*Important notice: changes have been added to chapter 24—Please reread the last section for further context of the following events*
-Change of Plans-
"it surprised me how deep into history the term 'super soldier' can be found—as more times than not, most civilizations tended to idolize those that stood above all else in terms of combat prowess with extravagant and exalted titles.
In modern times the term 'super soldier' is used more often due to the lacking presence of worship and a more deeper focus in science and physics. In ancient times however, the wording, the approach and the belief was different, as it mostly centers on whichever deity chosen that week.
And what's the biggest example of an ancient super soldier?
The Trojan War...
Pretty easy to tell who I'm talking about right?
Yet to think the likes of Lucifer himself actually delved into the makings of such a thing; the one that was said to be the most prideful of them all—confused me and it had me questioning the facts about what I – and by extension the world – knew of the fallen star.
Why would a being proclaim himself a rightful replacement of the one God—and then exploit science to create a super soldier? By all rights, Lucifer should have been insulted by such a scheme, yet apparently the man had willingly opted to create such a thing... and on a low-born no less.
It was fishy—and I wasn't the only one questioning the logic behind Lucifer's motives as even Rivia had been drawing circles around the one thing that stood out to all of us...
What were these ancient demons? – Beings that even commanded Lucifer's respect and admiration to go so far as exploit their DNA.
If there was—ever a moment, to me, that felt like a 'horror movie vibe' then stories about the prince of darkness researching ancient demon DNA just sorta pinched that nerve right then and there...
Alarm bells—nothing but alarm bells...
But after meeting the one named Atrinox... we had our answer...
And let it be known here; that the scholar's and scrolls regarding the history of these following events barely explain anything...
As it is all covered in black ink...
...For a very good reason
[Crimson Dagger operations log: 010/field summary: all Noble HVT's acquired, (Update) previously branded KIA – Indus Vassago – has been revived/ cause of resurrection:unified efforts of all three Infernum Armis' and one Phenex tear...warning! Critical threat identified! Designation target—'Atrinox'/ last known status: deceased/ Time of death: reported 1000 years prior to the beginning of the Civil War/ Cause of Death: Unknown / Cause of resurrection: Unknown/ Current Objective: Crimson Dagger en-route to Dragon valley to intercept possible incursion of a large scale force of Death knights—the presence of 'Atrinox' is highly considered/ summary disclosed]
Ryden couldn't exactly find himself fully engrossed in the concept of resurrection as much as one would believe—and amongst the others around him, they couldn't either, yet they had a far more open mind to the idea then he was—as he was the prime reason of such a thing.
However, back when he had revived the fallen Indus Vassago; Ignis, Fulgur and Ventus had been making sure he was fully aware of what kind of status he needed to be in, in order for them to even have the slightest chance in hell – literally – to even consider the term of 'resurrection', as the presence of a soul was needed to be present for such a thing.
Ignis was first in line when it came to stabilizing the soul and easing it of its efforts—supplying the dying owner with a sort of 'morale boost' just so it could stave off the nether erosion longer for Ventus to purify the presence of the ethereal element.
Fulgur however, merely restarted the organs to get a pulse going... and Ryden suspected the Phenex tear had replaced one other job for a certain fourth Infernum Armis.
Aqua...
Case in point however—unless this 'Atrinox' was literally too angry to die, then it would have been impossible for the devil to be returned to the land of the living; as the necessary requirements of such a feat required four ornery and eccentric spirits of ancient origin with near limitless energy...
Ryden digressed—so far, the secret project super solider made by Lucifer himself was still a mystery to him.
"That's what I'm saying—"
Ryden's thought closed off before he turned to Nyx, the man seemingly getting onto something each of them almost entirely forgot of—or at least not considered just yet.
"—whatever caused the guy to return to service has to be a part of that Revenant Project, it's in the bloody name, the damn Old-Satan's are bringing back the dead... somehow" the man's words hung in the air awkwardly for a moment before the weight of his observation became a little too much to bare in the scope of the matter.
Ryden felt like grumbling at the lapse in memory; their collective efforts within the territory of Lilith was strictly sanctioned on their goal to acquire both Ventus and Ignis—while Sirzechs, Serafall and Ajuka focused on the mysterious project Revenant and the battle in the Territory of Thorns.
Yet at this point—the meaning behind the Old-Satan's potential endgame was about as obvious as a blue sky in a cloudless afternoon; but the worst theories were yet to come...
If Atrinox was one of the first to return—then who else are they attempting to revive?
Ryden's eyes widened upon a theory before his gaze shot over to a silent Rivia. "Lucifer... Don't tell me their trying to revive that guy" he suggested with a slight look of trepidation that caused Nyx and Abigail to blanch at the concept while Rena and Rosalina merely bit their lower lip nervously.
However Rivia shook her head at his consideration, confusing all present. "That's not possible..."
Rosalina blinked. "What do you mean by that?—if Atrinox lives then that means they can do the same to Lucifer right?"
Rivia nodded at the Phenex's words. "Yes, but I believe their needs to be a body for such a thing—and Lucifer did not leave behind a body; only a mystery none could decipher"
"And what's this mystery?" Rena pressed.
Rivia sighed again before responding. "The Great War's end took away many of our former leaders—every demon and every Satan, dead; however rumor has it that Lucifer himself had seemingly vanished in a flash of green light... and none have seen him since"
Ryden – and the others around him – felt a mild sense of collective relief and the reveal, yet that didn't staunch away their own nerves completely, because that left behind several other horror movie wannabe's to step up to the plate.
Currently—44 – or somewhere around that number – pillar families remain in the aftermath of the Great War, yet for some reason, the possibility of that spiking back up to 72 was highly probable—or even worse, the demons that commanded those very families, the Primarch demons.
The list was almost endless, and it couldn't have weighed down the atmosphere more than it already had.
The crux of the matter however was voiced by Rosalina.
"How? How are they able to do this?" she asked for all present—even Rivia shared the sentiment.
Of course though, the question was aimed at her.
"I do not know—and I'm afraid the only way for us to know all the details regarding the Old-Satan's plan rests on the Necropolis; if they plan on resurrecting the dead, then the underworlds mass grave region is the place to do it" Rivia's eyes shot over to Ryden. "And if I'm right—we need every available option to confront whatever we find, and that means we can't go there at half power, we'll need all four Infernum Armis'—just to be sure, and a military force for added support"
Ryden nodded at the same time Nyx, Rosalina and Abigail did, the three of them quickly understanding the weight of the situation while Rena glanced over to Ryden with a hint of remembrance.
"I think I recall my mother telling me of your desire to go there in the first place, something about my ancestor stealing something from Tiamat" Ryden nodded at the woman's words before she herself nodded. "When the time comes, I can assist you in locating my ancestors burial chamber—though I may not have actually seen it, but we Valefor's have a way of locating treasures and by extension, each other... if Valefor stole something, then it shouldn't be too hard for us to find it"
Ryden dipped his head courteously. "I appreciate the assistance, however—" Ryden paused, eyes squinting with a testing glint. "—Are you sure?"
Rena's own eyes squinted, accosted by his question. "I'm—not sure what you're asking"
Nyx sighed before piping in for Rena's benefit. "The necropolis is infested with giant spiders; apparently their just as big as Tiamat" Nyx shot the now very pale Rena Valefor a pained grin. "He's asking if you really want to tag along; a luxury that seems nonexistent for the rest of us"
"You're lucky he even asked you..." Abigail chimed in while Ryden's lips curled into a sadistic grin once Rena locked eyes back onto him.
"You really are insane" Rena muttered while Ryden lightly snickered at her.
"No one ever said victory comes from a healthy mind; most of the time it's the crazy motherfucka's that get shit done—and I'm the ambassador of crazy" Ryden's grin matched that of the mildly amused Rivia sitting at his flank, while the others continued to stare at him like he'd just proclaimed his desire to smite heaven itself...with another heaven.
Regardless, he kept his gaze on Rena; brow quirked inquisitively. "So, still wanna tag along?—or has the creepy crawlies got you smited with the heebie jeebies?"
Rena eyed the man for a moment, idly noting the vigorously shaking heads of Nyx and Abigail, yet after a moment of thought, the woman sighed before nodding. "Yeah, I'll tag along... backing out now will only prove my mother and father right; though I love them both, I'm just tired of being the coddled child, I need a purpose, a goal—something other than hiding behind my parents shadow"
Ryden snorted bemusedly before sighing. "Ah—nothing better than spreading the ol' adult wings by raiding a mass grave site to halt a potential underworld shattering cluster-fuck... just another day in the office"
"What office?"
"Mind the metaphors Nyx..." Ryden countered back before he regarded Rena with a smile. "Anyway, glad to have you aboard—the more help the better"
"Focus up devils—were closing in shortly" Tannin's voice picked up just as Ryden shook Rena Valefor's extended hand, and just as the dragon kings words called out over them, the mood amongst the crimson Dagger seemingly hardened by command.
For Rena, it was an odd sight to behold, but not a mysterious one and she too followed the example of her now establish peers. Though she knew of Rosalina from way back yonder – before her families forced allegiance to the bastard descendants – she had little knowledge of the rest of her new comrades.
Abigail Valac, Nyx Oriax, Rivia bloody Abaddon – that had been a surprise once she first met the famed veteran – and Ryden Vale Gremory... an apparent enigma with a knack for surprising those around him with his otherworldly articulate vocabulary and impressive charisma.
Safe to say—Rena felt her life just became interesting...
No turning back now...
"How long until we arrive, Tannin?" Ryden questioned as he readied his swordspear in his right hand.
"Not long, once we rise over this mountain range, we'll be able to see the valley from here... and if it is under siege, prepare yourselves" tannins thundering voice echoed with a weight that all present could understand, and almost instantly, the others followed the dragons command to a T; Rivia's scythe was in hand and waiting for ignition while Rosalina summoned Ira flamma with a swipe of her wrist. At their flanks, Nyx pulled out his crimson spear and extended it to half its size for proximity reasons, while Abigail's bow unfurled with several audible clicks.
As the woman cycled the draw weight by tightening the bow string, Rena merely sat by awkwardly, possessing zero weapons to use while the series of serious expressions worn on her colleges around her kept to themselves, mentally fortifying themselves for a fight.
A small tap on her left caught her attention, pulling over her gaze to see Nyx holding out the handle of a 7" Dagger. "You'll need this" he stated before Rena took the blade hesitantly.
"Thanks..." was her meek response before Ryden cut in.
"You want two?" asked the man as he offered an identical copy—to which the woman took with a meek nod of thanks.
Ryden glanced over to Nyx after seeing the woman's mildly downcast expression, the both of them noticing the woman's slight deficiency in confidence and the both of them nodded in understanding. Though the woman displayed confidence before, it was clear it was a spur of the moment deal—probably a chose made in response to Luna's heroic act in saving her from Atrinox back at their base camp—and it was probably the final nail in the coffin for Rena Valefor.
Feelings of inadequacy were common motivators for most devils, as pride was one of the main emotions within every devil; it's in that feeling of uselessness that gives birth to either warriors...or cowards.
Rena may not think it, but she had made enough of an impact by choosing to assist them then leaving with the nobles and servants. She'd already earned respect through her choice to stay behind, she didn't need to earn it through heroic's... though often times, it did prove bountiful to impose reputation, but nothing in life was pure fiction—because sometimes, the hero's in reality can look like idiots.
Ryden shot a silent wordless message to Nyx and the man in question nodded in understanding.
Ryden left it there and turned back to face forward as Nyx confronted Rena's worries with an understanding approach while Ryden refrained from jumping in – as one glance back showed Abigail joining Nyx's efforts, and after several moments, he could see the prior confidence in Rena return.
All he did when Rena glanced at him was nod...
It was all that was needed.
"Your surprise me with your maturity sometimes" Ryden glanced over to Rosalina, his eyes keenly noting the slight shade of pink on the woman's cheeks as her eyes remained locked on Tannin's back, though her words suggested she'd been aware of what he'd just done.
He grinned at the sight while Rivia remained intentionally silent at his flank "I was told the smartest one in the room is the one who listens most; and yet the same can be said for the one who acts like a fool..." he replied evenly, a glint of amusement in his eyes. "Guess you can tell which one I am..."
"I guess I can...still, that was nice of you" Ryden brushed off the blonde devils words.
"Twas nothing so courteous, we all need to be prepared" he replied before his eyes caught a glimpse of rising smoke in the distance—and it was then the gravity of the situation thickened...
"Aw shit" Ryden found himself muttering as Tannin flew them over the last portion of the mountain range, only to come face to face with a raging forest fire in the distance—close to the main entry way to the dragon valley.
Ryden felt a boiling rage build up with the dragon they rode on, and in one instant, the situation quickly became even more serious.
Rivia's worries had been correct...
"Those filthy mongrels—setting fire to my domain, I WILL KILL THEM ALL!" Tannin roar's of anger exploded out, escalating the rising anger in all of his following warriors before his previously dormant eyes brightened into glowing crimson embers.
Ryden saw it fit to alleviate the dragon of their presence before they were thrown off in the dragons fit of rage—leading them all to follow along the dragon's suddenly hastened flight with their own set of wings. Along the way through the darkened sky and toward the distant fire, a distant azure dragon was seen flying towards the same target, though minus the baggage of nobles and servants—as the large number of rescued POW's were seen gathered at the base of a small outcropping near the outer edge of the dragon valley, safe from danger.
Ryden caught eyes with several nobles below them before continuing his flight towards the fire, leaving the servants, nobles and wounded behind; yet as they neared the rising fire, a small sense of dread picked up within his gut, and in the distance he could see Tiamat's gaze suddenly shoot out towards a distant rising source of energy—and just as she locked on to the oncoming danger, a large beam of red and black energy shot up at her, striking her through the chest.
Ryden's shock was heard instantly at the sight...
"TIAMAT!" he yelled out as the dragon king fell from the sky and into the forest below with an audible crash. However, before he could rush forward towards the dragon's downed position, Rivia's voice yelled out in alarm over the comm's link.
[AMBUSH BELOW!—LOOK OUT!] yelled the veteran devil as dozens of demonic beams of energy shot up into the sky, striking various dragons in several areas, some of which even being fatal blows that dropped the towering beasts from the sky with apparent ease.
And in that second, chaos ensued—and every devil and dragon scattered in whichever direction they chose to seek safety—to which there was none to be hand.
"Shit" Nyx growled out as he quickly redirected his flight to the forest below. "Follow me! FOLLOW ME!" Nyx howled over the roaring sounds of explosions as the demonic beams suddenly became like flack rounds, exploding variously throughout the air—damaging several dragons due to their larger sizes and causing each of Nyx's teammates to scatter in all directions.
Nyx cursed at his luck before descending down to the forest alone before he himself could be vaporized by the oncoming flack fire.
With one mighty beat of his six wings, Nyx shot down to the forest floor in seconds without wasting time in forming a descending formation with the others, coming to a combat roll landing alone within an open section of the forest floor. Keeping his wits about him, Nyx's eyes rapidly scanned his surroundings before he noticed several spikes in demonic energy all around him, and within a blink of an eye—they were already on him.
The same death knights they'd seen just moments ago—and they'd just appeared out of nowhere.
"Damn it!" he growled out again before extending his spear to full length, engaging the small cluster of death knights in a flurry of motion. They moved with an unholy synergy, perfectly distancing themselves from one another for perfect synchronized combat, however their speed was... lackluster, hardly managing to force Nyx's senses into overdrive.
And their situational awareness was laughable.
In total, there were six of these guys all around him, including two others a distance away—wielding identical long swords of what looked like rotting black steel; however, their guard was open from their synchronized ambush.
He had been caught off guard for but a moment, but their distancing and timing was within his safe zone.
"Piss off" he ordered before his arms and spear became a blur of rapid motion, cutting violent slashes across each oncoming knight with ease in all directions.
Within a second, his spear came to a stop in his right hand—the bodies of each knight crumpling to the floor, yet just as the last body hit the ground, he was already moving towards the last two distant knights—their attention being towards the sky above.
He ignored their distraction and opted to capitalize on the apparent oddity of these 'knights'. His spear pierced through the knights armor thoroughly, and in one other motion, his spear was pulled free with a series of expert twirls that were redirected towards the second knight that actually chose to respond to its assailant.
SHING! SHING!
With enough speed to cut the air itself, Nyx bisected and decapitated the last knight with two critical strokes.
"Dagger-5 reporting in" just before the last knight hit the floor, Nyx immediately opened comm's for a situation update only for static to fill his ears. "This is Dagger-5, what's everyone's status?" he repeated before he heard a loud crash some couple hundred meters away before a series of crimson bolts of arc lightning ignited within the forest, creating several other explosions that greased a variety of enemies both focused on ground combat and aerial flack fire.
[Nyx! Abigail and Rena landed some couple dozen yards to your 10 o' clock! I think they were hit]
"What about the others?"
[Rosalina's with me and Rivia's further inland; but ignore use, we'll continue on towards Tiamat and deal with these bastards, just get to Rena and Abigail and get them back into action]
"Copy that..."
Nyx closed the comm's in an instant and turned towards the source of demonic energy that was Abigail and Rena.
[With Ryden]
Ryden cut the comm's when his connection with Nyx was severed and reached down to hoist up a prone Rosalina, the both of them having landed together.
"Did you really need to protect me?" she asked while dusting off some debris on her armor.
Ryden shrugged. "Forgive my hastened courtesy—I thought mortal wounds were a rather inconvenient experience for you"
"B-be that as it may, we shouldn't waste time with honeyed words" Rosalina retorted with a blush before she readied her blade.
Ryden nodded before he picked up nameless to his right after sheathing Fulgur away. "Right, let's keep the distance between us—wouldn't want to bunch up for an easy target"
At that, Rosalina partially lead the forward charge through the open forest with Ryden being several meters away from her—yet to their immediate surprise, several dozen more Death knights stepped out from the shadows, their blackened horned armor partially illuminated by the few fire patches dotting along the forest floor, courtesy of the few dragons above still able to return fire.
Ryden and Rosalina ignored the distant distractions of explosions and roars and kept their charge even in speed, engaging the oddly slow moving knights with a ferocious tenacity that left the majority of them decimated even before their swords were raised.
Ryden force pushed several Death knight away with a grunt of effort, oddly feeling the weightless presence each knight possessed in doing so—which confused him.
However Rosalina's efforts yielded an answer they both thought of asking.
Rosalina danced through a small horde of slow moving knights, her demonic flames easily eroding the oncoming knights down to their bones—yet bones were not to be seen, as each knight afflicted by her flames seemed to breakdown into demonic particles.
Ryden's eyes locked with Rosalina, clear confusion written on his face.
"That's not normal" he muttered before Rosalina suddenly rushed towards him and disappeared into a collection of bright embers, passing over the confused man and seemingly through several other Death knights that had managed to sneak up on him.
Ryden's eyes widened at the proximity of the now eroding knights, his senses having not at all detected the lumbering warriors before Rosalina had acted.
"Keep your eyes open Ryden—these things aren't people, their drones; illusions made physical form" the woman's eyes scanned the outer edges of the forest, yet it seemed to both her and Ryden, the majority of the action was still centralized at the main valley entrance way.
They still had time to contain the incursion...
"We need to split efforts Rosa" Ryden suddenly suggested, surprising the woman.
"Wha?—I just had to saved you from these things and now you want to split up?!—have you lost it?" she argued with narrowed eyes, yet Ryden pointed down further in towards the main bulk of Tannin's territory, and it was in that direction that he could feel more of those 'knights' moving.
"There's more pushing into the territory, I need both you and Rivia to cover the incursion and keep these freaks from making more of a mess; I'll get to Tiamat and get her back into action – if she hasn't done so herself already – but regardless, we need to spread out our efforts or we'll be chasing a losing effort"
Rosalina held her eyes on Ryden for a moment, gouging her odds of arguing; but after seeing the look in the man's eyes, and the reasoning in his words, she conceited with a sigh. "Fine, go play hero—but if you run into Atrinox, don't you dare fight him alone"
Ryden nodded. "I believe he may be the one commanding these drones, taking him out or forcing him to retreat may be the key to stopping this" Ryden paused before a added idea came to mind. "If you can, find Tannin and inform him of this—and tell him to await my signal"
"If we can even find him, he disappeared in the chaos above—finding him will be a challenge"
"You'll figure it out Rosa" Ryden eased off before turning to where Tiamat had landed.
"Just be careful..."
Ryden paused, shooting a glance over to the Phenex devil. His gaze merely caused Rosalina to glance down and away from him.
He grinned. "Of course... just wait for the signal Rosa" he said before taking off, leaving the lone Phenex to watch him depart in a flash of speed.
[With Rivia]
Chaotic would be a considerable understatement for what had happened a moment ago, and Rivia was well aware of what they had accidentally stumbled upon when they had rashly chosen to rush towards an obvious trap.
An ambush: sparked with the bait of a distant forest fire to catch Tannin's attention.
Rivia knew the cunning within the mind of Atrinox as she had been the one to create the mind behind the helm. Atrinox was well beyond anything they'd faced so far – dare she'd say they were even not prepared.
With the hunter's cunning mind, he knew the dragons would react aggressively towards any sort of attack on their territory, due to the natural territorial behavior of the dragon species.
Her experiences were vast compared to her new allies, her memory of war being far more unforgiving then this current conflict—and the forces that she faced in the days of the Great War possessed a far more demanding presence then the likes of the current Inquisition, the Swarm knights, and the apparent Death Knights combined.
These 'death knights' she had faced back in Ashfeld were veterans of conflict, yet none of them had been around during the campaign that made their legion famous—and she suspected their mysterious powers were the direct cause of a preserved Gene seed from Atrinox himself.
All of the Death knights heralded from the one that made their legion; Atrinox was their creator, their Primarch, their master; but yet now the man himself had returned to the living realm, pulled forth from the unknown void of death by a force she didn't know... and now she was facing the legion of her former student.
Illusionary knights, drones, ancient demonic magic that gives demonic energy itself physical form. Hand made by Atrinox's will, and created as an overwhelming force of rapidly adapting infantry; capable of becoming immune to all sorts of physical and nonphysical damage over a small time frame, structurally adapting to any employed tactics and capable of returning with twice the skill as before.
As they fell in large numbers, they'd return in few—but as more skilled combatants then before, each one carrying the potential of matching a master swordsmen in seconds.
Many an angel would speak of the terror of the Black Death legion, along with stories of other devils— however, it was through countless loses that Atrinox adapted to a level of renown that even managed to match and then out match the likes of Sirzechs, Ajuka and the lucifuge prodigy Grayfia lucifuge.
A terror indeed... but Rivia knew his weaknesses.
She danced through the forest like a torrent of death, outmatching pace with acute precision that left massive swathes of drones lying dead at her feet—her scythe easily bypassing the rapid physical adaptation by focusing her demonic energy – the power of annihilation – into every swing of her scythe.
At this point, her scythe didn't just cut—it erased the atoms of physical beings, breaking down their most critical building block to nothing, and she knew Atrinox's abilities couldn't match her own power of annihilation.
In the rare few that Atrinox could never overwhelm; the power of worthlessness from the Belials could nullify the rapid creation of the infantry knights once they became aware of the building blocks that started their creation—all that was left was the ability to nullify thousands at a time.
A feat she knew to be rather... demanding.
The other was a recent discovery... the Kankara formula created by the Astaroth prodigy Ajuka Astaroth; rewriting magical formula was a rather intriguing concept, especially when it could rewrite small swathes of reality within bounded fields.
The last possibility was both the house of Phenex's fire and the Bael families power of destruction—which was now coursing through the veins of the most powerful devil alive; Sirzechs Gremory...
Regeneration couldn't occur if there was nothing to regenerate...
She digressed...
...However...
Throughout the Great War, Rivia had known of the exploits and 'legend' of Atrinox's abilities and reputation from reports and stories told by the rare few that witnessed the devils battles—and her experiences alongside those reports varied from battle to battle.
Angels and fallen angels don't possess the same quality of emotions as devils; where devils can sometimes feel fear – mostly in the face of unavoidable death – angel's don't even flinch, because in death, angels believed that sacrifice for their brothers and sisters was a noble act, and even more so for their father; God.
But for some reason, Atrinox had been able to make them act differently... and she still didn't know why.
And what she didn't know scared her...
Her eyes focused before effortlessly dancing around a dozen slashes, the speed and precision slowly increasing. Rivia's eyes narrowed after watching a collection of infantry drones materialize from black energy particles, half expecting them to at least grow to adequate skill levels, yet so far, they still seemed about the same as the first batch she'd cut down.
It was clear right then and there that something was wrong—and thankfully, it was something they could capitalize on.
Limits in range were a thing – she knew that at the drop of a hat – however the issue in Atrinox's range was during his earlier years, back when he was training.
Rivia reacted before the larger number of infantry drones could corner her, her eyes still remaining narrowed in focused study before she cut down yet another large swath of drones with painful ease. She didn't like it, the ease, the speed in killing—nothing with Atrinox was easy, nor was he foolish to engage powerful forces with lacking power; he was the sort to focus and exploit strategically, not crush with absolute force right off the bat—as much as one would believe from the stories.
Most of them were told when he was at his strongest, yet during his weaker years, his cunning was his main weapon.
Rivia's pondered thoughts continued for some modicum of time, her eyes studying the continuous advancing forces of mindless knights while her arms moved with expert fluidity; there had to be something she was missing, a small detail that had eluded her, yet no matter how much she tried, the answer never came.
From her peripheral vision, Rivia spotted Rosalina push through a swath of drone knights with a powerful swing of her unique sword, her family flames literally combusting the magical compounds of the drones demonic make to the point of small fiery explosions.
BOOM! BOOM!
Rivia's eyes widened at the sight, her thoughts rapidly putting the puzzle pieces together just as Rosalina fell into a ready position behind her.
"Where's Ryden?" she found herself asking as more drone knights seemingly materialized out of the shadows around them.
Her eyes narrowed—that had been a faster respawn time then before... a response maybe?
Rivia shook away her thoughts before returning back to her prior realization just as Rosalina responded to her hastened question. "He's moving towards Tiamat's down position; he said to locate Tannin and await a signal if he engages that Primarch"
Rivia didn't like it the second she heard it, her worries soon arising faster than before due to her coupled realization of what Atrinox was doing.
"He won't see him coming" she replied back with rising nervousness. "Ryden is his target; we need to regroup and—"
!?
Rivia paused when her instincts spiked in danger, yet before she knew it—she was already sailing through the air, having been struck by a large double sided Warhammer; however her pain seemed none existent as the one who took the strike was pressed tightly against her.
"Why did you—" she mouthed down to the broken Rosalina, the woman's back having been entirely shattered by the brunt force of the strike.
It had been faster then she realized; an ambushed strike that seemed to completely obscure its presences, yet Rosalina had managed to sense it.
An impossible outcome, her senses were far beyond that of the Phenex devil—but yet the reality sat right before her.
Her back made contact with the flat side of a tree, cracking it marginally with only a grunt of pain to signify any sort of damage. She gently pushed the seemingly deceased Rosalina down to the floor, giving the devil enough time to regenerate the damage.
A second later and a small pitch of fire replaced the obliterated section of the woman's back, pulling Rosalina's senses back to reality with a loud gasp of air.
She pushed off the ground, yet before the woman could say anything—Rivia stepped forward and hauled the woman to the side just as a War-hammer cracked the ground below.
BANG!
"Who is that?" Rosalina asked while gripping her stomach; the phantom pain still lingering.
Rivia thought she had the answer to the question; a phantom champion, a drone created through the combined adaptation of several dozen fallen drone knights, but yet...
Her eyes widened when the dust settled and the figure standing before her stepped into range of a small fire at his feet; the 'champions' facial features coming into plain view.
Stalk silver hair, shortly cut and partially swept over the right side of his hardened face. The man's amethyst eyes were narrowed and focused—staring coldly at her as he readied his two handed War-hammer.
Rivia believed she'd seen enough ghosts, but it seemed now there would be no shortage of surprises.
"Lindros... Satanachia... how?" she found herself muttering in stunned shock.
The 'champions' eyes mildly fluttered in recognition, but the man said nothing else before he charged forward; cold eyes beholding a single interest.
Rivia swallowed hard at the sight of the previous assumed deceased extra demon; a former operating member of the elusive Satan six. She now knew why she couldn't sense him before, the man's previous house had specialized in the art of secrecy – all members did – but the house Satanachia was special in regards to their ability to hide from even the most astute sensory abilities.
The only weakness was its single target usage; any second party – with enough focus – could detect the devils signature within close proximity, but the timing do act was substantially in favor of the aggressor.
Her teeth clenched before she raised her hand – summoning several rifts around her – before she released a set of concentrated beams of demonic energy that targeted both the oncoming devil and his potential dodge routes—yet to her surprise, lord Satanachia merely withstood her barrage with little damage, as each beam of pure white demonic energy seemingly bouncing off the devils form.
"What!?" she questioned before her mind rapidly registered the ease in which she'd slaughtered the previous drone knights and cursed at her mistake.
Atrinox had been adapting immunity and consolidating it on the devil before her...
"Tsk..." she clicked her tongue before the lord Satanachia came within melee range.
