NOVEL NEXT Chapter 59: Chapter 40
{Uncertain Future}
"Grandpa, Grandpa!" A little girl shouted excitedly, hugging a man who didn't really look like a grandfather.
Instead, he was a handsome and elegant young adult.
Though what stood out the most about his appearance as a humanoid being, were three things.
First, his eyes were a mix of colors ranging from amber to silver, shining supernaturally.
Second, his ears were long and pointed, inhuman.
And third, a pair of insectoid wings, like those of a butterfly, rested on his back.
"Ahaha~ How is my cute granddaughter~?" The man asked, amused, looking with a smile at his own daughter, who looked at the scene with tenderness.
"Very well, Grandpa~" The little girl said, happily.
"Her father and I have to go on a trip to Marble City for a few days, can you take care of her~?" The woman asked.
"But of course~ How could you not~? "I don't have anything to do anyway~ Haha~" The 'old man' laughed.
As such, he was retired. Though retirement worked differently for cases like him.
"Yay! I want to be with Grandpa!"
"Fu~ Alright then~" The mother laughed. "I'll be going, the Dragon is going without us, haha~"
"Sure, darling~ See you~" The man greeted.
A few more formalities and words, with familiar affection, of course, and in the small cabin, unfortunately just outside the Walls, there were only a grandfather and his granddaughter.
"So~ Any ideas of what to do with this old man, dear~?" The man who didn't seem to be able to be described as 'old' at all laughed.
"Yes! Tell me a story!" The girl said.
"A story you say…? What kind of story?"
"A-!... Umu… I don't know…" The girl paused in her excitement.
"Fu~ How about…?" The 'old man' walked to a bookshelf, looking through the books there.
He ran a finger over them, reading the names, and finally found the one he wanted.
"How about the Demon War~?"
"… The… Demon War?"
"Yep~ It's an ancient story~ I was young when it happened~" The man laughed.
"Oh!? Were you living with Grandma back then?"
"Exactly~ Grandma was young then, haha~ She's old and bitter now~" The man joked. "Though you know she's working in the meat industry~"
"Ah, right…" The girl remembered. But without giving it much thought. "What's the story about, Grandpa?"
"Well~" The 'old man' sat down on a sofa, and opened the leather-bound book. "It's the first official war our kingdom had." The old man explained.
The girl blinked, and stared mesmerized at the book. "Really…?"
"Yep~ It was against what is now the World Alliance. Its 'predecessor'. You probably haven't heard of it. It was eradicated after all."
"Er…" The girl blinked. "Was there anything before the World Alliance…?"
"Yep~ It was a purely human kingdom~ Known as 'Re-Estize'~ It was the first official enemy of our kingdom and our Ladies~" The old man smiled, flipping through the pages, until he reached the important part. "Ah~ Here~"
The girl climbed onto the man's lap, wanting to see.
Although there was a picture, it was of humans on one side, and unnatural beings on the other, while, between the two, an armored human clashed his sword against a halberd of a white-armored woman.
"Titania!"
"Fufu~ Yep~ The Heroine Titania~ You know 'who'~" The 'old man' laughed again. "This was… Well, it was a rather short war, but brutal." His gaze grew a little cloudy for a moment, but he shook the thoughts away.
"Brutal?"
"Well… Yes. Some… Well, some writers exaggerated it to 900,000 or even 1,500,000 Re-Estize soldiers. But hey, I was there." He said somewhat carefully, not wanting to remember well. "We were told that the enemy was 300,000 men. While we were only 80,000."
"Eh…? But…?"
"Fu~ Don't worry~ Even though there were fewer of us, just one of us could take 50 Re-Estize without a problem~ And besides, we had two Commanders and Titania herself with us~ We were decoration more than anything~ Haha~" He laughed after explaining to the girl.
"So what happened? Obviously we won~ But neither mommy nor the teachers told us about Re-Estize…"
"You're still 7, love~ At 8 they teach you about wars~" The 'old man' laughed.
"Mo…"
"Well… The initial idea was for Titania to duel against the strongest warrior in Re-Estize."
"And she won!" The girl said, excited.
"Fufu~ Obviously~ Well, not officially." He scratched the back of his neck.
"No…?"
"Yeah, you see… This is where things get a little intense…"
"Umu…?"
Placing a finger on the paragraph, the man began to narrate.
"Here… 'And in Her greatest grace, the Paladin of White, sent by the Marble Queen herself, and therefore, by the Goddesses, prepared for the final exchange. A clash of arms that would decide the fate of a kingdom… But evil had other plans. An envoy of her. From Komodo. In her greatest wickedness and malice, she released a power so foul and diabolical, that it bathed the Katze Plains in blood and poison.' " The 'old man' paused for a moment, swallowing a little, and continuing. Although he skipped some parts out of nervousness. " 'In her anger at the losses, the Paladin of White, Titania, released the maximum of her divine power conferred by Mobius herself, and lunged at the envoy of evil. At the Follower of Komodo.' "
The grandfather continued to relate, with some trembling as he remembered that day.
