After hearing about Syura's Death and Lubbock's prison break, Esdeath didn't bother to go check it out as she was on her way back to Tatsumi's torture chamber. Honestly, she didn't care about Syura and in fact, she was happy he was gone. Though she would have loved to give him some of the pain he's caused her subordinates like Run and Lauren, she could have thanked Night Raid for getting rid of him for her.

As she was just about to enter the Torture Chamber, an Imperial Guard was seen making a b-line towards her, with a look of panic on his face.

Guard: "General Esdeath! We're under attack!!" The female general just looked at him bored.

Esdeath: "I am well aware of the Minister's Son's death and the prison break. You have more soldiers to deal with those small things. Don't drag me into that"

Guard: "But it's not that! Someone more dangerous.. He's here; Death's Harbinger!!" Immediately upon hearing the name, her eyes narrowed as she slowly looked at him.

Esdeath: "Where?" The Guard pointed towards the direction Dairoku was heading. With a hum and a tip of her hat, she walked towards the direction he pointed towards. "I'll go deal with him. No need to worry." *thoughts* "Death's Harbinger... It seems our reunion will be much earlier than I thought, Dairoku."

Walking past the room that held the unconscious Lauren, a golden glow shone from behind the door, with a roar being let out.

>>Meanwhile<<

A bright purple light shined as the Yin-Yang symbol from Shambhala's activation on the ground. As soon as it was over, Lubbock stood in its place with a grin as he thought he managed to escape the Capital.. However, Shambhala didn't take him far.

Lubbock: "I'm still in the palace!?" He looked around before gritting his teeth and attempting to activate Shambhala again. "Anywhere will do! Just get me out of the palace!!" However, nothing happened. "Shit! I can't use it two times in a row!?"

Now a bit panicked, he looked around before sporting multiple guards rushing towards his direction.

Guard 1: "A Rebel! He's over here!!"

Lubbock: "And now there's a whole horde of them!!"

Guard 2: "Kill him!!!"

They all began to chase after him with Lubbock making a b-line away from them. However the pain from Syura's torture was still in effect as he grunted from feeling a sharp sting in his lower region. However he would soon spot Izou standing in front of him.

Izou: "Kousetsu.. Time to Eat."

Lubbock's thoughts: "Playing dead won't work with this guy!"

With a battle cry, Lubbock charged the Swordsman, who prepared by unsheathing his blade Kousetsu. However, an explosion followed by loud screams of terror caught their attention. Turning to look towards their right, they saw a blaze raging through the palace. If they looked carefully, they could see the bodies of multiple guards burning to a crisp while flailing about.

Metallic footsteps became louder as they approached the two, the with multiple footsteps following it. Lubbock narrowed his eyes but soon they widened as he noticed the faint red eye glow coming from the lead figure flames and the scythe that he held. It was none other than..

Lubbock: "Dairoku!?"

Izou: "Mm? The infamous Death's Harbinger?"

Lubbock: "What the hell are you doing here!?"

He questioned however he received no answer as the armored assassin's eyes were fixated on something. They looked at what he was looking towards, which was the complete opposite direction of him. It was Esdeath, who had arrived and had a look of surprise on her face, mainly from the aura of raw bloodlust and malice he was projecting outwards. Slowly he pointed towards her, but then slight laugher began to radiate from him. This laugh sounded completely out of character, with no soul left in it. He just sounded completely insane.

Lubbock: "What the hell are you laughing about!?"

Athena: "Lubbock was it?" That voice startled Lubbock as he looked around before noticing the red orbs on the Barbatos armor glowing. "Things are about to get... even more uglier than they already are.. I suggest you get out of here, or you're certain to die."

With that warning, a red aura erupts around the armored Dairoku, causing for the hell army to vanish and for the bystanders to cover their eyes, with Lubbock being sent flying back due to the impulse.. right into the chest of a certain twin tailed blonde witch.

Lieselotte: "Ara~"

Lubbock: "Geh!?" His eyes widened as he realized his face was right in between Lieselotte's breasts. A strong blush formed onto his face as he looked up at her. "L-Lies-"

Lieselotte: "Shh." She quickly silenced him by pushing his face further into her breasts before glancing towards Dairoku and Esdeath. She knew Esdeath would have been able to sensed her presence, which is why she was thankful her masking magic was making it difficult for Esdeath to sense her. She whispered into Lubbock's ear. "Let's get you out of here first. >Chrono Calculation<." She chanted as both her and Lubbock vanished from sight, without a single trace.

