Disclaimer: Black Clover is owned by Yūki Tabata, Studio Pierrot, and Shonen Jump.
Saga 43: Even Flow Part 2
No Man's Waves, Midnight
Another sonorous cry was heard from Leviathan as it swam towards them. The massive cetacean Demon surged forth through the tempestuous seas towards the Fallen Angels.
"SCATTER!" Claudius barked out as Leviathan charged towards them. "KEEP IT AWAY FROM THE SHIP!"
His forearms were then coated with black particles as the rest of the Fallen Angels flew around different directions around Leviathan. The head Fallen Angel then engages the Demon as he drove his fists into its rubber-like blubber, threatening to bounce his force back should be let up for a second.
"Of course the Demon of Water has to have blubber akin to a full goatskin..." Claudius snarled out right before Leviathan pushed back on Claudius's fists by swimming in a forward spiral, redirecting his built-up inertia and sending him careening across the stormy skies as the cetacean Demon dove back under water.
"IT'S UNDERWATER!" Astaroth cried out as he frantically shifted his eyes below the ocean's waves, spotting the massive silhouette heading towards the Black Chaser beelining towards the faint patch of land just up ahead.
"GUSION!" Claudius cried out.
The hooded Fallen Angel then manifests his [Anti-Magic] as a bow and an array of pitch-black arrows, nocking one across the stringed arc, pulling back the sting, and releasing them towards the waters, and piking one into Leviathan's skin.
The waters above dye in an ink-like color, trailing behind Leviathan's path as the arrows pierced into its hide were then anchored by Gusion's [Anti-Magic], forming threads from their ends, pulling Gusion towards the waters.
"KIMARIS! BARBATOS!" Claudius cried out as he flew down closer towards the water.
The armored and bearded Fallen Angels manifests their [Anti-Magic] as a jousting lance and a glaive respectively, as the two follow Claudius down towards the choppy waters.
"WE'RE GONNA DIVE IN!" Claudius cried out as he flew towards the water ever-faster. "RESURFACE IN ONE SECOND!"
The three dive into the water, and upon diving into the blackened waters, grazing Leviathan's back with their [Anti-Magic] manifestations before flying back out of the waters, their wings dripping wet and heavy as lead.
"... Okay, that didn't work." Claudius remarked as he looked down at the waters, still seeing the trail of black blood trailing across the sea. "... Which of you are part-seabird?"
"Gusion's part-condor, I'm part-shrike, and Barbatos is part-pelican." Kimaris remarked. "He would work, but he needs that beard to keep his [Anti-Magic] active."
"Even then, I still have a limit on how much water my wings can take." Barbatos pointed out. "At best, I have a minute underwater before I'm rendered flightless."
Astaroth simply grits his teeth before flying towards the cetacean Demon below the thrashing waves.
"MILORD!?" Cluadius cried out.
"SCREW THINKING AND FLYING!" Astaroth cried out as the divebombed towards the water. "IF THAT THING WANTS TO FIGHT IN ITS OWN TERF, THEN BRING IT ON!"
Astaroth then breaks into the water and plants his sword into the Demon's blubber, spilling out more ink-like blood from its fresh wounds. The Prince of War then begins to tread on the whale's skin by pulling out his other sword and staking it ahead of his first, pulling himself ever-forward as the Demon began swimming deeper and deeper into the depths.
Normally, anyone would've died from the sheer pressure of the water from Leviathan's swimming speed, but Astaroth, physically speaking, was a corpse. And as a corpse, the notion of breathing and even the lack of light from the depths of the ocean mattered not, and kept climbing forth, edging closer and closer towards Leviathan's box-like head.
"COME ON, COME ON!" Astaroth gurgled through the ever-faster torrent. "JUST A LITTLE MORE-"
"Who are you?" A deep voice echoed in Astaroth's head.
Astaroth looks around, only to find himself and Leviathan in the depths of the ocean's waters.
"What the hell?" Astaroth remarked. "Who's talking to me-"
"Again I ask." The voice remarked once again. "... Who are you?"
"WHO ARE YOU!?" Astaroth gargled out. "AND WHERE ARE YOU COMING FROM!?"
"You're on me."
Astaroth then looks down at the same whalelike Demon that he was mounted upon, and connects the two and two together.
"... Oh right." Astaroth remarked. "Telepathy. Why do I keep forgetting I have that?"