He was one of the few who resisted the wave of evil. As such, he was not affected by how close he came to death, nor was he affected by seeing his comrades die in front of him. It was something each of them was prepared to face.
Rather, dying in honor of Them was more than just an honor, and he would have had no greater honor than dying for Their wills.
The source of his trembling was something else.
"… 'During the clash of good and evil, of light and darkness, amidst the sea of blood and poison… Something came. Mist like gaseous hatred flashed as the sky darkened. The air stood still, and logic died. For a monster came from the depths of darkness. Something that only Her Light could stop…' "
…
"[Acid Hurricane]!" The Devil's cry echoed even amongst the already present storm of lightning, ash, fire, and poison.
The black and reddish clouds turned slightly greenish, and began to release huge, dangerous greenish balls as frequently as if they were raindrops instead of liquid balls the size of soccer balls.
Still, his opponent, who shone as brightly as the Sun, and melted everything beneath her feet, only strengthened her body with defensive abilities.
It had already been more than 5 minutes of a constant attack by the Archarchaeologist towards that angelic creature, with his most powerful attacks even, but she not only endured everything, but she even healed herself, her defenses had a return of damage received, damage reduction, speed increase after receiving damage, basic attack improvement after receiving an attack, cooldown reduction after tanking a skill, percentage healing based on damage received, and a kind of healing that was activated every time, healing her a percentage of the total damage received in the entire combat…
In short, it was a more difficult creature than that water thing that he fought days ago… He couldn't help but think at several moments that he wouldn't be able to kill that angelic being, because it seemed to counter almost everything about him, and… His mana was running out… While this woman never went on the full offensive…
He most likely fell into a combat strategy… Because he had been attacking her non-stop, while she attacked from time to time, but with low-cost skills, or directly with basic attacks, while she didn't let him get away, even beginning to predict his teleportations very effectively…
In short, he was losing the war of attrition… And although it meant he had the advantage at times, it meant nothing if he fell for that strategy in the end…
"Tch! [Triple Maximized Magic: Fireball]!" Three fireballs as hot or hotter than magma itself shot out at high speed, being three times larger than normal.
Black Abyss stopped her pursuit for a moment, before pointing her halberd towards the magic attacks, to which her weapon shone in an intense gold.
"[Unknown Matter: Triplicate]" At her chant, her halberd made three identical images shining in gold on her sides, aiming at the fireballs, shooting towards them with great kinetic power.
The Archaeologist prepared another spell as he waited for the attacks to explode, but suddenly he saw the golden halberds pierce through the fireballs, heading straight for him, while his magical attacks hit the Paladin's shield and exploded violently.
"Ugh! [Hell Wall]!" He shouted, pointing forward.
A wall made of red fire appeared out of nowhere, and it exploded into flames as it blocked the three projectiles, neutralizing the attack.
"[Shadow of the Sun]" Black Abyss exclaimed amidst the black smoke the explosions caused.
"[Black Eye]!" The Archarchaeologist cast the spell, which neutralized the light in the area, plunging it into darkness while giving it some more effects. He used [Silent: Teleportation] to get out of there, and prepared a [Hell Storm].
Still, he felt the intense heat and light suddenly appear above him, and as he looked, he received an incredibly strong downward blow from the white halberd, cutting his body deeply as it shot him to the ground.
"Aagh!" The Archaeologist groaned in pain, falling into the molten sand and kicking up piles of material… Thinking about what he had overlooked…
Oh… That… [Shadow of the Sun]… Such a thing had no effect when the Angel activated it, but suddenly appeared above him when he teleported…
A passive skill that allows her to instantly move to wherever an enemy teleports to!? It was ridiculous for a tank… But… Shit, it really worked well with an Offensive Tank…
It was a serious problem, while he was running out of powerful things, she was showing more and more skills that were cornering him…
Maybe he could go back to that place underwater and force the woman to fight that Leviathan?
On the other hand… As if his prayers had been answered…
"MUAJAJAJAJA! TREMBLE, MORTALS! CRY! SUFFER AND BURN! FOR I, THE KOMODO DEMON, HAVE FINALLY ARRIVED! HAHAHAHA!" The murky, guttural voice came in the form of a roar and screamed through the fire, and both Black Abyss and the Archarchaeologist looked towards it.
An unnatural, monstrous, and evil figure rose through the fire, red smoke, and destruction.
With skin as black as tar, eyes as red as hell, jaws, claws, and other limbs and protuberances so brutal and lethal as to effectively turn the creature into a perfect killing machine.