Athena: "General Esdeath, the Empire's strongest. If you want to survive to see the next day, then I highly recommend that you be on your guard. This is an opponent you can't play around with... Death's Harbinger has awakened."

Dairoku (Barbatos): "I, who is about to awaken..."

Esdeath: "..What...?" She muttered as she watched, her eyes slowly widening.

Dairoku (Barbatos): "...Am the heavenly dragon who has ripped the principles of Jurisdiction from God."

Esdeath watched carefully, seeing the silhouette of Dairoku slowly morph inside of that aura. Her eyes widened as she saw him growing in size. The helmet enlarged with the bottom half of it prying open, revealing sharp teeth and a mouth with the neck extending and large silver horns growing on his head. The Armor on his forearms extended away from the arm itself as his hands became massive claws.

Dairoku (Barbatos): "I cackle at the 'Infinite' I reflect at the 'Dream'."

His feet grew to the point, a deep footstep was imprinted into the ground, the tail moved to the lower rear of his body, with it lashing about. His posture became more bestial as large multi-segmented wings sprouted out with glowing red orbs in them.

Dairoku (Barbatos): "I shall become the Black Dragon of Jurisdiction... I shall drown you in the treacherous waters of blackened souls. Juggernaut Drive!"

(Barbatos—Juggernaut Drive)

Rearing his head back, he lets out a impactful and dominating roar. His roar was loud.. Plain and simple. It was loud enough to shake the entire palace and cause tremors throughout the entire Capital. However, faintly... just faintly could you hear his voice... a scream actually... It was filled with sorrow, dread, despair, pain and agony...

CHAPTER 45: KILL THE ADVERSITY

Esdeath stared at him, her eyes wide with shock as the Dragonic Dairoku, towers over her. He was as big as smaller Kaiju-sized Danger Beast.. a good example would be the two Danger Beast Dragons Kurome and Akaruime summoned during their fight with Night Raid in that canyon.

Guard 1: "W-What is that thing!?"

Guard 2: "Death's Harbinger transformed into a-a Danger Beast!?" The guards that surrounded the Juggernaut Drive, all were shaking with fear and terror, seeing the massive Black and Red Dragon tower over them. Esdeath however... knew exactly what this was...

Esdeath: "Barbatos' True Power... Juggernaut Drive."

Steam ejected out of his mouth as he glared down at the Empire's Strongest, who stared back up at him, her eyes narrowing as she slowly gripped her Rapier.

Guard 3: "Destroy him!"

Guard 2: "You want us to fight that thing!?"

Despite that, the 3rd Guard charged forwards anyways, his rally cry causing the Juggernaut Driven Dairoku to slowly glanced over to him. He raised his sword, charging the large black dragon, only for his arm to get blown off from a swift strike from Dairoku, who roared as he charged him and dealt the attack. Soon, he bit down onto the guard's head and bit it off, crunching it before spitting it out to the side.

The other Guards watched in complete horror before they yelled in fear, seeing the Black Dragon make a dash towards them. Each swing of his massive claws would cause more bloodshed to be spilled and screams of terror to fill the Palace. Esdeath watched in complete shock, witnessing the one honorable and kind Dairoku, commit a full massacre. Normally, she'd be proud and extremely excited.. but this time, to her, it didn't feel right...

She remembered the day Dairoku came to her sheepishly, asking her to train him how to better control his Pyrokinesis like how she could control Demon Extract's Cyrokinetic properties. He looked so determined to get stronger so he could protect those he loved. To her, Dairoku was a light of purity, the Yin to her Yang... But now, he wasn't that anymore. It left a bad taste in her mouth... something that she never thought she'd want to see from her student.

A guard's disfigured hung from his mouth, impaled on one of his large and jagged teeth before he spat him out.

Esdeath: "Dairoku.." He slowly looked back around, steam ejecting from his mouth. It was as if he responded to her calling his name. "You were always the more naïve and kinder of us two... Yet to see you like this... How the mighty have truly fallen.. I'm honestly disappointed.. I wanted to fight you when you're at your best... Not as a beast."

Hearing her reprimand him, his armored eyes narrowed before he roared out angrily, a red ball formed into his mouth before launching a blasting beam from his mouth towards her. The Icy General quickly reacted, putting up a thick wall of ice, blocking the blast, however slowly the ice was being melted right through, putting her on her guard as she quickly dashed away.

