Unbeknownst to anyone…
Back at the spot where the cave had once been, the very same cave which the Party had fought (and lost, terribly at that) Urizen, things had been quiet. They'd been that way for a long time actually, ever since the kids had left to go finish off yet another national disaster of demonic making. However, that would soon come to an end in the following seconds when, out of nowhere, the sound of something flying overhead could be heard, it being comparable to a high pitched whining sound similar to the engines of Jets that humans have developed. This sound lowered its intensity after a couple seconds, suggesting that whatever was making the sound had begun slowing down for a time… before a loud roar erupted forth.
"GrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAR!"
A roar… containing thick sadness, the hollowing sense of loss, and then overwhelming fury.
Initially, the roar had been low and hollow, like the life of the user had been lost with the sights that it had seen… but then, after a few moments the roar grew in intensity, building itself up like a balloon about to pop. When the balloon eventually DID 'pop', the rage erupted forth and pretty much dominated the entire atmosphere.
Whatever had made that roar…
At first, it sounded like it had been sad, almost as if being about to lose itself in a gaping black void known as despair. However, that hadn't lasted long as it had gradually shifted it's despair into a hateful, violent to downright chaotic fury which echoed throughout the heavens. The owner of the roar, remaining unseen still, then seemed to burst into motion judging by the sonic boom that erupted forth, pretty much OBLITERATING the clouds that had been hiding it's form from view as it broke off into a mad dash with speeds so great that it's form still remained obscured by the clouds that had been too far from the initial blast radius to be affected.
It's destination?
Uminori.
Meanwhile, within Uminori...
"This tree… it can truly cause this much damage?"
"It's like what Vali said before, Medusa. Apparently, this damn tree comes from the original Satan itself which both the Biblical God AND the original Satans had to team up to take down." Xun Er explained to the still slightly disbelieving Medusa as they stared out the destruction their topic of discussion had caused, once Vali, Xun Er, Nanoha and Siegfried had been humiliatingly defeated, then knocked unconscious by Urizen.
Seeing everything going to absolute shit around her, especially with the ambience of Demonic Power she could feel coming from the Tree itself as well as from the monster within, Medusa remained stunned at the damage that it caused. "Shit… holy hell…" she muttered under her breath as she struggled to take in the sights.
An action which Xun Er remembered as being her reaction too, but she quickly shook her friend out of it by grabbing her shoulder hard enough to get her attention. "Come on Medusa, no time to be distracted, we need to find the root fast." she told her, before proceeding to head on off to find a Qlippoth Root herself. Since they were the places where Blood was being gathered by these demonic creatures tied to the Tree, then they needed to get a move on and destroy those Roots so that it couldn't use them for whatever purpose that Urizen intended it's use for.
Something which Medusa understood judging by her knowing nod as she responded with the following. "Indeed Xun Er." After closing her eyes and lightly slapping her cheeks with her hands, the red haired girl quickly rejoined her childhood friend, keeping pace with her whilst they walked side by side.
They then squatted down before they jumped onto a toppled building roof, one which likely had fallen due to it's supports being destroyed by the Qlippoth Tree's tendrils leaving only it's roof remaining. Parts of Xun Er hoped that the residents within had managed to escape and had gotten teleported by the Shinto Gods according to Suzuka...
Which was the ONLY thing she could do for them aside from ending this catastrophe now.
Whilst they went through the building roof, they eventually came towards a ledge where they looked out to see where they should go next. It didn't take them long to notice what looked like a Qlippoth Root, before they noticed yet another one much closer to them. One which was located to their left.
Xun Er looked between them in thought, cupping her chin in a similar manner. "We could first go to that one or….. We could go for the closest one." she mused to herself, humming as she pondered on which course of action to take.
Medusa however, didn't even think about it for even a second, shrugging her shoulders. "This princess says we should go for the closer one." she stated, not seeing why this had to be decided on.
However, that wasn't what Xun Er focused on as she turned her head in her friend's direction, an eyebrow arched. "Still have that attitude do you Medusa?" she mused with a slight upturning on the corner of her lips.
One which elected a proud huff from Medusa as she puffed her chest out in pride, a matching smirk on her lips whilst her hands rested on her hips. "It displays my status Xun Er, so it's a staple for me." she proclaimed, before she dropped her hands to her side as she looked on over to Xun Er, switching to a more curious expression. "Though, this princess does admit to noticing something: you have changed a lot since you left your home." she stated.
'Oh, isn't THAT the truth…?' The said half-egyptian girl commented in her mind, hiding the urge to grimace whilst she looked off to the side, memories of the Jewel Seeds Incident filling her mind. "I… experienced something that cost me my arm when I had my old attitude." she muttered just loud enough for Medusa to hear, though she had to listen a little harder to hear it.
Though, regardless, the mention of her arm caused the red haired girl to look at her arms in curious wonder, as well as a little concern and confusion about the meaning she had been trying to get across. "Wait, your arm… what happened to it, Xun Er?" she asked her, worriedly.
"... I'll tell you later right, now let's go and destroy the root."
The lack of an answer from her friend did little to ease the girl's worries though, whilst a frown etched itself onto her face. It didn't look like Xun Er would be talking about it any time soon, which worried her as well since usually they could talk to each other about almost anything these days. Still, if she didn't want to talk about it right now, then she'd not try to dig for info for the time being, but Medusa wouldn't give up on knowing THIS titbit of information, since Xun Er had been the sole friend she'd had growing up. She had been essentially like a sister to her. "... If you say so, Xun Er."
With this conversation over, the two girls continued their journey once more as they saw the root's vine going through the city, the root being filled with thick blood which sickened the girls to their cores, though they had to ignore it for the time being in favor of getting this task done. Along the way, the two had sometimes been stopped by some enemies spawned by the closest vine which would block their way, leading to the girls beating the ever living daylights out of them.