"At least you have the ability to forget." The cetacean Demon remarked. "My mind is an endless torrent of my creator's tirades and rants of conspiracies and deceptions, screeching throughout the walls of my very skull, demanding and ordering that I kill everything in sight. Even being liberated from Hell's sea of boiling blood, my creator's insanity still lingers in me. You on the other hand, your short-term memories are the things that I desire, so that I may sate this pain gnawing on my head. What you're doing, even Hell's collective torments are but a nary of a thought to my creator's madness. Thy name is Leviathan, sin of [Envy]."
"AND I AM ASTAROTH, THE PRINCE OF WAR!" Astaroth remarked.
"Bah, a Prince?" Leviathan scoffed. "A mere pawn in the Game of Destiny, [Armageddon]. The only thing that me and creator can agree on being an incessant malarky that causes nothing but needless annoyance. I envy you not, Prince. My sole quarrel for now is to sink that ship below the waves, not with you, pitiful one."
"THOSE QUARREL HAVE NAMES!" Astaroth retorted.
Leviathan then flips over mid-swim, causing Astaroth to fall off and his swords slipping off of the blubbery skin of the cetacean Demon, causing the Prince to sink deeper into the waters due to collective weight of his armor and waterlogged wings.
"... Warm their seats first, Prince."
*CHOMP*
Leviathan then devours Astaroth whole, leaving the Prince of War to find himself in the raw-scented bowels of the Demon.
"Heh heh heh, just as planned." Astaroth grinned he he flicked the seawater off of his wings upon resurfacing on top of Leviathan's stomach, the collected waters reaching up to his waist. "I never said I had to fight you directly, now do I?"
"You're going to regret doing that." Leviathan's voice remarked.
"Hah! How-"
*SCREEE*
From the waters surrounding him, a humanoid-looking fish-like creature resurfaced and swiped its webbed claws towards Astaroth, the latter parrying its swipe with his own sword, [Reject], and stabbing it through its stomach with his [Ravager], gutting it where it stood before falling flat and dying the water red.
"Hah, is that all you got-"
*splash splash splash*
A choir of splashes later, Astaroth finds himself surrounded by humanoid-looking marine life, all of them either armed with crude polearms and clubs, or their claws and fangs bared out open.
"Like I said." Leviathan remarked as the school of these pelagic abominations surrounded the Prince, edging closer and closer towards him as their webbed feet splashed against Leviathan's tounge. "You're going to regret doing that."
The creatures all then jump onto Astaroth, with the latter now beginning to swing away his blades around himself.
"BRING IT ON!"
The belly of the great beast was now being flooded with blood and brine alike as Astaroth begins to wage a warpath against the pelagic nightmares from the waters below.
Platnia Observatory, Forbidden Realm, Clover Kingdom, Midnight
A long figure, muscular in build, wearing a plain-white tank top, gray pants, with a scruffy black mullet hanging by his ears and the back of his neck, sitting on a wood and cloth folding stool, neck to a wooden bucket and a sack of chum, holding out a fishing rod over the cliffside.
"Ugh... Dammit all, not a single bite." The figure grumbled out as he looked across the stormy skies ahead from the cliffside before he looked back at the moss and ivy-covered tower behind him. "... Mum and dad are sleeping, brother is no longer around us, and now I'm the only one left. Tch, I mean, I don't hate brother for leaving us behind but still."
He then look below the tower, finding a group of riffraff of bandit mages coming our of the forest behind him, surrounding him around the cliffside.
"You idiots again?" The figure remarked. "... Don't you dumdums have anything better to do?"
"Hey, if the rich nobles are paying us fine to kill some random foreigner without a grimoire, so don't take it personally." The bandit in the front remarked.
The figure lets out a sigh before planting his fishing rod between the gaps of the rocks by his feet.
"... Considering this is the eightieth time that this happened, I'm already taking it personally." The figure remarked as he squinted at the bandits. "Look, I didn't catch anything for the past three hours, and I'm already in a shitty mood. So if you wish not end up as fresh chum, leave."
The bandit mages then open their grimoires, manifesting weapons of various elements of [Fire], [Wind], [Earth], [Ice], and [Crystal].
The figure lets out an annoyed sigh as he took up a slouching stance with his legs spread across the earth, his head looking ahead of himself as his back hunched forward.
