you're...!"

Kizari, gritting teeth, tried to send a distress signal to Maverick, but the residual shock from the fight gloves took her out before she could. Shisue put her hands together and lowered her head.

"No hard feelings. I needed to pay a visit to the former King and you were in my way."

(Play song in the media here)

Despite the unnerving hollowness and vile depravity of the underground, Shisue looked completely indifferent to it all. The dark underbelly of the world didn't scare her anymore. She had dipped her toes into the darkness enough times to realise it was harmless.

Prior to the purge, Shisue's family, the Ikumashi, were one of the Three Pillars of the Underworld, representing "religion" due to their line of work being the antithesis of religious values, morals, and beliefs: blackmail.

The Ikumashi family didn't always run a publishing business: that was a front for their real dealings, blackmailing those in upper society and extorting from them huge sums of money. Their vast sums of wealth was built on the threats and exploitation of others.

The other two pillars represented law and medicine, the inverse of crime and murder. The criminal syndicate Onishi family represented law and the hitmen for hire Kuroshi family represented medicine.

However, their legacies had long been erased, and in the modern era, the Ikumashi family was the only one remaining and the final one standing.

That was until enforcers of the underworld started to crop up. The Mitsuki family's Special Ops Squad was one of them. Their aim was to keep the innocent daily lives of the surface and dirty dealings of the underworld completely separate.

As the Ikumashi family was infamously known as the Pillar of Religion, the Special Ops Squad's main priority was to hunt them down in order to expunge the final powerhouse of the underworld to prevent them spilling to the surface with their rising monolithic strength.

That's why the Night of Miserable Church occurred.

The operation started when the Mitsuki Special Ops smoked out the Ikumashi family from the shadows. They deployed their most skilled and experienced members to the battlefield, the Lancer of Conchobar, Daisuke, and the Archer of Uruk, Yuuki.

Holding them off temporarily were the Ikumashi's devout cult of followers, the Qs. Being a Pillar of Religion meant many who lived and breathed in the underworld worshipped them as they were the last standing monarchy of the underworld.

Despite the Qs numbers being in the hundreds, the two Mitsuki's made mince meat of them. Yuuki sniped them from the backlines, while Daisuke pressed forward on the frontlines, smashing open a path straight towards their intended targets.

In the limited time they gained from ordering the Qs to stall the Special Ops, Shisue's father and mother, the Ruler of Shimabara and the Assassin of Alamut respectively, made preparations to fight for survival. This included using the remnants of power that had been passed onto them from the fallen Pillar of Law and Pillar of Medicine.

Before they went to the front lines, the Assassin of Alamut told Atsumu, her son that she had with another man and the Avenger of Ahriman, to run away with the heiress of Ikumashi: the Priestess of Ataraxia, Shisue. He was ordered to protect her life at any cost.

After brutally exterminating the Qs and mercilessly expunging the Ruler of Shimabara and Assassin of Alamut from both worlds, Daisuke and Yuuki hunted after their missing children.

Atsumu and Shisue didn't get very far. Due to his sickly body and heart disease, Atsumu's legs buckled under him the moment they reached the surface.

Pushing forward with an unconscious Shisue, drugged with anaesthetics so she couldn't witness the events, Atsumu found a hiding spot in a desolate, abandoned area. It was an isolated and run down church with it's roof blown open.

His legs, screaming in pain, forced him to take rest. He couldn't run anymore. Having no other choice, Atsumu took shelter inside, sitting down on the dusty floorboards and against the broken walls. The melancholic rain poured down on him, soaking his clothes, but not Shisue, as he held her tightly in his arms, trying to hide her.

He knew the Archer of Uruk was coming, but the cold weather had stolen his stamina, made him shiver, and roughened his unsteady breathing. His heart pulsed in pain, but he gritted his chattering teeth, fighting through it for his little half-sister's sake.

Deep down, Atsumu knew that this was the end of the line for them. He didn't have the stamina to continue running or the strength needed to fight back. Despite being titled the Avenger of Ahriman by his mother, when faced against an enemy, weak or strong, he was completely powerless to stop them.

His body was cursed with the strongest weakness.

Gripping the knife hidden in his pocket tightly, he huddled Shisue close to his chest. Even though she was unconscious, she could still feel her half-brother's fading warmth. Drops of rain broke through Atsumu's arms, dripping down her smooth, paper white cheeks.

The howling winds only added to the intensity of their situation. Atsumu tried to calm his body down, but it was useless. He kept making small noises from the cold that would ultimately become a dead giveaway for their hunters.

The tiny echoes of Atsumu's struggling breath was all Yuuki needed to sniff out their location. He kicked open the church's tattered door and pointed his rifle at the shaking Atsumu.

Atsumu knew it was game over. He made his useless body a human shield to protect Shisue from Yuuki's precise bullet.

A near fatal wound tore through Atsumu's back. The bullet, lodged in his chest, just short of ripping through into Shisue, made him collapse into unconsciousness immediately. Yuuki contacted his father for the next step.

Daisuke, being merciful to the fact they didn't choose to be born in that family, chose to spare the children - he would make it his personal mission to personally reintegrate them into the surface of society.

Atsumu had been hospitalised due to the bullet wound. He used his heart disease as an excuse whenever someone asked how he ended up there. As the oldest sibling, Daisuke proposed to him his ultimatum: that the Ikumashi family would stop all underground activity and return to the surface, where the two kids really should've belonged.