Eventually, they found where the Root had been headed towards: what looked like some kind of chapel with the root behind it with there being a big underground entrance. Seeing it, Xun Er pointed down towards it and made the following declaration. "We could go through that entrance there."
Though, it wasn't too surprising for Medusa to not be too happy about the idea, several chills of disgust going down her spine as she gripped her elbows tightly. "Ugh sewers Xun Er, really?" she questioned reluctantly, grimacing as well.
Turning to her friend fast enough that her hair swished about, Xun Er narrowed her eyes at her. "Well, we could go there or be swarmed by those disgusting beasts that are on our way 24/7."
"...(SIGH) fine but if this princess gets a stain on her hair or my clothes, you're paying Xun Er."
"Does it look like any shops are opened?"
"... fair point."
With that, both girls took a few steps back, before proceeding to run forwards to get a good running start until they reached the ledge of the roof they had been on. Once there, the two of them yelled out as they jumped through the air and into the underground entrance, landing like knights kneeling before their charges before getting to their feet. Whilst doing so, they looked around at their surroundings to see a lot of roots going through the underground sewers via it's walls… though eventually, their gazes landed on a giant slab of root which was red in color.
"Ugh, this tree is truly barbaric..." Medusa mumbled, clutching her nose with her right hand because of the putrid smell. What, any girl in her position would find this equally abhorrent! "How could such a thing exist?"
Xun Er shook her head in response. From what she had heard from Albion, this seemed like something which had Devil stuff originating all over it, so pretty much anything could go with them if the stories about them that her mother had told her were of any indication. "Who knows Medusa, maybe the world is not a kind place no matter where you go."
"...Sometimes I wish that we didn't have to live in this kind of world."
Oh, she could so agree with those kinds of words Medusa had said, but sadly this was the life that they were forced to live in. Nothing 'normal' could have ever lasted here, no matter how hard they tried to protect it, therefore they just had to do their best regardless. Once they reached the red Root, Xun Er brought out her crimson Katana Murasama, promptly slashing at it before it exploded with blood before it deflated.
Unfortunately, some of it got on the girl due to the amount it had and the immense pressure within causing it to erupt like an explosion. An instance which a certain someone did NOT appreciate. "Pfta! Oh great this princess has tasted blood!" Medusa cried out, infuriated.
Though not as verbal as her fellow princess, Xun Er's brow twitched in irritation as well, her outfit more drenched with blood than Medusa's thanks to her being closer to the root upon its eruption. "You're not the only one Medusa." she muttered through gnashed teeth, a new reason to rip Urizen apart forming in her mind.
This outfit had been goddamn expensive, alright?!
Whilst the two girls complained like any girls their ages would when their clothes got ruined, they went through the tunnel. As they exited out of the tunnel however, trouble came to them when a blood barrier was formed by the way forwards, blocking their progress whilst enemies started to spawn out around the girls.
Seeing them, Xun Er and Medusa each readied their stances, with Medusa stepping forwards. "You hang back for this one, Xun Er, This Princess will make sure to blast these fuckers to kingdom come." she proclaimed, throwing her hand to the side and allowing a thick, green fog to burst out of her hand's palm. That fog soon expanded, contorted and shaped itself until it took on a more physical, solid form, resulting in a large, black and dark green Crossbow-like weapon landing in her grasp, Medusa holding it similar to a soldier would his or her rifle.
Xun Er would have responded to that, however Medusa had already jumped into the fray, firing a volley of arrows upon the enemies before them which consisted of about 4 Empousa Ants, 5 bat-like flying creatures which they had discovered through experience were able to fire various fiery beams from their mouths in a curving-like manner, and 2 large brutish enemies with two sick green cleavers each. Each Arrow had been shaped like a black harpoon, with each of them stabbing into the Empousa by their legs first, stopping them from moving.
The flying creatures managed to avoid them however, whilst the brutish ones burst forwards, ignoring the arrows with the intention of slicing Medusa in half. However, the red haired girl quickly flipped on over them, shooting multiple arrows into their backs and landing behind them, already peppering them with more Arrows. She then sensed several sources of building bloodlust behind her, so Medusa rolled out of the way to avoid several fiery beams launched by 3 of the flying creatures… whilst the other two fired a couple fireballs at her.
To counter them, Medusa got herself into a handstand and pushed upwards, launching herself into the air and above the attacks. As she heard the fireballs erupting on the space below her, Medusa quickly righted herself and aimed her Crossbow at one of them shooting multiple arrows which landed inside it's eye sockets, causing the creature to shriek in agony at the loss of its sight. Though this soon became the least of it's worries when a final arrow pierced through its mouth and into its brain, ending it's life as it fell to the ground, disintegrating into nothingness.
'Medusa's Crossbow… so, she still uses it to this day…' Xun Er thought as she watched the process happen, still keeping her guard up though in case one of the enemies broke from fighting her and focused on herself instead. 'The Yew Bow… said to be the Crossbow used by the original Robin Hood during his day. Not sure how, but at some time it fell into the hands of Medusa's family and has become their family Heirloom, resulting in her coming from a long line of Crossbow users even though the Naga's usually specialize in spear-based combat with their Tridents to the point where its considered a cliche attached to them… Able to magically create its own normal arrows, it allows a near inexhaustible supply of them, though as a tradeoff they're not so powerful on their own. But, in the hands of MEDUSA however…'
One of the brutish cleaver-wielding creatures rushed at Medusa from behind, intending to slice her head off through a wide swing towards the back of her neck. However, Medusa didn't even look in it's direction,, simply allowed a greenish fog to erupt from her arm which then sunk into the Crossbow, resulting in the Arrows it generated turning a dark greenish colour with a similar aura around them. She then pointed it over her right shoulder, and shot the damn thing from that angle with each arrow impaling it in the head and chest.
Now, normally these Arrows wouldn't have even staggered it, but thanks to Medusa's actions not only did they seem to have more of an 'impact' to them, but the creature hissed and grunted in what seemed like pain as it stumbled about like a drunkard who had had WAY too much to drink.