With two large wings rising on its back, the monster flew.
"Your Majesty!" The Demiurge shouted, in ecstasy, in joy, in relief. "We will finish this heretic togeth-!"
A strong blow where his mouth would be silenced him, while he was grabbed by the neck.
"… I will finish you off first…" The Sun told him, its terrifying tone like trumpets and chants ringing out.
Prince Paimon choked on the hold, growling as he boosted his auras and natural damage to at least slightly deplete the strength of this heretic.
Sadly, the Komodo Demon neither saw nor heard him.
…
Did she hear anything? No idea.
Dont rosed up through the smoke and all the nonsense that was replacing Katze's barren, desert terrain with a post-nuclear, apocalyptic setting.
What was she doing acting like Komodo out of nowhere? Well, someone, other than Eyesight, saw her.
It saw her and her anti-divination defenses activated.
Fortunately, she had been in her Komodo form since before.
And while that [Hellfire Ball] was activated as an anti-divination measure, it didn't mean that whoever saw it was dead and couldn't see her better now with proper defenses.
So she was forced to keep up the Komodo act after waiting silently for 1 whole minute.
"WHITE RAT~! WHERE ARE YOU~!? COME SEE THIS LITTLE HELL I MADE! MUAJAHAHAHAHA!" She laughed madly. Dont herself didn't do any of this. She didn't even throw that bullet with [Nuclear Heaven].
But she had to act.
Black Abyss was dueling with that Devil over there, and if she could give her time to get rid of that thing, then everything could be solved with a 'The Komodo Devil did it.'
Of course, if this was the work of a team together and the Devil was just one member, there would be a trouble.
However, Eyesight remarked how she didn't notice anyone watching when she asked her about it after her defenses were activated.
She wouldn't let her guard down. While Eyesight was very skilled, it didn't mean she was infallible.
And well, the thing was very powerful.
"HAHAHAHAHA! WHAT'S HAPPENING!? ARE YOU AFRAID!? MUAJAHAHA-!" Dont stopped her devilish laughter as she used a skill, disappearing from where she was and looking behind whoever directed an attack at her.
The attack evidently missed, and Dont counterattacked from behind with a tail swipe.
Dont's strength probably wouldn't have done much normally, but in her Komodo form, her physical strength stat was maxed out as if she weren't a Shooter, and were a level 100 Warrior or Berserker. Sure, without the bonuses such builds would have, but the stats.
Thus, the attacker went flying straight down, crashing into the ground and generating a small earthquake.
"HAHAHAHAHA! WHAT'S THAT~!?" She felt another attack coming at her, and turned to see the source.
Only this was much faster.
"OAAAAGGHHHHH!" She roared as she felt the metal pierce through her skin, cutting it cleanly.
It hurt like it did, but not that much, she just exaggerated it.
However… That was real damage. Very real. And she doubted Black Abyss would intentionally harm her at all.
Dont turned to the source, and saw what appeared to be… Riku…? No… What?
She blinked, confused at what appeared to be a silver knight with singed blue cloth, equally singed white hair, a typical knight's sword as tall as the figure, and two blue flashes between the entrails of his helmet.
"HUH!? AND WHO ARE YOU!? A SILVER RAT!?"
"You will die, Demon." The knight said with a firm and determined voice, giving her no answer.
Dont frowned, looking quite fierce outside.
"FUCK OF-!" A punch from below silenced her, sending her flying as her jaw was dislocated by the power.
She regenerated the damage to her jaw quickly thanks to her regeneration in this form, and glared at the other attacker with a snarl like an ancient monster on the prowl.
"PLATINUM RAT!?" She almost said in fear as she opened her eyes at the sight of Riku. Although there was soot on his armor and singed hair on his ponytail. "I CALLED THE WHITE RAT! NOT YOU PISSING RATS!" He roared. "[HELLFIRE BREATH]!" She let out, as she thought, based on the way these two looked, that they had been watching her… Well, thank goodness. But she wouldn't let her guard down.
Looks like she'll have to have her own fight here.
…
With her bow drawn to the maximum, Miia resisted the urge to frown as she watched as two unidentified beings, though that platinum white armored man was 'Riku Aganeia' according to reports, attacked none other than her Queen.
It was her duty to protect the rear if some powerful entity or something came after them, which didn't seem to be the case.
The 10,000 surviving troops from the super-level spell were fleeing, moving away from the high-level destruction battle that was going on.
While 70,000 units died from the initial attack, Alucard managed to protect the survivors from the destructive attacks that followed, preventing further casualties.
On the other hand, Echidna stayed with the army as they retreated, effectively leaving Miia alone.
Sure, she was a tiny speck on the entire battlefield.
Her Lady, Lady Black Abyss, was shining like a Sun as she fought a Devil who was apparently not part of the plan… Or maybe he was? She wasn't sure.
