Hello~! Here's the next chapter for you, thanks for your patience!
Note: I've been able to confirm that I'll be on a flight in two days from now, so the next chapter is going to be delayed for this week. I'll probably have to have a one week break as it will take a little bit of time to settle down there. I'll still be posting chapters regularly while on my holidays, rest assured! I'll have the next chapter out as soon as possible~!
Special thanks to SolarCorona for following, favouriting and reviewing! You're super awesome and you rock~! I'm seriously glad to know that you enjoyed, welcome to the family~! C:
Feedback is always welcome~!
"It's about damn time you got here," Draco chuckles weakly as a few drops of blood in his mouth slide down his chin, tainted his skin in a crimson colour. His hand shakes in a rapid shiver as he wraps it around his chest, the pain of feeling his ribcage being broken was absolutely excruciating, causing to pant and wheeze as Ciel runs up to him and helps him to his feet. "…where are the others?"
"We do not know, we suddenly appeared here without any memory of how it happened." The assassin mutters quietly as he turns his head to the beast in front of them, it was busy with a brave group of soldiers attacking it. Men and women are tossed up into the air and are either stomped on by the Dark Nephilim or swallowed whole by it. Lu snaps her fingers and watches as small balls of dark flames circle around here, the same dark flames surround the assassin as he looks back at his master. "Thank you, this'll help."
"This is my new and improved 'Flame of the Devil' technique, it will shield you as well now, so use it wisely!" She barks back as a command as she directs her attention to the injured boy with black and purple hair. "You look familiar, weren't you the partner of that Knight that joined the group? Your name was Dragon or something, right?"
"It's Draco," He hisses irritatedly as he straightens his black jacket and hair, he summons Veryx back into his right hand and eyes the Duo curiously. "So you were teleported here too, huh? Looks like it's just the three of us though, did the rest of the team just flee Velder?"
"I highly doubt that, they can be quite strange at time but they are not cowards. My best guess is that they were teleported too, just not to this location. Whatever the case may be, however, we need to focus at the danger coming towards us." Ciel responds as a warning as the Dark Nephilim crushes the last few soldiers under its massive foot, Draco chuckles and rests his scythe on his right shoulder.
"Yeah, I was able to have a little bit of a break after it spotted a couple of soldiers to kill. I lied down still and acted dead so that I could tend to the wounds it gave me. Unfortunately…" Draco informs the Duo as he takes his hand off of his stomach and shows the hole in his shirt and the wound underneath. Lu cringes as she has a glance at the fleshy hole in him, Ciel shakes his head slowly as he unsheathes his Gunblades.
"Perhaps you should just leave this to us, it doesn't seem like you're in a good condition to fight."
"Nah, you don't need to worry about me. This wound only stings a little, I'm still capable of slaughtering this thing…whatever it is."
"That thing is the Dark Nephilim," Lu corrects him in a cheeky manner as she allows large, demonic claws to materialize around her small hands, Draco raises his eyebrow as he takes a better look at the girl and frowns.
"You look different, like you're older." He replies slowly as his eyes are also caught by the half-white hair on Ciel's head, a grin spreads along his face and he chuckles. "And you look like you decided to dye your hair but changed your mind halfway through, what gives?"
"It's a long story, and not one we need to care about right now! Shadow Bolt!" Lu growls as she raises her right hand into front of her and opens up a portal that fires down explosive arrows onto the Dark Nephilim to stop it from getting any closer to the three of them, Ciel dashes forward and begins to rapidly hack and slash at the demon's eyeless face. Draco watches as flames flicker off his bleeding body and laughs excitedly.
"We're going to have to go all out against this thing, Wildfire Barrage!" He cackles enthusiastically as several spheres grow behind his back before rocketing into the beast's chest, the demon growls and hisses as they expand into a violent explosion on contact. Lu giggles as she leaps away from a powerful swipe of the arm of the Dark Nephilim and holds out both of her small hands.
"Swift Smash!" She cries out as she allows an afterimage of spirits detonate around her, the Nephilim screeches and takes a quick step backwards before opening its mouth and releasing a large stream of demonic energy. Ciel quickly and swiftly leaps in front of Lu and summons a blue, cross-shaped blaster into his left hand.
"You need to watch yourself, Lu. Twilight Judgment." The assassin exclaims worriedly to his master as he fires a heavily-compressed bullet at the Nephilim's head after holding Lu's hand and jumping out of the attack. Lu's eyes widen as Ciel releases another bullet of the same amount of energy at the beast before it could recover from the previous one, Ciel pants heavily as the blaster quickly absorbs all of the magic inside him. "There…I've made an opening…attack it now!"