"... Alright, die."
In a flash, the figure disappears as the bandit mages charged towards him.
"S-SHIT!" One of the bandits cried out. "WHERE THE FUCK DID HE GO-"
"[Mizu no Katachi: Kyūryū]/[Form of Water: Rapid Current]."
[水の形: 急流]
The figure's arms flowed like the water breaking against the cliffside, scattering the armed bandits upon the figure reappearing where once the bandits stood in a flash.
"YOU BRAT!" The portly bandit cried out as he manifested an axe made of earth and swung it towards the figure's head.
"[Mizu no Katachi: Aranami]/[Form of Water: Raging Wave]."
[水の形: 荒波]
The figure then armbars the bandit behind him, catching his neck in his elbow, slamming the bandit down to the earth, followed up by a straight punch down to his face, knocking him out cold.
"DIE!" The bandit cried out as he swung his sword made of fire.
"[Mizu no Katachi: Shidare Kawa]/[Form of Water: Weeping River]."
[水の形: しだれ川]
The figure leans back under the swing of the flaming sword, and striking his solar plexus with a spear hand, knocking all of the air out of his body before delivering a forward thrust punch to his face and sending him flying off of the cliff with ease.
"YOU BASTARD!" A bandit cried out as he swung his axe formed from his [Ice Magic].
The figure simply lets out a disappointed sigh as he simply grabs onto the arm wielding the axe before hoisting him over his own shoulder and slamming the bandit into the ground with a flip followed up with a stomp to his face with his sandaled foot.
"Had enough yet?" The figure remarked at the bandit beneath his foot.
"SOMEONE COVER FIRE!" One bandit remarked as the others in the back followed suit, firing projectiles of fire and earth towards the figure.
The figure dodges and weaves through them with ease, never taking his eyes off of the bandits charging towards him, knocking them all out with single strikes for each of them, then moving on to the rearguard and scattering all of them with a single palm thrust towards their frontline.
"[Mizu no Katachi: Chōryū]/[Form of Water: Crashing Tide]."
[水の形: 潮流]
"HE DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A GRIMOIRE!" The remaining bandit cried out as ducked under a flying body. "HOW THE HELL IS TAKING ALL OF US ON!?"
"My fists are like the raging sea behind me." The figure remarked as he walked across the cliffside of scattered bandits, swatting the others aside without even glancing at them. "You are all but mere fish swimming helplessly against the current."
"Wha-WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING, YOU MONSTER!?" The bandit cried out as he fired out an array of stone wolves towards the figure.
"To dumb it down for the likes of you, this is what I mean." The figure remarked as he continued to parry the stone wolves with his open palms. "[Mizu no Katachi: Suisha]/[Form of Water: Waterwheel]."
[水の形: 水車]
"Had enough yet?" The figure remarked as his hands moved in a spiral-like motion, effortlessly whipping away the lupine constructs around him before they crumbled back to gravel.
"He can break stone with his bare hands!?" The bandit remarked as the others tried to fire upon the figure, only for their projectiles to miss due to the figure simply dodging them nonchalantly without breaking from his stride. "Is he even human!?"
"I am." The figure replied in a bored tone as he leaned his head towards the left, dodging a fireball and landing behind him before dodging the other projectiles without breaking from his walking line. "It's just that your standards of what makes a human are so low that you all barely qualify as an annoyance. But if I simply let you go, who know what might you all do when you all eventually realize that you're all powerless before me, and simply take your frustrations out on others? I'm not that heartless. Big brother Jericho taught me better than that."
"FUCK YOU AND DIE!" One of the bandit mages cried out as he charged forth with a jousting lance made milky-white crystal. [Quartz Creation Magic: White Knight Calvary Charger-"
The figure simply loops his left arm around the lance before driving the bottom of his hammer fist into the top of his skull and forcing the bandit to eat dirt before the figure simply walked over his body.
"[Mizu no Katachi: Taki no Ryūiki]/[Form of Water: Waterfall Basin]."
[水の形: 滝の流域]
"... Had enough yet?" The figure asked as he stepped over the collapsed body of the bandit.
"SHIT!" The lead bandit cursed as the others struggled to get up. "ALL OF YOU! GET THE FUCK UP! OVERRUN THE PRICK! PILE ON THAT SUCKER!"