On the other hand, her other Lady, Lady Dont, was in her Komodo Demon form and attracted the attention of the entity known as Riku Aganeia, and someone new and unknown, who wore a similar armor and was on the same side as Riku.
She was hesitant on whether she should help her Lady, or retreat.
She had Riku within range of her shot, and she herself could even increase her range with a skill… But… Would she be interfering with the plan…?
Because of that, she was hesitant.
Her Queen spat out a series of red fireballs, and Riku protected himself with his four weapons.
On the other hand, the other armor slashed with its sword towards the projectiles that came at it, cutting the fireballs without a problem, and charging towards Lady Dont.
The 'Komodo Demon' responded with a swipe of its elongated claws covered in a demonic aura.
However, the knight swiped at the claws, stopping the attack, though even Miia could hear a groan from the knight, and the knight's sword headed for her Queen's neck.
Miia lost all doubt.
Even though Her Majesty avoided the attack with her speed, only receiving a shallow cut on her neck, Miia fired.
"[Full Critic] [Dead Shot] [One Shot] [Long Arrow] [Pierce Armor] [Paralyzing Projectile]" With all the necessary buffs cast, the yellow energy arrow like pure electricity shot out like lightning… No, as if it were light itself in the form of an arrow.
Both the knight and Lady Dont and Riku saw the projectile, though only Dont could see it well.
Miia's arrow reached its target almost instantly.
…
He saw a blinding light and felt pain, and suffocation.
A pain he had never felt before other than when he was young, or during his arduous training. Something he had never imagined.
Solidified light went through his throat, with such power that, when it went through and stayed in his throat, the shockwave it left was so strong, that it sent him, Platinum, and the Demon flying in different directions, as well as the kinetic force denting the armor around his neck.
With the projectile throwing him back with overwhelming force, he practically flew out of the battlefield until he saw the sunlight again.
His push ended, and he growled as he spat out blood.
He grabbed the arrow, and violently pulled it out, ignoring the pain.
"Glufrh!" He spluttered as he got rid of the blood in his throat.
The projectile disintegrated in his hand before he could examine it, and left him… Well, very upset.
"ROOOOOOAAAAAAAAR!" He roared in pure anger, as the wound on his neck closed up, though the damage didn't heal as quickly. "[WILD MAGIC: REPAIR WORLD ARMOR]!" With the chanted spell, something inside him was drained, and his armor was repaired to its original state, even the burnt parts from the red fire explosion earlier were repaired without a problem.
While his cloak had been somewhat tattered before, it was now as good as new, shining royal blue and beautiful as if it had been made from a fragment of the illuminated night sky.
It had been so long since he had repaired his armor…
The thought gave him both amusement, anger, and interest.
He looked up at the clear sky one last time, before looking back at the huge black and reddish cloud in the distance.
And he shot off towards it with the speed of a fighter jet.
Still, he couldn't help but turn his head as he saw the monumental golden explosion where Titania was supposed to be, kicking up all the molten sand… That attack would have killed whatever she was fighting…
…
(Minutes earlier.)
Her hand reinforced the force she applied to the Archarchaeologist's neck, it wouldn't allow him to speak things she didn't want to, and her passive skill [Shadow of the Sun] would allow her to follow him to the end of the world without any problem… For a few uses. But enough now that the Demon had surely used up a lot of his Mana.
Basically, she already had him at her mercy.
But… Of course she couldn't help but think something, even in her enormous present anger… He said 'Your Majesty' to the Komodo Demon… To Dont… Something that only her summons and the inhabitants of Titania did…
Without a doubt this was also supposed to be a summon, but… Dont shouldn't be able to summon something that strong… Much less capable of using Super-Level, nor endure a fight against her that long…
In fact, thinking about it more correctly, it was literally impossible to summon anything capable of using Super-Level. The only beings capable of using Super-Level other than Players were super-specialized NPCs with lots of money invested, Bosses or World Enemies, or a limited amount of Mercenary NPCs that could be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Dont could summon beings of level 65 at most, and had only managed to create 2 that were permanent of them.
Black Abyss couldn't recognize what this Demon was either. She could only say that it was a Devil, as that was the best racial route for Demon mages with a few exceptions.
While this creature was obviously much weaker than Black Abyss at being maybe… Level 90? And not having any decent equipment at all from what the Paladin could tell, it was still holding up incredibly well. Then again, it's not like the Angel was going all-out on the offensive.
"[Purging Kamikaze]!" She heard a shout, snapping her out of her wandering thoughts.
The brutal fire in the form of another mushroom cloud exploded in her face, and the Paladin berated herself for being distracted, taking a not-so-low amount of damage in full force.
Ugh, that took 10% of her HP. It was quite a lot considering everything.
