Estarossa (Jack) POV
"Mael, any suggestions? You know besides fight a berserk Monspiet which I never thought possible?" I asked out loud, letting myself get distracted and not dodging the attack properly, causing my left arm to get hurt pretty bad.
'That is about the only thing you can do.' Mael responded.
"Stop ignoring me and fight!" Monspiet shouted, black flames spreading out around him as he stomped his hooves.
I only had enough time to think 'Faust is a troll or fucked up badly' before he used Trick Star to switch places with a boulder behind me and attempted to punch me in the back with a Hellblaze hoof. I barely sidestepped just in time to grab his leg and throw him up into the air. My hand took a lot of damage, but I got him in the air where I needed him to be before I flew up as well.
"Mael, something's definitely wrong if the mid- long range mage is fighting relentlessly at close- mid range against a specialist in that department." I said out loud again while dodging Monspiets barrage of Purgatory Flame Birds and Hellblaze punches.
"Stop talking to yourself, that act isn't fooling me!" Monspiet said from behind me. I didn't account for the possibility that he could use Trick Star on any of his projectiles and got nailed on both sides, knocking me out of the air.
Standing back up was a struggle to say the least. I'm still able to use Darkness to heal my injuries, but the pain lingers, and feeling the pain of second or third degree burns on wounds that no longer exist is pretty distracting. Okay think damnit! Monspiet isn't in the right state of mind if his reckless abandon and the way he's speaking are anything to go off on and depending on how often he can use Trick Star will determine whether or not I can dodge. Even then I can't block very well since his spells are strong enough to destroy any shields I make and knock away any of the Rebellion blades. I guess my only option is to destroy the small projectiles and attack fast enough to prevent more.
I summoned all the Rebellion blades as Monspiet landed. I know he was a master pyromancer, but I still need to test something. New body could mean he no longer has the same resistances as demons so I enchanted Rebellion with Hellblaze and used Darkness to extend the blades.
'You know that will drain you faster right?' Mael asked.
"Two, maybe three minutes. Hopefully I can beat him or talk some sense into him." I said quietly. I looked at Monspiet.
"Monspiet, is this really what Derrieri would want?" I asked. He launched himself at me with Flame Birds not far behind him. Thankfully I was able to destroy the birds with the other blades, but his punch barely grazed my face and cut it, the fire hurt like a bitch too. I kicked him forwards as I was pulling a blade back to him. It cut him deeply and set him ablaze, but that small victory was short lived as he dispersed the flames and healed himself while I was pulling the others to me.
"You have no right to speak her name." He growled.
"Out of curiosity, have you been watching me at all? Have I acted anything like Mael or Estarossa?" He stomped his hoof into the ground again.
"Enough with your games Estarossa! No, Mael! GGGRRAAHH!" Monspiet clutched his head in pain.
"Well that just about confirms something's making him act and fight so differently." I thought to Mael.
'Agreed, Monspiet has never once acted without thinking and certainly never spoken in even a raised tone.' Mael responded.
"I will take that as a yes. You must have heard me call myself Jack at least once right? A human from another world controlling the body of a fallen Archangel, I had nothing to do with her death." I said to Monspiet, getting a Hellfire Bird for it and thankfully I was able to throw a few Rebellions at it.
"Enough with your twisted games Est- Mael- DAMNIT!" He shouted, clutching his head again.
'Keep talking, it might break him out of whatever this is.' Mael said. No later though did Monspiet launch another Hellfire Bird, this one I had to jump into the air to avoid. Unfortunately this one was tracking me, but it's turns were slow enough for me to go right over or under if I needed to. As I was dodging it though Monspiet launched more Purgatory Birds as I was avoiding this one.
'You can't keep this up forever Jack, this will only become more dangerous as you let him keep shooting you.' Mael said.
"That's kind of my plan." I said as I let go of the Rebellion in my hands and kept adding more Hellfire to it and the others.
'Are you insane? Adding Darkness to your weapons to extend their range was already draining enough, adding Hellfire and using it against one of the most powerful flame users the Demon race had is suicide!' He shouted. I ignored him for a moment as I changed the shapes of the Darkness to better suit the flames.
"You know there's a chance to see Derrieri again in this life right? I technically died and am controlling Mael's and Estarossa's body, Galand came back, you came back, who's to say anyone else won't?" I shouted to Monspiet. He stopped his assault for a few moments which is good for both of us considering what I'm planning.