This, coupled with how Medusa smirked as she clicked her fingers, caused the Arrows still embedded within the creature to 'pulse'... which then got followed by the whole thing suddenly exploding in a burst of green energy, leaving behind a large gas cloud which Medusa chuckled at, before she created and unloaded another burst of Arrows into the remaining flying creatures, knocking them all down.
'...Yeah, it's got some abilities. It has the primary function of detonating the 'impurities' such as poison within it's target, something which Medusa uses in combination with her 'Poison' energy, a special trait unique to her. Her energy is capable of creating toxins, poisons and stuff like that, which makes healing arts impossible for her… Though she CAN inject any kind of poison she wishes into her enemies instead. She's pretty much a nightmare for doctors, since her toxin creation powers are so deadly… even MORE interesting, is that it's a trait she was born with, and NOT from any kind of Sacred Gear. Not even she knows why her body's like this, according to Medusa…' Xun Er thought, sweat dropping as more enemies began to spawn in order to reinforce their brethren, though Medusa simply made a 'come' gesture whilst yelling for them to just come at her.
Thus, the fight continued…
Until moments later, when she finally killed them all.
"Hmph they don't even proven a match against this princess."
"Maybe, lets go."
With that out of the way, both Medusa and Xun Er ran across the sewers before they saw another blood clot… to which Xun Er spoke a single word. "Medusa."
The intent was clear, and little needed to be said in response. "On it."
She fired her crossbow at it, causing it to explode… though luckily this time, neither of them were close to it as it decayed, leaving them free of it's bloody contents. Even so however, a root remained there, blocking their path as they then ran to another room and found another blood clot. Knowing what to do about that, Medusa shot it to make it explode, several rumbling sounds leading them to head back to the previous blocking root to see it gone, leaving a path for them to go further.
Something however, began to make itself clear for the red haired girl, whose slitted eyes narrowed into a dark gaze as her dark thoughts got released through her mouth. "These roots are almost sentient Xun Er, it's almost as if they want to destroy everything." she mused, her frown turning into a downright scowl at the possibility.
Well, Xun Er had a good idea as to why that was, her eyes dark as she spoke grimly. "Satan was a definition of evil, an incarnation of chaos or destruction Medusa, my mother told me stories that Satan wanted to spread chaos and destruction to the world and he won't stop there. It's a good thing that the biblical god killed him or else…. I don't want to think about it, it brings me the chills to even think about it." She honestly could only imagine what it was like to face that thing in combat, looking into its eyes which would be filled with nothing but malicious and twisted intent whilst showing a nature which caused NOTHING but destruction.
Medusa nodded, knowing what she had been thinking about when she looked into her eyes. " Agree with you there, Xun Er." Briefly, she pursed her lips at the thought of what it must have been like to face such an abomination. She hoped to never have to do it herself, either. "I don't want to think about it either."
"Agreed."
Eventually, they entered a room, one with lots of stairs that they climbed. One time, both girls had to jump through a missing piece of stone along the stairs, one which looked like it had been destroyed artificially and lay on the ground below in splattered chunks. A while later, they saw a hole entering the building, to which they passed through which led them into a large, library-like place. The place had books, empty displays and the like, but what caught their attention the most was the painting that suddenly began to swirl inwards, almost becoming a vortex made from ink or something before a mask appeared in it's centre. It's appearance confused the heck out of them, before their eyes widened in shock and slight fright when it suddenly shot forwards towards them, the ink forming its body which looked like a damn inky cloak with two long, white bony skeleton arms… arms which carried a large pair of scissors that it used to try and snip their heads off.
"Shit!"
"Holy fuck!"
Each girl made their own startled exclamations as they ducked underneath the swing, when it attempted to cleave them. It was then they got a clear view of the creature. its body seems to consist only of robes filled with dark, almost ethereal energy, it has a giant pair of rusted scissors. It floats there before it goes to them before going to a wall as it blends to it.
"What the heck WAS that thing!?"
"Not sure! Never seen anything like that in our previous battles! Well whatever it is, looks like it's like everything else spawned from that abominable tree, wanting our heads that is! Be prepared Medusa!"
"This princess understands that, no need to tell her twice!"
After narrowly escaping what could have possibly been their execution similar to the guillotine in the middle ages, Medusa and Xun Er walked to the next room, one which looked to be the main part of a library before the creature appeared atop one of the many shelves, floating there.
"Oh I see, it wants us to follow it? Hah you have another thing coming, bitch."
"This princess only sees a sludge that should be contained."
As it goes to them attempting to cleave them they both get away as Xun Er brought her sword out and slashed it as it attempted to block before losing one of its blades. The murmase that Xun Er has the ability to almost cleave anything as she discovered it when in training. In panic it tried to slash Xun Er as she dodged it before it attempted to escape as Xun Er used her spectral arm which caught Medusa in surprise to see her arm. The demon tried to get out of the spectral arm before Xun Er clenched her hand as it did the same, crushing the demon easily. Medusa yelled.
"XUN ER WATCH OUT!"
Xun Er flipped her body in reaction to seeing another one of the same inky/ghostly scissors wielding creature try to cleave her in half before it went to the wall as she landed. "That was a close one thanks Medusa."
"These bastard attempts harm this princess's friend? I will show it no mercy."
As it got out of the wall on the top of the floor Medusa saw it before shooting at it. Her arrowstruck the demon as it shrugged it off as it began to go to Medusa before it crashed to the floor. It looked like it scrambled, wiggling in intense as if there was a seizure before it began to rot in green color. With a huff, Medusa clicked her fingers, activating the Bow's special function which resulted in it exploding completely. "Like I said, you will be shown no mercy."
"Impressive Medusa, it seems you've been improving a lot."
"Hah, you think this princess will be a weak girl and be taken advantage of, well you have another thing coming Xun Er."
"Maybe, lets go."