"R-right! Draco, go for the head!" Lu screams through the loud stomps of the furious Nephilim as she watches Ciel drop to his knees, she glares madly at the beast as she flies straight towards it as it tries to recover. Draco gets to the demon first and slashes at its forehead multiple times before being smacked away by it, the boy yelps as the force of being it by one of its feet causes him to crash into a nearby building.
Lu follows up with Draco's attack and punches and scratches the beast's face in hopes of it falling to the ground, the Nephilim roars and uses it colossal head to hit the hovering girl and send her flying in the opposite direction, she yells out weakly as she rolls helplessly across the floor. Ciel coughs as he stabs his right Gunblade into the ground and uses it to get himself back to his feet, he dashes frantically towards his master and holds her up as she shows her pained face to him.
"I...I told you, Ciel. That demon is not like any other creature we've fought so far…the Nephilim's power far exceeds ours…we should get Draco and retreat! Velder doesn't stand a chance now."
The assassin shakes his head in refusal to his master's suggestion and stares back at Draco as he distracts the Dark Nephilim with a barrage of fire blasts and gets smashed back into another wall by the demon's tail, Ciel opens up the palm of his left hand and watches as his cross-shaped blaster disappears. Lu notices the blaster dematerialize and gives her servant a confused look.
"I'm afraid I cannot allow that to happen down, so many soldiers have died trying to protect this place. The dead can't continue strive to achieve their righteous goals, it's up to the living to achieve it for them. Besides…" Ciel whispers back with a calm and relaxed smile to the Demon Lord behind him, Lu stares quietly with widened eyes as the assassin turns around and gives her a determined grin. "…I've been relying far too much on the power of my demonic side. This energy blaster will not win all of our battles, I need to use some of my own strength as well. In order to truly protect and serve you…"
"…I'll go back to the days where I was as sharp as a blade."
A glowing, radiate light brushes through the assassin's hair as he rushes forwards to the colossal demon and holds his Gunblades confidently in his two hands, his hair bathes in a bright glow before becoming all white except for a single strand of black hair. His clothing and jacket both glow next before merging with the light dancing around him and transforming. [Dreadlord Attire]
"Wha-" Lu manages to gasp as the assassin jumps into the air and cuts into the skull of the Dark Nephilim in a spiraling pattern with his different-looking Gunblades, Ciel growls and screams at the top of his lungs as the Nephilim shakes its head around in hopes of throwing the assassin off. The assassin quickly loses his balance and falls off the demon but immediately begins to run towards it again the moment he reached the ground.
'My body feels so…powerful. My heart is beating so fast and strongly in me, it feels like it will burst out of my chest at any second. It's like my entire body is moving on its own, dodging past this demon's attacks with ease. What is happening to me? Is this my power? Or is this the contract lending me a hand…? Well…either way, I've been blessed with this incredible power for now…so I'll use it to its full extent!' The assassin speaks to himself in his mind, he rolls swiftly to the right as the Dark Nephilim fires another purple laser out of its mouth. Ciel catches Draco as he falls to the ground and tosses him back up in the air again before leaping onto the head of the demon as well.
"What the hell? How did you just throw me?!" Draco questions with his mouth wide open as they both land on the Nephilim, Ciel ignores the boy's confused question and starts to dig into the beast's head with his Gunblades.
"No time for questions, Draco! Cut into its head with everything you've got, I'll land back down and take out its legs!" The assassin roars loudly to the fighter as he grabs his Gunblades again and jumps off the demon's head, he reaches the ground and darts towards the beast's massive leg. Draco stares blankly for a few seconds before shrugging his shoulders and raising Veryx.
"I seriously hope you know what you're doing, graaaah!" He shrieks as he slices through the skin at the area of the head where the Dark Nephilim's eyes should be, Lu brushes off the dust on her blue, majestic dress and smiles as Ciel begins to slash at the beast's feet.
"You're just full of surprises, aren't you? I've never seen you move like that! You weren't kidding when you said you were going to catch up with me, huhuhuhu!"
The assassin raises his Gunblades and immediately begins attacking the Nephilim's legs as he slides across the floor, attempting to not get squashed like a bug by its large feet. He spins a frantic spiral and hacks at the four feet in front of him like a violent tornado, a cry of pain bursts out of his mouth as the Nephilim kicks him away with one of the feet Ciel didn't have enough time to hit. He rolls along the rough, bumpy ground and stops himself by digging the nails of his right hand directly into the solid earth beneath him, the stinging of the bleeding deep in his fingertips fade almost instantly as the surging energy beating in the assassin's chest only gets stronger.