Yet before the champions War-hammer met Rivia – and before Rivia could counter with a hastened rift to intercept – a massive torrent of Brilliant white Phenex fire entirely enveloped lord Satanachia; sending the large extra demon flying through several trees—cracking the earth with his form and tumbling gracelessly through the forest.
Rivia shielded her eyes the second the blinding Phenex fire could singe her retinas, barely managing to watch as Rosalina followed the sailing devil lord with her ignited sword readied for a jabbing strike.
"HAAAAAHH!" Rosalina yelled out as she caught up with the tumbling devil and drove her sword into the man's chest, yet upon contact, the man's black armor held strong even in the face of over whelming heat.
Rosalina stared into the calm gaze of the mysterious lord Satanachia – a house she didn't even know existed – before she noticed the glistening hardness adoring his features. His skin shone like it was covered in a thick layer of glass, hardened beyond what she could currently muster and clearly resistant to fire.
Her white flames melted even the strongest metals aside from the likes of dragonite, and could even compete against even the strongest of ice magic's; she knew there was a limited few that could survive direct contact with her specialized Phenex fire and now there was a new one added to the list.
She growled at the situation – and the man before her – before she pressed her sword strongly against the devil, crushing him into the earth below before sending him flying with a strong uppercut slash that sent a roaring wave of white flames passed the man—the effect completely negated, however a large swath of the forest behind the man seeming vanished from the heat alone.
She huffed, white flames puffing out from her very lips with each breath while her eyes shifted from her regular blue to bright white embers that rolled with a turbulent fury of materialized fire. She stayed her position and waited before the earth parted from an explosion of demonic force, revealing the War-hammer totting devil.
His form entirely unharmed...
"What the hell is this guy?" she questioned with a huff of annoyance.
Her answer came from Rivia herself – the woman calmly stepping out from a rift at her side. "Nothing we've ever faced before" she answered before turning to the woman. "His immunity to fire is largely based on Atrinox himself—whatever his drones face, he learns and adapts from, be it fire or anything of the like—and his forces return to the front equipped with those very immunities"
"And this guy was once someone else?" Rosalina asked as the towering figure of lord Lindros Satanachia marched towards them.
Rivia kept her gaze on the man as she answered. "No, he still is who he was before – however his allegiance to his former colleges has become null as is the same as his personality. Those that have died can be raised into Atrinox's forces and granted powers through his will, but death is a permanent outcome—killing him would be entirely different than those drones"
Rosalina huffed again. "Easier said than done" she said as lord Satanachia stopped a few feet from them; eyes now brimming with amusement.
"Always the intelligent one, Rivia—it was always an endearing quality about you" the man said with a distorted voice before his eyes narrowed into frustrated slits. "Always the one believing yourself the smartest, and treating none else with respect...a fanatic believer through and through; constantly preaching of a 'true ruler' at every chance you got; arrogant...blind...and full of lies" the man's eyes shone bright amethyst, a distortion laden beyond—hinting at a deep seeded madness. "My eyes have been opened; let me help you to see the truth Abaddon"
Rivia's eyes remained trained on the once fallen warrior, a devil she had not once gotten along with. His words were filled with hate, anger and frustration finally granted release through his apparent allegiance with Atrinox—a form of sentience she never expected.
Yet irregardless of the oddity, the anger expressed in the eyes of the devil in front of them was something of a nostalgic reminder...
Her freedom of speech was born from a deal between her mother and Lucifer—the deal that had Lucifer attempt to release the famed sword of lightning – Fulgur – yet the deal ended in her mother's favor, and Lucifer was compelled to withheld his tongue in the face of the Abaddon family's beliefs, granting them the right to believe in their prophecy.
Rivia would be blunt... the power to believe in something freely other than just that foolish fallen angel had made her just slightly oppressive with her comments; ranging from clear disagreement with policy, to actively commenting on the fallen angels mental state.
Lucifer didn't like it – obviously – but he was anything but a man that would go back against his own words or promises, so he had to bite back his own arrogance or else he'd lose against something he himself created.
By all rights Lucifer had every right to humiliate her disloyalty, but pride was a wonderful thing sometimes; Safe to say however, her consistent display of disloyalty towards Lucifer created a severe rift between her and the Satan six—the six extra demon families raised under Lucifer's family banner.
Lindros Satanachia had been one of those former heads to believe in Lucifer just a little too fanatically—which lead to several verbal confrontations that almost led to small family disputes.
Rivia wondered if Lindros managed to find peace in death—but the idea she had in mind seemed distant from what she was seeing; what stood before her was something she never expected.
Lindros hated low-class devils... and Atrinox was – albeit formerly – a low-class born devil; even blessed by Lucifer himself with a title of 'War Master' Lindros would have still possessed a degree of disgust towards the weapon of Lucifer, but yet here he was—willingly serving the devil.
What was happening?
"What is the meaning of this Lindros?—why willingly submit to his will, what sort of madness befell you?" Rivia found herself asking as Lindros slowly circled around both Rosalina and herself—War-hammer lazily dragging behind him.
The look of madness in Lindros' eyes continued to the point of fanatical awe, which gave way to the dead man's response. "Through death I was released from my shameful beliefs; Atrinox has granted me the chance to serve rightfully—to take upon my hammer and finally serve our true maker" the devils eyes flared with agitation. "That boy you follow and protect stands as a usurper to what nature has deemed the will of this world—and the War Master shall see to his fall" the maddened devil titled his head almost mockingly at Rivia's hardened glare before pressing on. "It is written in the stone upon your feet, Abaddon—and in the mysterious in which you chase... and this time, you will believe in the rightful way of things; and I shall gladly teach you your rightly place"
In one instant, Lindros carried himself with a pride that which he had possessed in life, but in death—his anger had been granted freedom through a means Rivia found no answer to. The former lord Satanachia hoisted his mighty hammer to both hands and charged once again with a cry of fury—his purple eyes instantly freezing Rosalina in place.
A distant locked away memory slightly opening.
Rivia ignored Rosalina's frozen stature – the latter's eyes staring at the raging champion of Atrinox in fear – before she engaged the attacking devil head on.
WHAM! CRASH!
Rivia danced around Lindros' downward swing and sent an open palmed strike to the devils exposed ribs, her hand literally coated in pure white demonic energy. The impact of her strike – coupled with her amplification of annihilation – created a fissure fracture on Lindros diamond skin, the molecular bonds rapidly deteriorating from her now focused energy.
Lindros merely grunted at the strike and countered by swinging a back hand towards her, yet a small rift intercepted the swing and the man suddenly felt his own fist crack against his face—courtesy of a second rift to his right.
Without giving the devil pause, Rivia twirled her scythe around her form—the blade itself cutting through dimensions with her will, yet to her annoyance—the connected slashes barely effected Lindros, as any sort of gash or slash that appeared along his body hardly seemed to phase the Champion of Atrinox.
With a grunt of what Rivia guessed to be annoyance, Lindros consolidated his Warhammer by swinging it over his head clockwise before crashing it down onto Rivia. with the speed of its trajectory, Rivia only managed to dodge the attack instead of redirecting it with a rift; however, before she could counter with her own strikes—Rosalina suddenly stepped into action by stomping her own foot down on Lindros' hammer, the strength applied creating a crater below them.
A bright source of light from above his head caught Lindros' attention once his weapon was locked below Rosalina's armored boot, and within seconds of his hammer being pinned, his eyes caught the glimpse of Rosalina's downward swing.
"HAAAAA!" roared the Phenex devil as her blade made impact against Lindros' head.
CLANG!
With Lindros' apparent resistance to fire and his rapid repositioning, Rosalina's strike only managed to crack the earth below Lindros' form—however the devil himself appeared unharmed.
However...
One glance was all that Rivia needed to understand the message sent by Rosalina—and without hesitation, Rivia leapt back into a one way rift, officially locking herself away within a safe space for whatever Rosalina planned.
The moment the rift closed... Rosalina's plan awakened.
FFFFFOOOOOOSSSSSSSSHHHHH!
White Phenex fire erupted from Rosalina's very form, burning all around her to nothing but ash before even the ash itself was burned away—however Lindros still remained standing.
Not for long...
Rosalina's form was like that of white fire itself; her skin, hair and eyes shone pure white like that of a burning angel, or the core of a solar star, and only marginally was her fiery form marred with licks of light blue flame—a flame that only briefly caught her attention.
Regardless; her limiters were removed with the disappearance of Rivia, allowing her the freedom to finally cut loose.
Within this form, her strength was amplified by the collected energy within her limbs—granting her physical superiority, and it showed...
With one grunt of effort, Rosalina finished her previous attack by dragging her blade down across Lindros' still resistant face—the combined force and overwhelming heat actually managing to displace the mysterious shield coating the devils form. The second she noticed, her blade instantly came back up in a one handed upward slash when the devil tried to grapple counter.
Mistake...
Rosalina's blade made complete purchase with the Satanachia lords outreaching limb, the super conducted heat now easily passing through the devils fluctuating shield—an effect courtesy of her continuously rising aura.
In response to such a thing, Lindros held his ground with a growl of annoyance, the force behind Rosalina's swing had the potential to send him flying, yet his own strength and now present frustration kept him grounded. In an effort to overpower Rosalina and push her to retreat, Lindros released his still present hold on his Warhammer and struck out against his attacker with a powerful right hook—and as this happened, Lindros' right arm began regenerating with a flurry of amethyst particles.
Ignoring the rapidly regenerating limb, Rosalina raised the pressure of her aura—effectively slowing down Lindros' swing temporarily, yet the effect granted her the window to catch the offending limb with her off hand, and redirect it to the side before countering with a strong upper cut that left a visible imprint in Lindros' right cheek.
The effect of her counter however, managed to leave the revived devil off balance long enough for her to gather her power into her blade.
Her off hand rose to the handle, hands tightly grasping it while her Phenex fire consolidated into her blade, creating a brightly glowing sword that illuminated her surroundings just enough for her to see her target perfectly... from this range... she couldn't miss even if she tried.
A secondary explosion erupted from her form once the demonic energy in her sword reached its zenith, and at this point, the earth at her feet had hardened to glass—only ever cracking when Rosalina stepped forward into her swing.
Her blade descended in a flash of pure white, titanic power releasing in a powerful wave of unfathomable heat that struck against the now snarling Lindros Satanachia with enough force to literally vaporize the protective shield coating his body... what remained underneath, burned.
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH!
For hundreds of yards, Rosalina's unleashed demonic energy carved a visible scar across the dragon valley—garnering the attention of a certain king in the midst of slaughtering his invaders.
Rosalina sighed away a breath she didn't know she was holding – her flame wreathed body receding to her normal form – and without warning, Rivia stepped free from a rift at Rosalina's side, her eyes staring at the latter with a hint of intrigue and awe—a look that grew when her gaze landed on the large trench of destruction before her and Rosalina.
She had observed the fight as it was, but the brightness had left her observing a blinding light more than a viewable battle—so the aftermath of the final strike left a rather impressionable view to witness; especially when she could see the sole survivor lying broken within.
She gave a look towards Rosalina, a firm nod of respect shortly following afterwards, before she began her short trek towards the limbless body of Lindros Satanachia, Rosalina shortly following behind her.
The distance was easily covered with a short step through a rift, and Rivia and Rosalina found themselves standing over what remained of Lindros Satanachia—and only one of them froze at what they saw.
The man's body had been burned to an almost blacken crisp – armor all but melted down from the heat, fused to the body wearing it – while his limbs were of the same state—encased in melted metal. However, for some reason, no visible pain could be seen in the man's face, as instead of suffering—only frustration, agitation and rage stood within its place.
However... nothing truly stood out from Lindros' broken body...other than his eyes
For a moment again, Rosalina's eyes widened at the sight, her mind idly pulsing in pain as a sealed memory once again crossed her mind; however something held it back, alluding to the mystery of her fear of the man's gem-like eyes
With an emotionless glance, the former Satanachia lord stared down at what remained of his body – and with just a short moment to process, the man seemingly became even more maddened with rage—but none more so then the woman now standing above him.
"To speak of him so arrogantly, to even consider his nature a usurper to the world itself..." Rivia's eyes shone pure white in anger, her teeth having locked tightly together as her scythe reignited to life. "You have barely learned your own place in this world, and you forget who trained your new master" she proclaimed with a hated glare.
"It's ten thousand years to early for you to even possess the hope of catching up to me, Lindros; my place is where it should be...and she just showed you yours" Rivia added with a casually gesture towards a silent Rosalina.
She pressed the edge of her scythe to the silent devils throat. "Speak your last regrets while you still draw breath; it is the least I can grant to one who has fallen to madness" her blade nipped at the devils throat, parting the slowly regenerating magical shield and draw blood.
Lindros barely showed signs of worry or pain, merely staring up at Rivia with a mildly fulfilled expression. "Long have I yearned to know more then you—and now my wish has been granted..." Lindros' gaze glanced from Rivia to Rosalina for but a second before returning back onto Rivia. "You speak of madness far too lightly Abaddon; it was through Atrinox where I learned my purpose, and it was through him where I learned what my current role was—and it was then when I learned how meaningless it is to strike me down; for I will rise again at his calling..."
Rivia's eyes narrowed. "I grow tired of your voice and arrogance..."
"Then you finally know how much I loathe yours" the devil stated with a glare before Rivia pressed her blade further into the champion of Atrinox's throat.
"Before I kill you, tell me what your true role is—make something of yourself now while you still can"
"Have you not been listening to me Abaddon, or have you chosen to ignore what you don't want to hear?" the devil replied with an amused grin. "Killing me was a waste of time... that... is my role" his eyes shone brightly again when Rivia's eyes widened at his meaning, yet before she could react, Lindros' voice rose to a maniacal laugh; a laugh that gave Rivia pause when malevolent demonic energy began coating Lindros' form, regenerating his body through a swirl of amethyst particles that pulled him into the air.
Once the swirl of energy dissipated, Lindros crashed down to the ground in an explosion of demonic energy that ripped several distant trees from their rooted position while Rosalina and Rivia stepped back from the force before they collected themselves.
Rivia's eyes shot up to the newly regenerated Lindros, who in the flash of motion, appeared before Rivia with his fist embedded in her abdomen.
BOOM!
Rivia eyes widened at the powerful impact to her stomach before she was sent flying a couple feet away. In response to his first strike, Lindros twirled around and drove his right leg into Rosalina's side before she could even react, sending her flying after the recovering Rivia Abaddon.
CRASH!
Rivia shot a glance over to a recovering Rosalina; impartially watching the woman spit out a large some of blood before her eyes returned to a weaponless Lindros slowly approaching.
"How can you—?"
"Regenerate?—simple, Atrinox desires more time—time that I will provide"
Rivia stood to her feet with a glare in her eyes, both cursing her lack of foresight and the apparent disadvantage they had against the man before them.
She could cut him... but he'll just regenerate, faster, stronger and more and more resilient—the only thing she had was her scythe and that wasn't something she'd gamble on right at this moment. On normal occasions, the average devil had multiple threats and dangers to consider; narrow that down to a single source of danger and it's almost impossible to capitalize on.
Rivia cursed again.
Lindros' lips curled in mock amusement. "Are we frustrated?—you of all people should know the man; you did train him after all—so you should understand why he wants you as far away as possible"
"It won't work like you think"
"I can say the same for you—all that bravado won't help save that boy..."
"Saving that boy was never my intention..."
Rivia's words hung in the air while eyes briefly trailed over the man's shoulders to a small shimmer of motion caught within the trees, yet her slight shift in gaze alerted Lindros to a flanking enemy.
His form twirled around, catching a set of crimson arrows in his hands before they exploded violently in a flash of azure flames; blotting out his vision long enough for a crimson spear to make purchase against the devils chest—however only a visible scratch was seen upon the magical shield coating the former Satanachia lord.
"Tsk...It's never bloody easy" spoke a voice through the smoke before Nyx leapt free from danger, landing gracefully beside Rosalina and Rivia.
"You two alright?" he asked without taking his eyes off of Lindros.
Rivia grunted with an added nod while Rosalina grumbled in annoyance. "Yeah—lets go with that..." she said before readying her sword.
Nyx snorted. "Well I guess that's good enough of an answer, now whose the freak?" Nyx's gaze narrowed at the silently amused devil in front of him.
"A champion of Atrinox, an actual willing acolyte granted power..."
Nyx lightly scratched the stubble on his chin. "Cool..." he mumbled dispassionately as Lindros tilted his head at Rivia
"More friends? I'm surprised you have any—and they've come to save you no less... how pathetic" Lindros stated with a lazy roll of his eyes.
Nyx however narrowed his eyes at the devil. "Something ain't feeling right about this guy..." Nyx muttered with an accusing glare while Lindros kept his gaze on the Oriax devil.
"That is normal..."
"There ain't anything normal about coming back from the dead..." Nyx stated after realizing who the man was...
Lindros merely smirked at the Oriax devils words. "And yet here I stand, reborn with a new purpose"
A roll of his eyes was Nyx's response to that. "Of course it had to be a 'new purpose'—what else is there?"
"Past enemies...left behind regrets—prior misguided beliefs..."
Nyx tapped his spear into the ground at his side once he caught the final ingredient to his present annoyance with the man. "Now I see...I've tasted the gut wrenching stench of regret before, but this...you got some serious issues don't you?"
For a moment, Nyx's words hung in the air for a second before Lindros outstretched his hands in a grand gesture, eyes filled with reverence. "I... Am but an instrument to a monument of what has—and what will be...an acolyte to a harbinger"
Nyx and Rivia remained silent upon the words of Lindros, focusing their minds on the opponent before them, however Rosalina froze again at the devils proclamation—her mind making way towards glimpses of a distant locked away memory.
A desolate field marred with the bones of billions...
A bright light shinning with a warmth that quelled away...
...an overwhelming rage
R̵̜͠O̴̪͚͠Ỏ̸̺͙Ó̴͖̈́O̷̦͊̈O̵̮̿̂͜O̷̳͂̄A̴͎̟̓̈A̴̬̾̔A̷͉͐Ä̴̢̙́A̶͓͒͒A̴͔̮̾͐A̷͙̽Ā̴̹͝Ṛ̷͐R̸͓̕Ṛ̷͑R̵̭̂̏R̸̛̫R̷̟̉̈!̶͙̽!̵͈̉!̴͓̫̍
"Rosa?"
Rosalina heard her name for a second but it was quickly drowned away by the distant echoing cry of an ear piercing roar that deafened all noise around her. She felt her hands cover her ears—desperately trying to staunch away the reverberating guttural cry within her mind yet her actions did little to silence it.
"Rosa, snap out of it!—what the hell happened to her?" came Nyx's confused voice came over the sound of the roar
"I don't know..." Rosalina could only barely hear Rivia's own confused words before the cultivated pressure building within her mind finally—
*static*
"Sleep child... I will not have you fall to insanity because of my decision..."
Without warning, Rosalina suddenly crumpled into a deep slumber in Rivia's arms—confusing all present, including Lindros before a sense of static filled their ears.
*static*
"As for this one... I will not stand idle as a fool preaches of secrets beyond his comprehension...
BE GONE!"
Without any other warning, a small violent rift in reality appeared at the core of Lindros, surprising both the man and the five devils observing him.
"What!?" he yelled out as his body snapped and broke down in the wake of the black hole, forcing the devils expression to contort in actual pain. "WHAT IS THIS—"
Before the man could question the mysteries of the black holes origin, he vanished into the event horizon of the black void—leaving behind several stunned onlookers. For a moment, the orb of sheer gravity sucked away at all around it, pulling loose debris in, but as if commanded by an unseen force, the black hole seemingly shrunk down and vanished—leaving behind nothing but a perfect crater.
.
.
.
[Elsewhere]
Within an unknown clearly a towering knight stood resolute, his gaze – hidden well behind his horned obsidian helmet – appeared distant yet focused; but after a moment of silence, the devils emotionless gaze suddenly turned to a random direction, catching the attention of another devil standing behind him.
"What is it?" silver plate armor – expertly crafted in make – glistened under the light of the dark sky while clear blue eyes stared expectantly at the black knight.
A snort soon followed after a moment of even further silence, and the large towering knight simply turned to his previous task, eyes growing distant once again...
"Your predecessor has fallen to hubris...he is no more"
The devils words cut through the silent forests air with finality, gruff disappointment clearly apparent in his statement alone.
The other knight could only stare back in stunned silence, an expression of sheer awed confusion adoring the devils gaze. "What do you mean by that?—fall to hubris?"
"It's as I stated... he is no more, gone without a trace"
"That is not possible..."
"..."
"Have you nothing further to say?"
"No..."
the sound of the silver knights begrudging click of his tongue filled the meadow; emphasizing his lack of belief towards the black knights truth—yet in regard to that, the aforementioned knight himself was none more so in the mood to regard such a phenomenon as it had also left him speechless, however, the only answer he could consider were the devils final words before ceasing from existence.
All he could say in regards to that were simple...
He had warned him...
[With Rivia and co.]
.
.
.
"What. The fuck. Was that?" Nyx questioned with a serious expression of awe and confusion; eyes still staring at where Atrinox's champion vanished.
From beside him, Rivia cradled Rosalina in her arms – barely aware on how tightly she was clutching her – before she swallowed down a lump of nervous fear that seemed to ease her senses—yet the still distinct sensation of spatial static still remained, keeping on edge.
"Did you hear it?—that voice?" she asked, having clearly heard the distinct sound of a female voice echoing within her mind.
Nyx stiffly nodded; he had very much heard the voice – the voice of a woman, and a pissed off one at that – but then again, how couldn't he have missed it?—it had been within his very mind.
[Anyone gonna explain what just happened?] Came Abigail's voice over the comm's link.
"I..." Nyx paused before realizing her needed to activate his own comm sigil to respond; the events prior having almost entirely frazzled his mind. This time, he thumbed his sigil. "We have no idea—all that we do know right now is that whatever that guy was doesn't matter, he's dead; don't ask how or who – not even what – cause we've got nothing to answer with. Just get down here with Rena"
[R-right...what about Rosa?]
Nyx paused before shooting a glance towards the woman; yet all he saw was the visage of a deeply slumbering devil... clutched in a really tight embrace.
"She's sleeping Abi – no idea how or why, but she's fine... at least I hope" he replied while calmly prying Rivia's grip off of the aforementioned devil. To his surprise, the elder devil shot her eyes at him – almost flinching when he gripped her arm – yet her gaze softened into a more relaxed visage once she registered him and then proceeded to loosen her secure grip around Rosalina.
His eyes narrowed at the woman's clearly spooked display of character, and if he was being honest, the sight of the usually calm and collected elder devil being as nervous as she was left him with more than enough degrees of worry.
"Where's Ryden?" he suddenly asked after noticing how quiet everything was...
Rivia's reaction was instant.
Killing me was a waste of time... that... is my role
Panic rose within her eyes before they locked instantly with Nyx. "We need to get to Ryden before Atrinox does; Lindros was merely stalling us" she informed urgently before she placed Rosalina on the ground and rushed to her feet.
However, though Nyx registered the urgency in Rivia's tone, his hand however gripped tightly onto Rivia's wrist—holding her in place with only a look of annoyance adorn on his features.
"How about calming down first—cause for the last couple hours, you've been nothing but spooked, nervous and down right out of it; and if I'm being honest, charging towards something that has clearly unnerved you seems all sorts of Ryden levels of reckless" Rivia's lips thinned at Nyx's words – annoyed beyond her ability of responding – yet above all else, her rational side couldn't help but agree with him.
Instead of growling at the man holding her in place, she sighed heavily—taking the few seconds to calm herself of her rapidly deteriorating reason.
Nyx nodded in thanks at Rivia's action as a lightly bandaged Abigail and a mildly singed Rena Valefor stepped up behind him, the both of them shooting glances to the both of them as well as the still unconscious Rosalina.
Rena was the first to check up on her, her hinted history with the Phenex devil leading her to take control of Rosalina's condition without order or request while Abigail and Nyx kept their attention on Rivia—patiently awaiting further answers to their unvoiced question.
Rivia's eyes lingered on Rosalina and Rena for a moment – distantly recalling the voice they all heard – yet with a light shake of her head, her eyes returned to Nyx and a patiently waiting Abigail; she knew of what they desired—answers, and she couldn't leave them all in the dark forever.
She sighed again. "My fear... or—my knowledge of what Atrinox can do—is...complicated; his final moments weren't exactly heroic, or...his own"
"What do you mean by that?" Abigail titled her head on confusion. "Was this some kind of side effect of his rapid ascension to power?"
Rivia idly nodded after a few seconds to ponder. "It's theorized—yes, but many of us believe it to be something else entirely"
Nyx rest his spear against his chest and crossed his arms. "That's all fine and interesting, but what I want to know is more aligned with the present situation; I couldn't care less how the man died right now, I just want to know why you believe Ryden needs help. I thought he made it clear from his actions alone that such a concept was... well... nonexistent"
"Atrinox's main ability is his rapid adaptation to whatever he faces; and over the years during the great war, his adaptation managed to literally nullify the purifying effects of holy light" Rivia's words pierced into the minds of all present, leaving them all speechless.
Rivia digressed.
"If Ryden faces off against Atrinox, then I fear his rapid adaption will grant him some form of immunity to Ryden... it may not threaten Ryden himself, but I can't say the same for us"
Nyx rubbed the bridge of his nose in clear frustration. "I can't be the only one thinking this is a major coincidence right? Of all the devils in hell, this guy just so happens to appear out of nowhere... from the bloody grave no less"
Rivia nodded, her eyes locked on him. "We've been in the territory of Lilith for some time—though not too long, but just long enough to create a thorn in the side of the Old-Satan's"
Rena glanced over to Rivia, eyes alight with realization. "Sounds like a major response was taken into action; considering you guys created that persona—and managed to outsmart, elude and humiliate both the hunter-killer units and the Swarm knights; then I'd say this Atrinox fellow is their final response"
Abigail nodded in agreement while the others followed along. "Well now that we know that, I think we should start moving before Ryden does run into that guy" her eyes skimmed over the forest around them, idly noting the lacking presents of adversaries around them. "Though I think we might be running on short time...those drones seem to be lacking in number right about now"
Rivia shot her eyes all around them, taking in the dead forest as well.
Though she could still hear the distant commotion of battle some few hundred yards to their flank, the idle crack of explosions and tree's splintering echoing within the forest itself had almost entirely lessened then what it had been before.
"Atrinox has consolidated his power... his forces have evolved in accordance to his opponents abilities" Rivia answered the unvoiced question.
Nyx snorted, catching Rivia's attention—to which he shot her a confident wink. "Good thing we don't use draconic energy then" was his response before he readied his spear.
Rivia found herself snorting in response. "No... I guess not, but—"
BOOOOM!
All eyes shot to the sight of a rising dust cloud, the previously audible explosion cutting short to any banter left between the four conscious devils once they realized who might have created it.
Nyx locked eyes with Rivia before his eyes glanced down to a still unconscious Rosalina. He sneered at the situation before shooting a nod to Rivia. "Go...we'll take care of Rosa, just make sure you don't get killed without our support"
Rivia nodded. "You forget who you speak too" she said before taking hold of her scythe and igniting it, the ethereal glow impartially illuminating Rivia's determined expression.
Nyx rolled his eyes. "Words still withstanding, now get going"
Rivia slashed at the air in response, cutting a rift into existence to travel through...
[With Ryden/ several minutes earlier]
There were several things currently bothering Ryden at the moment; the first pressing matter was the eerily silence he was getting from all three Infernum Armis' after he crossed paths with his second bothersome matter.
These mindless drones; physical constructs of demonic energy that for some reason possessed far more intelligence then he expected and also felt far more ancient then what he had original felt before back in Ashfeld.
Though before he had only ever shot at these things with Ventus so his senses regarding the finer details of their material construction was considerably matched with that of regular death knights; yet after cutting down a few with Fulgur or Ignis—the differences became clearly apparent.
Proximity helped in this case... and he knew for damn sure he had felt nether energy within every single drone he'd cut down. It wasn't random by encounter or large in quantity but it was still there to feel.
His third issue was why he never connected the dots with Project: Revenant when he had the chance to word its possibility to Sirzechs or Ajuka. Maybe if he had, then he would have at least been given a hint at possible resurrected contenders like this Atrinox fellow...
Kinda wonder now... who the fuck else would come risen from their grave?
Ryden dropped that matter, they had already bitten that bullet of a topic already and he'd rather not think too deeply on what if's at the moment.
His final issue was Tiamat...
She'd been shot down during her rush towards the distant forest fire, which was now very well obviously the bait to a well thought out trap.
Shit show didn't exactly cover all of it after that, and for a moment, Ryden knew to expect a level of tactics once his ass hit the ground.
He sure as shit wasn't wrong to expect that...
The damn drones he'd cut down before were suddenly hitting harder than before, and were moving with a much swifter speed than your average death knight. And while those goons possessed random abilities that often times contributed to a longer than normal life span when facing him, these drones moved with a unified purpose, and not one of them moved below the pace of the other.
His reaction speed was pushed further then it had ever been, and he wouldn't be lying if he wasn't feeling the odd draft from time to time as his noble flock coat was once again placed through the grinder.