Xun Er and Medusa put away their weapons as they jumped through some missing stairs before running through the hall and climbed an undamaged stair before in front of them was a massive root, which means this must be the main root.
"... Nervous Medusa?"
"... a little but it's nothing this princess can handle Xun Er."
"Alright let's do this."
They entered the room as they saw the main Root that destroyed what it looks like a large, circular library. Whilst the two girls strolled inside, they reached the centre of it before they suddenly sensed something behind them. As a result, they turned around and saw something up in the air, descending down towards them in a slow manner reminiscent of an angel coming down from the heavens… although, both girls IMMEDIATELY understood that this thing had been NO angel.
"Looks like the final boss is here…"
Upon hearing her say that, Xun Er glanced at her friend with a brow arched in confusion. "Final boss?"
Medusa nodded in response. "Yeah, this whole thing reminds this princess of a videogame for some reason. This seems like the last guy we have to beat before the whole Root thing goes boom, if you ask me anyways." she explained.
Though, this prompted Xun Er to facepalm and shake her head. "You play WAY too many video games…" she muttered under her breath as she took in the enemy's appearance. It looked to have taken the form of an angelic looking demon with scaly skin, its body akin to that of a mermaid with a humanoid upper body and a piscine lower half. Instead of human arms, it instead had six wing-like limbs that each had a series of glowing purple lights on them. Two wings were held over its head, two being stretched out to the side and the last two covered its body. The lower half of its head eerily resembled a woman's, but the upper half looked to be composed of several clawed appendages that clench together to resemble a bandaged cranium.
Her eyes narrowed at this. "Reminds me when I fought against strays who had similarly grotesque transformations…" She mused.
As if it heard her though, the beast quickly went on an offensive towards them, flinging its wings downwards into an upside down V-like formation. Following this, several bright lasers shot out from the lights on those wings which then came down on top of the two girls, who then proceeded to flip back to avoid them.
Once they stopped moving, Medusa summoned her Crossbow and aimed at the enemy, launching a single Arrow at it's mouth with the intent to spear it… nah, she seemed like a better word, though Medusa DID wonder why there seemed to almost be like some kind of singing akin to the call of a Siren when it launched those lasers. Nonetheless though, these thoughts vanished when the Demon managed to avoid her attack, prompting Medusa to try and do it again but to no effect. This Demon moved through the air like a fish in the ocean, using its wings as if they were fins to accelerate at extreme speeds. Then, after the third time it fired another laser barrage, this tile aiming it at the ground which, to their surprise, caused the lasers to reflect across it towards the girls.
Quickly, the two jumped to the opposite sides, with Medusa pretty much vaulting across multiple pillars to which she had to do so she could dodge multiple missiles launched from the Demon's chest. Each one detonated on impact, leaving a pinkish colored explosion in their wake, and when Medusa flung herself towards the ground near her companion, one last missile posed a problem. Therefore, in mid air she twisted herself around and kicked it to the side, knocking it into a seat of sorts before landing beside Xun Er, hearing the telltale sign of the missile exploding. "You alright there, Medusa?" her friend asked her.
This prompted a chuckle out of Medusa as she looked up at the Demon. "Yeah, I'm good. Also, this one doesn't look like she's in for any chit-chat or monologuing, just wants to get straight to the point." she mused, pointing her Crossbow at it whilst Xun Er drew her Murasama and got into her battle stance.
On the Demon's side, her 'head' proceeded to 'unravel' its clawed appendages, each one wriggling and writhing like they were actual hands whilst it opened its mouth to show how it had nothing but large fangs inside. A low hiss escaped its mouth, mixing in with the hissing she did.
Deciding it would be best for her to go first this time, Xun Er charged forwards with the intent to cut the Demon down to size, flipping over a bunch of Lasers launched at her before planting both feet onto the ground and applying energy to them, leaping up towards it. The Demon however, used some of its wings to block her strike, to her surprise as Murasama's blade cursed with electricity, sparks flying off from it and going into multiple different directions. '?! Looks like this thing's skin is quite tough…' she thought to herself, planting both feet onto the wing blocking her blade and flipping off it.
This resulted in Medusa getting the all clear to fire her own Arrows, ones which she'd coated with her own energy. However, instead of blocking like she had thought that it would have done, the Demon moved out of the way, strafing through the air before it fired more lasers from above, forcing the Girls to roll around to dodge them. Following up with this attack, the creature's body erupted forth at multiple points, spawning what looked to be similar projectiles to the ones which had been launched at Medusa earlier…
But this time, their target had been her friend Xun Er.
This became proven true when the Missiles shot towards her position, so Xun Er quickly got into her battle stance whilst holding the blade by it's hilt in both hands. As the Missiles came down at her…
…
…
…
...SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!
In an instant, Xun Er's arms erupted with motion, hacking away at each missile as they came without wasting any time whatsoever. Once one was slashed, she would immediately locate the next closest one, angle her blade correctly, then do it again. She wasn't even using anything like the Zandatsu trick which Vali could use, she just naturally swung at a fast enough speed without using any empowerment… simply put, her own raw skill with a blade was what she had applied to slice through those missiles, each of their destroyed pieces collapsing into small heaps behind her which then disintegrated into nothingness.
Whilst it observed this, the Demon bombarded the girls with it's lasers for a while, causing them to quickly begin dodging them like hell by hopping all over the place like a pair of bunny rabbits trying to avoid the big bad wolf… or shark, possibly, in this case. A while later however, the Demon seemingly got sick of missing the Girls and instead launched… two 'drone' like pods… from her Breasts. They had literally split open to do so, and the sight made both girls LITERALLY shudder in dread whilst covering their torsos with their arms.
"Okay, that's just creepy!"
"Girl! Don't you, like, need those?!"