The remaining bandits charge towards the figure en masse in reckless abandon, making one last desperate charge.
"... You are begging for death." The figure remarked. "And I shall deliver."
The figure then charges towards the bandit group, dissipating into the mosh pit mid-charge.
"[Mizu no Katachi: Ryūdō Mizu]/[Form of Water: Fluctuating Water]."
[水の形:流動水]
The bandit group then stops dead in their tracks, right before they all fell onto the dirt like stiff mannequins.
"Wha-WHAT THE HELL!?" The bandit that remained standing cried out in disbelief. "WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED!?"
"I would tell you, but you wouldn't believe me." The figure's voice spoke out behind the bandit, as if he was teleported towards the other side of their charge.
... Or rather, he was behind him this whole time. Like water, the figure was everywhere, yet nowhere.
Everything that happened up to this point, from beginning to end, already happened from the moment that the bandits set foot onto this place. All of those attacks were simply reenactments.
Beats of a scripted story, simply replayed 1 to 1. Merely players in the figure's stage.
"... 'One fears what they cannot comprehend'." The figure remarked behind the bandit mage. "... After the thirtieth time you ingrates tried to raid my adoptive family's home, I simply played out the scenario that your clients were more than enough to generously provided. Over and over, I've recited this fighting choreography, just for the lot of you that bring nothing but trouble."
The bandit then looks in front of him, and finds the figure winding back his fist and already in the process of delivering a punch aimed to his dick.
"Oh and by the way." The figure remarked below him. "I do have a grimoire, but I prefer my fists doing the talking. I'm more assertive that way."
*WHUMP*
The fist drives through the bandit's dick, shattering his pelvic bone structure, causing him to crumple beneath his own weight and faceplant to the dirt below.
"[Mizu no Katachi: Odayakana Nagare]/[Form of Water: Gentle Flow]." The figure declared as the last bandit fell facefirst to the dirt.
[水の形: 穏やかな流れ]
"[Story Magic: Hassou Tobi] (Eight Ship Hop)." The figure declared as his own projection dissipated, closing his grimoire in his hand as the bandits all laid before his straw-sandaled feet. "And like the fabled Ushiwakamaru in the Battle of Dan-no-Ura, I am declared the sole victor of this bout."
"Impressive as always, young one." A gravely voice hoarsely remarked behind the figure.
"Old man!" The figure remarked as he jogged towards the cloaked old whaler with the harpoon and a wooden pegleg. "... Still no luck?"
The cloaked old man shook his head.
"Funny you should bring that up, considering that you yourself haven't caught anything." The old man remarked. "Tell me, Taro, how are your family?"
"Mum and dad are sleeping, brother Jericho joined the Magic Knights, hopefully reforming the organization as we speak, and I'm keeping clear of any rabble-rousers that were hired to kill me." Taro sighed out as he looked out towards the stormy seas beyond the cliffs. "... You know, the usual."
"Such is the fate of those who don't seek what's beyond their eyes." The old man remarked as he stabbed his harpoon in front of a bandit's hand reaching out for his grimoire. "... If you wish to live without a broken body, then run back where you all came from, and never come back."
The bandits who were able to walk wobbled back up to their feet one at a time.
"... This isn't over, you foreign fuck." The bandit gargled out. "As long you live... we'll come back for you."
Taro simply gives them a soulless glare, forcing the other bandits to recoil back in fear and start running away from the two of them.
"... Old man, why couldn't I just kill them and be done with them?" Taro remarked. "They kinda have a point on coming back for me. A few of them I've seen since about three years ago."
"Even if they're the most deplorable of beings to walk this earth, they still have lives waiting for them." The old man remarked as he placed his harpoon over his shoulder. "You only kill what you're going to eat. At least, that's how I think of it."
"... You really want to eat that whale, don't you?" Taro pointed out.
"Peh, perhaps I'm getting too sentimental for someone of my age." The old man remarked. "You're still young, best avoid having blood on your hands while you're still young."
"But my hands are covered in blood, see?" Taro remarked as he showed his bloodstained hands. "My [Story Magic] only lets me establish pre-projections but I'm the one doing all the punching regardless."
"Hm. Fair enough, just promise me, young man..." The old man remarked as he walked away. "... That you will not take another person's life out of blind impulse."