Bad enough he was caught with his pants down on some occasions – metaphorically, not literally – but he quickly began to realize that he was being herded towards Tiamat's last known location.
The final nail in that coffin came in the form of a pretty well time drop kick to his chest... courtesy of a fourth drone knight taking cover behind a tree.
Crash!
"Bloody hell" Ryden cursed as he rose to his feet to block a downward swing from a second drone knight. This time, he didn't waste time with the locked parry and chosen to instead redirect it to the side and send out a pulse of kinetic energy—which predictably swept several other drones well off their feet.
He had to give it to his mysterious powers—as no matter how different these drones hit or moved, they seemed to never truly catch on to his telekinetic powers.
Force grips, mana bursts or full fledged force pushes that leveled trees did wonders in taking out several at a time, but the reinforcement issue was yet another hindrance on his list...
He didn't know the limits of the one controlling the drone knights, nor did he wish to truly test it by pushing his limits against something that gave Rivia the goose-bumps.
Apparent war masters who'd made themselves famous through exploits in a war that would make every human conflict shit itself in comparison didn't seem like good odds to challenge, no matter if the one in question was formerly considered deceased.
Not only that, but Ryden was not blind to the very obvious resistances the drones had when facing him, before, Fulgur's blade cut like a hot knife through butter—same shit different day, but after a time, that shit suddenly became noticeably more difficult to pull off.
Science came into play... electricity—on a common sense sort of platform, focused electric partials have the potential to cut through solid matter by literally displacing it.
Yet for some fucking reason, Fulgur had gotten stuck in one of the knights before...
'Limitless my ass' was what Ryden thought at the time after yanking out Fulgur.
The next resistance had been something of a flame retardant coat of some sort; hard as hell and clear as glass and about as thin as paper—it had been something that Fulgur excelled in cutting, but it's make was extremely well built to handle intense heat, leaving Ignis stuck on the benches when it reared its ugly head.
Though Ryden had been able to deal with the few knights that possessed the thin coat shield, its efficiency in taking out just one was significantly way over the top.
Destroying the dragon valley was not an idle sacrifice for just one drone when all he need do was exchange weapons and deal with whatever he faced.
Fulgur struggled against those that seemed to possess a more liquid metal type build – something that he assumed to be a case of smothered out electrical currents – while Ignis seemed to make short work of them; and on the vice versa however, the same could be said about the hardened knights resistant to Ignis but weak against Fulgur.
Hardened molecular bonds didn't exactly matter against focused electrical precision...
Ventus on the other hand... worked like a damn charm... against the hardened knights at least.
High speed regeneration seemed to be the norm against the ones possessing a more liquid based demonic construction, and Ignis only managed well against them because the loose molecular bond as well as the thick consistency of the knights build allowing the heat from Ignis' flames to literally melt the magical bonds within while also melting down the magical circuits holding them all together—leaving a mass puddle of overheated demonic liquid.
Nasty
So this was how he had been handing the drones for sometime... by loosely mimicking the finesse of Dante by rapidly exchanging weapon after weapon to face down whichever force that presented itself, while also reading combat formations and which oncoming knight possessed what resistance and while keeping his tab on where he knew Tiamat had landed.
Safe to say he wasn't landing any Triple S rank combos on anyone just yet – solid D rank was all he was giving for his effort – and he was damn well not going to over use his telekinetic abilities haphazardly just to overcome his sloppy defenses.
Though he knew why he lost more mental strength with every use of his powers, that didn't mean the distractions were less distracting. Meditation was required to overcome that issue and he didn't have the time to pull out some kind of shounen Deus Machina power up to just get over that hurdle.
One bloody step at a time...
Though at least he had Cerberus on hand whenever he needed it; the penetrating power behind its large Caliber sized barrel made it rather easy to provide high stopping power, as well as the round types he ingrained in the weapons cylinder made killing the coordinated drones somewhat of a cake walk.
For at least twelve or so minutes—after that and they could suddenly dodge demonic constructed bullets made of energy, or at least they seemed capable in predicting his shots well in advance to avoid getting hit.
CRASH!
"Son of a—" Ryden partially growled after being kicked yet again through a tree, his impact completely cracking the thick ancient bark like nothing and the massive tree behind him toppled over as gracelessly as he did. With a following curse at the one whom struck him, Ryden rolled back into a crouch and drew Cerberus before double tapping the momentarily disabled drone.
His demonic bolts displaced the drone's body like that of the terminator from judgment day, leaving both its stomach and head with a hole the size of a soft ball, however, thought its rapid regeneration kicked in, the hellbite round embedded in its stomach and head followed through flawlessly.
VVP-POP!
Like some sort of balloon, the drone popped like a nasty zit after its demonic circuit's combusted, caking several other knights around it in its now superheated melting bits.
Two more rounds reported in quick succession, when a second drone pushed passed the remains of the dead drone – barely even recognizing the loss in numbers – while the ones around it focused and consolidated the loss before reengaging with twice the ferocity.
Like a rapidly regenerating cell, any sort of loss was quickly replaced within moments and soon enough, Ryden found himself besieged by a renewed number of drones—around twenty in maximum total and nothing more.
The number of adversaries never exceeded the distinguished number, even when he decimated half of that with an aggressive swing of Ignis.
Ryden expected the numbering reinforcements to double after displaying his ability to cut down their numbers, however it had remained the same—yet each knight returning to engage moved twice as fast before and moved with adaptable accuracy, as if it had learned of its prior mistakes and corrected its engagement patterns.
Like lightning, no strike came twice the same way, always different, always changing.
For an experienced combatant, the mix up would be more of a challenge if the requirements of countering were met, yet unfortunately for Ryden, he only possessed the crutches needed to stay where he was—and his combat knowledge on reading advanced group strategy on the fly wasn't something Sirzechs or Venelana had taught him.
So in the end, all Ryden had in total uncontested advantage was his immense speed that helped anticipate and counter oncoming strikes with the use of Fulgur's lightning—which also helped him reposition at rapid speeds from time to time. His durability was also something that had helped him score several guaranteed hits whenever a drone decided to sacrifice itself by hitting him in a chosen direction—which either resulted in one of its limbs either shattering entirely, or crumpling in on itself like jello.
The few times they actually managed to hit him in the midst of his rapid movements – something that had slowly grown more and more common – it would usually spell the doom for at least one knight.
The measure in which the drones themselves took to get him off balance was extraordinarily coordinated, and Ryden would have been impressed were it not for the annoying fact that it always seemed to work out for them—no matter how hard he tried to prepare, or outpace them—they seemed to rapidly adapt to his movement patterns.
A trip, a grapple, and slew foot kick or a tackle was one of the many generic methods used on getting him primed for a powerful strike; and though it did nothing to damage him, and he could usually take out his frustration on the broken drone lying on the ground attempting to regenerate a new limb—the fact that they still managed to land their hits, continuously struck his nerves.
Like he said before, the drones were directing him by using their combined numbers; adapted skills and other such methods to push him directly were he wanted to go...
Tiamat
For whatever reason, the drones were forcing him towards his chosen destination...
And after realizing that, Ryden chose to disengage and rush towards the distant clearing within the forest; the sight of an azure blue dragon being his light at the end of the tunnel.
The idea of it being a trap was obvious, as it may lead to an ambush or some form of confrontation with the one controlling the drones following after him. Ryden had his suspicions, but he didn't exactly possess the luxury in thinking all that far ahead.
A blade nipped at his back once he turned tail and bolted towards the clearing, the strike itself having targeted his spine, but the blade pinged off his torso armor with little effort while another bounced off the nape of his neck, a high targeted strike to sever his skull and spine completely—a resulting instant kill if it had cut, but like its predecessor attempts, the sound of metal on metal echoed out from the attack.
Various others made landing, resulting in his flock coat getting most of the damage, which would later repair with a small jolt of demonic energy.
Though his life was in no longer in danger, his faith in his defenses was not absolute and he didn't desire to continue testing his defenses until it suddenly faltered, leading to an easily avoidable death.
His track record being a good enough example towards the existence of his worries...
With one last push, Ryden leapt into the wide open clearly with an audible exhale of exertion, his stamina mildly sapped from his confrontation with the drone knights behind him. With a quick glance to his 12 o' clock, Ryden surveyed his surroundings in seconds, noting the vacant clearly with only Tiamat being present in his left side peripheral vision.
After one second One second his hand reached down and drew Cerberus – body already pivoting to face his flank – while the barrel of Cerberus was leveled on the now empty forest with a keen eye scoping through magic cross-hairs, however nothing came into view, no drones or anything... the forest had suddenly gone silent.
Unease came to his mind while he continued to scan his surroundings, barrel skimming over each distant shadow rapidly, however nothing occurred... silence.
Ryden pursed his lips. "Trap sprung huh?" he asked aloud... no answer.
He grunted at the silence, untrusting of it. "Damn well feels like it..."
With one last scan, Ryden holstered Cerberus and pivoted around to stare at the state of Tiamat—idly noting her lack of consciousness, yet the pool of blood beneath her underbelly left much else to consider.
Her size made it difficult to flip her onto her back to study the wound, so instead he made do with a shocking wake up call.
ZAAPP!
Ryden tapped Fulgur against Tiamat's hard scales, only slightly causing the dragon to tense at the familiar element. A natural synergistic attachment with lightning made things easier to resuscitate, but Tiamat seemed to remain unresponsive with his first attempt and considering it was a dragon he was dealing with, Ryden instead chose to up the voltage by a lot rather than hesitate...
ZZZZZAAAAPPPP!
"GAHH!" with a loud growl, Tiamat gasped awake from the powerful arc of electricity that surged through her body, jump starting it while her violet purple eyes scanned her surroundings rapidly before centering on the sole individual staring down at her; his crimson jacket idly fluttering in a small breeze while his crimson sword cackled with very much active arc energy.
The culprit of her violent return to consciousness was identified...
"When they said Dragons possessed a mighty appetite I never thought they'd resort to eating dirt" Ryden joked idly, his lips soon rising to a smug grin when Tiamat's eyes narrowed at his jest.
"Zip it brat... this is... more than a little scratch..." at her words, Tiamat painfully rolled over onto her back, exposing the sheer damage down to her chest area.
A large focused blast of demonic energy somehow managed to bypass Tiamat's thick scale armor and gouge open a nasty hole that went almost directly through Tiamat's underbelly. If Ryden had to guess, the dragons left lung and ribs had been almost entirely vaporized from the attack itself—maybe even grazing the heart.
Ryden's expression of jest dropped to seriousness and his hand summoned his third and last Phenex tear. Without further words, Ryden leapt onto Tiamat's torso and cracked open the point cork.
"What are you doing? This is nothing, brat..."
Ryden poured the vials contents without a retort; however, when the extreme healing effects took hold, and the dragons chest began to quickly mend back together flawlessly—he shot a glance towards Tiamat, brow quirked in mild annoyance.
"Often times, your overbearing pride comes across as sexy – and I bloody well mean that." Tiamat's eyes widened at his words and Ryden made it an effort to ignore the freaking blush on Tiamat's hardened scaled cheeks. "However..." he began while hoping off Tiamat's torso to stand mere inches from her draconic head, the size difference between them slightly putting him off of his present confidence, yet he pressed his words regardless. "...sometimes accepting assist can go a long way in adding to that charm of yours"
There was a moment of silence from his words, the azure dragon king merely staring at him with narrowed slitted eyes...
"Tsk...Y-you win this time" she finally replied while lightly glancing away from him.
Seemed his words had an effect on her...
Ryden hummed at the sight, a smirk adoring his features as he took in the embarrassment on Tiamat. "...i think I kinda like your submissive side as well; it's endearing with that long face"
Tiamat's one visible eye locked with his, a glare directed onto him—though its intensity was more endearing then serious. "Careful with your humor, its giving away your nervousness"
"Well it's about time you picked up on it; I was trying to find an easier way to say 'get up you lazy woman!' but now I don't have too...so... Get up you lazy woman!" Ryden lightly pushed against Tiamat's snout, encouraging her to roll over and make something of his last Phenex tear, and with a begrudging growl of annoyance, Tiamat complied with a following glare.
Instead of remaining in dragon form however, Tiamat rapidly shifted down to human form with a crackle of lightning; though within seconds of her shifting to her human form, Ryden was suddenly pinned between a tree and Tiamat herself... an odd feeling of nostalgia soon erupting in his mind.
Ryden stared into Tiamat's hard gaze, eyes shifted left to right in confusion while Tiamat merely held her intense stare.
A moment of silence followed before Ryden made light of the position he was in, the feeling of Tiamat's firm breasts against his chest being more of a comfort then what he'd usually consider it.
He blamed the morning's events.
"Feeling nostalgic all the sudden?" he asked with a humored grin, brow quirked in question. His answer came in an even closer breach in proximity, as Tiamat's face leaned in closer to his own.
"Do you think this is appropriate of the situation?" Ryden asked once he could feel Tiamat's breath on his face.
"Yes..." was all the answer he got.
In a rush to get out of the situation, Ryden pressed for another subject. "So you're just going to ignore the fact that these guys can actually kill you?"
Tiamat's eyes glowed with annoyance. "They cannot, what hit me was something else entirely"
"Then we should—"
"Shut up..." by Tiamat's words, Ryden ceased speaking and Tiamat kept her eyes on him, remaining silent as well—merely choosing to stare intently into Ryden's eyes with a mysterious glowing light within.
Ryden's facial features however morphed preparation once he got an idea on what may occur. "Well say what you want to say, or kiss me if you want to kiss me—but you must be warned, I have been trained heavily in the arts of perversion, your worst cannot effect me"
His words were responded by Tiamat's hand rising to cover his lips while her lips passed over is left shoulder, holding fast by his ear.
"Tell me... what you said before... did you mean it?"
Any thoughts of countering or escaping through Tiamat's grasp were ceased the moment she spoke those words; words filled with such a degree of tenderness that he didn't expect to come from the usually defensive dragon king. With Ignis' and the others mysterious silence, Ryden's specialized abilities were slightly lagging behind—so his ability to read the soul or catch a glimpse of the feelings within his targets was all but gone.
Yet the hope in Tiamat's words sounded like a girl reaching out to something that she saw as more than just idle words tossed into the moment to weaken the prideful defenses of a woman. That's what Ryden intended to do back a moment ago—his comment on Tiamat's 'sexy' pride being the one thing she attached to.
Ryden's mind turned over and slapped him over the head with his lacking awareness once it realized what kind of situation he put himself in. With his off handed comment of the woman's sexiness – That which was true – he had caught the eye of a dragon with a deep yearning within her—a yearning for open affection.
It was hard to remember that Tiamat's exterior personality may be the aftermath of a shit relationship – possibly one filled with nothing but a one sided enjoyment, courtesy of Ddraig's legendary gentlemanly reputation – and now that Ryden's caught her attention to the point of a potential relationship being all but guaranteed if their fight ended with him the victor. Though such a gamble in reality wasn't that risky considering his lack of combat experience, the fact that she even considered it and approved of the challenge was clue enough to her interest, and because of that, her true desires were opening for the potential of being sated for once on her own accord.
That's he was reading however, with a woman—it was never that cut and dry, and with a female dragon king, it may even be worse.
Rejection may also be worse in this case as well—and if he was still put off by close proximity like he was before; always questioning the how rather than taking a deep breath and reading the moment, he would have already blown off Tiamat's hopes with more panic on his mind then thoughts on the woman's feelings.
He guessed the mornings cock fondling was rather eye opening... like a conquering of fears in some way. Ryden paused in his thoughts, awe striking him once he realized what Rosalina had done for him without even realizing it.
My god—he'd overcome the curse of virginity!
No more shall awkwardness tarry his thoughts any longer, no more shall boobs hinder his reason with thoughts of a quick back peddle; from hence forth, his mind shall be clear of stupidity...
Ryden lightly pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking away his odd reverent thoughts on merely growing up before he nodded at Tiamat's question.
"Y-yeah..." he idly mumbled, still hindered by the dragons hand over his mouth.
For an odd moment, Tiamat remained where she was – silently holding him without any words to follow – and Ryden couldn't exactly get a good look at her facial features until he suddenly felt the woman's other hand reach around his back and pull him against her.
"Tia?" he questioned when the feeling of his lower half pressing against the dragons lower half was felt—and by then, he was wondering if the Phenex tears had an adverse effect on dragons.
Though he had to be considerate of Tiamat's potential inexperience with enticing the first move—as all he knew, Ddraig may have been the one to start the fun times without her even wanting it, which didn't at all help build the dragon's reputation in his mind and further then it had already fallen and he was wondering what sort of sexual conducts dragons would consider to be over the line.
It was a shit show to be sure – and though not an entirely unwelcome concept – he just wished Tiamat chose to explore his body when they weren't in the midst of being hunted.
A sort of wrong time wrong place kinda situation...
Thankfully though, Tiamat was suddenly interrupted by the time her hand gripped a hold of his ass – which further acquainted his lower extremity with her own.
A broadsword impacted against Tiamat's back, shattering almost entirely and quite literally gaining the complete murderous attention of the dragon king. Ryden was the first to feel the pucker factor kick in when Tiamat's face rose to his visual level, and to say there was murder in her eyes would be the biggest underestimation of the eon.
Her teeth were gnashed tightly together, sharp razor like fangs groaning in clear frustration while dark purple slitted eyes glared through Ryden in hate. For a moment, Ryden fought to squeak out a word of fear but the sound of it was drowned out by the deep rolling growl emanating within Tiamat's chest—which exploded outward in a furious rage not a moment later.
"VERMIN!" like a clap of thunder, Tiamat roared out her complete disdain of the interruption before gripping Ryden tightly to her chest, pulling him along as she leapt backwards into the air above in a flash of bright blue lightning.
At the highest point of the leap, once Tiamat registered the number of enemies below her in an instant, she suddenly shot to the earth below as a literal bolt of lightning—with Ryden still gripping tightly to her like a damned child.
BOOOOM!
Unparalleled might crashed to the earth in a simple aerial stomp, the force of it cracking the earth with breathtaking ease while those below were simply vaporized by the wave of energy that exuded off of Tiamat's downward strike.
For Ryden, the sight of those liquid based drones simply hardening to molten slag before swiftly turning to ash within the span of a second left him just as breathless as he was with being Tiamat's literal body armor.
The hardened based drones hadn't fared much against Tiamat in the same field, as they simply shattered to pieces without anything to go afterwards.
It was silent for a moment after the explosion, long enough for Ryden register his still present position against Tiamat, yet before he could pull himself from her—the dragon merely tightened her arm around him before swiftly launching herself towards a new cluster of drones forming out of a flurry of dark particles.
With less power than before, Tiamat slammed into the squad of knights with enough force to send them flying in all directions, however her naturally flowing aura – which was now significantly aggravated – seemed to create a field of static electricity that literally held each drone knight in stasis. With their forms suspended in mid air, Tiamat easily grip one by the ankle before using him as a makeshift weapon to slam and crush the other knights with enough force to bypass their defenses and kill both parties in just one blow.
By instinct alone and without needing advice, Tiamat prioritized the ones with hardened shields and left the liquid based drones to the whims of her chaotic aura—the strikes of 'random' lightning bolts seemingly targeting them naturally.
As if being the thunder god Thor herself, Tiamat moved unabated, an unyielding force of fury that was left unharmed by the large force of drone knights coming in from all directions and in large numbers.
Strikes of lightning descended in mass droves, the power of a single one being enough to crack the earth and disintegrate anything struck, while also leave behind a stasis field that disrupted any sort of formation amongst the drones. Her hands – half clenched like a set of claws – slashed openly amongst the horde of drone knights; easily dropping any that closed the distance while her legs began to flash out in rampaging kicks that ripped limb from limb—and soon enough, Tiamat's form was partial coated in a clear vibrant blue flame that broadcasted the power she was using.
The sight didn't expose the dragons attempt at 'amplifying' her power, as the sight alone only meant the lacking of restraints. The sight of such power manifesting into the physical plain only meant that any sort of resistance mustered no matter the casualties led only to a repeated occurrence.
Tiamat's form boiled forth a sensation of power that coated the air around her in a beautifully terrifying energy that took the form of turbulent flames; her fist and legs seemingly cracked the air while her growls echoed throughout the forest without equal—only ever matched by the distant roars of her species some couple miles away.
Tiamat's fury – born form an intentional or unintentional cock blocking – made for a force none could contend against, and all Ryden could truly do was hold on for dear life. His legs wrapped around Tiamat's waist – freeing up her leg movements – while his arms quickly wrapped around her back, leaving his face held tightly against the woman's breasts.
He was emasculated to be in such a situation—like he was some sort of baby Tiamat had chosen to protect under all circumstances', his legs wrapped tightly around Tiamat made him feel like a bitch, but with the terror of combat raging on around him—he couldn't exactly do anything unless he wished to distract Tiamat.
He'd already tried to leap free from her before, but all that happened was the feeling of Tiamat's hand tightly securing him back in place before they returned to the slaughter.
His eyes skimmed over his surroundings, yet all he could make out were boobs – large a firm globes – the sight of which only being separated from his face by the thin fabric of the dragons military coat.
He tried shifting himself to at least keep an eye on Tiamat's flank but he underestimated the size of her chest, which resulted in nothing more than an impartial motor boating. With her constant motion and random jumps, kicks, leaps and random readjustments, the motion of trying to move his face out of the dragons bosom usually ended with his face being deeper than before—courtesy of the dragon king herself.
A struggle was all he could brand it, a struggle that most would kill to be in—but withstanding the might of a dragon whilst fighting for oxygen within a set of breasts was anything but a cake walk.
For the most part however, Ryden had turned his attention towards assisting Tiamat with the flanking drones. For a time, Ryden had been well accustomed to the energy signatures availing him—as the drones seemed to give off a sort of cold energy signature that blotted out all heat sources around them.
With the overwhelming heat emanating off of the land and off of Tiamat herself, Ryden found detecting each oncoming drone knight with just his senses alone to be rather easy—so instead of fighting to free himself from Tiamat's form, he instead drew in his senses and carefully expanded them until he could feel the abnormalities all around them.
The sensation was indeed cold, colder than any ice magic he'd felt before—as each drone knight seemed completely unaffected by anything heat based, no matter if their body was entirely melted down. Confusing as it was, the effect was perfect—and with one swift motion of his right hand, Ryden began peppering oncoming drones with hellbite rounds – courtesy of Cerberus – while remaining within Tiamat's possession.
He felt the dragon king pause at the sudden explosions coming from her flank before a soft rumbled rolled down her throat at the sight of Ryden's odd weapon point out at her enemies. Ryden tested a glance upward to catch the eye of Tiamat staring down at him...
A grin was all he could make in the heat of the moment when their eyes locked – a cheeky grin if he was being honest – and for a rare instant, Ryden watched as Tiamat's confused and annoyed expression changed into a bemused lascivious leer before she continued on in her battle against the drone knight horde.
Ryden's face fell back into the woman's bosom once her movement became more aggressive and erratic, and Ryden merely chose to return to doing his new task with an audible snort of humor. He really couldn't blame Tiamat for the look she gave him—because for a dragon, the extreme physical attention she was receiving to her breasts was probably a source of distraction that created a deep seeded desire that in away humored her in some fashion by the ridiculousness involved.
For him on the other hand, this shit was going down as one of the most odd combat encounters he'd ever been in; and though that list of encounters was short, he honestly believed nothing could top this moment in any fashion.
His size difference with Tiamat made him the perfect size to be mistaken as body armor, and the odd third arm pointing out from Tiamat's back – said arm being equipped with the most detailed triple barrel magnum in history – made for quite the sight to behold for any onlookers, especially when said third arm was attached to a man currently plastered within a set of breasts.
In some ways... there was a set of onlookers, yet Ryden just hadn't seen them yet due to the placement of his face and Tiamat hadn't paid them any mind due to the soft rumbling laugh echoing out from her lips as she continued to slaughter the knights around her with a new found sense of motivation.
A tag team duo done with a pinch of misplaced perversion, a synergistic dance of skill and power mixed with a side helping of fan service...
Gun shots echoed out in intervals and draconically enhanced limbs tore through the air in tandem of a perfectly in tuned style of combat—and in several moments of chaotic violence, the odd duo stood alone in an empty clearly, surrounded on all sides by piles of dead drone knights; their bodies either sporting large impact craters in several vital areas while other bodies laid scattered in multiple pieces or puddles of liquidated slag.
Tiamat's still present chuckle slowly ceased as the man still adoring her gracelessly dropped from his place against her body, crumpling awkwardly to the ground below. Ryden's eyes saw stars for a moment before a random shake of his head brought him back to reality.
He stared up at the smirking Tiamat for a moment, eyes shifting from left to right – studying the death around them – before he returned his gaze back onto the dragon idly wagging her eyebrows in a suggestive manner.
"I pity the poor fool who interrupts you in the future" was all he said before the dragon standing over him dropped down to straddle him.
"Speaking of interruptions" she softly growled alluringly while pushing the man down against the ground below. Ryden couldn't exactly contend against Tiamat's aggressive approach, which left him lying down below Tiamat as the dragon laid herself against him—lips tightly pressing against his own in a deep kiss.
Ryden didn't exactly remember how long the kiss lasted as his mind was reeling from the passion within it, yet by the time Tiamat pulled away – a present haze of heat laden within her eyes – he found himself pulling in a deep breath as Tiamat leaned in further to whisper in his ear.
"Honesty rewards..." was all she whispered before her lips idly nipped at his ear lobe.
Ryden couldn't really identify the root cause of the blush adoring his face at the time, either it being due to the placement of the moment itself—or the warmth in Tiamat's voice, yet in the end however, both aspects may be the cause; but if he was being honest, Tiamat's rare show of affection probably caused it more than the former excuse... and an odd feeling of manliness seemed perfect for the moment as well.
Then again, what more of a situation did you need to feel like a badass anyway?
Making out with a dragon king whilst being surrounded by the bodies of your enemies? No fucking shit would that be awesome.
Ryden holstered Cerberus before pulling Tiamat closer. "Guess I need to be more honest then..."
Tiamat softly chuckled at his words before lightly resting a finger against his lips, sealing them with a teasing nature. "Not so fast boy, you need to beat me in order to lay claim to your prize" Tiamat informed with a playful expression as she rose back up into a seat position on his crotch.
Ryden ignored the feeling for the moment, merely taking in the prior events with a light sigh to follow. "It won't be that easy will it?" he asked rhetorically.
Tiamat hummed at the question, light sparks of lightning dancing along her figure as she stared at him with a challenging smirk. "Do you really want me to answer that?"
Ryden grunted after a twitch was felt below his belt. "No... It was a rhetorical question; I'm expecting our fight to be hard anyway"
Tiamat lightly snorted at the man's words before she ground her hips against him; an action that made Ryden come to terms with how close their proximity was—which was exactly what Tiamat was aiming to do. "Hm... i will say it will be much harder" she all but purred out, clearly feeling what lay beyond their sight. "Though I am rather flattered to receive such a response... what an eager little boy you are"
Tiamat's words came out dripping with humor as Ryden rolled his eyes at the dragons choice of words; like out of all she could have said, it had to be a boner joke—as if his little buddy wasn't going through hell as it was, but now the current party had to tease him...
Fucking blue balls...
The sound of glass shattering caught the attention of the duo, and for a moment, Ryden's blood felt as if it were ice when his eyes locked with a shocked Rivia Abaddon—the aforementioned devil seemingly stepping out of a rapidly summed rift with her scythe primed for action, yet the first thing she sees is a clearing full of dead drones and two perverts laying in the middle of it.
Perspective, perspective, perspective...
For a guy, the sight would be mildly awe inspiring—and one would most likely fire off a thumbs up towards the pinned party whilst admiring the setting around them; however, this was a woman – an old female devil to be exact – one that had a hinted history of jealous possessiveness only when it came to the other woman residing in the clearing; and it was safe to assume the mild amounts of steam rolling off her shoulders wasn't her sexual desire running into overload... no, she looked pissed.
However Tiamat remained where she was; pinning both him and his little todger down with her ass alone whilst staring at Rivia with a challenging leer—a leer that Rivia ignored completely.
"Ryden, why is Tiamat straddling you?" Rivia suddenly asked with a quirked brow, features clearly containing a rapidly mounting frustration.
Ryden's vision focused back onto reality at Rivia's question and he blinked away the odd fantasy invading his thoughts before replying. "Damndest thing Rivia, I don't exactly remember—but considering the position, I'd have to direct your attention onto the dragon currently residing on my lap—as I'm sure she'll be the one to answer that question"
Rivia's eye turned to narrow at the smugly grinning Tiamat before her attention returned to Ryden. "Out of all the places—it had to take place here and now" she scolded frustratingly and Ryden quickly found himself shrugging at the woman's words.
"What?—it's not the first time I've had to do something similar in a forest surrounded by enemies" Ryden's defense surprisingly sealed Rivia's lips as the woman now standing before them paused in her tracks—eyes wide in realization...
Before they narrowed dangerously...
Smart move player...
Ryden's blood idly went cold for a moment when he heard the distant voice of Fulgur 'compliment' his choice of response, and for his own defence, the retort did feel natural in some way—but then again, he was dealing with women.
Probably not a good idea to make light of past tender moments...