Medusa and Xun Er cried out, though this turned into something that the Demon could exploit by launching the Drones at them, the Drones being admittingly... agile in their movements, all while they kept firing lasers at them. "Okay, looks like she doesn't!" Medusa exclaimed, lifting up her Crossbow and firing multiple Arrows at the damn things, only for each of them to move out of the way.
Whilst being distracted by the Drones, Xun Er noticed that there wasn't any sign of their mistress, causing her to look around in confusion. "Huh? Where the heck is…?" She wondered… before sensing what she could only describe as a spiralling inward gathering of energy akin to a whirlook. Looking upwards with her mouth in an 'O' position, Xun Er's eyes got to see the Demon floating high above them, looking like it was preparing some kind of big attack which caused her to pale slightly. From the energy she could sense being built up right now, Xun Er believed that this entire building could very well be swallowed by the ensuing explosion that'd likely happen. "Oh, shit! She's going to blow this place sky high!" She shouted, glancing over at her friend. "Medusa, can you do something about these Drones?!"
"Uhhhh… I think so, but you'll have to target the Bitch up there!"
"Do what you can, then!"
With those words, Medusa nodded her head as she closed her eyes and hung the arm holding her Crossbow by her side, becoming completely still whilst trying to concentrate. The Drones, seemingly acting on their own wills, quickly capitalized on this supposed 'opportunity', circling around her and charging up more lasers.
Though, just before they could fire or anything…
Her eyes shot open.
FLASH!
In an instant, a green glow overtook her eyes, enhancing the slitted nature of her pupils to the point where they truly represented those of a serpent. A second or two after this happened, the Drones instantly froze in place, as if their ability to move had been stripped from them… something which became the truth to those who could have seen them in this state when their bodies slowly began turning to stone, starting from their 'tips' to the top of their 'heads'. 'My 'Sekka No Me', the eye of Petrification… part of the royal Naga Bloodline that I got from my mom, the Queen. Similar to the legends of the Gorgon Medusa, this is an eye ability like those in that Naruto anime where anything that I look at, I can petrify for about 10 seconds… Guh!' All of a sudden, a sharp pain erupted inside her head like it was struck by a spike or something, causing her to cringe and hold the side of her head whilst falling onto one knee. 'The… The pain…! It's the backlash of using this Ocular Ability, the more Targets I petrify, the greater the Backlash…! Using it on too many targets is said to even kill those of the Royal Naga line…! Still, at least this brought Xun Er some time…!'
Whilst Medusa took care of the Drones, Xun Er quickly began running up one of the Libraries' pillars, jumping along them to get a good jumping spot to try and close the distance between her and the Demon. Said Demon noticed her approaching and, with another one of her wails (something which she found REALLY annoying real fast, though compared to her Vali would have gotten irritated WAY faster), fired a bunch more missiles in her direction, intending to stop her from completing her objective.
However, Xun Er snarmed as she held her arm to the side, her other one still holding her Murasama. In that moment, her other arm quickly morphed itself in a flash of crackling silver energy, becoming the demonic arm known as her Devil Bringer. Just as the Missiles made to hit her whilst she jumped, Xun Er held her demonic arm in front of her, summoning it's Spectral Arm which used it's forearm to block the Missiles, letting them detonate harmlessly instead of hitting their target. Seeing this, a small grin formed on her lips at the sight, before she quickly jumped towards her opponent with a loud war cry escaping her lips. "Hraaaaaaah!" she bellowed.
It didn't take her long to close the distance, and when she did Xun Er saw it try to bring it's Wings up to defend itself with… only for her to snarl. "Oh no you don't!" she bellowed again, reaching forwards and using the Spectral arm to grab the Demon by the head, all before she let gravity take control over her and start their descent to the ground below. However, Xun Er held her opponent out in front of her first, so that when they hit the ground which they did during the following seconds, the Demon's body got used to cushion her fall, a pained wail escaping it's mouth which was drowned out thanks to Xun Er's Spectral Arm.
"This is the end, bitch…!"
Xun Er declared this, intending to crush the enemy's head in her Spectral Arm to be done with this already…
"Ah, Xun Er, look out!"
"?!"
However, before she could her eyes widened when she heard the startled yells from her friend, prompting her to glance at her back where she saw the Drones already coming back with their lasers almost charged. 'What?! Its been 10 seconds already?!' The girl proclaimed, cursing as she quickly made moves against them…
"Not the reunion I was anticipating...:"
SLICE-SLICE!
Only for a Scythe to suddenly come in, spinning like a wheel before cutting through the two Drones like they were nothing but paper mache. Xun Er gaped, as well as her crimson haired friend, at the sight before she looked at the Scythe more closely… and soon enough, she recognized it for it's futuristic-looking design as well as the fact that it had a blade made of familiar golden energy. 'That's… Bardiche! But that means-!'
A surge of glee shot through her when she looked to where the Scythe had come from, and true to her internal predictions, a certain blonde-haired, twin tailed Magical Girl descended downwards from a hole in the Library, her cape fluttering behind her as she did so. She looked to be just as tall as her friend Nanoha, but there was just no mistaking who this girl was, prompting Xun Er to beam happily. "Hey there, Fate! It's good to see you!" she proclaimed, before remembering that she still had a Demon pinned beneath her. "Ju-Just hold on a sec, I wanna finish this bastard off."
Fate, after landing on the ground, nodded her head as she retrieved her Scythe, the Device known as Bardiche. With that done, Xun Er looked back down at the Demon which had been trying to move out of her Spectral Arm's grip, causing her to smirk darkly as some of her alternate self's sadistic glee began to seep into her. "Aww, look at you trying to move… alright then, let me grant you what you wish…"
SQUELCH!
"...Your wish to move into the afterlife, that is."