But she recognized the spell. It was a massive explosion that increased its total damage based on how much percentage of HP was spent on it. Well, as its name said, it was a level 9 suicide spell. A demonic one, that is, so the damage the Paladin took was more efficient than a [Kamikaze], which is its level 7 variant with neutral damage, or even a [Great Kamikaze], which is the same but level 8.
Because of the damage, she unconsciously covered herself in the mushroom cloud, releasing the Devil.
"Gah! Damn heretic! Don't think I'll give up! Even if I die! I'll weaken you so Her Majesty can finish you off without a problem!" The Demon roared between his gloomy teeth. "[Hellfire Storm]!" He roared as he pulled out a scroll from nowhere and used it, creating another hellfire storm.
In an instant, Black Abyss raised her halberd, which shone brightly.
"[Greater Holy Edge]" She exclaimed, bringing down the edge of her weapon towards the direction of the Archarchaeologist, to which a cut appeared in that direction, like a golden light that spread through the tornado and the black smoke, cutting the ground and the air, but the Archarchaeologist was able to evade her direct blow with teleportation again.
Which did not turn out well either, activating Black Abyss's passive ability, making her appear in front of him, grabbing his neck again.
"Ag-!" He was silenced by the Paladin with a much stronger squeeze of her hand.
"I don't know what your problem is, but you caused a lot to me… And you made me very angry… So I will tell you something before I kill you." She exclaimed, raising her halberd, which shone with an intense golden power. "You called the Komodo Demon as 'Your Majesty'. And me a heretic. But you are completely wrong, you are the heretic." Black Abyss exclaimed seriously.
"Huh!? How dare you!? Gh!" The Devil spat in the grip, before Black Abyss tightened her grip. "You are the one who went against Her will! You are the heretic against Her Majesty!" He growled.
"Hmp. I am Her partner, and Her future wife. Aren't you the one who is going against 'Her' will by attacking me? Besides, a mere amateur like you just made our plans more complicated. What made you get involved in all this? Fame? Did you hear what she did and feel like being like that?" After all, Black Abyss had heard many cases of assassins being driven by other assassins before.
"W-What!?" The Devil blinked, going into shock for a moment. Before gritting his teeth. "You…! YOU! YOU DARE SPEAK SUCH FOOLISHNESS AND ACCUSE ME, HER DEVOTED SERVANT, OF NOT FOLLOWING HER WILL!? UAGH!" He roared. "[Summon High-Level Demon: Abyssal Mother]!"
Black Abyss blinked as she roughly recognized the name invocation.
And a red pentagram appeared beneath the duo, and was dyed black.
Amorphous claws, like a mix of human fingers with those of a bat and a frog, with rotting black and skinny flesh made the Paladin block with one arm.
There was no recoil, of course, but the damage itself was noticeable.
And the horror of the abyss came out.
"It won't save you anyway. Die knowing that you are a failure." Black Abyss muttered, ignoring the great damage that creature caused, pointing her halberd at the Archarchaeologist and hitting him directly. "[Ordered Holy Execution]" She chanted in a neutral tone, as all of her divine power was unleashed in such an attack, causing an explosion of enormous divine power, painting everything towards the Abyssal Mother golden.
…
"[Hellfire Ball]!" Komodo roared as she received the instructions of the Devil on her head.
The fireball shot out at Riku, making him slash with a sword, but giving Dont room to use a skill and appear on top of him, kicking him hard.
The guy in platinum armor had cast that buff he used last time, so he didn't move, but the fire and darkness damage that all of Dont's physical attacks had for a buff was applied.
A hammer headed for Dont's leg, but it fluttered, going out of the weapon's range.
"MUAJAJAJAJA! WHAT'S HAPPENING, PLATINUM RAT~!? CAN'T YOU DO IT ALONE~!? DO YOU WANT ME TO CALL YOUR MOMMY SO SHE CAN CHANGE YOUR DIAPER!?" She mocked, with Dont leaving Komodo to lead the mocking comments in search of provoking Riku and continuing the act.
"..." On the other hand, the 'platinum rat' didn't react, and disappeared from where it was.
He had already done this before, and caught Dont off guard, but now she had it in her strategy.
"[ASPECT OF THE DEMON: O' NINE TAILS]" Her tail splitted into 9 thinner tails with claws at the end, and they lashed out at Riku behind it, pushing his katana and spear away from attacking the Shooter, while also damaging the armor with half-shallow wounds.
With one more flap, Dont left Riku's range, with her senses alert in case this knight guy appeared again.
"HM?" On the other hand, her senses identified someone else. She couldn't tell if it was the knight, but she did know that someone beyond Black Abyss, that Devil, Riku and her were there. "[HABORYM]" She activated just in case, surrounding herself with a red fire armor.