"I see... so we shall play it like that then... in that case"
Ryden and Tiamat watched Rivia raise her free hand and snap her finger, creating an audible ringing noise as well as literally remove the ground below the duo.
Ryden's eyes widened when he felt himself begin to fall back into the unknown while Tiamat – who had been lazily lying on top of him like a noble house cat – stared down at the predicament with an eye of intrigue.
"So that's what the devils meant by power of 'hole'... hm... I was thinking of something more—intimate" Tiamat's teasing words only made Rivia's gaze grow more murderous as yet another rift appeared above them with another snap of her fingers.
Ryden merely stared at Tiamat as if she was bloody suicidal, and yet the azure haired dragon merely shrugged to herself before pulling him closer as they literally feel backwards on repeat like a redefined version of the infinite Portal loop.
It carried on 'comfortably' for a moment before they suddenly hit terminal velocity and at that point, even Tiamat thought it was getting out of hand while Ryden's cry for mercy started to warp due to the speed of their decent.
After several seconds of this; both Ryden and Tiamat suddenly shot out of two separate rifts in space, before landing gracelessly in front of a slightly appeased Rivia Abaddon.
While on his back, Ryden titled his head upwards to look up to Rivia with an apologetic expression – his eyes barely managing to avoid gazing at the woman's under garments – while Tiamat casually picked herself up as if she didn't just grind her face against the hard earth below her.
Rivia – in an effort to appear smug as fuck – leaned forward to stare down at Ryden, her aforementioned grin of smugness withstanding in full effect. "Have fun?" she asked with a quirk to her brow that practically dared him to respond sarcastically.
With his intelligence reengaged after his marginal fuck up, Ryden shook his head. "N-no..."
"Good—then let that be a lesson for placing personal desires over present issues, and that goes for all others currently present" Rivia's eyes drifted over to Tiamat who merely smirked challengingly at the devils gaze.
"Is that a threat little one?" Tiamat questioned with an allure that Ryden tried very hard to ignore.
Rivia's head briskly nodded once, hardly caring of the comment towards their age difference.
"It is..." she said simply before a challenging grin spread over her lips. "Unless you need me to explain further; I'd be happy to accommodate a fossils lacking knowledge on common dialect as well as what is and isn't theirs"
Tiamat's gaze became predatory. "Oh? And what makes you think you can stop me from claiming what I want?" she asked with a tone just as dangerous as Rivia's
Are they... going to fight?
Ryden's eyes marginally broadened at the return of Ignis before he shot back his reply openly...
"Out of all the moments to return, you had to return before a cat fight ensues?" he question aloud—effectively giving pause to both females before they started to claw at each other; their eyes glancing back to the now standing Gremory.
Ryden summon Ignis to his side, eyes staring at the weapon with a glare. "I've had to fight these damn daedric daemon looking pricks in total silence without any sort of advice, but yet once the sexually frustrated dragon starts talking shit to the possessive devil—you suddenly get all talky on me?—And where the hells Fulgur? I know heard that wench just a moment ago"
Tsk... Do I really need to say anything? Both those two seem not a moment away from getting a good 'taste' of the other, so why exactly do I need to commentate?"
Ryden unsheathed Fulgur before glaring at it. "There you are you little shit"
Little shit? Oh you're cruising for a fuckin boy!
Ryden's response to the spirits spicy retort was to merely drop the sword to the floor—the legendary blade of apparent 'limitless' power made landfall with a pathetic 'clack' before Fulgur's voice cut back with a low warning tone
Oh you're in for it now...
HAHAHA!
Must you idiots be so damn loud! I'm trying to focus here!
Ryden eyes glowed venomously at the wind spirits sudden return. "Ventus, you big fucking nerd, where the flying fuck have you been?"
Ryden's eyes twitched irritably as the wind spirit grew silent once again, potentially ignoring him; and from his flank, both Tiamat and Rivia – the both of whom having dropped their prior confrontation – stared at the man like he was losing it.
For Ryden however, he waited for a response.
...do I need to answer that question? Its rather a difficult answer to make with less than five words
"Skip the explanation and answer the main one damn it—you guys spooked out or something?"
Oh... yeah, about the silence—Ignis and Ventus kinda told me to stay silent after that little encounter with the Death knight back in that other territory; something on about the construction of these 'daedric daemon' knights you've been facing...
Ryden force pulled Fulgur back into his right hand after her words filled his ears—and as a bonus; he idly cleaned the woman's handle down with a few wipes before sheathing her.
"Good girl" he idly praised, effectively receiving a moan in response to his actions before his other hand raised Ignis back up to eye level.
"So new guy, care to elaborate on that?" small flicks of light shone within the tree like design on Ignis' axe before his reply came—but it was Ventus who replied.
In some way – or by some unknown method – each of these 'daedric daemon' knights seemed to be partially laced with... nether energy...
Ryden paused in his thoughts as each one of them immediately centered on the wind spirits final words. Nether energy, the same energy he'd encountered back in the Territory of Lilith; and for some reason each knight he'd faced possessed a modicum of it within them... well that changed things
Yes—as far as I can tell, the amount of nether energy infused in each drone up until this point is far too low to amount as anything super dangerous, but if I had to say anything regarding the individual that Rivia fears, I assume his own abilities have been substantially enhanced by it
Ryden sighed, eyes turning over to both Tiamat and Rivia before her gestured them to come closer. "You both need to hear this" he said simply, tone all the sudden serious.
"Explain again what nether energy is and what it does naturally" Ryden commanded to Ventus as he dismissed a silent Ignis. From his left and right, both Tiamat and Rivia widened their eyes at the implied question.
"Ryden, what—?" Rivia made to question the context, but was interrupted
"Apparently this major threat that's got you acting funny is potentially infused with nether energy, yet for some reason the nether energy itself isn't exactly acting as it should be"
Indeed it isn't Ryden—but so far I'm confused on what you yourself seek, as all we've been studying are these 'drones' natural ability to resist our elemental power; as normally, cutting through live material isn't much of an issue for us, but these 'drones' seem oddly resistant to our strength
"What's he saying?" Tiamat questioned after a moment of waiting.
Ryden glanced at her. "Ventus is saying that these drones have managed to adapt a sort of defense to their natural cutting edge, which pisses me off"
Tiamat nodded at his words, partially recalling the instances when such occurrences' appeared similarly in her own engagement not a few moments ago. "That explains how some of those mongrels managed to survive some of my weaker attacks"
Rivia remained silent at Tiamat's reveal – her eyes studying the dragon closely in silence – while Ryden feigned intrigue. "Damn, that's crazy...unfortunately my eyes were preoccupied at the time so I didn't get a chance to catch that" he drawled with a twitch to his left eye that seemed to amuse Tiamat in a few more ways than one.
In direct response, Tiamat grinned like a Cheshire cat. "Indeed they were..." was all she said—a very light blush teasing across her cheeks as her left arm idly crossed under her bust, accentuating them slightly.
Ryden's eye twitched again at the action while Rivia contemplated the desire to pinch the man's cheek; that grin residing on Tiamat was enough to get her defensive.
"Do I want to know what that means?" she asked, sharp golden eyes locking onto Ryden.
The man merely shrugged dismissively. "I'm sure you'll find out later..." he dismissed with a wave of his hand before returning to seriousness, eyes turning to Rivia. "Anyway—did you discovery anything odd?"
At that sudden question, Rivia quickly remembered Lindros – the formerly deceased, and now confirmed deceased, former head of the secretive family of Satanachia.
She nodded. "We did..."
Ryden's head teetered to the side in wonder. "Anything spicy?"
Rivia paused for a moment and took in Ryden's expression—easily noting the man's lack of complete focus in regards to the threat that was Atrinox; and his odd choice of words – though amusing in their own way – mildly put Rivia off. But it was then that Rivia remembered that she hadn't completely informed Ryden of what Atrinox was capable of. Amidst the shock of the devils return to the land of the living, Rivia had foolishly allowed her long since sealed away memories of Atrinox cloud her judgement.
Nyx had been right to confront her; with her clearly rushed approach to face Atrinox, she had been ignoring her duties as the senior veteran. Rivia knew all too well the cost of losing focus to ones duty and it was through Nyx Oriax's own experience that he'd managed to identify her mistake before it truly happened.
She cursed to herself silently at that – her mild annoyance towards Ryden's state of focus quickly dissolving – and Rivia quickly remedied her foolish actions thus far with words.
"We confronted another long since deceased devil – Lindros Satanachia – but he... fell... like the rest of the Death knight before him." Rivia fought off the desire to mention the event involving Lindros himself, but the situation they were in didn't exactly allow for extended dialogue.
Any information provided would be of assistance...
Ryden nodded at the information. "Any idea if that correlates with this Atrinox guy?"
"No—Lindros was brought into Atrinox service's through his own means... but I believe Lindros was revived before Atrinox inducted him into his legion" Tiamat's eyes slightly rose at the information while Ryden chewed on the reveal for a moment.
"Necromancy?" Tiamat asked inquisitively and Rivia confirmed with a brisk nod.
"Something like that—Atrinox is only able to revive the recently deceased, so Lindros may have been resurrected by other means before Atrinox recruited him" Ryden pursed his lips in abhorrence at Rivia's explanation; by the sounds of it, this Lindros fellow was probably brought back by the same means that brought Atrinox back before he was suddenly indoctrinated into a legion—probably against his will.
"Does that mean these Death knights were once living beings?" Ryden questioned with still present disgust; yet thankfully, Rivia shook her head—dissuading his thoughts of mind control.
"No... They are his will given shape, constructs of energy formed by Atrinox himself—they are what make up the bulk of his forces, but he was once known for taking in others upon death... why—I do not know completely"
Tiamat crossed her arms, already fed up with the dreary nonsense being spewed. "So this Atrinox devil is a cowardly weakling who uses numbers and the dead to face his enemies?—I find your nervousness towards such a man to be seriously questionable" Tiamat's eyes studied the Abaddon devil sharply, her natural intuition easily managing to detect the low hints of nervousness towards this Atrinox devil; yet to Tiamat's surprise, her words garnered a sharp glare from Rivia, one that actually managed to throw both herself and Ryden for loop.
"I fear because fear itself is useful, and what Atrinox became—fear is understandable; just as much as one would fear the likes of Sirzechs Gremory; fear is what keeps the wise alive—and it is fear that has kept me alive all this time..."
Tiamat managed to softly retort once Rivia paused in her speech. "You speak highly... and yet... I can still feel it on you... the wafting odor of fear" Tiamat's words managed to silence Rivia in some manner—the accuracy of the observation being just enough to seal her lips for a moment.
"You will understand..." was all Rivia whispered back.
Tiamat, for her part—merely shrugged. "Perhaps..."
Ryden stared on at the two, yet his eyes continued to return to Rivia in worry. While it was true that fear itself was more useful then it was annoying – allowing lesser beings to identify predators in the wild – he just couldn't wrap his mind around Rivia Abaddon being scared.
She is not scared Ryden... Rivia Abaddon's nerves are merely on edge, and for a good reason...
How so?
Its taking longer then I like, but the energy source mixed in on these constructs – or drones as you called them – is far DARKER then I originally assumed.
Aye... Rivia Abaddon may have seen something in her years that has still remained a mystery...
Hmm... Indeed, to see but not understand—I guess that would be enough to heighten ones instincts...
That word... instinct... Ryden felt his mind center in on that word the second Ignis mentioned it. Of course that was the defining difference between two separate states of fear.
The first kind was common, a natural fear of anything—be it water, heights, or spiders; those fears are natural. However, the second sort of fear was primal fear—instinct born, and picked up by anyone when in the face of a danger that could threaten their life.
Instincts were a warriors life line – along with his/her skill – but in all warriors, each one possessed a level of instinct born fear that gives them the awareness to identify 'worthy' opponents, or potentially life threatening predators.
Ryden had to assume that Rivia's naturally forged instincts had gone into overdrive upon seeing Atrinox for the first time since the Great war—and he couldn't really blame her, but at the same time, he had to question it as well.
What was so different about Atrinox compared to other much stronger devils?
Sure the mysterious devil had managed to split Fulgur's arc lightning in half back in Ashfeld, but Ryden never really put too high of faith in long ranged attacks, as anyone could potentially counter if given enough time, and unfortunately—Fulgur's 'rolling thunder' – as he'd come to name it – didn't move as fast as one would think...
It wasn't slow, but it wasn't High velocity levels of fast either...
Aside from that gamble of an attack, Ryden didn't have much else to think of the mysterious Primarch until he crossed blades with him, or at least looked upon him in close proximity. The others hadn't been much affected by Atrinox as they were more so affected by his Zombie-daedric-drone knights then they were of him—so Ryden assumed the warrior's instincts had some level of proximity.
Like a sensory organ, one must be a certain distance from the danger to know of its presence...
"I see...i think I understand now..." Ryden muttered, quickly gaining the attention of the two others present. Ryden ignored the look on Tiamat – a look of surprise – and focused on Rivia. "What else can this guy do?—I noticed on my way here that his drone knights seem to have adapted a level of biological defenses alongside their natural defenses, can he do the same?"
Biological defenses—like the hardening of the skin with a protective glass coating, shielding the body from extreme heat; and the liquid state induced within the body—the effect lessens physical integrity, but allows for the smothering of electric currents.
Thankfully, both adapted forms seem to be weak against the opposite weapon they were created to counter.
Rivia quickly nodded at his question. "In some ways, Atrinox has been able to mimic certain types of magical damage, but certain types of elemental attacks prove harder to defend against and copy..."
"I see—so that explains why the Infernum Armis' are having issues cutting; what with their already identified limits in certain departments, the added biological adaptations in these drones has made it a hassle to deal with"
Rivia nodded in understanding. "That will not be an issue for me..."
"I'm sure..."
Ryden suddenly halted mid thought before twirling around rapidly, his hands already moving to draw both Fulgur and Cerberus in one fluid motion, while at his flank, Rivia's scythe reignited into action before she held her blade at her right side in a loose but firm grip...her stance – though lax – expertly poised to pounce.
They both felt the sudden arrival of a fourth demonic signature...
Clap clap clap...
Tiamat casually turned to the oncoming sound, lazily acknowledging the arrival of another nuisance with a set of slitted predatory eyes that narrowed dangerously as a lone figure – adorn in ornate silver plated armor – stepped out into the opening of the clearing with what looked like an insouciant smile. The man's form was mostly covered in practical knightly armor – though still ornate enough to constitute a fantasy type design – and the only thing clearly visible was the man's handsome face draped with a finely groomed head of short blonde hair.
The man's appearance was however a familiar one...
"Rodin Satanachia..." Rivia muttered at the sight of the devil, a recognition that managed to garner the curiosity of both Tiamat and Ryden.
Ryden narrowed his eyes at the man before he idly voiced his curiosity. "You know this guy?"
Rivia's lips thinned in response, the forthcoming thoughts aligned with the devil in front of them being far too bitter to be voiced without a tone of animosity. "He's the current head of the Satanachia clan—an extra demon class family tightly associated with Lucifer, he's merely one of six families directly tied to him—Rizevim that is..." Rivia's answer seemed to slightly amuse the aforementioned devil as the carefree grin shifted to that of a flattered gleam.
"Your knowledge of us both flatters me and yet it doesn't surprise me lady Abaddon; my family's history almost directly ties with your own after all... though I must say, I'm rather glad to see you in a finer state then what Lord Rizevim had in store for you; his methods of humiliation are far to savage for us to condone" the man's eyes shone with disgust at the underline thought and Ryden found himself mentally nodding at the devils word.
Public rape is a rather savage method of humiliation after all.
"That fool is beyond irrational" Rivia spat with a glare, completely ignore Rodin's prior words. "His mind is far more clouded then his father and you know it" Rivia's words should have garnered a loud rebuttal filled with nothing but blind reverence and misplaced faith, yet Rodin Satanachia stood by casually—merely staring at the woman and the two standing beside her, and in doing so, his eyes locked onto Tiamat for a moment before he idly grinned wider once Rivia ceased speaking.
"I'm afraid I have no response for such words lady Abaddon" his eyes dropped off Tiamat to regard Rivia once again. "Much as changed within the six since my father's time and the loss of the one true Lucifer" Rodin's expression hardened briefly after mentioning his father—a reaction that only Rivia understood – yet the man's eyes returned to Rivia's with a renewed casualness. "we have not truly deigned to recognize the man you detest as our reverent ruler, as the man himself is far more interested in sodomy, orgies and ancient forgotten myths then leading our forces against your own." Rodin scratched his chin idly.
"I guess you can say a few others of a more focused caliber are currently focusing on those tasks more than him, especially after the loss of such an historic city" his eyes skimmed over to Ryden this time upon finishing that sentence, and Ryden felt as though the man knew exactly who had been the one to destroy that certain city.
He was wrong however...
The Satanachia devils eyes flashed bemusedly upon meeting his own before his eyes locked onto the crimson sword held in his hand; a grin slowly rising further on his lips as he drank in the luster of the blades glow.
"You must be the one unsealing the Infernum Armis'—lady lucifuge has spoken of you quite frequently since your last meeting with her" the man's eyes narrowed curiously right when Ryden's own hardened into a glare. "Though she refuses to elaborate on why that is..." an aloof comment seemed to be all he could voice on the matter, and even if Ryden's anger had risen at the mention of that woman—he had to ponder why Grayfia refused to express the reason of his animosity.
Still, Ryden's eyes remained sharpened at the mention of Grayfia, and the look alone forced an even wider grin to Rodin's lips. "Well I'm not surprised by your reaction; Luci has stated your disdain for her is one of your most defining traits... I'd be careful with that if I were you"
"Noted..." Ryden could only growl a single worded response, prior frustrations mounted.
Rodin's lips curled into a charming grin before his gaze returned to Tiamat, yet just when his eyes locked onto the woman; the aforementioned dragon king suddenly appeared before him—her right arm already in the midst of punching directly through the man's heart.
Yet upon impact, Tiamat's arm passed through him as if he was made of liquid metal... and in part, he was...
Tiamat's eyes widened at the ineffectiveness of her strike while Rodin casually stared down at the fist logged in his chest cavity before glancing up to Tiamat, the softly oozing silver like liquid being the only indication of a full penetrative strike.
"Oh dear... that was a little too aggressive don't you think?—all I wanted to say was how honored I am to meet face to face with thee chaos karma dragon" the man stated with a calm demeanor while Tiamat glared down at the annoying devil.
"...cease your lies devil" was all she said before pulling her limb free and releasing a pulse of electricity at the man, yet upon taking the small underestimated charge of lightning, Rodin's form absorbed the electricity—his body easily smothering the electric currents with his odd demonic powers, yet his form was still sent flying back several yards from the residual explosion of draconic energy.
BOOOM!
Tiamat didn't even look surprised, merely annoyed by the outcome of her attack. "Tsk..." she growled as the Satanachia lord righted himself from where he landed.
From the distant yard or so away, Ryden quickly registered the potential weakness of the devils power by the experience used against the same type of drones he'd encountered before; at that, his eyes shot to Tiamat while he leveled Cerberus towards the aforementioned devil.
"He should be weak to fire Tiamat!" he yelled out as Tiamat pressed a rapid assault on the knightly devil, however all that came from his advice was a small laugh from Rodin Satanachia as the devil sidestepped and dodged a few of Tiamat's 'lazy' strikes... if one could call those lazy.
"Try if you wish my dear—" Rodin snickered after dodging a knee directed at his stomach. "—but I'm afraid the weakness you discovered is not my own—rather..." the devils eyes idly skimmed over to both Rivia and Ryden after sidestepping under a roundhouse kick, his gaze locking on something looming behind the duo.
And before Rodin spoke, Rivia already knew the answer...
"...It's his"
Ryden's sense's ran cold for a second when Rodin pointed to his and Rivia's flank, yet just when they both turned to regard whoever it was, Ryden suddenly felt the back of a metal fist impact against his left cheek, the strength behind the strike quickly sending his unprepared form tumbling a few hundred yards away, only ever stopping when he made contact with a thick tree that cracked under the force of his impact.
CRUUNCHK!
Ryden mumbled a quiet curse before rolling to his feet only to see Atrinox himself connect a lower uppercut towards Rivia's stomach before she could respond in time to counter; yet due to his decision to strike him first, Rivia managed to collect herself and react in time by partially leaping away from the towering Primarch, and with the size difference between the two, Atrinox's reach managed to partially connect with the woman's chest just enough to send her careening towards a distant boulder—the stone itself cracking upon contact with the sailing Abaddon devil—yet with the already in motion backwards retreat on Rivia's part, it was already a miracle she hadn't been folded in half from the full strike itself.
Ryden heard Rivia gasp in pain once she crashed against the stone wall, the wind in her lungs having been easily smacked out of her. Yet before Ryden could assess her potential injuries from where he was, the devil that had struck her was all ready barreling down on him with full speed.
Ryden ignored Rivia's condition and ready himself the moment the silent Primarch death knight stepped into his strike zone. Atrinox was a lumbering mass for sure—almost around 8 feet tall and corded with muscles that made his daedric like armor appear more like a thin set of armor—merely decorative in design.
A small exhale of breath brought Ryden back to the present as he quickly registered the long sword held in the devils hand. Its sudden appearance was a mystery he left to ponder some other time, and without hesitation Fulgur flashed into action to intercept the diagonal strike from the large devil.
CLANG!
The ground cracked under Ryden's feat upon blocking Atrinox's swing; their collision of power easily uprooted a few trees behind him. Ryden held his blade against his opponents for a second – just long enough for him to grasp his bearings – until a series of follow up strikes ensued immediately upon him pulling his blade away.
The skilled parrying and volley of rapid strikes on both parties echoing out loudly, filling the air with thundering explosions that ripped the earth apart with each block and strike. Ryden pressed his counter assault – using his advanced speed to outmatch Atrinox's own – while his eyes studied the silent and tranquil focus residing in the beady red eyes of Atrinox.
The experience in the devils present conduct was painstakingly obvious; yet in the physical department – Ryden triumphed, but in the experience department... there was a gap.
Atrinox moved with swiftness not normally expected in devils his size—as speed alone always managed to throw them off guard, yet the towering daedric wannabe managed to quell Ryden's rapid advance with expert redirections that normally ended with Ryden following through with his swings with mix-ups involving low kicks or elbows—yet every last one of them ended in blocks or dodges.
For a moment, the ground at Ryden's feet took more punishment from his own swings then anything Atrinox managed with his own physical strength; but since the beginning of the engagement, neither Ryden nor Atrinox managed to make any direct hits, as their varying skill categories in their own fields created a stalemate.
While Ryden's speed entirely outmatched Atrinox's own, his form and approach made predicting his swing far too easy for Atrinox to redirect. And while at first Atrinox's strength was no laughing matter, the difference in his strength compared to Ryden's was almost night and day.
Ryden's swings were like hurricanes, filled with enough kinetic force to uproot a tree—and enough brute strength to shatter stone as if it were crumbling bread. Redirections were all Atrinox could afford to do in the face of Ryden's counter assault
CRASHH!
Ryden shattered a portion of a boulder situated behind Atrinox – the Primarch having managed to sidestep the swing just in time to have Ryden cleave it almost neatly in half. and in that moment where Ryden's blade paused half way through the stone—Atrinox rounded a quick haymaker with his off hand as his sword was in no prime position to attack within an agreeable time frame.
However, a soundless explosion erupted from Ryden's form, and Atrinox was suddenly sent flying back by a pressurized shockwave that both destroyed the boulder in front of Ryden and cracked the earth at his feet while also shattering several trees around him.
SSSCCCUUUVVVV...
"Unf..." Atrinox grunted gruffly as a blast wave followed through with the detonation, forcing even more air from the Primarch's lungs.
Ryden stood within the epicenter of the small but powerful eruption of telekinetic force before he glanced over to where he heard and Atrinox land. the Primarch was momentarily disoriented by the sudden repulsion and in the span of a single instant—Ryden twirled around and threw Fulgur directly at the Death knight without hesitation, the speed and strength behind the throw easily turning the great sword into a spinning disk of crimson lightning.
Power enveloped the sword as it sailed through the air, and small bolts of lightning shot out in all directions before it nearly severed its target in two...
PING!
Fulgur was deflected at the last second; a large black circular shield – rapidly constructed from energy – having been the one to protect her intended kill. However, the slight break in visual contact between opponents gave Ryden a second opening.
Atrinox's red eyes partially flared in warning has he watched Ryden slide into a kneeled crouch a few dozen yards away—an Elven bow held in his hands while three orange arrows appeared, primed to fire.
Hesitance was none existent and the arrows were released the second they formed-
THUUUUVVV!
THUUUUVVV!
THUUUUVVV!
Three rapid shots sailed again through the air towards the Primarch Death knight—however this time, the attack was a success, if only partially. The towering knight slide and dodged to the side – avoiding the initial arrows themselves, however right as soon as the arrows struck the earth near him—they exploded into violent fiery infernos that engulfed both himself and a large swath of land that ended with Ryden's vision of the Primarch obscured by smoke and debris.
BOOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!—BOOM! BOOM!
A chain reaction explosion, courtesy of high levels of energy in a single position. Ryden fought off a small grin at his efforts, but unfortunately his small victory was short lived when several Drone knights rushed out from the cloud of smoke, their weapons being that of a long sword and a large tower shield. Ryden shot out a telekinetic push towards them – remembering his natural abilities unique effectiveness against the drones – and with one push of his hand, the small squad was sent flying... dead long before they hit the ground.
Yet immediately after, another set of six drones replaced the former numbers just as they were dispatched, and this time Ryden transitioned over to Ignis to handle the large tower shields, yet in doing so—Atrinox suddenly jumped into the fray from the smoke cloud, his hands now wielding two long swords.
He knew of Ryden's lacking experience with the battle axe based purely on his drones experience against it.
Ryden knew his handling of the battle axe was minor in comparison to the war veteran before him, and though his intuitive aptitude managed to give him some form of understanding of the new addition to his arsenal—his limits were still easily highlighted when he became instantly pressured by the Primarch devil and his drones.
Ryden countered and blocked any oncoming swing he could see to the best of his ability and understanding of the weapon in his hand, yet his clear lacking experience and familiarity in the use of a war axe left him far more open then he liked—and it showed.
With Atrinox's sudden use of two swords and his escort of six drones, Ryden felt more and more strikes land against key areas that centered on his balancing. The back of his knees were mostly targeted while his ankles and wrists were also targeted, though to less effect.
With an almost synergistic coordination, Atrinox delivered several rapid strikes towards a pressured Ryden as his drone knights continued to lay in the pressure, pulling Ryden's focus more onto him and allowing the drones at his command the freedom to do their intended job.
With the help of his drones, Ryden's focus was pulled away from keeping balance – his pressing focus to redirect or fend off Atrinox being his primary objective – yet after a flurrying set of weak blows and counters, Ryden suddenly had to question why he was kneeling.
The thought alone resulted in a critical strike that sent him flying—courtesy of a summoned Warhammer gripped in the hand of Atrinox...
CLANG!
The impact of the strike only managed to throw Ryden's vision to the clouds, as the strike itself made connection with his chin; however he could also feel the distinct sensation of wind wailing over his form—meaning he'd been sent flying by that strike.
"Tsk..." Ryden growled before twisting in the air, the wind itself quickly forming into a small whirlwind that stopped his trajectory and left him suspended long enough to collect his thoughts.
He was some distance away from the others now, the distinct sound of lightning clapping in the distance alone being the biggest clue to show just how far Atrinox had sent him from Tiamat.
Calm yourself Ryden, though you are out matched in skill—you must think outside of the norm and counter with the world around you... keep up your pressure...
Indeed—you must forgo all senses of mercy... kill this fool as if he were a fly...
Ryden sighed deeply at the spirits words, controlling his declining adrenaline. As much as he himself was hiding it, Ryden was slowly becoming aware of what Rivia felt in Atrinox... and it wasn't normal. A cold numbness was his opponent, a once fiery berserker simmered down to a smoldering warrior that managed to garner the instinctual fear of Rivia Abaddon.
Ryden had to keep focused and narrow down his thoughts to overcome his limits like he'd done so against Tannin. Though the Infernum Armis' were apparently limited in the power they possessed in comparison to the promised stories of their true potential, they still possessed the might to make the man he faced now flee...
He'd done it already... this time he wouldn't miss.
Focus and adapt, outmatch numbers with force—outpace tactics with might...
Ryden casually held out his hand, calling forth Fulgur from where she'd landed some few dozen meters out of sight. Catching the blade in his hands and replacing Ignis with a more familiar weapon—Ryden readied himself.
"Sorry in advance Tannin..." Ryden mumbled as he slowly focused all of the elements at his disposal into the blade in his hands. The slow rolling flames of Ignis answered the call to arms immediately, adoring the crimson blade with a now fiery crimson fire that rapidly began billowing once Ventus also answered the call.
Crimson ignited in full as Atrinox emerged into view—the devils eyes remaining locked on his floating form as his fellow drones stood by at the ready on either side of him... patient and awaiting command.
Ryden held his own stare while his senses slowly began picking up the same cold empty energy signature he'd felt from the Primarch death knight before his fist struck him. His drones had felt the same, cold empty vessels without a distinct energy signature—yet wherever they went, the energy around them faded.