Now that she had crushed the creature within her Spectral Arm, Xun Er dismissed it to reveal the twisted, mangled mess that she had left her opponent in, before she noticed something about her Devil Bringer. "Huh?" She looked down at it, literal question marks over her head as she saw it glowing like it were a living heart, before she wondered if it had anything to do with the Demon before her. Thus, she decided to take a chance and held her Devil Bringer out as if it were trying to grab something… and in the following seconds 'something' small, bright and circular shot out of the creature;s rapidly disintegrating remains, going STRAIGHT inside the Devil Bringer by its palm. "Whoa…! Now THAT's a sensation I haven't felt before…"
Whilst this happened, Xun Er shuddered as she felt… something erupt through her which originated from her non-human appendage. To her shock, and slight discomfort, she saw how the limb seemed to… quiver, somewhat reminding her of the waves of the ocean, as if the Arm ENJOYED the meal which it had 'ate' since simply 'absorbing' whatever that was didn't seem all that right. Still, something about that moment caused the Devil Bringer to suddenly swell with power inside for a brief moment, before it quietened down afterwards… although, Xun Er wasn't fooled. She saw that no external changes had happened, but internally? Yeah, she could FEEL something different there…
Shaking her head, Xun Er decided not to focus on it for the time being, since she had other priorities in mind. She then turned on her heels and approached Fate, a big grin on her face whilst she wrapped her arms around her frame to hug her. "It's good to see you Fate."
Momentarily surprised by the gesture, Fate's eyes gradually softened at the familiar contact, it wasn't Nanoha or Vali but this person wasn't a stranger to her either. Thus, she had no qualms with hugging her back with an equal amount of happiness. "You too Xun Er…. though it seems I arrived at a bad time." she remarked, a bitter smile forming as she looked around, remembering the destruction which she had witnessed throughout the city of the first friend she had ever made in her life. If it weren't for the fact that she could still sense traces of Nanoha's energy (although there was… something different about it), she likely would have summoned her Sacred Gear and started hacking away at everything she saw as an enemy in vengeance.
Xun Er nodded, knowing all too well what the blonde girl was thinking as she and her separated from one another. "You did, so they decided to let you go?" she questioned, remembering their last time seeing one another being before her arrest by the TSAB. That had been an… exhausting time for everyone involved, even Vali although he would likely have died before admitting that he'd felt any kind of weakness.
She knew him well enough to know this to be the case, after all.
Meanwhile, Fate gave a confirming nod with a slight smile on her lips, holding her Bardiche diagonally in her two hands. "Yes, it took a while for them to process the information before the captain decided to adopt me." she explained, her smile becoming a bit brighter at the mention of that last little part. Being adopted by someone who wasn't her mother wasn't something which Fate had anticipated would have happened, but compared to how her 'birth' mother had treated her the Homunculus couldn't say she didn't appreciate it.
"That's good for you…" Just then, the happiness Xun Er felt for the return of her, Nanoha and Vali's old friend got put aside for the time being, replaced by curiosity and confusion as she tilted her head to match her emotional state. "But, I gotta ask: how did you even find this place? I'm sure the gods have placed a powerful illusion here..."
At this, Fate shook her head as she put Bardiche in her right hand, stabbing it's rear end into the ground beside her. "Did you forget our organization Xun Er? The higher ups decided to stay and research this world, considering the level of potential issues that it could cause to the galactic community. I am the only one who has the most experience regarding this world, so I was sent here as a sort of representative. Recently, the TSAB ship detected a massive dark energy on Earth which we discovered was threatening the world, not to mention the dimension so I volunteered to stop this. Thus, here I am."
"I see."
At that moment, the fact that the duo weren't alone in this place once again returned to them, or to be more specific the Demigoddess as Medusa walked up to them. Her eyes showed much confusion and a light amount of intensity, whilst she looked to have recovered from the use of her Family's Ocular Ability. "Xun Er what is this girl talking about? What have you been doing these past years, this princess wants to know."
Xun Er stayed silent as she knew they had to keep a secret to their graves because if anyone knows that the other dimensions exist….. It would be like what Vali said, war will consume everything and it would force even Great Red to act. Vali may be a battle maniac but even he knew the kind of damage it would cause to the whole world. Therefore, she decided to tell one more person, then that's it. "Medusa… I will tell you but first you must promise me that you will take this secret to your grave."
"What? What do you mean Xun Er?"
"Just promise me, Medusa."
"... Fine, I Medusa princess of the Naga race will take this secret to my grave now tell me already."
"Alright…. You see two years ago when my mother had sensed something that was not from this world…."
Back to Nanoha and Siegfried
After they recovered from their wounds, brought about by fighting that thing called Goliath, Nanoha and Siegfried walked through the halls before they looked back and saw that the debris was falling down, blocking the entrance if they wanted to go back. Not like the two kids cared as they continued their way. They saw some roots were decaying which means that Xun Er and Medusa had destroyed one of the main roots.
"It seems that during our absence, they managed to destroy another Qlippoth Root, Nanoha." Siegfried remarked happily.
Nanoha however, remained serious and stoic, clearly not as enthusiastic as her companion was. "Only one more to go….. Then we'll finally face that fucking stray devil once and for all." She stated darkly, already imagining the things she would do to Urizen for the pain he had caused her, for those whom he'd taken from her.
He never thought he'd say it, even internally, but right now Siegfried started to feel a bit afraid of Nanoha right now. Especially with the way she worded that sentence of hers, it sent chills down his spine. 'Though, I bet Vali and Albion would approve of this change compared to what she was like before…' the boy couldn't help but muse internally. "True, but we have to be cautious. I'm pretty sure that Urizen will notice that there isn't blood producing that much."
Nodding her head at this, Nanoha gripped her Raging Heart in it's Device form, already aware of the risks. "Then we have to act quickly then before he knows." she stated, Siegfried nodding in agreement.
As they continued their path and walked on the building railing they looked at the city for a moment, eyeing the destruction that had been wrought upon it, before continuing along their path. However it wasn't long before they suddenly heard a sonic boom that almost made them lose their balance. Following this, the ground started to shake and collapse beneath their feet, causing the two to quickly react before they could have fallen potentially to their doom or at least got incapacitated via injuries. In Nanoha's case, she quickly activated her FLIER FIN Spell to stay in the air, whilst Siegfrid jumped to another building before jumping down to the ground.