She glanced to the side slightly, there was a giant layer of divine power falling to the ground, no doubt the work of Black Abyss, but… Amongst all that there was something else…
"AN ABYSSAL MOTHER!?" She screamed in surprise at seeing such a screwed up level 91 summon.
It was a Demon, but it looked more like something from the Outer Gods expansion. Wearing a dress made of black flesh and pink tendons in diamond patterns, with bloody hair silk in the form of a long scarf surrounding the body, it made a macabre parody of a dress with green jewels on a necklace made of bones connecting the two shoulder pads made of cartilage imitating flowers.
The inside of the dress could not be seen, as, in its only opening, there was darkness, but its loose sleeves lined with gold between the flesh, gave way to black and rotten skin in cloudy and black claws that changed shape, covered in rings and jewelry and with a golden fan with spikes on its edges like a torture tool, while its interior was decorated with vocal cords and tendons.
Its face was half a pale face, like a mask, from which hung threads of flesh hiding something, with a crown formed by its 6 pairs of horns like coal surrounded by rotten flesh and pieces of torn human skin, with the smallest pair of horns surrounded by an imitation of gold using pus, and petals of the same material acting as hair.
{Abyssal Mother PNG}
She saw the Mother of the Abyss, although with parts of her fleshy dress singed and charred and many open wounds, give a strong blow with her claws towards Black Abyss, which she blocked with her shield, but not before taking a strong leap backwards. Her light became dimmer, almost disappearing, although her solar energy wings remained in place, as if she was already controlling the power that had previously been driven by anger.
She noticed Black Abyss turn around, looking at her.
"Don't you get tired of making trouble, red lizard!?" She growled at her from the sky, stepping on the ground in a cute way, although she broke the ground causing cracks dozens of meters long all around her, as it was now a layer of hard sediment.
"EH? AH, EH… NO~! THERE'S NOTHING MORE FUN THAN SEEING YOU SUFFER, WHITE RAT~! ONLY THE SUFFERING OF SO MANY BEINGS BRINGS ME SO MUCH HAPPINESS! AHAHAHAHA! JUST LET ME FINISH THE PLATINUM RAT AND I'LL BE WITH YOU, WHITE RAT! AHAHAHA! YOU'LL BE PART OF THE SOULS TORTURED BY THIS HELL!" Dont continued with the act, feeling somewhat bad now for saying such ugly things to her beloved Angel.
"First of all, I'm not a rat! I have more kinship with doves than with rats!" Black Abyss complained to her in a joking manner as she placed her shield between the claws of the Abyssal Mother and her neck, to give a push with it and push away the summon, before moving to the side and avoiding what seemed to be a [Call Greater Thunder]. "And second, the council of real rats, like those!" She said pointing at the platinum and the other, who was approaching at high speed. "Is coming to beat you up!"
At this, the platinum rat and the silver rat looked at each other, with the latter now swooping down towards Komodo, as if wondering why she knew that… And why she was telling him that…
Dont took advantage of the slight distraction between the two armors, and got out of the silver guy's attack range, then sent a medium fire breath at him.
The silver armor quickly got out of the range of the flame, and Dont deactivated the breath as it was only a distraction rather than a genuine attack.
A shriek like thousands of souls screaming in agony and happiness at the same time came, and the Abyssal Mother began to deform before everyone's eyes…
Within seconds, turning into a thing so hideous to look at, it gave the creeps to those present.
Tearing her fleshy dress, guts and intestines came out from beneath it, spilling endlessly towards the ground as oceans of thick, rotten blood cried everywhere.
Parts of the dress opened up, giving rise to extra limbs in the form of deformed two-fingered skeletal claws of bloody charcoal, while the normal claws of the Abyssal Mother transformed into the natural abomination of a mix of human, bat and frog.
The mask elongated upwards, as if the neck was stretched, giving rise to countless needle-like teeth surrounding a black abyss that vomited pus and liquefied blood with crushed insects.
{Abyssal Mother 2 PNG}
Uis, she entered her angry combat form… Dont lamented.
"So stop bothering me and go away!" Black Abyss said towards the Komodo Demon, to which the latter knew what she meant…
With the Abyssal Mother attacking Black Abyss, and the Platinum and Silver Rats attacking her… Surely Black Abyss couldn't protect her as she should, and considering that she was somewhat worn out from having fought that mage earlier and resisting a Super-Level spell that Dont had no idea what it did…
Even in this situation, Black Abyss was worrying more about her than herself… But without a doubt, the Paladin being alone would have a better chance of getting out of this predicament…
"MUAJAJAJAJA! I SEE~! THE LITTLE WHITE DOVE RAT IS AFRAID OF LOSING! AHAHAHA~! IF SUCH IS THE CASE, WHITE DOVE RAT! LET'S SWITCH OPPONENTS! ROOOAAAAHHHH~!" With a guttural roar, Dont used a skill to appear behind Black Abyss, swiping her downwards.