Ryden's eyes narrowed further at the Primarch...
What the hell are you?
Don't worry about what you sense from him arbiter—just deal with this relic as you would any other foe—hold nothing back and crush him... I do believe he injured that woman of yours right? Do you not care for a little payback?
Ryden's eyes shone azure in response to Ignis words, his confidence rising in replace of his hesitation as the memory of Rivia getting struck by Atrinox came to mind.
Honestly... that actually really pissed him off...
FFFFFFUUUUUUVVVVVV!
Fulgur's blade suddenly ignited into a more violent swirl of energy—yet the crimson light of each combined element was surprisingly out shined by Ryden's azure blue eyes...
"Whatever you are, or whoever you were—I hope you're ready for this..." Ryden warned darkly from above.
In response to his words, Atrinox placed both his long swords together while the knights around him suddenly faded into dark red particles that flowed over to unify with the Primarch's form, and once each knight was fully absorbed, Atrinox was then seen holding a large Great-sword—black obsidian melded with a bright glowing crimson fuller; an ominous demonic construction.
A sharp shattering noise like glass echoed out once the blade finished its rapid forging and Atrinox proceeded to hold it at his side as if it weighed nothing.
Ryden ignored it and focused on his own power, molding the billowing flames of Ignis with the combined fury of the others. Crimson lightning cackled madly as it fused with the might of Ignis' flames while emerald wisps of energy condensed along the twin axe heads.
Atrinox barely shifted his gaze away, his one worded comment carrying over the loud and thunderous roar of their now chaotic surroundings.
"Come..." was all he said.
Ryden's form suddenly lurched forward from atop the whirlwind without further delay, the large miniature storm carrying him towards the towering death knight with enough force to entrench the earth with his rush alone.
Earth and debris peppered the surrounding forestry as Ryden drew close, the combined might of his weapon crashing down on the black knight, creating a thunderous explosion that ripped trees and stone from the earth as if it were nothing for several hundred yards in total diameter.
BOOOOOOOMMMMMM!
The wake of explosion hardly effected Ryden's vision, as he had quickly released a pulse of wind in all directions in order to disperse the thick smoke and debris kicked up by his previous attack.
His nerves were kicked up into overdrive, adrenaline spiking rapidly as his prior confidence used against Tannin slowly resurfaced. He had to forgo his hesitation and worry—and focus directly on the threat before him and not look back or ponder the gap in their skills. With Rivia out of commission for the time being, it was now left to him to deal with the problem on his own and he couldn't afford mistakes.
At the moment, Ryden knew Atrinox was far more durable then he'd predicted; and he assumed Atrinox himself must've adapted a good bit towards the elemental energies of the Infernum Armis' like Rivia said he could, but like any second hand source... there was always a limit...
The smoke cleared and Ryden quickly centered his sights on a kneeling Atrinox, a massive cleaved wound splitting his torso by about a few inches—yet after a second of silence, the devils eyes shone purple while his insides released a deathly black smoke that seemed to slowly mend the massive wound together.
Flesh re-nit and bone snapped into place while metal plating groaned and growled in protest, as the armor adoring Atrinox seemed to respond to the natural regeneration calling to revitalize its master. Ryden's powerful swing had shattered the Primarch's weapon completely—leaving him weaponless; and Ryden didn't waste his chance to capitalize on that opening by being distracted by the show of high speed regeneration.
With his opponent mid regeneration—the chance for a follow up strike was perfect.
The ground exploded upon his charge towards Atrinox—coiling arc energy amplifying his speed to obscene levels, yet just as Ryden came into range...
Atrinox exploded...
DOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVV!
Like a pressurized explosion, Atrinox's form suddenly released an unbelievable amount of mysterious energy that shot into the air life a pillar of light. The energy managed to both force Ryden back, and completely drain the life of all forestry around them.
Trees flaked and dried out while the leaves adoring their branches fell and disintegrated mid decent. The grass at Ryden's feet lost color before ultimately drying out and fading—leaving behind the wallowed husks of twig's, tree trunks and the dried out earth below each of them.
Ryden!
"I know... it's the same from that time in Lilith... the cold..." Ryden eyes hardened at the sight around him, the death and decay of the foliage being all too familiar—as back in Lilith's outer territories, the large pit located by Rivia, Nyx and Rosalina had felt the same as the surroundings around him presently.
The cold atmosphere was a tell tale sign enough.
Ryden's eyes narrowed further...
This guy can control Nether energy...
No... This guy... seems to be have been...remolded by it...
Ryden didn't visibly react to the discovery, but it was easy enough to tell that he had more questions than answers now by that discovery. He now knew what had been affecting the Infernum Armis' effectiveness – well at least the terminology was cleared up – but with the fact of it being nether energy, the stacks had been heightened by that knowledge.
The energy having concealed Atrinox suddenly ceased, revealing the now fully regenerated Primarch. Ryden held Fulgur tightly in his hands—the energy wafting off of Atrinox now all the sudden being far denser than before.
His gait was different—now appearing more confident than ever, and his hands remained empty, weaponless.
Ryden stared at the devil, watching as the once swirling eyes of crimson now centered on a strong and distinct amethyst glow.
Then...
His body became wreathed in purple arc energy...
[With Tiamat]
"Tsk!" Tiamat snarled angrily from where she was, her eyes quickly averting from the small miniature sun that had spontaneously erupted to her far left, before her attention quickly returned to Rodin—the annoying vermin seemingly materialize from the literal puddle she had reduced him to from a single punch.
Rodin Satanachia for his part, ignore the apparent 'thrashing' he was getting from the karma dragon and shot a glance to the epicenter of the explosion a distance away; his eyes shining with intrigue by what he saw.
"The boy is rather powerful don't you agree?" he asked the dragon king as his lower half started re-materializing.
Tiamat's snarl was his only response.
Rodin sighed. "I did warn the boy of his own anger and I will do the same for you to... be careful with that" his eyes shimmered with mirth for a moment but his words held no mischief or humor, a contrast to the man's character that Tiamat had no way of ignoring.
"What business is it to you...?" she found herself asking with a still present frown.
Rodin however shrugged at the dragon kings question. "Nothing I can say in full right now, it's just an insurance plan... for the future that is"
Tiamat's gaze held intensely onto the man, confused by the meaning of his words before she ignored him all together—a secondary strike of lightning rendering the devil once again to a puddle of silver liquid.
"Mongrel brat" she growled out as her attention shifted back onto the distant clash with Ryden before her own eyes shot out towards a series of thundering explosions that sounded eerily similar to the ones that had clipped her from the sky beforehand.
Large beams of energy seemed to cut through the trees some couple hundred yards away, firing towards the distant sound of conflict between what she understood to be these drone knights and Tannin's warriors.
It had been those very beams that cut her down from the sky...
"I see... so you've noticed them" Tiamat's gaze rapidly turned over to see Rodin Satanachia standing some couple meters from her, safe from her arms reach and coated in newly fashioned armor different from the one he'd worn prior.
Its make was entirely silver in color, adoring no such fashions as what he'd worn before – she was sure the fabric had been scorched to nothing by now anyway – however, the armor itself appeared to move on its own, coating his body in what seemed liked living metal.
To call it armor was to simply describe it, but reality, Tiamat knew from one look alone that the armor that he'd worn before had been him as well—the armor, the body beneath, they were all connected.
The real size of the man had been hidden... instead of a mildly built devil adorn in ornate silver armor, the devil himself was in actuality far more built then he let on. His new 'armor' shifted and slide along his pure silver body, before his entire form changed color—returning to a natural state.
Now, Rodin Satanachia stood before her, dressed in a simplistic combat uniform that stretched tightly due to the large corded muscles beneath them. He rolled his shoulders before flexing his hands—the large muscles along his body tightening in response.
Afterwards, he sent Tiamat a lazed stare. "You truly hold nothing back in your attacks—I actually felt those strikes—I guess you can say that says something truly terrifying about you..." Rodin's compliment towards Tiamat was all but ignored by the dragon—who in response to his words took a stance to attack again.
Rodin however raised his hands in surrender before he could be rendered to a bubbling paste as even now the clouds above him darkened in response to Tiamat's intent. "Now now my dear force of nature; I have no intention on crossing fists with you at the moment as that fossil from the Old war was the one who planned this attack, not me..."
Tiamat's gaze hardened. "You'd flee from me so soon?"
Rodin shrugged his sly grin still present even in the face of a clearly agitated dragon king. "Indeed I would my dear—that devil – the one who goes by the title the predator – is the true target of this attack, and I have no interest in dirtying my hands with such a reckless incursion...I'm just here to look pretty after all"
Tiamat stood by – ready to pounce the moment she detected a hint of intent that contradicted the devils words – yet upon studying him further, gouging his stance and muscle movements, it became clear that his desire towards an ulterior ploy was none existent.
"What is your aim devil?—what scheme do you play at?" her tone came forth with an authoritarian pressure and yet Rodin surrendered to her demands with a second shrug.
"None to be had hear my dear—like I had said before, I am not the one who orchestrated this attack as I am merely a handler; stall for time, distract or divert were the minor requests directed towards me but as it stands my task is completed—all that's left is for me is to stand down and evacuate"
"Why don't I believe you?"
Rodin snorted bemusedly at Tiamat's words. "Its cause you're wise my dear—and I'm a little flattered you'd consider me so dangerous as to acknowledge me so vehemently" he shrugged again. "But as it stands I have nothing else to do—unless of course you want to forget all about those cannons behind you"
Like clockwork, Tiamat's sense instantly picked up the sound of several distant explosive cracks in the distance; the distinction of the cannon shots easily managing to stand out amongst the cluttering sounds of battle some distance away; and the resulting explosions of the mortar fire – followed by the sounds of pained roars – filled her ears a moment after.
Her teeth gnashed and her lips thinned at the sound of it all—and with each passing moment, more of her kind would suffer.
Rodin's expression slightly softened at the sight of the dragon's hesitance. "Your worry for your kind is beautiful to behold—even if you seem conflicted, you should—"
BVVVV! BOOOOM!
Tiamat clicked her tongue in annoyance, the devils softly spoken words and carefree attitude was like dirt under her claws. Rodin Satanachia was a manipulator, which she easily gleam from his mannerisms alone—and it was through her obvious desire to protect her kind that Rodin managed to prod at her weak spot so to give him the opening to flee unharmed.
Like he'd get away as unscathed as he was...
This was why she turned and left in the midst of transforming to her regular state without restraining her release. Naturally, the amount of draconic energy used to morph her large draconic mass into the tiny frame of a human female was a massive expenditure... that which did nothing to her reserves.
However, returning to her draconic form was far less complicated then transforming into a human, as all the draconic energy flowing throughout her tiny human body was released completely—thus creating a miniature explosion in the vicinity of her transformation.
Tiamat's sneer adoring her now grinning maw mildly morphed into a smirk when she emerged from the large crater she had made from such a release; her draconic energy having easily attracted a massive bolt of arc energy from the sky above—which had been the main contributor to the explosion that ripped the earth, the clearing and several meters of forestry asunder.
Including the annoying devil Rodin Satanachia
She didn't care if he survived or perished—either outcome suited her just fine, and considering she hadn't heard him so much as squeak before she took to the sky upon her massive wings left her in a far brighter mood then when she was staring at the unsightly cretin.
And in a matter of seconds, Tiamat's memory of the devil left her thoughts once her gaze locked with a distant set of tubular cannons poking out from a distant clearing some few miles away.
Yet the lone form of Rodin Satanachia remained—his body broken down now puddles of molten slag that flowed along the glassed surface of the earth as if each one drop was a living organism. They converged to a central point, reforming and reconstructing rapidly until the brightly grinning form of Rodin Satanachia stood alone in the smoking crater of Tiamat's transformation explosion.
From merely transforming to her true state, she had broken him down to puddle of slag...
Truly... Tiamat was as feared as any should and Rodin Satanachia had to count his lucky stars. Though amongst all his thoughts—his amusement was more apparent.
His lips were held in a wide grin, amused and bewildered by the power of a true dragon king; he'd read of them, dreamed of them and wished above all to witness their might first hand—and now it was safe to say his interest had been peaked.
Could he beat one?
Enthusiasm was written on his features at the pondering question, yet the childish and ridiculous thought of trying to beat the likes of Tiamat almost instantly pulled his eagerness to a halt. Did he not remember of what had happened to him from merely standing in the vicinity of Tiamat's sudden release of power?—power so great it managed to call down a massive bolt of arc energy?
To control such an element just went to show him what league Tiamat was on...
A lightning Dragon... there was only one that he knew of that had such an ability, and it was incredibly rare.
Rodin's mind paused after a moment, the distant sound of clashing steel pulling his thoughts to the main reason on why he was here with that relic of the past.
"An assessment you say... I think our definition on 'assessment' stands very far apparent" Rodin's eyes skimmed over the distant trees, watching patiently as the sky itself rolled and coiled over the distant battle taking place between a relic of the past and an aspiring hero.
Rodin snorted at the mental wording he'd chosen to brand their apparent target.
"Speaking off which—was there..." Rodin's eyes scanned his surroundings before his eyes locked on the distant boulder that Rivia Abaddon herself had slammed into—yet to his lacking surprise, the armored Abaddon devil was gone.
The Satanachia lord's eyes widened just slightly in alarm, but soon his expression returned to its usual state—relaxed. "Oh dear... I wonder if that will piss him off" Rodin pondered to himself before he shrugged nonchalantly. "Meh—Tiamat makes a great excuse so what else could I say?"
Rodin fought the desire to shrug again at his own words and just turned to stare at the distant fight with a rare glint of seriousness. "Guess I can just I hope you learn what you sought to learn... Atrinox"
[With Ryden]
CLANG! BOOM!
CLANG! BOOM!
CLANG! BOOM!
It was almost entirely on repeat, a high speed clash that both shredded the dead earth at their feet, and shattered the dead trees around them. Within a now derelict acre of land, two blurs weaved through it – one crimson and the other amethyst – before clashing violently against each other, igniting sparks and sending out dozens of violent arcs of energy in all directions.
With the dead and dried husks of trees and bushes dotting the field of battle, small fires slowly began building up from the redirected bolts of lightning. The smoke created obscured the sky above – mixing in with other distant fires – while also creating a fog of war.
Ryden's movements was that of a blur as crimson energy all but coated his figure—the mix of all three Infernum Armis' easily pushing his physical speeds beyond.
Yet in front of him—Atrinox seemed to manage well enough.
Ryden's expression hardened into focus once Atrinox charged him again, a large long sword primed for a horizontal strike.
Ryden easily redirected it as his speed in motion outclassed his opponent, and as a counter, Ryden followed through with his block to drop a downward strike to Atrinox's unprotected side. However, Ryden's swing missed as Atrinox immediately predicted the counter and righted himself into a second attack position using his own enhanced speed.
A clang resounded from a confirmed hit before the sound of a shattering blade followed afterwards and Ryden immediately released a shockwave of wind that pushed Atrinox back several yards.
Again... Ryden didn't like it...
The fact Atrinox managed to copy Fulgur's enhancing ability was concerning enough, but thankfully the extent of the adapted speed didn't seem to completely outclass his own—instead, Atrinox's speed seemed to be just enough to keep up with Ryden in certain fields.
Ryden guarded against an onset of several strikes from Atrinox, redirections and parries, however Atrinox still seemed to be able to land a few grazing hits.
Well—grazing was the feeling, but most of Atrinox's attacks actually broke through his guard and landed; but due to Ryden's natural defenses, not a single one of the Primarch's strikes broke skin or drew blood.
Yet the fact alone still remained, and it was beginning to unnerve Ryden...
Was their gap in skill – as well as experience – that much of a defining factor in a fight between higher-class beings?
The answer was obviously a hard YES—and Ryden wouldn't argue against it as no matter his own counter attacks – whether they possessed more strength or moved with more speed – Atrinox always managed to read them.
And unless Ryden added in combinations and an onset of varying attacks, not a single swing would land unless he did so.
But what made things more unnerving was the devils silence. By this point—insults, trash talk and common threats towards the female's he knew of were what he fully expected to receive after some time, yet no matter how long they clashed on repeat – the outcomes of which being random – the devil made no move to yell, thrash or throw a tantrum like Ryden's previous opponents.
No, it was cold calculated focus—that was all that was written in Atrinox's eyes. There was no shaking to the man's figure from either fatigue or frustration; nor did the devils fists ball up into enraged anger when his attacks shattered upon contact with his form, and when Ryden pressed his own charge with a combination of Ignis' flames or Ventus' arrows, Atrinox didn't seem to feel an ounce of annoyance by being pressured by a boy with messily adept skill.
Ryden's own skills were nowhere near the level of Atrinox—not even a contest in that regard, and his ability to read his opponents moves were entirely dismissed as a possibility, as Atrinox was far to experienced to give away any sort of hint as to what he was doing or any sort of weak point on his body.
Ryden knew of the ability to 'read' opponents, but in actuality—the ability to 'read' an opponent comes mostly from years of experience and practicing every move you could think of a thousand times over. So how exactly could he read an opponent when he's only been holding a sword for roughly a single month while Atrinox – though resurrected – had been using every weapon he could think of for nearly 1000 years?
Was that an overestimation?
Not really... Ryden had seen Atrinox use exotic forms of weapons like a khopesh sword at times, a scimitar and a gladius for close quarter scuffles. Though with the odd line up of weapons from ancient times—Atrinox handled them as if he were a master; the khopesh and the scimitar – along with a dervish – were as fast as lightning in his hands; swift and accurate, but ultimately weak when it came to both Ryden's body and his legendary weapons.
Though downplayed by nether energy, The Infernum Armis still matched strike for strike with outward superiority as both Ignis and Fulgur managed to overpower and out maneuver the veteran devil on a few occasions respectively.
But a wise man once said; never underestimate an opponent...
Ryden's intuition was correct in assuming Atrinox was a master in many fields of weapons play, as his adaptive nature continuously grew in proportion with Ryden's, and Ryden knew he was slowly being out matched as the only weapons Atrinox needed to overcome was a bow, a war axe and a long sword.
Ryden recalled his intuitive aptitude ability, which allowed him to understand the use of any weapon he picked up; however the overflow of information that flooded his mind when wielding both Ignis and Fulgur made it far to cumbersome to focus through and use both weapons effectively
Irregardless, the style proved lethal against the onslaught of drone knights created by Atrinox—and Ryden made short work of their combined numbers with them.
Three drones rushed head on, dual wielding a set of short swords; however their hardened skin was bypassed easily by a swing from Fulgur. Directly after the first set of drones was eliminated, a second wave rushed through only to be set ablaze by a bypassing follow up swing from Ignis—leaving them a melting sludge in its wake.
Ryden bobbed and weaved through the small platoon of knights – his speed far surpassing them – while slashing and cutting in all directions before he released Ignis after a wide horizontal slash. With a fleeting thought, Ryden controlled the momentum of the axe and forced it to circle around him like a buzz saw.
It was a rapid take on his crowd control skill with his swordspear, which incorporated a flow of motion that utilized momentum and telekinesis in every swing. The style itself had a series of throws weaved into the fluid motions of the swordspear that would end with the weapon itself spinning around the wielder like a defensive and offensive area of effect attack. The only drawback that Ryden could think of was sudden redirections and deflections that could break his focus on the weapon itself and leave him defenseless.
Ryden had faith in his swordspear, but he had more faith in a legendary war axe...
The axe sailed through the air like a spinning cycle of fiery destruction, slicing through and smacking away any drone caught in its wake before the axe returned to Ryden's hand upon finishing two cycles around him. Surprisingly, Ryden was left unabated by a second volley of drones as each one struck was left as either a wounded or dead mess around him.
Yet Ryden didn't pause to think of his success—as Atrinox suddenly broke out from outside his field of view and sent a strong downward cleave towards the human; yet Ryden easily reacted in time due to his still present advantage in speed and caught the blade with his own—ending in a deadlock with the much larger Primarch.
CLANG!
Ryden's strength was halved with using only one hand, but in that regard, his other answered immediately and Ignis came directly into Atrinox's peripheral field of view. Atrinox rapidly back peddled in response—however, Ryden didn't let him...
With a thought, Atrinox was suddenly locked in place—courtesy of a sudden telekinetic grip that froze him in place long enough for Ignis to make full contact...
DRRRRRRUUUUNNGGGG!
There was a loud echoing clang from the impact; however Atrinox was sent flying back from the hit regardless, his body gracelessly slamming into a boulder, cracking it.
CRUUUNCH!
Ryden pushed down a mild celebration as his memory quickly focused in on what occurred just seconds ago.
A flash of light had erupted upon Ignis making full contact against Atrinox's skull; the first flash of light was Ignis' distinct fiery orange, that much he knew—however it was mixed with a small and subtle glow of purple light, similar to what Atrinox did a couple minutes ago to regenerate, yet what also caught ryden by surprise was the sudden loss in connection with his telekinetic grip on Atrinox.
it was sudden and swift in response to the one handed strike, activating just before Ignis made full complete contact, yet the rise in energy that acted as a last ditch effort to protect Atrinox seemed to have broken his focus and his telekinetic grip was surprisingly loosened a degree, which gave the devil just the amount of time to back peddle and avoid the full force of the strike, but it did little to downplay the outcome that had occurred.
Ryden's lips thinned further with each passing second as the still fresh experience wafted in his mind. "Damn it..." Ryden groused in annoyance
From the distance away near the boulder he'd crashed into, Atrinox stepped back into Ryden's view—his condition being the same as it was before, undamaged, and the coat of energy that had protected him seemed to have faded away. The devils head titled, a series of cracks filling the air as his neck clicked. "Is this all you can do?" the devil asked—and it was not voiced in a condescending way, but rather an inquisitive tone was what laced itself over the devils monotonous voice.
Ryden didn't answer because he knew what that tone entailed...
Atrinox literally just asked if that was his limit... no hidden schemes, just a straight question.
Short answer was—no, that wasn't his limit, but Ryden had watched characters make these mistakes in movies and anime's—and that lesson was to not talk to your opponent of your skills or intentions; as a matter of fact, it was best to shut the fuck up and fight—because talking kills.
Martial arts training will tell you that enough times, and they'll tell you to run more often than actually fight but that's beside's the point. Even the slightest hint in a response – whether it be lax, calm, angry or flustered – any sort of response can hint ones opponent to a potential weakness or give away the fact their opponent is out of breath or pissed off.
And right now, ryden was mostly focusing on what had happened with his telekinesis, but he didn't need to voice his shock, thus he remained silent.
Somehow, whatever that energy was that had coated Atrinox seemed to actually counter his grip or at least it felt as though he was sliding out of his grasp...
was Atrinox managing to develop a resistance? he'd used his telekinetic abilities on his drones before and they'd managed to adapt some kind of resistance to the Infernum Armis'... he'd need to completely remedy that, but at the same time, he had to make sure he wasn't recklessly exposing Atrinox to his most valuable ability, or that mystery may become a reality and Rivia's words of warning would be for nothing.
"Silent I see... you are wise, but you lack experience" Ryden held back an outward reaction to Atrinox's comment towards him while Atrinox himself began condensing his nether/demonic energy into the palm of his hands.
"I will admit—you are powerful, but had you possessed the experience, this would have ended sooner..."
Ryden kept his eye on the condensing energy within Atrinox's hands, keeping his blade primed and ready for more action while he steadied his breathing patterns in order to respond without giving way to his inner emotions.
"Funny... I didn't take you to be the talkative type" was Ryden's comment, his tone clear of hesitation.
"..."
"So what's it like coming back from the dead anyway?"
"..."
"Hm... too soon I guess?" Ryden kept his tone casual, thinking the expression itself wouldn't expose too much of his thoughts, but Atrinox remained silent.
Meaning he was hiding something...
"Ready yourself, Ryden Vale... your bane has been forged..."
Right as Atrinox's ominous words cut in through the silent forest, the growing ball of energy within Atrinox's hands molded and forged itself into a weapon that cackled with dark malevolent energy. Unlike the weapons created Atrinox before, this one had a new sort of characteristic that immediately put Ryden on edge.
Its design was that of a two handed mace, yet the mace head itself was instead a collection of vertical blades – six in total – that rose just a few inches past the length of the shaft. Dark amethyst veins of energy coerced throughout the weapon, boiling forth a dark yet thin cloud of smoke that leaked from the head of the mace.
It was different, dangerously different...
Ryden... avoid that weapon at all cost, I don't know if it could kill you—but I would advise against testing that theory...
Ryden couldn't have agreed more at that advice; the mace in Atrinox's hands felt far to ominous for him to possess the confidence to try and tank it—and in that regard, Ryden had to change tactics or Atrinox would completely overwhelm him now.
It wasn't a wise choice, but not many had telekinesis on their side to ponder the notion of suddenly shifting their patterns towards something usually advised against... he had that going for him at least.
Ryden knew of Atrinox's adaptive nature—a veteran rank devil who faced the horrors of war against angels and fallen angels, and Ryden didn't know how powerful those guys were. No, Atrinox had most likely adapted to his fighting pattern by now, which would spell his 'potential' doom should he keep with it. So now he needed to be far more aggressive, push through and bulldoze this devil before he could even use his new weapon...
And he had just the thing... one thing he had yet to actually use.
Suddenly, Atrinox vanished in flurry of energized motion and Ryden followed along instantly whilst sealing away Ignis in order to focus his defenses and consolidate his plan with a more familiar weapon, and Fulgur answered that call with but a shimmer of energy.
CLAAAANNNGGG!
A massive shockwave suddenly exploded outward as Ryden batted aside a descending swing from Atrinox's mace with Fulgur in hand—the resounding detonation of both kinetic force and nether energy resulted in the event of their blades crossing, managed to completely erase what remained of the grass at their feet.
Every swing possessed a level of nether energy that managed to crumble away the fragile life of nature around them...
Ryden knew then that he didn't want to even test getting hit by that weapon.
CLAAANNGGG!
Ryden redirected another swing before following along with the movement to rush a counter strike at Atrinox. However the devils consideration towards his own health seemed to be none existent, as instead of dodging or batting aside the jab directed at his side, the devil merely allowed it to slide into him without resistance... and Ryden knew the reason the second the devils body consistency changed to the same liquid based metal form that Rodin Satanachia possessed.
Ryden's shock froze him in place for a fatal second as Atrinox's body locked Fulgur in place, and instead of letting go of the sword, he made the mistake of holding on for too long...
Or so Atrinox believed...
His mace descended outside of Ryden's field of vision before 'connecting' with the devil, yet instead of a confirmed kill, Atrinox's mace seemingly passed through Ryden's head as if he was made of air... made of air...
!
Atrinox turned instantly to his flank the second he realized the trap, yet just as he came face to face with the real Ryden...
Click!
...His vision was obscured by the sight of a triple barreled hand cannon held in the hand of his real opponent; and with a clench of his opponents off hand, it felt as if the world itself bared down on his shoulders, freezing him in place without a inch of freedom.
"Jack pot"
BAAAAANNNNNNNG!
In an instant, both Atrinox's upper torso as well as a good number of boulders and trees behind him, were completely cut down by a moderately sized beam fired from Cerberus; and a distance behind the Primarch, a line of energy was seemingly drawn from the barrel of the weapon to the side of a distant mountain—the velocity of the round fired seemingly passing beyond the speed of light.
Boooom!
In the distance, a small explosion erupted at the side of a distant mountain unseen by Ryden—but from the destruction left in the walk of shot made it clear the power behind it. Ryden had yet to test it, but the never once used zenith shot finally made its debut, and he couldn't have been more impressed with its effect. Directly on the fly, Ryden had cycled the fire arm to the most powerful mode – the zenith shot – in order to fully penetrate Atrinox's potential defenses... if there were any.
Yet that question would remain unanswered as the shot alone had completely reduced Atrinox to half his original self, as his head and chest were all but reduced to atoms. With the combined efforts of both of the demonically engraved spell and the added efforts of the Infernum Armis' – an addition he'd made on the fly for added insurance – the single shot specifically designed to challenge Tiamat didn't at all disappoint.
The only issue Ryden could feel, was the marginal drain of energy within Cerberus before his own energy reserves declined as well to compensate the expended energy. Ajuka had warned him the expenses were high, yet unlike common devils and their pure demonic energy reserves, Ryden's own source of demonic energy stemmed from the demonic family crest of the Gremory's. It wasn't as powerful as the main centralized crest, but it had its uses for a few menial demonic spells he'd yet to actually use.
Ryden pulled Fulgur free from Atrinox's body with a simple wave of his hand before catching it. With Atrinox's entire upper half gone, he was free to retrieve it without issue... however... the fight was not over...
An unknown energy signature suddenly sprang to life, the origins being below the now fallen Primarch; and in a matter of seconds, Ryden's instincts flared violently and his mind was filled with the panicked command of Ventus—but by then he was already leaping away from the body.
Ryden retreat! NOW!
Ryden's focus sharpened as a sense of danger leveled at his feet, and without further hesitation he reacted with haste – the urgency in Ventus' voice being his main motivation – and just as he landed several yards away, the ground below Atrinox's body cracked and fractured in a complete circle around him.