The Blackened Dragon charged her, his wings flapping creating massive gusts of winds that caused her to grunt a bit as she planted her heals onto the wall, narrowing her eyes as she narrowly jumped out of the way of a claw slash, creating deep holes into the wall.

She landed to the ground, sliding back to a complete stop as she watched him. His massive wings flapped, with the debris around him rising as he bursts into a crimson aura, sending out a powerful shockwave that felt more like an Earthquake than anything.

Soon, the armor plates on his chest slowly began to open, revealing a glowing red orb in the center off it. Then...

"BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!"

Athena's voice yelled out. Blood Red energy began charge into the glowing red orb in his chest, the orbs on his wings flashing rapidly like broken light bulbs. His power was rising more and more, him charging up a final attack. Gritting her teeth lightly, Esdeath showed no signs of dodging this attack as she yelled out...

Esdeath: "Dairoku!!"

"Longinus Smasher!!!"

The strongest attack of Barbatos; the Longinus Smasher, a powerful Blaster Beam launched from the chest. This beam charged the Icy General; it was even stronger than the Bishop Promotion's Barbatos Blasters. Before the beam could make contact with her however...

"Spiteful Dragon; Balance Breaker!"

The golden armor appeared in front of her, with a golden barrier forming around them, blocking the strike. Esdeath stared in surprise as she recognized who this was in front of her... She had finally awakened from her coma.

Esdeath: "Lauren!?"

A small grunt was all she received from her as the barrier was cracking under the pressure. With a growl under her breath, Lauren clicked her tongue before..

Lauren (Bael): "T-Tch... So this is the power of... the Black Dragon.. Hehe.. I guess I have no choice to... You ready, Artemis?"

Esdeath blinked in the mention of the name Artemis before she noticed the violet orbs on the Bael armor glowing before flashing.

Artemis: "Heh.. Born Ready."

The voice Esdeath only knew was the one of Bael whenever Lauren would transform, spoke... Like Athena.

Lauren (Bael): "I, who am about to awaken... Am the Heavenly Dragon who has claimed the principles of Authority from God. I scoff at the 'infinite'. I captur the 'dream'. I shall become the Gold Dragon of Authority. I shall take you to the edge of the Golden Darkness. Juggernaut Drive!"

Soon, an explosion engulfed both her and the Icy General, with Dairoku letting out a eardrum shattering roar, his chest plates closing up the orb in the center. However, upon seeing a bright golden light coming from where the explosion took place, Dairoku looked back towards them. Seeing a large dragon-like silhouette standing in the mist of the flames, the flames suddenly vanished as Esdeath stood there. A large shadow flew over her as she looked up, surprised to see a golden dragon; Lauren had activated Bael's Juggernaut Drive as well, and was flying towards Dairoku.

(Bael—Juggernaut Drive)

Seeing the new challenge, Dairoku fired a Dragon Blast from his mouth, directly aimed at the incoming Juggernaut Driven Lauren, who rose her forearms to block the beam.

With a roar, Dairoku leaped and flew towards her before the two made contact and began clashing in midair, creating large midair tremors that shook the ground.

Lauren (Bael): "Snap out of it would you!? You're gonna kill not just the corrupted bastards in the Empire, but innocent people if you remain like this! Fucking get back to your senses, Harbinger!"

She bit into his collar bone, causing blood to gush out as Dairoku lets out a pained roar. She pinned him down to the ground before rising up into the air, her armor reverting back to normal.

Dairoku weakly looked up at him, with him firing another Longinus Smasher at her, but it was significantly weaker.

She reached behind her, grabbing Rerumukattā.

Lauren (Bael): "Realm Slice!"

She yelled, as Rerumukattā's blades glowed in a bright blue ethereal color before dealt a cross slash, slashing the realm open as the beam flew right into the severed realm before reflecting and blasting right back to Dairoku, striking his chest with great power. He roared out in pain before all of the glowing red orbs on him became black and he fell, going limp.

Slowly his armor reverted to normal before disengaging, revealing an unconscious and heavily bruised Dairoku. Lauren panted heavily before falling to the ground, Bael's armor deactivating as she too fell unconscious. Esdeath just watched, surprised before she slowly approached Dairoku, kneeling down and placing her hand on his forehead.

Budo: "Tch... Such a mess.." he muttered, walking to the former battle grounds. "It seems as if the Harbinger has unlocked a new found power. I don't think not even I would have been able to stop him." Esdeath said nothing to that and just looked at him.

The Rampage had ended... But that doesn't mean everything's back to normal... Far from it...

To Be Continued...