Of course, it wasn't a swipe per se, it was more of a high-speed tap, as she put no force into the attack and reduced all the power before touching her halo.
She had to thank her immunity to heat, as Black Abyss's wings and everything in her full divine form would be dealing a lot of fire damage to her.
Although the divine damage was tolerable, as her own [Aura of the Demon Queen] neutralized most of the damage, it would still be dangerous for Dont to be so close to the Paladin at full strength anyway.
Anyway, back to the topic, Dont delivered the 'hit', and the Paladin felt a slight 'bonk' that didn't even hurt her little head.
She shivered happily at the little touch, but there were more important things than snuggling up to the Demon Queen and begging for more 'bonks'.
Black Abyss pointed her halberd at the Komodo Demon and attacked with a stab, but the latter 'stopped' her by grabbing the weapon anyway.
"I missed you~" Black Abyss whispered, still keeping her angry face.
"PRRRRR~" A sound like a dangerously burning engine was heard, as if it were a reactor about to explode, but Black Abyss only saw it for what it was, a purr.
Still, her attention was drawn by the Mother of the Abyss who flew past them both… Seeming to really respect the change of opponents…
Which was strange, as it meant that either the summoning itself obeyed Dont, or the summoner did…
"Your Majesty! O' Your Majesty! You're finally here! I feel so honored to be in Your presence again!" The Devil who screwed up so much this day practically looked like a believer seeing his God in the flesh.
Dont stared at him silently as she grabbed Black Abyss's neck and squeezed.
Not enough to hurt, but enough to make her feel good.
Her tail whipped the Angel on her belly, not being strong, but giving a nice feeling to the Paladin.
Thinking back, Dont now felt kind of dirty turning this brutal battle in a field of death, fire and radioactivity into a weird little BDSM Roleplay game, even if she just wanted to try to pretend they were in a real intense hand-to-hand combat while not putting any force into her attacks.
"YOUR MAJESTY, YOU SAY…" She muttered, quite confused, looking sideways and seeing the Abyssal Mother knock Riku away with a swipe.
"Greater Holy Attack: Bonk!" Black Abyss mimicked saying a skill, only to return the bonk to Dont.
Ironically, the area was affected by a wave of light that pushed a lot of wind, sand and smoke. Although Black Abyss did not put any real force into it, her aura did increase its pressure, causing such a shockwave, making Dont have to increase her [Aura of the Demon Queen] by another range to counter the divine damage as best as possible.
"No 'Majesty', that son of a bitch has to die…" Black Abyss muttered to her, mimicking another attack that the Komodo Demon dodged.
"Silence, heretic! How dare you hit Her Majesty and declare yourself her 'partner'!?" The Demon growled. "[Baphomet Blessing]!" He said, casting a buff on his summon, who was being somewhat cornered by the two armored beings.
Dont frowned, and looked at the Devil.
"ER… WAIT…" She muttered, and tried to check something.
Imaginary threads and threads were coming out of her. And while most of them were splitting between here and there, mainly in Titania or Deorum Regnum… There was one that was nearby, and it was splitting into many more threads.
"THE FUCK…? THAT'S MY SUMMON… DID I SUMMON THAT…?"She blinked, looking at the Devil as he relaxed a bit.
"Your Majesty! You don't recognize me!? Ah! Right! I've changed a lot since I manifested under Your will! My apologies for not making myself clear! You ordered me to go and gain 'experience' alongside an Infernal Protector! Unfortunately, such an Infernal Protector died… But I accomplished my initial mission, Your Majesty! And then I came to finish Your orders! I came to bring Hell on Earth in Your name! In the name of Komodo! Just as you ordered me to!"
Dont blinked, blinked once more, and blinked one last time.
"ER…" She looked to the side and… She tried with all her might to remember what this thing was talking about.
"… In E-Rantel…?" Black Abyss asked looking at Dont, who remembered, while swiping at the Paladin, who blocked it with her shield.
"AH! YOU ARE THE INFERNAL ARCHAEOLOGIST I SUMMONED WITH THE CORPSE OF THE EMPEROR OF BAHARUTH!" She said with an internal 'eureka' while the Devil in her head hit his forehead at how hard she had to remember it.
However, Dont frowned.
"WAIT… YOU WERE AN INFERNAL ARCHAEOLOGIST. A LEVEL 30 CREATURE… YOU…" She checked his connection again and… "PUTAIN DE MERDE!" She swore in her own language as she backed away.
"Your Majesty?" The 'Infernal Archaeologist' tilted his head to the side.