The cracks and fractures fissuring around the motionless body of the Primarch seemed to only spread so far before a wall of black energy shot up into the sky soundlessly—obscuring the body within.
Ryden senses were in overdrive at the sight, and the feeling radiating off of the entire area Atrinox was last seen felt almost entirely foreign. Within Ryden's gut, a deep feeling of foreboding overrode his previous analysis of the energy he was sensing—and with just a slight scan of the large pillar of black energy, Ryden had his answer... and he didn't like.
It's coming... from the ground?
It was as he'd sensed it... the energy – the nether energy – overlapping Atrinox's own came almost directly from the ground below, yet Ryden couldn't sense the flow of energy at all; the location of origin, the depth of its origin, nothing—it was as if it just showed up out of nowhere.
What the hell is all this?
Ignore the speculation for later Ryden, but right now—we need to purify that spike of nether energy before this all goes wrong...
How?
Just like last time Ryden. Focus our energy and press us into the earth, whatever is happening here seems to be doing almost the exact same thing that happened in Lilith and the Thorns territory...
Ryden's eyes widened in surprise before his gaze returned to the pillar of black energy; and aside from his own instincts to remain motionless, Ryden pushed towards the pillar before sinking Fulgur into the earth—releasing the combined elements unified within him. Instantly, Fulgur, Ignis and Ventus erupted into an equal output of power that rose to completely drown out the mysterious nether energy.
The clouds above coiled and swelled at the command of the wind while crimson lightning arced violently throughout the sky above. Below, Ignis' connection with the earth flowed deeply into the soil as his flames leaked down off of Fulgur's edge. In response to the sudden flow of spiritual energy, the trees and grass – having long since faded away with the sudden release of nether energy – rapidly grew back from Ignis' flames—returning the once vibrant clearing to its previous luster.
Ryden felt the ground beneath him almost preen in joy, a culminated sensation born from his union with Ignis—and from the sky above, the whipping winds of Ventus and the congestive field of energy created by Fulgur's lightning added an even more purifying sensation that easily beat out what he felt back in Lilith.
But the same could be said about what he felt below...
Ryden's senses reached a limit—his desire to learn of the origin of the mysterious energy below leading him to focus further along the tether of energy that completely enveloped Atrinox. From the beginning, Ryden knew the energy that had risen around the fallen Primarch had not been the Primarch's own—rather, it was something else, a foreign entity rooted in the distance and shrouded in shadow.
Quite literally, Ryden's own mental senses hit a shadowed wall—a thick and unbreakable wall that left him stumped, unaware of the owner and who – by extension – it was; however the only thing he could truly make out was...
There was something beyond the veil... something... vast...
It was dark... darker than most—possessing a volatile nature that obscured Ryden's mind with senseless visions of despair and torment; the distant screams that echoed within his mind – whispers of persons unknown – scratched irritably at his thoughts, corrupting his focus before his ears filled with pained howls, sadistic laughter... and... Moaning...
More laughter...
More moaning...
More screams...
More desperate cries for mercy...
...They never ceased...
Ryden immediately pulled away his senses once he correlated the sounds—a dark scowl marring his features when his mind quickly correlated the sounds with a memory; yet just when he pulled away—the sensation wafting all around Atrinox also vanished, exposing the once again regenerated Primarch.
"Tsk... that wasn't his energy..." Ryden muttered to himself and in response, Fulgur idly shimmered in agreement.
Indeed as it was, Ryden now knew that whatever Atrinox was doing to survive wasn't exactly his own abilities—and though Atrinox seemed to possess regeneration powers of his own, it seemed there was something else supporting the Primarch devil... or at least making sure to keep him alive.
Fortunately for Ryden, the brief event managed to reveal Atrinox's damage limit—and in finding the limit, a third party was also noted.
Unfortunately however... that limit may be temporary.
Ryden slide Cerberus back into her holster and readied Fulgur, yet just before he advanced towards the silent and motionless Atrinox with explosive speed, a familiar presence entered his senses...
Rivia...
Ryden's attention was momentarily pulled from Atrinox—and surprisingly, Atrinox himself was also distracted by the sudden arrival of the former Abaddon Lordess. The both of them shot their gazes towards a barren tree line, the sensation of the Abaddon devil being far too obvious to miss—and with elegant poise; Rivia emerged with her weapon drawn.
Though barring damaged armor, Rivia's arrival spurned two different reactions from both Atrinox and the unknown third party.
A subtle step back—a re-configuring defensive stance to accommodate the new and dangerous threat...
And the subtle return of the mysterious energy below the Primarch's feet.
The ground cracked all around Atrinox again, and within the depths—a deep amethyst light shone ominously, similar as to what happened before; yet instead of regenerating the one standing within the 'magic circle' it instead focused a defensive field around him—a field that warped the space itself, making it look like glass formed from nothing but negative energy.
What? That can't—no...That's not possible... not for someone like him.
Ryden's focus on Atrinox's new defensive ability was diminished with Ventus' ghostly words of shock and confusion towards it; and Ryden had to silently ponder what exactly it was that could bring such surprise to Ventus.
Manipulating nether energy... to warp reality... that's impossible—only a GODS can do that...
Ryden's mind blanked, a cold sensation rising within his senses as he once again felt the mysterious energy signature below Atrinox... and by extension—him as well.
He knew by the flow of power molding all around the Primarch that it was its doing, and now that Ryden had an idea as to what sort of being it was... he suddenly felt very cold...
It was watching...
"It's been a while hasn't it...Atrin?" Rivia's tone of familiarity towards the devil suddenly filled Ryden's ears, and in the hopes of ignoring the silent gnawing feeling of danger at the cusp of his senses—Ryden focused on the developed conversation instantly.
Rivia tread forward with a gait of pure determination, yet after some time, her expression shifted to that of frustration at the sight of the protective dome standing around her intended target.
She was silent, yet her expression of anger directed to the man within her sights managed to compel a word of greeting.
"Mentor..." Atrinox's words echoed from within the dome protecting him—his beady crimson eyes staring intently at Rivia without a blink to be seen and Ryden found himself growing confused by the familiarity in Atrinox's voice. "It seems you skills and powers are as sharp as they were long ago..."
Confusion laced over Ryden's thought's at the Primarch's particular set of words before he quickly realized something about Atrinox's most common ability.
The drones...
Ryden's gaze shifted to Rivia curiously but instantly he had his answer.
Her form was coated in mild sweat, clear signs of exertion, and even though her form was bare of any sort of blood – as none of the drone knights possessed any – her weapon was at her side, active and coated in fading nether energy. Clearly, Atrinox had been using his drones to delay Rivia's arrival by literally swarming her with his knights.
Yet for a moment, Ryden's attention fell back onto Rivia's scythe—a peculiar sensation wafting in the air around it. He'd managed to identify the cause of Rivia's tardiness by the fact that Atrinox had her face his demonically constructed drones, who just so happened to be melded with small degrees of Nether energy.
That was the key of his peaked curiosity—nether energy seemed to react violently to the energy that constructed Rivia's scythe.
He'd hardly actually seen her use it besides the time she had him fought off a Grand inquisitor's posse, but at that time, his experience with weapons that could cut just as well as a plasma cutter was about as common as the air he breathed. However, for a time since encountering Atrinox, the ability to cut just as well as he'd normally had been was incredibly limited—and the needed energy to make a clean cut in anything associated with nether energy was far higher then what he'd usually need.
Rivia's scythe however seemed to be entirely different in that regard.
Ryden didn't know if Rivia was controlling it's frequency of demonic energy in some manner but the black energy blade itself seemed to be completely unaffected by the naturally flowing nether energy coated along its edge.
Though to say the energy was 'naturally flowing' would be incorrect; the better description would be that the low remnant nether energy coating along the edge of Rivia's scythe seemed to be utterly annihilate any time a particle touched it.
It felt unnatural to the senses just as the nether energy did—yet instead of being a blight on the senses, a cold spot in an otherwise cold environment and a difficult energy source to detect in that regard, but Rivia's scythe seemed to all but thrive when in the presence of the nether energy.
Normally, the energy coating Rivia's scythe was dismissively normal but like invisible residue being highlighted with a black light, the energy that made up Rivia's scythe only seemed to become truly 'unnatural' when in the presence of nether energy.
And that reason was because it was not dampened by its effects.
And Rivia made that point clear...
Without a word, Rivia readied her scythe and swung it at the devil—her combined ability of annihilation and the rifts at her disposal made it so she could seemingly cut across dimensions and severe her enemies no matter where she was. However, Rivia's attempt at slaying the Primarch failed as nothing within the dome appeared—there was no slash or rift to be seen.
Rivia's expression darkened further while Atrinox's own posture remained primed and defensive—yet there was a casualness to it that made it clear that whatever was protecting him wouldn't fail.
"Within the past there is experience—and with experience, one can grow..." Atrinox's tone was still as monotonous as it normally was; however the comment seemed like a quote. His eyes gleamed for moment – bemusement? – Before he relocked his gaze onto Rivia. "You taught me such methods and strategy—and yet it seems you have forgotten your own lessons"
Rivia's convicted stride towards Atrinox ended with her pausing before the dome of warped space, her scythe already in motion to slash it asunder directly, yet like before—the dome held firm and Rivia's scythe scraped along its surface without so much as leaving a mark.
"...I have not forgotten" Rivia's words cut through the air as precisely as her scythe had moments before, and her once golden eyes suddenly shone white. "And I have not forgotten my own lessons either, boy..."
Then suddenly... something fundamental changed within Rivia's scythe
Rivia's scythe erupted into white energy, completely overriding her modification to release the full power of her heirloom and in a flurry of blinding light—the ethereal beauty of her heirloom was returned to its masked glory. Through the blinding light of her scythe's full release, Atrinox's vision of Rivia vanished and panic took its place on his features as his eyes partially widened when the sound of shredding glass filled his ears.
"..." Though his expression bore surprise, his posture remained stationary as he witnessed the seams of the defensive ward in front of him shatter from Rivia's uprising swing—exposing him to the oncoming Abaddon, yet his lips remained sealed.
Her form shot towards the devil – the earth at her feet all but exploding from the strength used – and her intent on capitalizing the opening with one last swing to end it all was equally as clear as her pure radiant scythe. From a distance away, Ryden felt a moment of awe overtake his features as he watched Rivia advance on the once assumed unreachable Primarch; however his expression of awe instantly morphed into horror when his senses picked up movement below the Abaddon devil.
That barrier wasn't Atrinox's...
Without a moment to ponder—Ryden's hand reached out to Rivia using Fulgur to amplify his speed when the energy below the Primarch spiked violently. And for a rare instant – like before with Sirzechs and his race towards the mountain containing Fulgur – Ryden's arm was suddenly coated with a radiant blue flame that seemed to amplify the speed and precision of his telekinetic grip before fading.
It was easier, more accurate—and just before the ground below Rivia cracked open to expose an unknown danger, the Abaddon devil was suddenly flung back into Ryden's arms. He caught her with ease, yet anger was written on Rivia's face upon his interference—yet Ryden ignored the murderous glare in order to stare at the series of crystalline spikes jutting out from the ground... directly where Rivia would have ended had he not have acted in time.
"Why did you stop me?!" Rivia growled from within his arms, yet Ryden merely shifted his eyes between her and the spikes that would have impaled her—and even now he could see faint mental images of her skewered like a scarecrow upon them; unfortunately, Rivia was far from aware of the danger she had just been in as her emotions seemed to have corroded her focus...
While she had expressed a tone of panic some moments before, the level of narrow minded awareness Ryden was currently subject to was nothing like Rivia was known for.
"Let me go Ryden, now! We cannot let him escape!" haste and aggression were laced in Rivia's words, yet Ryden held her tightly in place, protectively.
"...It won't let you" he muttered softly, still staring at the jutted out spikes of amethyst crystals—and by extension the energy that seemed to blanket their surroundings.
Rivia's reaction to his words was to pause briefly in confusion. "What?" she questioned.
Ryden's hand gripped atop of Rivia's in response to her confused question before he turned her head towards the spikes; and instantly, a look of realization adopted itself on Rivia's features before both her ears and Ryden's were filled with the monotonous voice of Atrinox.
"The past has yielded lessons mentor—and I have learned many of them... fighting you alone is not an option" Atrinox's voice pulled Rivia and Ryden's attention onto him while at the same time, the barrier enforcing his defenses reformed completely. "Fortunately, my task is done..." the Primarch's eyes shifted to the distance and for both Ryden and Rivia—the vacant sounds of battle became apparent.
The dragons were no longer preoccupied...
At that realization, Rivia's gaze narrowed into a heated glare.
There was a brief hum, or a grunt, from Atrinox in response to Rivia's glare before he responded in warning. "You seem to allow your emotions too much freedom mentor; heed your own lessons or it will be your undoing"
With his final words voiced, the mysterious energy below the Primarch death knight swelled violently, obscuring the dome of warped space and the Primarch within as a billowing cloud of dark energy collapsed inward onto the dome. The earth shattered afterwards – rapidly stripped of life again – before the black and amethyst cloud of nether energy condensed inward like a black hole—and without sound, the black hole fizzled out of existence.
The Primarch had escaped...
.
.
.
In the silence that followed, Ryden barely managed to notice Rivia shrug off his protective embrace before she was standing in front of him—staring intently at both the amethyst spires of crystalline energy, and the small crater of complete and utter desolation that Atrinox had once occupied.
The space in which Atrinox had vanished was like that of glass, purple in color—and the energy wafting off of the small space itself was like a void... nothing to feel but an ominous chill, a blank space within the senses—however, the mix of nothingness was sprinkled with pure killing intent.
Rivia's and Ryden's attention fell onto the slowly decaying crystalline spikes that would have been Rivia's death. Each spike seemed to be made of the same amethyst material—hard as hell by the looks of it, dense too, but within the nothingness that made up the material, a clear distinction of crimson light frothed within—bleeding a once potent desire to skewer and impale the intended victim.
Ryden didn't know exactly what his instincts in combat felt like yet, but to suddenly feel a cold chill rise up within his spine at the sight of those abnormal crystalline spikes made it very clear that Ryden still indeed possessed the instinct to identify a threat well beyond anything he'd seen.
It was worse than Sirzechs...
And by the soft shiver and hesitant approach from Rivia—she wouldn't argue at that assessment.
Ryden gently stood to his feet—having fallen over to catch the larger frame of Rivia in the haste of saving her life, before he stepped towards the woman.
Yet for the life of him—Ryden didn't know why he hesitated in his approach towards the woman, the sense of familiarity and worry he had for Rivia was vastly superior to his hesitation, yet the look in Rivia's eyes as she continued to stare at where Atrinox had vanished left him in a cloud of second guesses. There was very obviously a deeper history between Rivia and Atrinox – that much was very clear – but what made him question the moment itself was the odd aggravation he sensed from Rivia.
An hour ago, Rivia was – though originally hastened by anxiety due Atrinox's instantaneous arrival – calm, but from the way Rivia was clenching her teeth in frustration currently—something he never thought he'd see her do in his life, it made him question the effects of the energy they were breathing.
His memory did recall the moment when he literally heard the sounds of moaning and devils crying for mercy at the back of his mind; the formula of those sounds in conjunction with the other was not lost on him—they were not random sounds created to disturb whoever was listening—no, they were the sounds of memories returned to the surface of the mind.
Ryden had distinctly felt the seeping sense of rage at the echoing sounds of moaning in the back of his mind, and he was sure that if he hadn't shaken off the invading energy from that mysterious unseen entity—then he was sure he would have started seeing hallucinations, which would easily cause him to lose it.
Those memories were just too damn fresh...
It was very clearly an attempt at controlling their emotional stability by targeting an experience or trauma in order to throw them completely off their focus
Immediately upon coming to that realization, Ryden stepped within Rivia's personal space when the woman's eyes began glancing in random directions—her expression quickly growing darker by the second. Immediately, his hand landed on her shoulder before the combined energy of the Infernum Armis' rippled off his form like an iridescent flurry of colors—and their energies instantly eradicated the blight of nether energy upon the clearing.
With the complete lacking presence of the mysterious entity, the Infernum Armis' combined energy operated without contest, and life returned in full in the blink of an eye—and what remained of the remnant nether energy was completely wiped away.
Like the sun rising over the horizon, Rivia's expression of agitation and anger faded as the vibrant colors of a fully healed clearing over took her vision.
Ryden dropped his hand from her shoulder once he was certain whatever it was that was affecting her abated completely and at the soft sense of touch upon her shoulder, Rivia's gaze turned towards him with confusion marring her features.
"What... what happened?" she asked yet Ryden remained silent on the matter—also confused.
Rivia's hand gently gripped her face upon recalling her own rising emotions, and now that things had settled to some degree, she immediately realized the oddity of such an event. Rivia knew she wasn't one to get aggravated so easily—yet for some reason, Atrinox's escape had caused her to relapse to several distant memories... memories that regrettably affected her far more then they should've.
"What... was that?" she asked again after a brief moment of silence.
Ryden yet again remained silent for a moment to continue to ponder what had happened. Everything had been going fine with Atrinox in some manner—and though he'd been engaging the devil mostly on equal footing, not a single instance was he assailed by the unknown entity; yet after he'd managed to deal in a killing blow, it made itself present.
Was it a test? Reconnaissance?
Ryden shook his head in mild frustration; whatever the case, it sure as shit felt like a test—Atrinox had the upper hand in the defensive field and potentially the offensive field with the added assistance of the unknown entity, yet the devil instead chose to retreat?
There was too little information on his end to so much as make any sort of assumptions regarding the Primarch's limits and potential; was it possible for him to fight both Rivia and himself at the same time? If he was being honest then no, considering Rivia had slashed through the defensive ward without much issue using the full power of her heirloom – something he was taking great care to ponder on – that notion felt iffy, and considering the dragons had ceased their own battle with Atrinox's knights it wouldn't be much of stretch to assume they'd come flocking over to find the last man responsible for destroying a good portion of their territory as well as killing off a number of their own.
The odds didn't favor the Primarch but his retreat wasn't mainly fueled by the high chance of draconic reinforcements... instead his retreat was caused by the apparent completion of a task.
What was his task? Him?
"Ryden?"
Ryden's thoughts paused before his eyes locked with Rivia's upon hearing her call out to him.
Her expression was one of scrutiny as she stared at him with narrowed eyes "What did you mean by 'it won't let you'?" confusion further pushed Rivia into a cloud of questions and Ryden merely nodding along before he answered—yet if he was being honest, he didn't know why he said that, but if he had to guess then it was a instinctual assessment.
"I...There was... something else protecting Atrinox... an energy source that originated from below him, in the ground; it created that barrier and it also created those spikes that would have killed you" Rivia remained silent, clearly leveled by the information he provided but otherwise calm enough to take in the information with little surprise visible.
Then after a moment, she shook her head. "It's all wrong, nothing like that happened back then" her eyes drifted to the now crumbling spikes and the still cracked earth now filled with healthy grass—her hands gesturing towards the damage still visible. "He never... there was nothing like this"
Rivia kneeled down to further inspect the crystalline spikes still jutting from the earth, yet when she moved to touch them, they suddenly dissolved into ashen particles that faded away the second they touched the air.
While Rivia continued to mutter to herself of something only she knew, Ryden glanced down towards her scythe—the still active blade – now softly glowing pure white from its full release – once again feeling like normal, The same type of energy he'd get whenever Rivia used her power of annihilation coated the blade.
His eyes glanced to Rivia who was still studying the area in what looked like disbelief before he causally took a hold of her scythe—surprising her.
She paused in whatever thought she was doing before turning to him, yet she didn't resist when Ryden took her scythe out of her hand in order to study it.
It was light for the most part, but just as soon as Rivia let go of the weapon so to let him study it fully, the energy supplying the scythe was cut off—which left it as nothing more than a curved staff with a crystalline ball at the top.
Ryden's brow quirked upward but thought nothing of it; he'd originally assumed the blade was a focus point for Rivia's powers—a literal extension of her family bloodline and so the lacking of her physical touch would obviously leave it deactivated.
But he was wrong...
For a moment the curved staff was dormant—yet suddenly, after he gripped a hold of the scythe with both hands, the once deactivated scythe reactivated and took shape in a flurry of energy.
White, pure white energy shone in his hands as Ryden stared down in complete silence – too shocked to truly say anything – and from the stunned look on Rivia's own face, Ryden was sure she didn't expect that to happen.
"I don't understand... How? Only Abaddon's can utilize the heirloom's and call upon their powers, so how can you call upon their power?" she asked yet Ryden was too dumbfounded to answer at that moment—his prior theory, one he'd expected to go somewhere else entirely was all but forgotten.
This... this answered his internal questions far more accurately.
His head shifted to the side a bit in intrigue while his eyes still stared down at the illuminated scythe in his hands before his senses slowly began picking up an oddity within the blade he was holding—or rather, it was a familiarity.
He blinked in confusion after a moment before he shot a look to Rivia while still maintaining a steady hand on the active scythe. "Unless for some reason I'm secretly your younger brother, which would be incredibly awkward, all things considered—" Rivia's expression barely shifted at his light joke and Ryden mildly sighed away his own awkwardness before moving on. "—But I guess if I had to say anything, then we both seem to share the same type of natural energy; an energy type exclusively effective against nether"
Rivia's eyes expressed disbelief but Ryden gently returned the scythe to her hands—and the blade instantly deactivated upon the exchange and remained so by Rivia's will; but before she could ask the clearly desired question on her lips, Ryden dropped his theory by casually raising his right hand.
Space distorted around his fingers upon him amplifying his telekinesis, and space itself warped whenever he moved his hand—causing Rivia to stare at it for a moment while Ryden spoke. "Like your scythe, my telekinetic powers seems to work effectively against nether energy; and though I never risked using it as often against Atrinox due to your warning, but a simple kinetic push was all I needed to kill a handful of his drones... your scythe seems to be made out of same fundamental energy type that I'm able to command at will, which explains why I'm able to activate it"
You are correct in your assessment Ryden...
Ryden's eyes flickered upon hearing Ventus' words while Rivia remained silent in order to contemplate his explanation.
I am?
Indeed... it's something I've been meaning to point out but it seems you've managed to notice it as well
Ryden nodded in thanks at Ventus' subtle compliment.
Can you shed some light on that matter then?
Easily... what you've discovered is Aether—nether energy isn't the only fundamental and conceptual energy hardwired with reality, and aether is its direct opposite... life and death, aether and nether
Guess you can say the these Abaddon devils are strongly connected with such an element; their power of annihilation seems to be a subspecies of aether, a weaponized energy built from the fundamental concept of life.
They also seem heavily connected with holy energy in some way... considering ol Abaddon was once an angel and all, it wouldn't surprise me if the holy element within her was twisted into becoming her 'demonic' family powers... but if you ask me, there's nothing demonic about it.
Ryden was listening, but with each added reveal from all three Infernum Armis' Ryden's understanding of the situation became clear...
Rivia Abaddon possessed aether...
And so did he...
Ryden shifted in his stance while his hands dropped down to his hips—and obviously such a reaction was noticed by Rivia.
"What is it Ryden?" she predictably questioned and Ryden pursed his lips.
"You ever heard of Aether energy?" was his counter and Rivia seemed to be stumped by the term for a moment.
"Explain..." was all she commanded; clearly not at all knowledgeable on the subject, but very clearly willing to learn it.
Ryden waited patiently for Ventus to take the hint.
...Aether is a natural counter force element towards nether, when in high doses – and by that, I mean in large enough quantities that it becomes a physical material element – when both elements reach that same point then... well...
Well what?
Well nothing actually... if nether and aether grow to a certain point where its physically manifested in its own material compound then it just becomes its own element—yet both however are extremely dangerous, nether even more so...
Wait... I thought you said nether energy is dangerous when its visible, as in it can literally possess a living being and use it as a catalyst.
That's...where my issue resides Ryden. A catalyst is usually – and in very rare instances – when something or someone is afflicted with nether poisoning and literally crystallize over due to over exposure... nothing should happen afterwards, as anything involved in the crystallization dies long before hand
Damn...so what's the issue?
Well Ryden... with what I've informed you of nether energy and its incredibly rare chances of it effecting daily life for material beings, all the way to the point that you'd need to be the unluckiest person on the planet to be crystallized over with nether energy; can you honestly stand idly by and remain completely calm when said nether energy has already managed to resurrect a long since deceased war master, as well as the fact that nether energy cannot – and I repeat, CANNOT – manipulate space on a metaphysical level on a whim!
.
.
.
That's...really bad...
Yes master, that is bad... warping space and hardening it isn't something nether energy can just do... for the most part nether energy is actually docile, but when it starts warping space... well... you know how the 'everybody gangster' meme goes—so its kinda like that...
What these two are trying to say, is that nether energy cannot do advanced metaphysical spatial manipulation without assistance... big words aside, it basically means nether energy can't do anything outside of decaying and decomposing a souls attachment to a body... unless it's being controlled by a God...
.
.
.
Ryden's eyes were visibly widened, staring ghostly ahead at the place Atrinox had vanished while Rivia remained waiting for an explanation—yet the look of shock and worry on Ryden's features pushed her curiosity towards the foreboding nature written on the 'Gremory' princes face.
"...oh..." was all he muttered, garnering Rivia's further confusion and curiosity.
"What?—what do you mean 'oh'? What's going on Ryden?" Rivia eyes narrowed at the ghostly look on the man's face, yet the lack of answers was starting to annoy her.
Ryden blinked away his nervousness before finally acknowledging Rivia with a half smile. "Oh it's just that apparently nether energy can't exactly do whatever Atrinox did—as a matter of fact, everything about Atrinox is a no-no, and I mean a really fucking big no-no"
"What's that have to do with this aether that you mentioned? I already know that Atrinox is bad news but what's this about aether?" Rivia dismissed her scythe before crossing her arms across her breast plate. "One thing at a time Ryden; I'm still shocked that you can even activate a heirloom of the Abaddon family but now you're just jumping all over the place"
Ryden took in a deep breath just for Rivia's sake but his nerves were still on edge with what he'd just put together—but as Rivia had desired, one thing at a time.
"Ok... so, aether is the opposite of nether—a sister energy connected to the balance of life, nether is death and aether is life" Ryden point at both himself and Rivia. "And we both seem to posses or at least can manipulate a form of aether—its why my telekinesis is so effective and why your scythe is so lethal"
Rivia nodded along. "Understood... but that confuses me in some way"
"How so?"
"My mother never actually spoke of aether before, instead she just said we had a fragment of creation within us; remnants of her connection with heaven" Rivia's eyes narrowed. "Is aether energy connected with holy energy?"
Ventus immediately answered.
No... But actually yes—I can't actually say for certain...
Ok... is holy light something of a sub-category or something?
Yes actually, aether is merely the building blocks of its conception; only those with incredibly strong conviction and powerful emotions can create holy light, but in reality, the holy light connected with heaven is something else entirely. Angels are the only known living beings who can command and summon pure heavenly light... there connection with God makes that so.
So Gods can manipulate both aether and nether?
Indeed master—its rather easy for them...
That's terrifying...
Heheheha! Says the one who can also manipulate aether with but a flick of his wrist—wouldn't that make you a god?
For a moment Ryden remained paused at Ignis' boast of his abilities, yet just after a moment to ponder, he shrugged off his rather ego boosting statement.
Even if that was true, I'd rather not dwell on that... I'd hate to get too full of myself.
Wise choice, whatever origins that stand behind you Ryden, its best to keep a level head and ignore the corrupting nature of power—now aside from all this, I believe miss Abaddon is awaiting an answer...
But let's not dismiss the fact that you never actually denied Ignis' words...
Ryden would admit Fulgur had a point there—but he guessed his mind was vastly more preoccupied with other more pressing things then potential delusions of grandeur
Shut it...
With a simple to command to Fulgur to stuff it – horrendous choice of words there – Ryden's focus re-centered on Rivia's patiently awaiting gaze—but if he was reading her well enough, the rhythmic tapping of her heeled boot against the earth made it clear it was growing close to its end.
"Well?" she asked, now very clearly impatient from his silent staring.
"Sorry... but uh—yes and no from Ventus; aether is both holy but not actually, it's basically a building block for holy light, and holy light is just pure unadulterated feels"
Rivia nodded in understanding. "So with this subject in mind, nether energy and aether energy conflict against the other... but how does pure aether triumph over nether when it's just life energy?"
Ryden shrugged; in his own way, he was also confused on the matter itself but that could be because he was taking it far too literally—so he chose to wait once again for good ol Ventus to swoop in with the explanation.
I'm gonna start billing you for these...
Put it on my tab...
*sigh*... aether and nether are a pure source of energy, one being used for the other in a cycle—life energy supplies life to living things while nether energy decomposes those that have reached their end within the cycle of life – blah blah blah – you already put that together. However, nether and aether energy fundamentally work on a concept of strict balance; If one becomes too great, it either cancels out the other, smothers it, or completely neutralizes it on a subatomic level, breaking it down—and either side can do the same to the other.
Ryden found himself grasping the concept of aether and nether energy on a far more easier scale at that funnel of information, yet in one minor instance—his memory centered back on Indus Vassago and how the devil managed to quell away death by holding onto a sense of regret.