Lowering herself to her companion's side and disengaging her Spell, Nanoha jogged on back to Siegfried's side, a confused frown on her lips. "What was that?" she questioned, though it sounded more like a demand if one asked the former Exorcist.
Though, said exorcist could only shake his head negative, not having any clue what had happened either. "I don't know Nanoha but whatever it was, it was something too fast for me to even sense."
As they quickly run on, they eventually find themselves at a fence as they look left and right before Siegfried pointed at a blood clot as Nanoha shoots at it before it decayed. They then jumped down before enemies started to appear, resulting in the two children quickly springing into action.
Fortunately, it didn't take them very long to hunt these creatures down, then proceed onwards.
Not long later, the two ventured across a long, uneven bridge with vehicles atop of it. Along the way, they spotted yet another blood clot to which Nanoha made to shoot it with her Raging Heart… however, Siegfried stopped her. "Wait Nanoha, look the bridge is unstable, you can fly but I can't remember?"
"... just go to the other side of the bridge, once you're there call me."
Mildly shuddering at the cold tone that she used, Siegfried nonetheless nodded his head in compliance. "Alright."
Siegfried then jumped over the root as he ran to the other side of the bridge before he yelled out at Nanoha.
"ALRIGHT, I'M AT THE OTHER SIDE!"
"OK!"
Just for safety repercussion, and with a bit more common sense than she had back during the Jewel Seed Incident, Nanoha activated her FLIER FIN in order to ascend to the air before aiming her Nobugun at the blood clot before shooting at it. Once it was destroyed the roots started to decay before the bridge that was being held by the Root proceeded to collapse. She went to Siegfried's side as he was waiting for her before the bridge collapsed, to which they continued their path as they entered what looked like a workshop-esque area. There, they witnessed the sight of other people drained from their blood. Whilst moving on and seemingly ignoring the sight, Siegfried glanced down at his companion and noticed that Nanoha was gripping her Raging heart so tightly it would've broken were it any normal weapon.
They found a staircase that went down and went to it before seeing an exit at the workshop. They went through the block before the sounds of fighting caught their attention. They ran to where the sound was coming from before stopping by the gate. They see multiple people that were fighting the creatures spawned from the tree, what caught their attention is their animal features, some were dodging, attacking them or getting hit by their enemies.
Upon seeing them, Siegfried widened his eyes in realization of what they were. "Yokais!"
Nanoha looked at him when he made this exclamation, the urge to berate him for almost giving away their position suppressed by her desire for clarification. "Yokais?... wait Suzuka told us they were fighting those creatures!" she questioned, remembering what had been told to her previous.
This prompted a nod from her companion as they watched the proceedings. "Looks like it, Nanoha, but right now we have important things to do."
Now, if this was her Jewel Seed incident self, Nanoha would have just gone in and tried to help those Yokai fight off the Empousa and other Demons, seeing how both sides had been in a stalemate. However, thanks to losing everything combined with her new pledge that resulted in her newfound powers, she simply nodded and proceeded to go forwards. "Indeed, let's go."
They went past the fight before going through the block.
Once they see that the Root was close, just by the building they ran to it before they quickly dodged an attack from the Root itself.
"Ok, THAT was new!" Siegfried exclaimed as Nanoha switched out her Raging Heart for summoning her Nobunagun, aiming it at the Root that had attacked them. However, the Tendril retreated just as she had prepared to fire, going back inside the main Root itself, before a figure emerged from the Root connected to it by a similarly-looking Tendril. Judging from what they saw, both kids assumed this thing to be some kind of organism remaining part of the Root, like a Parasite. Its primary body looked to be an orangish skinned humanoid form with a torso, two arms with long blade-like tips for hands, and a head with no face, eyes or mouth. Though, despite these traits it somehow managed to form words that they could comprehend.
The thing's body was, as per stated previously, attached to a long, thick root emerging from the Qliphoth, forming a large growth of Roots and bark from the demon tree itself. There on the roots beside the parasite were ridged scales and snake-like heads that resemble flower pods, with rows of razor sharp teeth in their mouths.
"Did you dodge me?"
Nanoham upon seeing it, cringed in annoyance and disgust, several mechanical sounds emitting from her Nobunagun as she slightly lowered it. "Oh great a giant parasite, what's next a blood sucking vampire?" she questioned rhetorically.
Though she soon got a slightly complicated look from Siegfried who also sweat dropped in awkwardness. "Actually…" he began to say, but trailed off due to being unsure how to break it to her.
Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on whose perspective one chose, Nanoha figured out his unsaid message. "They exist….." She mused, before groaning with her free hand palming her face. "Why am I not surprised?"
"Did you insult me? You insulted me!"
Apparently, the creature had enough intelligence enough to realize that it wasn't being taken seriously which triggered it like puritans on Twitter. As a result, the right Snake Head lunged forwards to try and gobble them up, showing how it was connected to the Root itself. It had lunged towards Nanoha who had her weapon at the ready, though the Demon Queen of the Sixth Heaven managed to get out of the way by jumping above it's lunge, landing on top of it after landing atop it. She then began running forth to try and shoot at the main Parasite's body, only for it to retreat into the Root once again to save it's own skin.
Not something the auburn haired girl appreciated if the furious look on her face was any indication. "Hey! You coward, come back and fight!"
"Not like an enemy will cooperate with you just because you're telling them to, Nanoha!" Siegfried retorted as he flipped over an overhead slam from the left Snake Head, which then proceeded to slide along the ground in a sweeping motion in order to slam into him from the side whilst he remained in the air. However, just before it could hit him, Siegfried crossed his arms and summoned his Sacred Gear, having it cross in front of his human arms too so all three could mitigate the damage he was about to receive.
WHAM!
"Guh!"