"GOODNESS, BLACK- WHITE DOVE-RAT! THIS THING IS LEVEL 92!" She said practically in shock. "I-I MEAN! THAT'S ENOUGH, MY SERVANT! YOU'VE EFFICIENTLY COMPLETED YOUR TASK!" She stammered as she recovered after the Demon Queen smacked Dont inside her mind.
The Infernal Archaeologist blinked, but smiled in absolute delight.
"Yes! Thank you very much, Your Majesty! Everything I've done was in Your name! Even the crusades I orchestrated under Your will!" With extreme adoration, the Demiurge said almost in ecstasy.
"… Crusades…?" Black Abyss frowned.
"E-EJEM! SURE! GO AWAY AND LET YOUR CREATURE DEAL WITH THOSE TWO RATS! I'LL DEAL WITH THIS WHITE DOVE RAT! HAHAHAHAHA!" Dont invented as she grew more and more confused.
"Yes! As you command, Your Majesty! I-!"
Something strange was felt in the air.
And everyone, even the Abyssal Mother herself, turned their heads.
The smoke… No… The red mist that was never moved by any explosion, by any shockwave, by anything… It shone slightly, in a strange paradox in which it darkened the place instead of illuminating it.
All the heat and energy that had built up during the brutal battle was instantly absorbed by the red smoke, and turned into dead, silent cold, causing it to begin to condense with the mixture of death that had happened.
The force of it was overwhelming as it began to head towards the center of the field. Black Abyss made Dont dig her claws into her so that the wind wouldn't take her, while one of the armors was almost taken by the wind, held in place by Riku. Although the Abyssal Mother was absorbed by the red amalgam amidst screams of human suffering, which increased in size abnormally every second. Almost impossible in terms of the volume required... Because there seemed to be more than there should be...
On the other hand, the Archarchaeologist had to throw a shield that prevented him from falling to the gigantic point.
No... It wasn't that Black Abyss was preventing Dont from flying away... It was that it was... Preventing her from being attracted...?
Both the Demiurge and the Demon Queen were drawn strongly by the fog that gathered at one point.
Only the shield of the Archarchaeologist and Black Abyss prevented the two from being devoured by the fog.
Black Abyss felt… Dread.
A terrifying chill ran down her spine. Fear. It was fear… So much fear… No. It wasn't that either. It was primal terror. Each of the plasma feathers on her wings bristled imaginatively while the Paladin herself felt her warmth and divinity being extinguished like a candle in front of a hurricane, leaving only cold and darkness…
This… What was this…?
The mist continued to swirl, wanting to push Black Abyss, Riku and his partner inside, while it wanted to attract Dont and her apparent summon.
And after long seconds, it was finally there.
Even the radioactive clouds were pushed away, losing their red, as everything demonic was concentrated in the condensed ball of red mist.
It looked more like blood than mist…
The absorption and push stopped. And Black Abyss felt like it was a joke of a conversation somehow.
Dont felt strange, confused as she struggled to think.
And the entire world trembled.
A tremor… No, an earthquake… It was the closest thing to describe it, but it wasn't even remotely that. Even if the continent was split in half by an earthquake, it wouldn't be even a hint of what this was.
If the planet orbited the Sun in an imaginary line that wavered slightly, then it was practically shaken to a point far off its natural orbit, but still within the appropriate radius to sustain life.
Such a tremor, although it was felt throughout the planet, in every cave, every tree, even on Titania itself, only the few present could see the light that exploded.
As on Earth, some sailors were placed near a nuclear test site, and they said that the light was so strong that even with their eyes closed everything looked white.
Such a case was the same here.
And even Riku, being only a remote-controlled armor, looked away, blinded by the light that was like an absolute flash. There was no other definition.
It was a flash that lasted a second, and it was seen even on the other side of the galaxy by curious eyes due to the instant that such an explosion lasted.
Of course, Dont and Black Abyss were immune to blindness. But seeing what rose so high that it blocked out the light, she wished she had gone blind… No, rather, she wished she had stayed on Titania, curled up in her bed with Black Abyss.
Three pairs of eyes stared at her.
"… THE FREAKING FUCK…" She managed to blurt out.
"YES! IT FINALLY APPEARED! AHAHAHAHA! MY SACRIFICE WASN'T IN VAIN! IT DIDN'T FAIL! AHAHAHAHA! BUT TO THINK IT WOULD ACHIEVE THIS! YOUR PLANS TRANSCENDED MY CRAZIEST DREAMS, YOUR MAJESTY!" The Archarchaeologist cried out in insane adoration as he spread his arms upward.
"… WHAT SUPER-LEVEL SPELL DID YOU USE?" The Demon Queen asked, still in the form of the Komodo Demon.
"Ah! I used the most destructive one I could find! [Yaldabaoth Cycle]!" He laughed happily.
"UMU. I SEE…" Dont muttered as her eyes met Yaldabaoth's.
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