...Indeed Ryden—aether is a sense of life energy that resides in all living things; though not strong enough on its own to face nether in a test of power, its presence itself feeds directly off of the emotions around it. Depending on the life forms emotions, it's possible for them to develop a stronger core of aether to counter or remain unaffected by nether energy... in this case... immortality—but that's an extreme case and not even angels possess immortality...
Well, considering God kicked the bucket I'd say that'd be rather awkward for all parties involved...
That's one way to put it—we are talking about a metaphysical element that resides between energy and matter after all...
And it's used to manipulate elements... such as lightning... wind... fire... and water... just so your aware master.
Ryden's connection with the spirits ceased as he turned his attention back to a patiently waiting Rivia; his thoughts ignoring Fulgur's clear hint towards their own connection with aether; he'd already assumed that. "So it seems the plot has thickened to the stage of over dated porridge; but all you really need to know is that the more aether you can pump out, means its nigh-night for Atrinox and whatever hell that was assisting him"
"Understood" Rivia nodded firmly while at the same time she clenched and unclenched her hand, a sense of puzzlement taking shape in her eyes. "Now that that's settled, what was it you said about Atrinox? What did Ventus tell you that made you so... shocked?"
"Ventus told me that nether energy and aether energy are fundamental elements linked closely with Gods... and nether energy doesn't just randomly harden space around it, especially when it's so convenient; no, nether energy can only do such things when a God wills it to... which means one very clear thing"
Ryden had to admit that Rivia took the reveal far to calmly then he was comfortable with seeing, yet the heavy intake of breath was enough to show that even Rivia was aware of the gravity of the situation they now found themselves in.
A God; beings that Ryden barely understood—but then again, most of what he was seeing was still quite the pill to swallow. First it had been a couple mile long fall, then six months of torment followed by a short period of time to comprehend that devils, angels and fall angels exist and that they'd been at war for god knows how long. Ryden had tried to learn as much as he could before he threw himself back into the fray for vengeance's sake, and though he had a good grasp on the world he was in, he never actually delved into the realm of godhood. Other than through the stories and history books pertaining to the Pagan gods like Zeus, Thor, Poseidon and others, Ryden had not a single idea as to what those beings were.
Their looks—a total mystery... but what they could do? Well that was an entirely different ball game...
A ball game he – and by extension everyone else – was now forced into...
Ryden had to delve into the fantastical in order to attempt any sort of theories as to what kind of god they were facing; obviously, right off the bat he was narrowing his theories down to gods mainly associated with nether energy, death energy. The Egyptian pantheon's Osiris first came to mind—the god of the dead, yet Ryden didn't exactly believe a being like him would trouble himself with devils.
Hades? Maybe?
Ryden shook his head, dismissing his theories before he found himself going insane. In history, or at least in the modern age, there is a shit load of gods that many believe in—but here was Ryden's current issue. Civilizations rise and fall as often as kingdoms, in ancient history anyway – Ryden still had to remember that the year was 432 AD, the fucking dark ages – and in every civilization from the beginning of humanity to the modern time period, religion existed. Large or small, religion and belief seemed a constant in every human tribe...
So that begged a question.
How many religions have gone extinct before the modern times?
It was a mind numbingly obvious question that left Ryden at an impasse; not only was there was a high chance that they were dealing with a unknown god unrecorded in his time, but Ryden also had to realize that a schmuck like him – whose experience in the supernatural is but measured in months – wouldn't be able to piece together the identity of a god like he was Sherlock-fucking-holms; sure Ryden had knowledge of modern history on his side, but it's a god so—fuck you Ryden.
If the god wills it, he won't find him with standard means...
"Come Ryden—we must find the others and discuss this... discovery" Rivia's voice carried over from behind him seriously, her tone as sharp as a blade yet Ryden had on last thing to question.
"Wait, give me a second" Ryden fought away his rising nerves in regards to the situation before he glanced over to Rivia, who in response fell back in beside him when his expression of seriousness availed her confusion.
With her waiting patiently, Ryden returned his focus back onto Ventus
How do you know all this Ventus?—Conceptual energy, Gods, all of it
...it's the same as when I had learned of our affinities after you touched the obelisk within the monastery... it all just came to me Ryden...
Realization struck...
Your sealed memories... the obelisks
Indeed... which means you must find Aqua Ryden... find her and unlock the secrets within these obelisks, and maybe we'll discover the secrets within us and reveal this culprit behind the scenes before something else happens...i feel the return of this Atrinox devil is only the crux of the matter itself, and I'd fear to see what other nightmares of the past come forth from the Old-Satan's meddling.
Could it be possible that all of this is just The Old-Satan's discovery a way to manipulate nether by themselves?
Not likely—while devils seem to possess a close physiological connection with a different form of nether energy – which is their connection with demonic energy itself – it's highly unlikely that they'd be able to manipulate pure nether energy. Which just means whatever is allowing them to resurrect the dead, is only allowing it to happen strictly because it benefits it as well... but I could be wrong...
Regardless, we need to take action, fast...
Indeed... get going
Ryden nodded firmly at Ventus' words, fully understanding the sheer depth of the events surrounding him and the others as well as the new rising threat that was quickly making itself more apparent as the days went on. First the nether pits, and now a long since dead warrior from a bygone age. Something was happening, and both Ryden and Rivia – as well as the others – knew that Project: Revenant was the key to the mystery; the only question so far was...what was next?
"What is it Ryden?" she questioned gravely upon seeing his conflicted expression.
Ryden compartmentalized his thoughts at Rivia's question, and in the distant skies—he could make out both Tiamat and Tannin rapidly approaching, a distant fire rising in the short distance behind the former. He ignored the Calvary for the moment to regard Rivia with all the seriousness he could must. "Ventus fears Atrinox is only the beginning of something worse; and we need to up our game, fast"
Rivia nodded in agreement just as Tannin made landfall with Tiamat close behind him, the male dragon king glaring with a deep rage towards Ryden, yet Ryden himself knew Tannin's anger was not directed towards him—rather to the one that had attacked and killed some of his kind.
"Where...?" was all that Tannin questioned as flames leaked from the dragons gnashing maw while a bright crimson gaze of malevolence bore against Ryden's blue.
Ryden merely shook his head in response. "He fled like the others..."
Tannin's snarl was all the response he gave to the lone human before the dragon king released a pent up roar of frustration that rocked the valley to the core.
ROOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!
In the distance, hundreds of dragons echoed out in response to Tannin's howl of wrath, filling the valley with the enraged roars of the surviving dragons; their own agreement with their king being easily apparent to the two standing below the gaze of Tannin.
"My warriors agree... there will be vengeance for this act of arrogance..." Tannin's tone promised blood, and Ryden couldn't exactly find a voice to quell the dragon's understandable anger; many dragons lost their lives in the initial ambush and it would be a hard pressed struggle to bring Tannin to a state of understanding.
Luckily, someone was capable of that.
"Don't be brash Tannin—this attack was done by one man and his army of soulless vermin..." Tiamat argued back with an eased tone and Tannin himself snarled at the female dragon king's bid of disagreement.
"The cost of that devils actions will be paid by the blood of his species..." he snapped back, eyes shining bright with intent that unnerved Ryden and froze Rivia in place—yet unbeknownst to Ryden, Rivia's expression was not one of fear—rather it was defensive.
Tiamat's cold glare met Tannin's without a flinch to be seen. "And you will bring about their ire onto your people like Ddraig and Albion before you... your senseless slaughter will only breed further resentment towards us" her eyes sparked with a bead of arc energy. "Do you wish to repeat that foolishness?"
Tannin was well beyond pissed with Tiamat's resentment to the idea of vengeance by the presence of a sneer on his face; vengeance was something that all of his warriors agreed with, yet he couldn't believe Tiamat herself was actually against the matter.
Ryden took a protective step in front of Rivia when it became clear that Tiamat and Tannin may end up coming to blows. It wasn't a good idea to step in between two pissed off dragon kings so all he could really do was make sure Rivia wasn't caught in the ensuing brawl.
Yet Rivia surprised him when she cut in between the two with her own words.
"I agree with Tiamat; attacking the Old-Satan's as a whole in response to this will only grant them the chance to increase their public favor by repelling a dragon attack..." she stated with a confidence that completely unnerved Ryden and completely froze both dragons in their tracks... for other reasons mostly, Tannin looked about ready to explode at her words; yet Rivia continued regardless while Ryden's eyes loomed over her in stunned shock as she did so.
"The one responsible for this attack is operating outside of public view, which means an attack on your front will only appear like a baseless invasion that will only garner a more focused attention from the local Old-Satan forces... all you've been dealing so far was a simply security force" her eyes then gazed into Tannin like a spot light, her ammunition being all but too accurate and it was actually managing to keep Tannin silent long enough for her press even further.
Rivia clicked her tongue. "But In the very likely possibility of you invading a populated city, then you will only end up kill more innocent bystanders then Old-Satan military personnel. This outcome will not only garner the negative attention of the Old-Satan army, but it will also gain the animosity of the anti-Satan army as well" Ryden was completely unnerved when Rivia's expression became more and more serene as she explained her reasoning; and he was sure the 'kind' smile adoring her features seemed incredibly disconcerting for both dragon kings all things considered.
Rivia then titled her head, her 'kind' smile growing more pronounced as her eyes remained cutely shut. "Gaining the collective animosity of both sides will only cause a blood race; which is affectionately a political term standing for 'killing-everything-responsible-for-the-crime-committed-until-it-no-longer-provides-public-credibility'. Should such a thing occur then I'm afraid we'd all be enemies—and though I'm not entirely in agreement with such a violent use of moral leverage over the ignorant masses to increase public credibility; I however, loath the idea of hundreds of innocence dying at the hands of a foolish overreaction because of the actions of a single man... but if I must act, I will do so without hesitation or mercy"
Rivia rest her hand over her lips as if apologetic, her eyes mixed with both mischief and conviction. "But there is also a means in which you could enact vengeance without attracting the collective animosity of hell itself... all you'd need to do is listen to me"
Rivia's words were well beyond anything anyone expected; for Ryden however, the degree of sadistic animosity hidden within her eyes was something he knew from then on to be the utmost terrifying expression worn on the woman beside him—and from the expressions on both Tiamat and Tannin, they agreed as well.
He shook his head out of bemusement before he turned his attention back to Tannin. "She's right Tannin—though politics bore you greatly – and trust me you're not alone in that venture – you still need to consider the ramifications of your actions, and if you do attack—then you need to consider the target"
Tannin's gaze shifted between the two in front of him before he finally fell back onto the one who first spoke. "What input do you have devil?" he asked, and it was blatantly clear he didn't abide by the idea of consulting with devils regarding his own kind; a respectable notion, but then again, a wise man never leaves a stone un-turned.
Rivia smirked at his question and her answer was instant. "The necropolis..." was all she said for a moment, letting the answer hang long enough for Ryden to quickly realize the intention behind her answer.
They needed a force to invade it...
Tiamat's draconic features paled at the mention of the invested grave site while Tannin titled his head in confusion at the offered option, a mortified expression of insult marring his features. "A desolate grave sight... you'd have me exact my vengeance... against the dead..."
Ryden quickly shook his head to defuse the interpretation on Tannin's side. "Not exactly... the Old-Satan's are experimenting on something known to us as Project: revenant... Atrinox – the one who attacked the valley and your people – was a soldier brought back to life by that very project—meaning the ones responsible for this attack are located there... far away from civilian life, isolated so you could just fucking lose it, and a soon to be priority target for the Anti-Satan military... it is by a military standard as—a perfect target"
Ryden crossed his arms over his chest again, the pieces of the puzzle provided by Rivia quickly falling into place. Though from an outside perspective the idea of throwing coals into Tannin's fire and directing his attention to a target they'd already had full intentions on attacking did seem a tad bit manipulative—but then again... this was a fucking dragon they were negotiating with.
When angry, shit explodes; very simple terms were required... all they were really doing was minimizing civilian loses to zero and maximizing the Old-Satan casualties to one hundred percent fucked, whilst also adding in a third bird to the soon-to-be made metaphor; destroying any military presence in the Necropolis will completely cut off their ability to bring back any big contenders.
Three birds, one stone...
[Dagger-1 do you hear me?]
Ryden blinked softly at the sound of Nyx's voice cutting into ears before he activated his Comm sigil; his eyes lightly skimming over to Rivia to gesture her to pipe into the call. "Go ahead Nyx—what's the issue?" he replied back calmly as Rivia activated her own comm sigil to listen in.
[No issues to report actually, just wanted to say that most – if not all – of those knights have vanished completely, does that mean Atrinox is down?]
Ryden's expression fell slightly. "Unfortunately, no—the bastard dipped before we could finish him" Ryden noticed Rivia tense up slightly at the reminder while Nyx clicked his tongue over the comm's before his voice cut back, bummed out by the half victory but ultimately lax at a victory achieved.
[Shit... well regardless, whatever you did, those drones all but broke down completely—coast is all clear from where we are]
Ryden nodded at the news while Rivia remained silent; at their flanks, Tiamat and Tannin patiently stood by—secretly listening in on the matter at large with their own enhanced hearing.
"What's everyone doing right now?" Rivia questioned.
[Well Rena and I managed to scrounge up some of Tannin's wounded after everything went silent while Abigail went to tend to Rosalina... Velkhana is here helping the wounded as well]
Ryden paused, his eyes momentarily widening at the mention of Rosalina's supposed condition yet Rivia sent him a reprieving look.
"What happened?" he asked anyway and Nyx brushed off his worry easily, already knowing who he was worry about.
[Hell if I know—or anyone for that matter; she just up and passed out while the rest of us faced down a long since dead member of the six... she's been unconscious for a while now from what Abigail's reporting, but... you'll need to hear it from all of us to know exactly what occurred]
Ryden's curiosity was peaked greatly, more so due to the gravity in Nyx's tone. If he had to categorize it—the devil sounded as if he'd seen something beyond what they had already gone through and that was unnerving, all things considered with resurrected war masters and an army of soulless drones, as well as a looming threat of a evil god.
It was an iffy matter to consider, but the way Nyx dismissed the 'long since dead member of the six' seemed as if whatever they'd seen was beyond the dead coming back to life, and with that said, they needed to consult and debrief and Ryden needed to inform everyone of their change in plans.
"Gather everyone and rendezvous with us near the other nobles... we need to talk"
[Right... see you then]
The comm's cut and Ryden quickly turned to Tiamat. "So where exactly did you drop off the nobles?" he asked with all seriousness he could garner.
Tiamat merely nodded, her wings already taking her back into the sky. "Follow me..." was all she said as Tannin silently took off with her, leaving both Rivia and Ryden to catch up on their own.
The attack was quelled, now—they had to make their next move quickly.
The extensive damage done to the dragon valley was fortunately less then what Ryden had expected once the heat of the situation had died down and the fire overtaking the forest had been quelled—courtesy of Ignis' control over the fiery element; what further, the re-population of the burnt sectors was almost equally Child's play at the same time and as Ryden followed along Tiamat and Tannin—the once scorched terrain quickly replenished itself into a vibrant green landscape.
Tannin had been silent as Ryden fixed the damaged sectors, but those who had watched his reaction knew full well he was thankful—given his soft grunt it was all they could really go by. For the most part though, only 2000 acres of land were set ablaze during the attack—which was mostly due to the added breath attacks from the Dragons that countered against the ground forces and distant cannon fire positioned some few miles away.
Ryden had to assume Atrinox had some form of artillery in place prior to their return—which went to show a few deeper matters regarding the ease in which Atrinox had divided the efforts of the dragons and the devils. The cannon fire had been the culprit for many of Tannin's losses and it wasn't until Tiamat managed to destroy them after fighting off Rodin Satanachia in a 1v1 slaughter. Ryden had felt as though he'd underestimated the Satanachia lord, as Tiamat herself had stated that there had been more to the man then his pretty features—though that still didn't mean he was a match for Tiamat; but surprisingly, Tiamat had stated that the devil himself had only been used as a diversion so to allow Atrinox a clean hit on his target... to which had little effect.
Aside from that man however, Tiamat had managed to silence the distant guns easily—as their constructive make was oddly brittle and fragile compared to her strength—to which Rivia revealed that Atrinox himself had been the one to have created those very cannons— and the ammunition of which – ammunition apparently capable of taking down Tiamat in a single combined shot – had been the absorbed essence from both Tannin and his brood of dragons back when they had assailed Atrinox and his soldiers in Ashfeld.
With the breath attacks from both a dragon king and several dozen other dragons—the power behind each shot was no dismissing matter.
Bad enough Atrinox was an adaptive tactician, but Rivia had theorized that Atrinox's main reason on appearing before them back in Ashfeld was specifically planned to absorb as much punishment for their ambush later in the Dragon Valley. Rivia knew fully that Atrinox stood no chance against either Tiamat or Tannin in a pitch battle, as their combined power clearly outmatched his own—and Ryden suspected the natural Aether coursing within the dragon kings veins due to their connection with a element massively dwarfed Atrinox's nether reserves.
In that regard, Atrinox had planned to take out one dragon king and isolate the other with his forces and the threat upon his people; which left both Ryden and Rivia without draconic support...
The revealed theory had left Tannin bitterly silent amongst other matters— and Ryden could tell he was at a loss at being so easily played, and by a rusty dead man no less.
Ryden could sympathize with that, and the travel back to the over cropped plateau had been flown in silence; Tiamat seemed content on the silence while Rivia seemed to take equal pleasure in it so she could review her conduct prior against Atrinox.
In the end, Atrinox had escaped and that was no dismissing matter as well... Atrinox escaping meant an even more dangerous second encounter.
They could have done better, but Ryden knew that no amount of contingencies could ever hope to survive contact against a war master—and shit just happens, and Rivia getting taken out by surprise was far less of a L then her actually getting killed. By the fears dwelling in Rivia's words regarding the potential of Ryden rubbing off his power on Atrinox – forcing a rapid adaption – Rivia had obviously desired a two versus one scenario—with both himself and her working in tandem, something he knew worked immensely well back in the territory of thorns, Atrinox wouldn't have stood a chance.
But unfortunately, Atrinox wasn't arrogant—and he knew his limits.
Ryden knew it couldn't be that easy however; and as much as his track record so far couldn't bat an eye at that statement, Ryden still had to realize that Atrinox had been his first taste against an opponent that could match him, step for step and strike for strike—and though he had the edge in speed, he didn't have the know-how to be unpredictable.
Everything had to be converted from the natural to the supernatural in this regard when it came to equals. To humans, reading foot movements and locating openings on the fly was a concept left only to the extremely professional. Boxers, MMA fighters etc.; those were the only types of humans who thrived and lived in dangerous encounters and pushed themselves to the utmost physical and mental limits in combat.
But to a supernatural being such as devils—especially the veterans amongst them, there had to be a more advanced level of awareness, something that Ryden may be ignoring or completely ignorant of. There had to be something he missing or ignoring—and Ryden slowly found himself comparing his fight against Atrinox with his tussle against Tannin so to see the minor differences he had to ponder.
Right off the bat however and Ryden knew that the two fights were a whole lot different in comparison—as fighting against a being twenty times his size, even if Tannin shrunk down his physical form to match that of his stature, all that was truly involved was speed and strength—skill was a potential asset, but when facing off against a being who favored size over skill, speed and strength reigned.
Ryden could match against Tannin based solely on the fact that Tannin couldn't care less if his sword hit him—as his immense durability made it all but impossible to wound him if one didn't managed to put out the required power.
Ryden had the speed and power to face off against a wall—a titan; but it was clear now that he didn't posses the skill to face off against an adversary that stood equal to his speed... power was iffy, but that was another topic all together; yet amongst all these thoughts however, Ryden could only remember his battle against Tannin and what he'd slowly fell into as their fight carried on. He'd still call it ultra instinct until he actually achieved that fabled state of mind—but in regards to that moment, Ryden could remember almost every little detail involved, every swing swung and every bolt summoned along with every gust of wind he'd used to amplify his strikes.
His mind had been clear, open—and brimming with thoughts and strategies that Tannin himself managed to survive and somewhat counter. In all honesty, Ryden had been entirely intending on killing Tannin in that fight, yet his strikes were not aimed at the dragon's vitals.
He had to guess there was something about that sensation; a lack of hesitance but an awareness to avoid the intended outcome; as instead of avoiding attrition—Ryden engrossed his attacks in a battle of attrition while also incorporating a killing intent.
But even then, that was not all it—not even close.
Just having killing intent alone doesn't shorten the gap between two skilled warriors—and when it came to Atrinox and Ryden, their abilities skimmed right by the other.
Atrinox had skill...
Ryden had power...
And if Ryden was thinking this correctly, Atrinox would be aiming at increasing his power so to capitalize on his lacking skill; so if Ryden wanted to compete on equal ground against Atrinox again, then he needed to train... a lot.
Ryden knew it wouldn't be that easy however; training alone wouldn't breach the gap between him and Atrinox—as this wasn't a shounen anime. Three days worth of training ain't doing shit to help him against a war master with decades of experience, so he needed to find a work around.
Ryden just hoped it would be enough...
[Outcropping, sometime later...]
Ryden kneeled down beside a still unconscious Rosalina, his hand gently wiping aside a strand of hair that had fell over her eye before he gently rest his hand on her forehead—testing her temperature.
She was fine, her temperature was normal but her status unnerved him greatly.
It had been an hour since Ryden and Rivia rendezvoused with Nyx, Abigail and Rena at the outcropping that held all the other devils they'd pulled from Ashfeld. Tensions had been high strung for a while but after Ryden and Rivia returned, the survivors of Ashfelds torment and the servants all took a moment to relax.
They'd all seen the commotion from the outcropping and had been left in wonder if it had been a losing battle—what with all the falling dragons from distant mortar fire. Thankfully though, with the return of himself and Rivia, the nobles and servants managed to return to their tasks towards healing the wounded and of course—thanking the efforts of the devils that had saved them.
For Ryden, it had been the first moment of complete peace for what felt like a few days worth of action, and it didn't at all feel as though he had time to truly think of what had transpired in the last few days.
Honestly, if Ryden was being honest with himself—he had to fight his memories to remember a few key moments that he'd still yet to ponder; yet Gregor and Amelia were a little bit of a deterrent in that regard, as Ryden found himself being fawned over by the two 'children' after his return.
He had to guess the sight of him landing all heavy footed into the outcropping came as a rather cool entrance for the two impressionable devil heirs.
Fortunately for Ryden and unfortunately for Gregor and Amelia, their mothers managed to pull them away when Nyx called out to him so they could have their meeting. The children fawning over Ryden couldn't understand the gravity in Nyx's tone, but Vidalia Vassago and Claudia Amon could—and it was an operation and a half for them to get Ryden free from the clearly inspired children.
Ryden had to guess it was a devils thing—to fawn over an inspiring warrior they looked up too and make outlandish requests that Ryden knew he couldn't at all promise.
From requested stories of heroism – his, not fantasy stories, so they were basically asking him to gloat and boast of his skills and might – and all the way to requests of training, a question asked by Gregor Vassago.
Ryden had been over that already with himself and his own thoughts during the short flight to the outcropping; so to hear such a request that he knew damn well he'd be mediocre at, made it all too bitter for him to deflect the request towards something off the top of his head... thankfully, Vidalia Vassago could read the room.
She knew that he didn't like that request and to a mothers own instincts, the idea of her son jumping head long into a conflict decades before his own rise to power all but sealed her actions. Ryden had to nod his thanks to the Lordess once she and her friend Claudia Amon jumped in to pull their children away – to which he got a kind smile in response from both of them – before he turned and followed after the awaiting Nyx without another word.
This was how Ryden found himself currently after an hour of waiting for the others to return; kneeling over a still unconscious Rosalina and standing in a small clearing with the others framing it.
Tense as the atmosphere was, Nyx seemed relaxed enough to hold a small posture against a tree while Rena sat across from him—beside the laying Rosalina; Abigail and Rivia stood off to the side as well, yet both of them were dead serious... Nyx and Ryden kinda figured as such.
"So let me recap..." Ryden stated after a moment to digest what Nyx, Abigail and Rivia had dumped on him. "You guys faced down another Satanachia lord, who was apparently killed some several centuries ago... and it was during that time when you—heard a voice?" there were many things Ryden's already experienced, and disembodied voices was almost entirely old news.
He had half a mind to question if the voice faked an orgasm in their ears...
Ryden shuddered.
Rivia nodded solemnly at his question. "Indeed, however its words are what bother us..."
Nyx nodded. "It went 'As for this one... I will not stand idle as a fool preaches of secrets beyond his comprehension...be gone'... that's what it said before a black void appeared and killed Lindros Satanachia in an instant"
Ryden mulled over the information, running the sentence through his mind several times, baiting for at least one Infernum Armis to throw in a comment; yet they all remained silent which Ryden assumed to be their unanimous answer of 'we have no bloody idea'.
"Preaching secrets huh?—what exactly was this Lindros talking about?" Ryden found himself asking and Rivia replied instantly.
"His words were exactly that, preaching's—conjecture filled with reverence towards Atrinox, but yet..." Rivia paused to look over to Rosalina with a hint of worry in her eyes while at the same time her thoughts focused back onto the loom threat they had yet to identify. "—I fear what he was saying may have some level of truth; whatever it was he was babbling about—something didn't like what he was saying"
"And that damned black hole was its response" Nyx piped in before shaking his head. "I don't know any elemental spirits managing to control gravity, let along gravity strong enough to make a freaking black hole" Nyx added with a hard look in his eyes directed solely to the ground at his feet. "I've hunted many things in my life, and I've seen elementals before, yet nothing about them fits the events that happened with Lindros Satanachia and that voice"
Ryden blinked after a thought came to mind. "Was this voice male or female?"
Rena looked over at him. "There a difference depending on that answer?" she pondered with a raised brow and Nyx agreed with her sentiment.
Ryden shook his head gently. "Just a theory..." he muttered before his gaze turned to Rivia. "Back at the monastery I'd heard a woman's voice call out my name, remember?"
Rivia's eyes suddenly widened. "It was a female's voice that spoke over us as well—you don't think...?"
Ryden sighed deeply, the sensation of the plot thickening shortly following afterwards. "Bloody hell...I don't know what that voice is, or anything besides a small degree of familiarity to it; but that could be a influential aspect that helped goad me into entering that monastery—for all I know, whatever this woman's voice is, it could be something looking to control out actions and what we know and learn; as whatever that devil had said may have gone into 'spoiler' territory"
Abigail hummed before she crossed her arms over her chest. "Well as far I say, its intentions seem mostly centered on our side for the most part— because if it led us to a monastery filled with murals depicting future events, one can only assume its desire is aligned with our own"
Rena froze in shock at the context in front of her; her eyes shooting between every other devil present. "Eh!?"
Ryden glanced her way, quickly recalling her lacking knowledge on their ground shattering discovery the other day. "We found an underground monastery filled with murals depicting future events; the first being Lucifaad's destruction, then the invasion into the Territory of Thorns and finally a few invasions that have yet to occur... Lilith and the Necropolis"
Nyx snorted in amusement before shoot a sly yet pained grin towards Rena. "And guess where the fuck we're going next..."
Rena's eyes widened. "The necropolis..."
Nyx's smirk became pained. "Exactly..."
"Actually Nyx, we're not going to the necropolis..." Ryden stated with finality and Nyx found himself stunned silent; yet Abigail found herself nodding along with the intended change of plans.
"I thought I heard you two muttering about something... an invasion force right?" she questioned and Ryden nodded before Rivia clarified.
"If things work out correctly, we will be able to invade the necropolis with Tannin and his warriors—if he listens to reason"
"He will..." a familiar voice confirmed and out from behind Rivia, Tiamat stepped into the clearing and took a casual stance beside the devil while the others acknowledged the dragon king with only brief expressions of surprise.
Ryden ignored her sudden arrival and nodded. "You sure he'd listen?"
Tiamat nodded with a narrowed set of eyes. "I would not speak if I hadn't already talked him into it..." was her confirmation and the others quickly nodded in thanks. "However, conducting such an invasion will have to wait; with all the casualties suffered today, Tannin will require a few weeks to consolidate and dress the wounds of his warriors before mounting an offensive towards the necropolis... he may even be considering a relocation for his forces if he feels it prudent" Ryden nodded solemnly at the dragons kings news—what with the breach in their perimeter and the rapid loss of several dozen warriors, it would be wise decision to actually relocate to a safer territory.
One never knew if Atrinox was the type to tie up unfinished business...
"What about you?" Ryden asked, yet his face fell when Tiamat's reply was voiced
She smirked, playfully by the looks of it before she idly tilted her head off to the side. "I will be returning to my domicile after I escort your little noble friends to their safe zone—a deals a deal after all... and I'm hoping one of my own will be completed soon..." Tiamat's gaze loomed over Ryden, a transfixed glint of expectation lingering within her eyes that carried with it an undertone of challenge.
Ryden rubbed the bridge of his nose, remembering the fact he had two deals still tied with Tiamat that he'd yet to actually make a move to completing; and considering the major issue associated with her treasure, his fight with the dragon king was more than likely to be his first deal made. "I shall see to at least one of those completed soon..." he said with a hinting look in his eye; a look that Tiamat read like an open book.