"I…I have to go faster…Dancing Blade!" Ciel whispers to himself quietly as he runs right back to the Nephilim's legs and becomes a complete blur to Lu's watching eyes, several deep cuts appear on the beast's feet in a flash. The Dark Nephilim hisses and shrieks as the agony between the cuts on its legs and the constant slicing by Draco's scythe on its head, it opens its massive mouth and roars as loudly as it can, the force of the roar causes the buildings around to crumble and break while Draco and Lu are thrown backwards. "This is our chance! Lu, quickly…we'll fire everything we have into its mouth!"
"Ha! That can work, we'll just blow up its insides!" Lu giggles excitedly as she gets up before the tired and injured Draco does and flies elegantly behind the sprinting servant, she holds up both of her hands and puts on her familiar, smug grin. Ciel opens his own mouth and breathes in all the air his lungs can possibly handle and focuses on the swelling-up energy within him as he points his Gunblades and fires at the same his master does.
"Eschaton!" The Duo scream in a rushed sync as they blast a large, blue arrow of energy from the Underworld and watch it propel into the open beast's mouth, the Dark Nephilim closes its mouth right after the blast enters its body and roars one final time before its body slowly begins to expand like a balloon being filled with too much water. Ciel's eyes widen as he quickly sheathes his Gunblades and catches Lu as she falls elegantly into his arms.
"That Nephilim is going to explode, we need to get out of her…now." He warns his master with a firm, unemotional face as he folds his master embarrassingly in one arm and runs towards the fallen Draco and picks it up with another.
A massive explosion expands furiously behind them as Ciel runs as fast as he can with his allies in his arms, he has a quick glance at the master in his left arm and chuckles as her face was absolutely terrified by the blast happened directly behind them, the assassin makes a sharp turn to the right and hides behind a building that is intact and closes his eyes as the last of the explosion erupts from behind the corner. The dust eventually and gradually settles, causing Ciel to stop holding his breath and slump weakly against the wall he was hiding behind. He looks back down at his arms, Draco had completely passed out, and Lu was glaring daggers at him, Ciel immediately loses his relaxed smile as his eyes meet hers.
"Let. Me. Down." Lu hisses in a harsh tone as a command to the assassin, Ciel slowly nods his head and lets go of his master. She quickly starts wiping the dirt and dust off of her exquisite and divine dress, she straightens her crown and feels her hair with both of her hands. "Look at just what you've done! My dress and hair is all a complete mess now, all thanks to your recklessness, Ciel! Next time…warn me before doing something as crazy as that…got it?!"
Ciel opens his mouth to whimper and protest to his master as her angry expression doesn't fade, but he fails to form a sentence of apology. He simply lowers his head, chuckles and shakes his head as he places his left hand softly on his own chest. His heartbeat had never reach this kind of speed in his life, a triumphant grin spreads along his face as he closes his eyes and sighs happily.
"I feel so different,"
"…You also look a lot different too, dummy. Your hair…clothes…even your height…geez, and I thought I had changed the most out of all of us!"
"What is your opinion on it? Do you think you'll ever get used to this…new me?" Ciel mutters worriedly to himself as he brushes through his white hair with his other hand, Lu loses her frustrated look and slowly wanders towards the slightly-anxious assassin. She places her hand her small hand onto his chest and looks directly into his eyes with her smug smile, Ciel immediately begins to blush heavily as the eye contact made his heart beat even faster, if that was even possible.
"Don't worry about something as trivial as that. You're the silly, helpful and sweet Ciel I depend on…no matter what you look like~!"
"This is highly irritating…" Add complains in an angry huff as he snaps his fingers to command the Nasod Dynamos to hover obediently behind him, Eve twirls Moby in her left hand and gives the boy a blank stare.
"We have been wandering for an estimated time of ten minutes, surely the Dynamos have figured out our location." She responds as she strides majestically beside him, Add cracks his knuckles slowly and shakes his head.
"The pieces of empty scrap haven't been able to give me any kind of clear answer, the scan conducted on our environment is somewhere in the junkyards of Altera…but it says that something is off about fabric of space around us. Just what the hell does that even mean, anyway?!"
"That masked man told us something about a trial before we appeared here, perhaps we just need to wait and see what it is he wants from us."
Add sighs and scratches the back of his head boredly as he kicks a couple of pebbles next to him and rests himself on a seat formed by the Nasod Dyanmos, Eve flicks her wrist to command Moby and Remy to expand before sitting on them as well. Eve stares quietly at the ground as Add places his hand on his forehead as though in deep thought. Her soft, gentle, yellow eyes meet his piercing, crazed and purple ones as they secretly glance at each other.