"Derrieri loved you back you know? She forgave Elizabeth and Meliodas, even forgave Estarossa and Mael if her desire to save, not beat, SAVE Mael from the 3 Commandments he had taken in is anything to go off of." I need to wrap this up, I can feel the drain Mael was talking about.
"Do you think she could look at you the same if you kill me? Whether I really am just another lie in this head or I really was a human is irrelevant. Do you really think Derrieri before she died would support killing someone in my position just to satisfy her own bloodlust? Bloodlust you never had once in your life?" I started diving to Monspiet and threw a few killing saucers at him to catch him off guard and to make a small barricade while one digs a trench.
He dodged backwards as I hoped. I flew behind him close enough that Trick Star wouldn't accomplish anything really. He can't switch places with all the Hellfire and Purgatory Birds and if he switches places with me he still has to deal with the explosions from his projectiles and my weapons attacking him rapidly as they're also burning him. He can be hit by a modified Hellfire Tempest on one side that's also protecting me from his attacks that are also hitting him, or he can switch with me and he'll just avoid getting hit directly from his attacks while also getting hit harder by mine. I'm in a position where I'm protected either way and he still takes massive damage. My attack protects me or I hide in a trench that's protected.
In his newly enraged state he tried to use an attack I didn't remember, Ash Dragon, but there wasn't enough time as he seemed to have forgotten about all his attacks coming his way and took every single one as he was flown into my attack. If he hadn't been mysteriously enraged like that I'm sure he would have been much closer to beating me. I got knocked back a good distance and I think I lost consciousness for a few seconds. All I do know is after I reopened my eyes the entire mountain was burnt and several of the trees were around it were no better. I checked myself over and saw my plan worked, I was fine for the most part, Monspiet not so much.
The cuts were bad enough, but to be hit with that many pyromancies from both sides was sure to do serious damage even to him. He was still alive and healing himself, but now he looked confused as well as in pain.
"What just... Where... When?" He asked on the ground.
"So you're not about to throw another bird at me are you?" I asked getting his attention. He turned his head to me and started backing away. I'll take that as a no.
"Monspiet, you have me confused with another psychopath we both know, if I wanted you dead I would have already done so, especially with now being the best time. Now what the Hell was that about? Why wait until now to attack me?" I asked hoping to get something out of him.
"I... I don't know... A pony who's power I couldn't sense or read with the magic eye approached me and showed me what happened to Derrieri... I can't remember much between then and now." He said clutching his head in pain.
"Okay I'm not even going to ask why you let some random stranger with an unknown power level that somehow has knowledge of your world to even approach you. With everything else wrapped up do you believe me now about being Jack and not Mael or Estarossa?" I asked as I sat down. He thought to himself for a minute before answering.
"I still have my doubts, but at the very least you've proven yourself to be nothing like Mael or Estarossa. Speaking of, why do you still call yourself Estarossa?" He asked.
"Never thought about that really. Estarossa sounded cooler than Jack for one. I'm no longer human and if my appearance in the mindscape is anything to go off of my soul isn't exactly human anymore either. New body, modified soul, new world, new life, I probably figured 'why not'." He looked at me like 'are you serious'.
"Do the princesses know?" He asked.
"Could have sworn I already answered that, but yes. Luna came into my dream after I fought Mael to protect the real Estarossa, for reasons I can only guess we were around the same strength." His eyes shot wide open then narrowed just as quickly.
"You expect me to believe a 'human' fought off the Angel of Death himself to protect that psychopath?"
"As I said, reasons I can only guess. I had to anyway since apparently if one of us dies so do the others. Estarossa was and still is asleep and restrained thanks to a bunch of chains. When he'll wake up I don't know, but needless to say my life will likely be getting a whole lot more hectic after. And that 'human' bit, Escanor of the Sins wiped the floor with Estarossa. Ban by now probably could, Merlin until officially mentioned otherwise is another human who could if only because of Infinity."
"I suppose that makes a reasonable amount of sense." Monspiet relented.
"So are you going to tell the princesses? I want to see the looks on everyones faces after learning they've been giving orders to one of the Demon King's chosen. If you don't I will." I said resting my head on my hand.
"No point in hiding that now I guess, especially if you follow through with that." By now our injuries have completely healed and Monspiet brought out his wings.
"Things are about to get interesting." I said doing the same thing as Monspiet. And took off after he did.
Unknown POV
It's not surprising "Mr. Third" lost, though that doesn't mean we wanted Estarossa to emerge victorious and certainly not with both surviving. No matter, everything will proceed as planned until we are ordered otherwise. Our goal is in sight now, and not even the false Goddess or the Pretender will stand in our way.