Tiamat's grin grew just slightly at his words before she turned to leave. "See you whenever... darling" Ryden – and the others – watched as the dragon strutted back towards the distant nobles, the exaggerated movements of her below the waist feature being all too clear for the devils to see.
Ryden face palmed while Nyx and Abigail shot him a look of mixed amusement and bewilderment—the later expression being entirely owned by Nyx, yet aside from them, Rivia continued to glare/stare at the backside of the retreating dragon king while Rena felt both confusion and awe take a hold of her.
"Are you... dating a dragon?" she asked in shocked and Ryden quickly began messaging his temples while Nyx latched onto the subject like registered nutcase finally running into a fellow nutcase.
"That's what I'm getting at! This absolute numb-nut actually issued a challenge towards her—a damn challenge to combat"
Rena narrowed her eyes, still confused. "What's that actually mean? You told me this on our way to the Valley but doesn't that mean they're just sparring?" Rena questioned Nyx and the aforementioned devil quickly fell silent in the face of her ignorance.
In the silence following her words, Ryden had felt it prudent to inform the newbie Dagger on the full story, yet the second his mouth opened, Nyx appeared at his side—his hand covering his mouth to silence him.
"Silence fool! Thine fair maiden possesses purity—duty bounds us to protect it" the Oriax devil spoke in an oddly fluently but ultimately retarded medieval English accent that left Rena in an indignant silence.
Ryden swiped the devils hand off his face. "The hell?" he spat back in response before he crossed his arms over his chest proudly, a confident smile adoring his lips as he owned his future fate with pride. "I'm just trying to inform our new recruit of my journey to join a very exclusive club filled with nothing but Bards and a single Donkey... and I will be a part of that damned club no matter what" Ryden faked his passion somewhat well because he found himself grinning towards a stunned silent Nyx, a oddly inspired Rena and a completely amused Abigail... Rivia seemed to be zoning out completely.
.
.
.
"Wha?" was Nyx's comment on Ryden's Glorious dramatic cover up on the exclusive 'Dragon Fucker club'; and to Ryden's surprise, Abigail suddenly snickered, whether it be due to Nyx and Rena's conflicting impression directed at Ryden's fake enthusiasm towards boning a dragon king, or the fact she knew what he meant by bards... the donkey bit will remain for Ryden's own entertainment.
Well then... the legend of dragon boning bards is apparently timeless...
...Men of culture are eternal...
I knew you'd pipe in Fulgur...
Like a ray of sunlight after a raining day I shall always appear before those who embrace the exotic...
A series of blinks followed after Fulgur's oddly poetic comment before he refocused back onto the present when Rivia kneeled down at his side, her gaze serious and tone quiet while Rena, Nyx and Abigail continued to joke around regarding his little soon to be explored 'adventure' with Tiamat.
"Will you tell them what happened with Atrinox?" she asked softly.
Ryden shook his head dismissing his amusement instantly before replying. "Not exactly, Atrinox himself stands as major threat—one that all of us will need to face down and focus on, together...but—" Ryden noticed Rivia pick up a hesitant expression towards the idea of facing that devil with assistance, but considering what had happened—she had to agree. Ryden continued. "Considering the devils mysterious powers, I feel as though informing them of what that is would be more efficient to focus on then talk of that devil specifically"
Rivia shook her head. "They need to know about him..." she stressed and Ryden nodded in agreement.
"They will—but I need you and the others to listen to me first" Ryden stated with finality before he turned back to the others, garnering their attention instantly.
"What is it? Are we jumping back on track?" Abigail asked upon seen the mood change instantly by the expressions worn on both Rivia and Ryden.
Ryden nodded. "It's in regards to Atrinox and what his apparent resurrection means for the Civil War at large"
"I'm guessing it means the Old-Satan's are going ahead with this Project: Revenant right?" Rena said questioningly and Rivia confirmed her thoughts with a firm nod.
"Correct—we can only assume the necropolis is under Old-Satan control, and their using the dead buried there to resurrect specific individuals using an element known as 'nether' energy" Rivia crossed her arms when the rest of her team – minus Ryden – nodded at the information.
Nyx rubbed his chin in wonder at the mention of this supposed mysterious element. "This nether energy...we've seen it before haven't we?—back in the territories of Lilith right?"
Ryden nodded.
"Then that's honestly concerning because there's something similar in the Thorns territory..." Nyx glanced over to Abigail. "That pit I found smack dab in the middle of a imp nest, it was made of nether then? A foreign element introduced into a stabilized ecosystem, it was nether energy that did that"
Rivia shrugged. "It may have been, but from your report lord Nyx—you never stated anything about a declining presence of demonic energy; like the same feeling we got back at that outpost"
"That may be due to it being a recent event... the pit in the quarry could have been old"
Nyx agreed with Abigail instantly at the suggestion before he found himself accounting a theory after a thought crossed his mind regarding the location of both reported anomalies. "First an Imp nest and then a highly populated outpost containing a monolith system; two locations positioned on a lay line, and densely packed with active demonic energy—you think it's a coincidence?" Nyx knew imps like the back of his hand and he knew that imp's nested themselves no more than a quarter mile from at least a minor lay line, and the outpost sitting above it was directly on top of one; and that also went the same for the outpost back in Lilith— as it was also sitting on a lay line in order to power those massive monolith comm's devices.
There was no way it was not a coincidence.
Ryden idly ran his hand through his beard, fumbling with the possibilities but if he was being honest—the prior words of Ventus couldn't have confirmed the waking theories within the team better than his own.
But yet they went hand in hand...
Abigail had her own theories regarding a connection with the knights commanded by Atrinox – a worthy theory that had merit considering each knight constructed possessed a small association with nether energy – and Nyx's own theory regarding the strategic placement of the 'nether pits' meant something malevolent in nature which didn't at all sit well with Rivia and Ryden—the bad thing was... they may be correct.
Rivia had her own theories – Ryden knew she did – but she had refrained from voicing them while Rena all but seemed detached from the conversation as her own limits with her theories regarding the nether pits and the connection with Atrinox stood as second hand hearsay.
Nether energy was a brand new concept for her – as well as every else for that matter – but experiences that Nyx and Abigail had compared to hers dwarfed what she knew of them—leaving her to silently listen to the conversation and study the degree of the matter in her own fashion.
"So Atrinox was apparently resurrected by this Nether energy—and by the Old-Satan's no less – which doesn't surprise me considering their zealous nature. But what I'm confused by is how exactly did they learn of this? Wars been going strong for a few years now and not a single peep of resurrection was heard; yet just a few months after that falling star and suddenly things are getting weird" Nyx supplied another theory and Ryden froze as his memory quickly rounded in on his distant conversation with Mephisto the other day and what had apparently followed him on his entrance to hell...
He landed in Malphes...
And whatever followed him...
It landed there as well...
Ryden fought off an onset of Goosebumps at the thought – the idea of something having followed him in his sudden fall to hell sent his instincts running – yet his memories regarding his landing in Malphes – though hazy at best – didn't exactly allude to something odd during his foggy stumble from out of the massive canyon he'd made in his landing. Thinking on it further, the time in which it took for him to actually clear out of the cannon was rather fast in some cases.
It was obvious he hadn't at all been one hundred percent aware of the events around him at that time; the culminated shock and adrenaline mixed with the fear of death made for a serious cocktail to process—yet it seemed at some point during all of that, he'd managed to walk himself out of a crash site without being cognitively aware of anything around him.
Was it instinct that caused him to move on his own?
...Did something else move him?
Was there something else in the crash site?
Ryden quickly shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts—the idea of something else sitting in the crash site, something eldritch by nature, honestly spooked the shit out of him... but even so, the words of Ventus still hung in his mind.
"B-be that as it may Nyx, the how was already given to me by Ventus"
Rivia turned her eyes to Ryden as Nyx cut himself off mid theory when his voice cut into the clearing—and right along with the others, they too awaited his say.
"What did Ventus say?" Abigail questioned before Nyx added to her question with his own.
"Or better yet, how exactly does he know anything about this stuff?"
Ryden had to think on that as well—and if he was recalling things correctly, the first time they'd encountered nether, the reaction on both Ventus and Fulgur was incredibly forceful—all up to the point of rushing him into a situation that would have proved lethal if he was any less of a badass.
One possible connection could be a natural inclined instinct to preserve a fragile ecosystem created by their own elements; that was a good theory, but the tone and fear within the Infernum Armis' towards the nether pit expressed something deeper... that, and the fact that they knew exactly how to purge nether without so much as a moment to study it, added credence to a deeper history left either unspoken...
...Or sealed off.
Ryden went to answer, his lips already opening to provide his theory regarding the apparent connection with Nether and the Infernum Armis'—yet instead of his voice coming out, silence filled the air.
He blinked, wonderment rising instantly at his involuntary silence, yet immediately after blinking several more times to process the odd occurrence – even attempting to speak a few other times to discover the same result – Ryden notice the world at large crumbled away to darkness.
The last thing he felt before the world crumbled away completely... was a flurry of wind.
[?]
Experiences were all unique in some form of sensation; emotions tend to engrave certain events in one's life in order to seal a fond memory, or trap a traumatic event. But it's through experience where one manages to learn of life's many trials and overcome the many dangers associated with it...
However Ryden just had one question about that...
Why does he get the most confusing ones?
Ryden awoke with a start, yet in retrospect of his experience—it felt as if he'd never actually fell asleep in the first place; to Ryden, the feeling felt akin to a transition—a travel to one state of...being?—to another within a blink of an eye.
His surroundings were still completely dark, that much didn't change, yet what did change with his new 'condition' was the fact he didn't have a body to speak of... it was just an amalgamation of bright blue energy in the mild shape of one.
Surprise – surprisingly in this case – felt oddly vacant; like the sensation of being literal intangible energy didn't at all feel too mind shatteringly terrifying to Ryden. It was actually comforting in a weird way—like he was wrapped in an ever warm blanket pulled straight from the dryer during a cold winter afternoon.
That fluffy warm embrace of freshly done laundry...
Though as content as that thought was—he still had to ask the question of why he was suddenly a floating mass of bright blue energy...
You can't really blow past that no matter how relaxed you feel... so he asked the question – a traditional 'what the hell?' comment that brooked none to ignore it, and none to dodge it—straight and to the point.
Unfortunately—straight and to the point, was a certain someone's specialty...
"Oh my... Isn't this a surprise; never thought I get a chance to actually see you in person, master"
Ryden felt his skin crawl for a second, the very familiar voice of Fulgur quickly registering in his ears, yet the clarity of it – unlike the usual static of mental focus – nearly sent his soul fleeing.
Fulgur... was right behind him.
He turned – or shifted – around to regard the presence behind him, and instantly Ryden's vision was caked in crimson light, violent and stirring with unprecedented amounts of energy that managed to flood the black world around him red. He could feel the energy, sense its compound and quickly recognize the familiar sensation it had to Fulgur's natural flow of energy.
Its magnitude was... astounding—ground breaking if there were a ground to break; however, amidst the turbulent storm of crimson energy that was undoubtedly Fulgur was a similar being as him—an amalgamation of energy, though this being seemed to take after the element in which it represented – hence the crimson arc energy – however the physical appearance of the spirit was quite clearly female... the only issue is that she was all curves and bust then actual tangible characteristics. There was something resembling a head of hair to take note of; yet the one tone shade of bright crimson made Fulgur's head look like a spiked mess of long mid back length hair with a set of bangs that framed her featureless face.
Facial features were a blank design, though a distinct set of cheek bones, eye ridges and a nose were quite clearly visible, the one tone shade – again however – made identifying expressions all but impossible.
Though he had a feeling the spirit was more than overjoyed to see him in person—as noted by the sudden image of the crimson lady rush towards him a second after he took in her 'features'... the funny thing however, was that in the midst of Fulgur's mad rush to anime glomp him to the 'floor' and smother him with just enough affection to induce some sort of federal involvement, she failed to prepare herself for the possibility that physical touch was impossible for a collection of gas like energy—thus resulting in her phasing through him with a comedic 'Kyaa!' to follow.
Though to be fair—Ryden had to give credit to the horny spirit. Embarrassing herself didn't seem to at all cause her some level of embarrassment; but then again, saying the following line like nothing happened went to show just how uncaring she was to the idea of self image.
"~oh I've waited for the day you'd come here!~" Fulgur laminated joyously as she turned towards Ryden's ghostly form and quickly hugged herself like a bashful high-school girl—and Ryden could just feel a provocative leer on him. "~little ol Fulgur has been a ~naughty girl~ lately and she'll need a good thrashing by a strong and mighty master to remember her place~"
If Ryden possessed a tangible physical form with distinct characteristics and a very well designed set of eyes—he'd be practically convulsing with unrepentant annoyance and embarrassment. Sure this was the first time he was actually meeting the lightning spirit in person – at least marginally all things considered with his current condition – but that didn't even slightly deteriorate the experience he'd had with the horny being.
Annoyance was quick to feel in the wake of the moment; he was far to confused with everything that had happened to even humor the spirit with a few perverted barbs or a few rare flirts. Embarrassment on the other hand was another thing he'd come to feel, and Ryden assumed it was his still presence inexperience with woman of a higher caliber that was to blame.
Ryden would never say it openly, but even without distinct features—Fulgur was rocking an exotic figure that rivaled that of Rivia's so one could excuse him for being slightly bashful.
Ryden shook his 'head'—quelling aside his cursed inexperience and lacking self control with beautiful women; and within the time it took to clear his thoughts, Ryden's very clear annoyance with the spirits lax attitude quickly outpaced his prior embarrassment.
"Never... speak... in third person... again" due to his lacking form, all that truly expressed his annoyance at the moment was his slow growled command, though for a brief second, Ryden could have sworn he'd seen and felt his 'body' shift violently—like the surface of the sun belching a solar flare.
The response of his seemed to mildly deflate the lightning spirit in front of him, as Fulgur sighed flippantly at his cold dismissal of her invitation yet she didn't seem entirely dissuaded in trying again In the future.
"Well it was worth a try anyway" surprisingly, Fulgur's tone changed into a more serious one—well at least a more laid back one if he was hearing it right, and with a gentle shrug, Fulgur moved on to the business Ryden wished to get to... namely... where he was.
"From your confusion before I can only assume you wish to know where you are and what happened just a moment ago"
"Yes... the last thing I felt was a breeze of wind" Ryden revealed plainly.
Fulgur crossed her arms under her bust, exalting them and their size without thought and Ryden rolled his eyes at the action—yet Fulgur ignored his response and answered. "Is it not obvious enough with me here?—" the spirits arms then waved out towards the blackened world around them, causing Ryden to follow along.
Yet just when he turned back to Fulgur—the spirit was inches from his face, a hand gently rising to cup where his chin should be. "This... is your mind, or in a more romantic sense—this could be considered your 'inner world', a place where your conscious centers on" her hand dropped from Ryden's 'chin' before she turned away and sauntered a couple feet from him—her face glancing from left to right, studying the space around them with concealed intrigue.
"Though I'd say it's lacking at the moment, but that doesn't exactly matter right now—we did just finish constructing it"
There were a few things Ryden had going on in his thoughts upon hearing of an inner world of his own, yet after hearing Fulgur's last few lines, Ryden focused in on that. "Finished Constructing it?—you and the others, they made this space?"
The lightning spirit whirled around, her body language expressing enthusiasm. "Indeed—but I'd say it's more along the lines of locating a space within your soul—constructing it is entirely up to your own fantasy"
"This... was far too sudden..." Ryden intoned with a voice of uncertainty.
Fulgur shrugged again. "Well if you wanna blame someone about that, you'll need to speak with Ventus and Ignis as they were the ones who came up with this plan... though that may take some time as Ventus is preoccupied with something else, and Ignis has yet to construct a physical presences like myself and Ventus"
"If that's the case, then what do I do about this 'inner world' of mine?"
Fulgur merely shrugged dismissively—again Ryden might add. "The hell if I know master, if you want answers about that you'll need to wait for Ignis—he's the 'soul' guy around here, while I'm just 'power' and 'looks'" right upon speaking the latter term, Fulgur's right hand gently gripped a hold of her right breast before she began fondling it sensually whilst staring directly at Ryden as if her actions were not all inappropriate. "I believe I'm the best for that task... ~right master?~"
A flat and silent deadpan was all that Fulgur got in the aftermath of her words, and the word 'horny' and 'useless' floated at the peak of Ryden's thoughts as he watched the perverted spirit continue to touch her breast. Not only was Fulgur not the best individual to speak to of mysterious lapses into unconsciousness – ones that apparently led to a damned inner world – but she wasn't exactly within the right state of mind to comprehend the confusion in the room...
He had to thank the higher powers that his body was intangible right now, because if he possessed his full physical form he was sure there'd be more moaning then talking right now. Fulgur's mannerisms seemed entirely on point with what Ryden assumed to be her true character should she have developed a physical body besides that of a badass Great-sword.
Sex would be the only thing she would be interested in that case—and right at the moment, Ryden felt as though he wouldn't be able to enjoy that scenario with all the confusion going on in this mind... or was it minds mind?
Either or, Ryden knew such a circumstance was inevitable now that an inner world popped into play without a hint of warning, yet before he could voice his other questions, Fulgur seemed to become aware of something.
"Ah! Ventus seems to have made head way; we should be able to watch now"
Ryden's gaze shifted back onto the crimson spirit upon hearing her words, and too his immense confusion, a large 'portal' made itself present right as he turned—and directly within the portal, was the exact scene he'd been in before falling into unconsciousness.
Rivia, Abigail, Nyx and Rena were looking directly at the portal – something he now assumed to be a sort of TV – meaning he was witnessing something that entirely unnerved him.
"Where's Ventus?" Ryden asked suddenly once a stray thought crossed his mind. His gaze quickly went to Fulgur to question the spirit, yet Fulgur seemed more interested in watching the varying expressions on the devils staring at them then truly regard Ryden completely.
"Hm?..." she hummed pleasantly in question. "Oh... right... all of this was done in order for Ventus to truly speak his mind"
"Elaborate..." Ryden commanded and to his surprise, Fulgur sounded as if she was pouting in her response.
"Pooo~... no need to be so alarmed master, all Ventus is doing is communicating with your friends in his own manner; you can say using you to express his discoveries has mildly left him frustrated... paraphrasing kinda annoys him"
Ryden's form bristled again. "You mean he's taken over my body just to nerd out?!"
Everything had fallen into place right when his eyes locked onto the Portal containing his silent and confused friends—and with the lacking presence of Ventus to help explain the situation without sexual undertones or full out sexual invitations, it made things clear as to what was really happening.
A take over
—Yet upon sensing Ryden's rapidly increasing fears of what may be happening, Fulgur instantly settled it all with just a few words of reason—her tone for the first time in a long while carrying a sense of gentle wisdom that eased the air completely.
"Ryden..." she whispered gently, catching the human's attention instantly by the sincerity of it. Fulgur didn't turn to fully regard Ryden, but her voice remained a subtle whisper that managed to block out the paranoia building within Ryden. "Ventus made this inner world along with Ignis to do two separate things... the first was to grant a mental space to help train you along with your training with Rivia Abaddon; the second reason was to allow Ventus an easier way to protect your body and communicate with your allies while you train here"
This time her head turned towards Ryden, and a direct sensation of sincerity filled his senses—compelling his rational side to come back and fend off the irrational fears of betrayal that had rapidly formed. Ryden had once feared the deeper history of the Infernum Armis', and with the sudden taking over of his body, it made it seem to him that their true intentions were becoming known.
So she stamped out those fears instantly...
She'd never betray him...not ever...
This was the message given to Ryden within the scant seconds of looking towards Fulgur's faceless gaze, and instantly he knew their intentions were as pure as it came; the following explanation adding credence to that unvoiced message. There was no hidden scheme, or grand lie to be feared—nothing motivated the Infernum Armis' then their direct loyalty to the one that could unseal them.
All that was happening was something that would benefit both parties...
Ryden felt himself grow silent, his curiosity rising as he stepped to the side of Fulgur to watch the events that would unfold—and at his side, Fulgur couldn't be beaming more then she was.
[Outside world]
"I..."Ryden's voice paused mid sentence, confusion filling his expression for a second before a small flurry of wind brushed over the small clearing, and within Ryden's eyes, a emerald light quickly replaced his once blue orbs, and in that instant of transition, Ryden's mannerisms changed completely. Too his straightened posture and to his sharpened gaze—everything about Ryden's outgoing expression shifted to that of an unseen spectator, confusing those awaiting his response.
'Ryden's' eyes set themselves towards the now stunned devils, a mild expression of bemusement adoring his features as his fingers gently flexed to accustom himself for a moment before he tilted down into a serene bow, a perfectly executed—well maintained, noble bow.
One could hear a pin drop afterword's...
For the others, none could truly comprehend the shift in roles more so then Ventus—and though it was a gamble on his end, the outcome proved to be what he predicted, and all that stood to present itself as proof of his plan, was the clear expressions of confusion on the allies of his wielder in front of him.
Nyx's eyes narrowed in confusion along with the others at his choice of response; each one of them possessing a degree of wonderment towards Ryden's odd transition in mannerism; yet amongst them all, Ventus noticed that Rivia Abaddon merely stared on in silent awe—hinting to the notion that she managed to catch the subtle shift in Ryden's eye color... the color chosen seemed almost self-explanatory... a soft flurry of jade, mixed with wind—and an emerald shine to boot... it was almost too obvious for the sharp devil.
Ventus' amusement spiked at that, and to test his own curiosity, Ventus shifted the weight at his feet— easily painted the picture of a naturally tuned hunter prepared to strike.
And in an instant, Rivia's own posture followed suit... Ventus grinned, and in response, the mirroring actions of Ryden quickly followed. Amusement, recognition and respect flickered across the emerald eyes of the spirit that which now inhabited Ryden's body.
"I trust your intentions with that body are pure of intent spirit?" Rivia asked suddenly, a hard stare locking with Ryden's now clearly visible eyes.
There were several reactions to Ryden's change and Rivia's words, and both Nyx and Rena took a quick step back from the aforementioned man once they gazed into the shining emerald orbs that Nyx himself assumed to be just a random upgrade or discovery of yet another ability—though it seemed now it was something else entirely, yet amongst the two devils clearly unnerved by the possession, Abigail seemed surprisingly calm alongside with Rivia—though her own words in response were less classy.
"Well shit... that's new..." she muttered after 'Ryden' glanced her way—the shining emerald easily making it obvious that someone else was in control of Ryden; and amongst the clearly defensive devils – that being Rena and Nyx – Abigail and Rivia merely stared at Ryden, transfixed and defensive.
Ventus for his part cocked a sly grin towards the bow-woman, mildly amused by the blunt assessment of the situation before he turned back to Rivia Abaddon – ignoring all else present.
Ventus bowed again, a concealed and brief show of acknowledgment towards the one most observant devil present.
"It's a pleasure you make your acquaintance for the first time – Miss Abaddon..." Ventus smiled serenely upon speaking, his voice a mix of both Ryden's and a mysterious males. To the others, It sounded kind and almost entirely compassionate in full, possessing a graceful baritone fit for a gentleman—though they'd be entirely surprised with what followed... "I apologies for interrupting this meeting, but I must cut in to implore the gravity of the situation directly"
Abigail went to say something, but her voice was muddle—and by the same reaction on Rena Valefor's part, she was also suffering the same issue. Nyx was just silent—flat out disconnected with the situation and the abruptness of the matter entirely.
Amongst them however, Rivia remained focused on the spirit possessing Ryden; the soft and elfishly perfect voice not nearly coming close to her own mother. Her eyes hardened and her stance stepped towards the man.
"Will you not introduce yourself?—far as I'm aware, you could be any of the three spirits dwelling within him..." Rivia's demand was countered by a snort of amusement.
Ventus grinned towards Rivia in amusement, though it was unlike the usual grin worn by the human—as this one was far too restrained to be that mans.
"If the likes of Ignis were present then things would go nowhere—and if Fulgur were here then I'm afraid things would only become truly awkward" Ventus' expression contorted into a disturbed expression as Rivia felt an odd sense of danger towards the man's words; the looks of horror worn by Ryden at times in random moments – even the few times he'd literally throw his sword away – gave a good hint as to what kind of being the lightning spirit was.
However... that only left one last spirit...
Nyx blinked. "Then you're—?"
Ventus beamed at the devil. "Indeed... My name is Ventus—the spirit of the winds..."
Defenses lowered at the mention of that familiar name, but soon—their worlds became a whole lot more complicated by the news delivered by the spirit...
"...And I have come before you all, to warn you of the God you all now face"
A/N:
*sigh*... this fucking chapter...
Well aside from this little problem chapter, I'm assuming you've all been wondering where I've been. Surprisingly, I was hit by a sort of writers retardation – writers block – and couldn't for the life of me formulate a damned paragraph without it sounding stupid.
This doesn't normally happen to me frequently, maybe once or twice a year but fuck me was this chapter a bitch and a half to corral. Half the time I've spent on this chapter was fucking editing... BLOODY EDITING!
And of course... the dreaded rewrite...
Most of you asking where the chapter went may already know that I was rewriting the chapter due to how disappointed I was with the end result; unfortunately, I had hoped my disappointment was the product of writers association with their own work—as some just can't stand the sight of their own image in videos or how their own music sounds.
The longer I take on a chapter, the more I begin to LOATH it and over think it—so I rolled with that idea and uploaded the chapter hoping you guys would enjoy it and prove that I was just over analyzing my work... boy was I wrong, it was a real shit show of a chapter.
Mokamiharu's review is the only review for chapter 29 (or at least the dreaded shitty 29) and it hit the nail on the head with all of my problems, and as soon as I read the first few sentences of his/her review, that chapter was removed almost instantly...
Two years—two damn years I've spent on this story and I ain't letting it get ruined by lazy mistakes.
And yes, Atrinox=bad mistake... unfortunately, my dumbass jumped the gun and incorporated a OC villain far to suddenly and over hyped his abilities from here and to the sun.
Tis a mistake, but fortunately for my readers who dislike Atrinox, rejoice! Atrinox is merely a temporary villain – sure he's important – but he's not gonna be a major main focus for all of this story and though I hyped the fight against Atrinox FAR too much then it was healthy for this story, THAT wasn't my main goal.
Let's talk about that—the fight against Atrinox... most people liked the idea of Ryden having a enemy to surpass, as constantly stomping opponents truly does become boring to read and write – yes I do get bored of that as well – and this case I'd already created one villain that would do so without making Ryden suddenly appear weak.
Atrinox's first reason of existing is to be the presence that highlights Ryden's lacking experience and formulated skill in an even match; Ryden only has a week's worth of training and it wasn't even real world scenario training—just a small mashing montage that got him up to speed and familiarized him with the world he was in.
So far—all that Ryden has been able to do is beat his opponents with brute strength and speed that cannot be matched by standard devils without me introducing a special exception. You could be the dumbest fighter on the earth, knuckle dragging, caveman level intelligence—but if you can move as fast as lightning and hit as hard as a freight train, not even Donny yen could stop you, or McGregor and Mayweather combined with mike Tyson awaiting a tag in.
Speed and strength... dangerous shit...
Now Ryden's actual fight with Atrinox was mostly in his favor, as Atrinox himself is a character I built to be as a race, a motivational villain that stands to surpass Ryden if Ryden doesn't decide to better himself. Ask yourself a question—if you were as fast as lightning, unparalleled in speed, and you hit like Senator Armstrong, would you bother perfecting a skill set—or even train?
You probably wouldn't even both, cause if you could outpace anyone then what's the need for blocks, clenches, trips and take-downs? And if you could hit like no other—then would you seek out a variety of different strikes?
You probably would in that regard, but you wouldn't do so for too long—you'd just seek variety for boredom's sake.
Saitama is the best reference here—he doesn't need training because there's no reason too; and this is where Atrinox comes in on Ryden's story.
And this also introduces the Concept of energy—that being Aether and Nether, and Ryden's powers center on the former...
Atrinox focuses on nether energy and its limits are shown against his fight with Ryden, and that is what builds the struggle between the two. Atrinox has the skill and experience, but Ryden has the speed and power to match him—if only barely on both their ends.
However, Ryden's position in this struggle will fall short if he doesn't train... it's a good thing he already knows a martial art, so Ryden understands the need for growth when growth is needed to stay on top.
That and Rivia was already intending on training him anyway...
Also, before anyone mentions Ryden's 'intuitive aptitude' from chapter 2 or 3, keep in mind, that ability was mainly used to skip over the basic familiarization of the weapons in his arsenal and also allow him to rapidly adapt to the weapons he obtains throughout the story and use them with admirable skill—not masterful.
Ryden has currently breaching into the realms of supernatural limits, but Atrinox has already been there on his own merits for far longer-he knows the ins and outs and the subtle signs to look out for in stronger opponents. Now while Ryden is inside due to his enhanced speed and power from Fulgur and the others... the training and future fights – both against Atrinox and others – will be what pushes Ryden further into the field of power that we'll see in later story arcs.
And that's not just physical training—but mental as well...
Anyway, I hope my rewrite stands out better then what was originally uploaded and if you like it then review and give me some feedback but as always...
PEACE!