They both widen their eyes the moment their eyes meet each other's and quickly their head the other way. Eve holds Remy kindly in her left hand and begins to stroke it while Add plays with his skinny thumbs and sighs again, he raises his head again and eventually observes the broken-down Nasods lying on the ground around them. Eve notices where Add's attention is and looks at the destroyed Nasods as well.
"Just what in El's name happened here, huh? I know that after the war between humans and the Nasods, the Nasods went extinct or were ripped apart for their advanced technology…I didn't know they had their own cemetery here."
"Why don't you get to work and rip the corpses apart yourself...? You're obviously interested in researching and exploiting us, so what's stopping you from beginning your 'experiments' right now?" Eve mutters in a harsh hiss as she doesn't take her eyes off of the dead Nasods around her. She had tried her absolute best to not show sadness or weakness in front of Add when she first spotted her race scattered like rubbish across the land, but his words had finally broken through her. She glares back at Add as large tears start to gather in her eyes, Add stares at the crying Nasod while completely dumbfounded.
"W-what are…what are you doing…?"
"Nothing, my emotional circuits seemed to have temporally malfunctioned. I have it under control now," Eve whispers weakly as she immediately rubs her eyes with her fragile-looking hands, Moby and Remy rush quickly to her side and hug their Queen worriedly. Add watches the situation silently, his right hand begins to shake and shiver strangely.
"You can't just pretend like that didn't happen, you just c-cried." He speaks back with utter shock spread across his face, Eve instantly felt another rush of emotions rush through her as she observes the boy's surprised expression. She hadn't expected that kind of expression to be on him, his crazed smile was on his face at almost all times. She finally finishes wiping away whatever tears were left on her cheeks, she stares at the boy with her concerned glare.
"What is wrong, Add? You honestly look like you've seen something terrifying."
Add shakes his head quickly and wipes the surprised expression off of his face almost immediately, he puts on his regular grin and cackles instead.
"Nah, it's nothing too important. It's just that I didn't expect a Nasod to even be capable of crying, this is most intriguing. Some Nasods can almost replicate humanly emotion perfectly, I'll have to write that down somewhere soon." Add laughs maniacally to the Nasod Queen as he turns his head and stares at the standing piece of metal next to where he was sitting, he raises his left eyebrow and stares at the piece of machinery with interest. "Hmm, this scrap metal seems to have a button on it…"
"Oh? You are correct, that is a button. Why does it interest you?"
"Why?! Just look at it, Eve! It's a big, red button just sitting there. Doesn't it catch your eye?"
"No, it does not. Do not touch it."
"Oh, Eve…you truly do make some silly mistakes sometimes, you know that?"
"Why do you say that?"
"It's something called a phenomenon in a human's mentality, when you tell someone to not do something…they get this powerful urge to do it…and with such big button just sitting there…I want to touch it."
"Add, I am being very serious with you. We should be very wary, especially at a moment like this. Do not touch that button."
"Oh, come on! Can we really go the rest of our lives not knowing what the button does?"
"Don't do it,"
"I think I'm going to do it," He giggles excitedly like a little child as he slowly moves his index finger towards the button resting on the large piece of metal, Eve quickly steps forward and extends her arm out.
"Don't-!"
Add cackles happily as his finger presses the red button before the Nasod Queen could stop him, he howls with laughter as Eve folds her arms and glares furiously at him. He shakes his hands at her reassuringly as his smug simply does not fade.
"See? It was just a harmless, little button that sparked my curiosity. Did you see yourself? You seriously thought that-" Add continues to laugh jokingly to the Nasod, the movement of something around them immediately causing Add to shut up. Green, slime-like substances covering the motionless Nasods slowly begin to slide around and dig its way into the centre of the broken Nasods, the robots gradually struggle onto their feet, which had fallen terribly into disrepair.
Add's mouth slowly drops as the Nasods carefully begin to come back to life in front of their own eyes, Eve places her hand quietly over her mouth and she senses Moby and Remy shiver cowardly behind her. The Nasod Queen's horrified expression quickly replaces itself with an annoyed glare, directed straightly at Add.
"If we are to make it through this, I'm going to slap you so hard…you'll be decapitated from the sheer force of it.
"Kekekeke! Oh dear, it looks like you've set off the trial I planned for you by yourselves! Well, good luck! Try not to die too quickly, will you?" The masked man's voice echoes through the skies with no sign of him anywhere.
Add watches the mindless, reborn Nasods slowly close in on them and grins stupidly as he lowers his head.
"Well…shit."