Knowing that this was the only way to ensure he and his half-sister would not befall the same fate as their parents, Atsumu agreed to the deal and turned their shell company into a legitimate one, working from hospital in order to rebuild their fortune.

Shisue, who was unaware of what happened due to the drugs, was spoon-fed lies by Atsumu of what happened to their family. As she was still young, Shisue accepted those lies as facts, and ignored the flickering doubt in her heart.

The Mitsuki Special Ops had successfully purged all traces of the Ikumashi family from the underworld.

That was, until Shisue learned the truth. That she was the sole survivor of the purge, both physically and spiritually.

Atsumu had long departed from those days. However, the tugging darkness in her heart dragged her back to her roots. With the knowledge she gained from her parents at a young age, Shisue was secretly a master blackmailer with an array of tricks, such as voodoo dolls, up her sleeve.

Even though everyone believed the Ikumashi's contact was dead due to the family's eradication years ago, Kuro had faith that at least one of them was still alive, and that they were still blackmailing others, to this day. His bet paid off, and he got an answer.

However, now that the Mitsuki Special Ops Squad was hot on her trail again, Shisue recognised the situation has changed. Not wanting to drag her half-brother back into the darkness, she needed to form a solid defence against the incoming attack.

The first step was making use of the one who hired her: Kuro. Shisue found the ex-king and slapped his cheeks to wake him up.

"If you want your revenge, help me."

"W-wha... Shimabara's daughter... is that you?"

"Yes. The Priestess of Ataraxia is alive and well."

"Did she do it...? Did she pay...?"

"No, not yet. Instead, she's gotten the Mitsuki's on her side."

Kuro grumbled, sobering back up.

"Those guys... they've really made a mess of the underworld haven't they?"

"I need protection from them. This isn't a simple matter of blackmail anymore. At this rate... we'll be going to war. Can you and your Knights of the Round Table assist me?"

"Sounds easy enough. War is what we do everyday down here." Kuro looked at the field of lifeless bodies lying before him. "Oi, you lot! Get your asses up, we're taking a trip to the surface!"

Kuro started to wake up his twelve elites by slapping their faces. This naturally included Saaya and Yahame, but two of them, Yama Matsusada and Toshinori Takahara, were still unconscious from the shocks.

"If you need strength in numbers... let me help. I'm not elite, but I used to be a denizen of up there. I can be your guide."

An unexpected offer came from Max, who dragged himself towards Shisue, Kuro, and the ten awakened Round Table members.

"Go on then. You're good enough." Kuro shrugged. "Anyone else still barely conscious that wants to help us out?"

"M-me... Your Majesty..."

Rising from the ground was Mineta Shima, a low ranked fighter who's avatar was Dark Mage, Badhabh Caar.

"I don't even know who you are, but your jacket's cool, so you can stay." Kuro smirked. "Our job is to protect Shisue, this girl right here. You might recognise her, if you're old enough."

"Hi, I'm Shisue Ikumashi, Priestess of Ataraxia, Heiress to the Pillar, Magician of the Qs, whatever title you might know me by. To put it bluntly, I don't know who any of you are, so please impress me with your introductions."

"First Knight, Hayato Tsunayoshi at your service. I am the Chosen Dragoborne, using White Dragon Knight, Pendragon."

"I'm the Galaxy Tachyon Tactician and the Second Knight, Saaya Yamamoto! I use Star-vader, Dark Zodiac."

"I am the Third Knight, Kurumi Tokudaiji. Holy Edge Celestial, Malchidael is my partner, for we are both Dark Angels."

"Fourth Knight... Shigaraki Tsukuyami... Cowabunga of Death... King of Demonic Seas... Basskirk... it's like... totally rad... dude."

"Kanata Kamikazuchi, the Fifth Knight. As the God of Riots, I use Eradicator, Sweep Command Dragon!"

"Hiya! I'm Akiyo Kobayashi! The Sixth Knight! The Mystique Abyss! My avatar is Witch of Cursed Tailsman, Etain!"

"Toshinori's Seventh, which makes me Eighth! Nin Tendou, King of Vidya Games! You won't see any dark magicians, but I got a sweet ass Blue Wave Dragon, Tetra-drive Dragon, which is close enough!"

"I don't like being disturbed from my sleep... yawn. I'm the Ninth Knight, Shinzo Nakamura... yawn. The Midnight Miracle that uses Queen of Nightmareland, Hartrud... yawn."

"Tenth Knight, Daiki Saito. I beat Yama for this spot quite recently, actually. They call me the Lone Crow around these parts. I rep Bad End Dragger."

"Yahame Tsukimora. Twelfth Knight. Blackout Brigade. Undefeated Mutant, Avectro Zeus."

"And I'm the King of these knights. Kuro Anima, Your Majesty! But you already knew that."

The inhabitants of the underground headed to the surface under the banner of a new unit: The Mayhem Attack Squad.

Less than an hour remained until the festival was underway. The pieces had fallen into place.

The Mitsuki Special Ops had laid their trap for Shisue in the festival. Wyvon had finished making the walking ramen stall for Rina. The Mayhem Attack Squad was going to gatecrash the festival. Fubuki and Sakura had finished chopping up the octopus.

And Yza was on his way to the festival for his evening date with Rukia.