A loud grunt escaped him when he found himself colliding with a wall, sliding down it to the ground. Quickly however, he looked up and recovered his bearings enough so that he could roll across the ground to avoid the secondary lunge that it did, quickly getting up to look around and see the main Parasite suddenly lunge at him with it's blades about to slice his head off. Another loud grunt followed this as Siegfried jumped backwards, barely avoiding the strikes.
Quickly, he took out two of his swords: the Nothung for its sharpness, and his Light Sword for it's good ability to slice through Demonic forces. His Sacred Gear also grabbed and readied his Tyrfing for it's destructive capabilities. As such, when the left Snake Head tried to bite him once more, Siegfried had his Sacred Gear strike first by swinging at its mouth… creating an explosive burst of power which slammed into it like it were being hit by a multi thousand pound sledgehammer, sending it smashing into a wall with an almost ironic feeling coursing through the former Exorcist. He had to smirk at this, his eyes glimmering with a sinister undertone as he quickly impaled it with all three of his blades. "Payback's a bitch, isn't it?"
"Yoooouuu… grrrrrrrrrrr!"
It became obvious and understandable that the Parasite did NOT appreciate this dilemma, therefore it made to lunge once again at Siegfried with the intent of tearing him to pieces this time. However, before it could do so…
RATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!
A MASSIVE barrage of bullets collided with the demonic Parasite, shredding through its outer skin and exposing multiple 'juicy' bits within. The Parasite howled in fury at this and shifted itself to see who had caused such damage to it's frame, only to see an utterly pissed off Nanoha who stood atop a Snake Head with a HORRIFICALLY charred body from the tip to a good portion down the root in question. One didn't really need to think too hard about how that had happened or the cause of it as Nanoha aimed her Nobunagun at her enemy. "HAH!"
RATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATARATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!
Once more, another barrage smashed into the Parasitic Creature fuelled by the fury of a young girl engulfed by the desire to take vengeance against the one who had taken everything from her. Every bullet slammed into either the root itself or the Parasite protruding from it, filling the space they occupied with explosions and detonating bullets which tore through the creature's body. To be fair though, the Parasite DID manage to escape back into the Root for the duration of the barrage in order to save it's own skin, but that just meant that the Root itself took the full brunt of Nanoha's attack, so when the barrage halted and the Parasite emerged to lunge at her, the Root looked like it could have collapsed at any moment.
Nanoha, after simply jumping and shooting the ground rapidly to use the force from her Nobunagun to ascend higher, avoided this Lunge with the Parasite quickly moving upwards to give chase to her, a frenzied howl escaping it's 'head' area. However, Nanoha didn't falter in her offensive as she switched her Nobunagun for her Rock Cannon, aiming it down at the Parasite with a snarl escaping her lips. All the while, the Parasite made to quickly shift out of the Rock Cannon's line of fire whilst it charged up, however Nanoha instead aimed for something else… the Parasite's connection to the Qlippoth Root.
A sinister to downright evil smirk crossed onto her face when this happened, as the Parasite realized too late what her intended target truly was.
"No! Don't!"
"Sorry, but i'm all out of fucks I can give for today… not like I'll have any to give ever again, though."
BANG-SQUELCH!
"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
Ignoring it's weakened pleas, Nanoha pulled the trigger within her weapon, launching a Projectile from it that smashed right into the root 'connecting' the Parasite to the Qlippoth Root. As such, it got instantly severed, not only disconnecting it from it's life source, but also sending the Parasite screeching down to the surface below with Nanoha dismissing her Rock Cannon, bringing out Raging Heart and activating FLIER FIN to descend down after it.
Back on the ground, the creature looked to be laying there, dying due to no longer having something to feed off of whilst the root itself already started to decay and disintegrate in accordance with it's approaching death. Low sounds similar to those of a dying beast escaped the creature as it tried to weakly lift it's head when seeing a pair of boots in front of it…
STAB!
Only for it's death to come instantly when three swords impaled it through the back of it's head. Siegfried stabbed his swords at the parasite as it made some gurgling noise before it completely died down as it started to decay, the Root finally COMPLETELY turning into ashes. However, as the pieces fell to the ground and became dust, both kids became privy to something standing BEHIND the Root, a fair distance away but still VERY much visible to them: a Demon for sure but one of TITANIC size, similar to an insect in shape with four legs and an elongated body similar to a cockroach, though with disproportionately long legs. It sporte two tendrils which extended from its sides, swaying too and fro like the whiskers of a chinese Dragon, although these ones looked to be much more than that.
Obviously not a fan of this, Nanoha almost screamed in her frustrations. "Ahhh come on another demon?!" she yelled, though she made a point to forcefully suppress her voice's volume in the knowledge that, as of right now, fighting multiple Demons like that Parasite wasn't necessarily a smart move. They'd already done what they had come here to do, so there was no need to engage in pointless fighting that would just waste their time.
Something which Siegfried also remained aware of, as well as came from when he made the following statement. "Be on your guard Nanoha, we still haven't recovered from the fight against the parasite. If either Xun Er or Medusa were here then-"
"Then what, I'm already here."
They turned to the right and saw Xun Er, Medusa and the blond girl which Siegfried doesn't recognize but Nanoha does as she ran to Fate. "FATE!" She hugged Fate as she almost lost her balance before she regained it.
"Nanoha it….. Good to see you but the situation is rather..
SCCRRREEEEEEEE!
"Dire.."
"... Your right, lets deal with that fucking demon."
AN: Hunter here, and here's a new MHD Story chapter. In here, we're targeting the Qlippoth Roots like V and Nero did in the beginning of DMC 5. Hope you like, and look forward to the next one.
PEACE OUT!
Sweet looks like Fate finally arrived!... Alright we don't have much to say but we are almost nearing at the near end of the arc. Alright thank you for reading our chapter, be sure to leave a review if you want and I'll see you next time
GOOD LUCK!