"Yeah yeah..." Taro grumbled out as he retrieved his fishing rod and empty bucket with a sack of chum inside of it. "I'll take care, old man Ishmael."
The two men of sea walk away, as the waves crash against the rocky cliff face looked down upon by the tower above.
[Fourth Layer, Greed], Hell
[Greed], the fourth layer of Hell, and Ishtar's main debt shelter/labor camp.
Souls condemned to these winding and shifting veins of gold, silver, gems, and blinding glimmer and deceptive glamour of these caves are subjected to endless work, digging gems and valuables for the rest of their day, all in a blind hope that someday, they will be able to clear their ever-increasing debts placed upon their heads.
As both captured souls and [Stygians] toil endlessly in the blindingly-radiant caves, pickaxes and shovels pecking through the rock and gravel for gems, two certain Demons were able to communicate and interact within these golden caverns.
Among the sounds of mining tools clacking through the stone, a faint and shrill squeaking shriek was heard echoing throughout the walls.
Through the glimmer of gold and gems, a certain, bat-like Demon clung his toes into the tunnel's ceiling, hanging upside-down over a pond of molten gold, clicking his elongated tongue in the blinding light of everywhere being covered in gems.
Being part-bat, Yetzer was born blind, so in order to discern his surrounding, his [Voice Magic] works as a method of echolocation around the blinding-glare of all the golden walls and glimmer of gemstones radiating from this layer. After all, his eyes were useless to begin with, so as courtesy, he's blindfolded himself with each single strap covering one eye in an x-shaped blindings draped over his upper half of his face.
His magic was nothing special, but as long as there was sound, there was voice. As long as there's voice, there is noise. As long as there's noise, there's Yetzer.
Yetzer continuously clicks his tongue, the clicks bouncing off of the walls, discerning from debt slaves, rocks, the mining tools, Lucifuge's surveillance runes and eyeballs stitched around everywhere like the rest of the Nine Layers, and a certain soft, yet rotten presence in these veins of molten stone and eternal labor.
"... Hmmm... to be, or not to be?" Yetzer mused upon discovering Ereshkigal's location in the [Fourth Layer: Greed]. "... Not to be... to keep someone waiting..."
Yetzer's claws on his feet let go, and his wings furl outwards as he begin flapping them and start flying around the winding veins of stone and slaves, bobbing and weaving seamlessly throughout the blinding light of Ishtar's infernal labor camp of swinging instruments and pools of liquid gold.
The toil and turmoil spread throughout these veins of stone and shine, the blinding reflections of light from the gems and gold, yet for this blind bat-Demon, navigating this layer was child's play.
Throughout the twisting maze of tunnels of gems and glimmer, Yetzer then notices a faint saint coming from ahead. A scent of carrion and flowers.
"... Such repulsive scent. Yet in these parts, anything that isn't Ishtar's handiwork passes as alluring." Yetzer commented as he flew further into the caverns "... It's her."
Yetzer clicks his tongue one more time, the reverberation echoing back into his ears, registering the following in his brain: a large mining chamber, occupied with numerous [Stygians] and condemned souls toiling away with their tools, and one, feathered figure at the center, giving out faulty handouts to the workers that were performing well above average.
"... Tch, like sister to sister. Those two are cons." Yetzer remarked as he flew through a wall ahead of his flight path, and end up in a mining chamber, where the vulture-like Demon stood at the center, handing out rocks to other workers, the latter which ate them like food.
"Enjoy your potatoes!" Ereshkigal remarked happily. "I also brought some drinks as well!"
Said drinks were actually just dust mixed with blood from the previous layer, [Anger], creating a reddish-gray-colored slurry that the other [Stygians] happily packed down.
But thanks to Ereshkigal's [Illusion Magic], they were appeared to the condemned souls as actual food, and happily ate rocks and blood in spite of them being illusions.
In Hell, any form of pleasure, fake or otherwise, were welcomed without hesitation. Anything to take their minds away from the torment that they were subjected to were accepted graciously.
"Hello, you feathered fuck." Yetzer greeted the vulture-Demon of [Deception]. "... Wanna try me?"
"Hmm... tempting." Ereshkigal remarked. "So yes, I will give you one."
She instead kicks over the barrel of "drinks" she had besides her, causing the other Demons to swarm around the spilled "drink" and begin lapping them into their mouths like dogs.
"... So, aside from your poor attempts at grifting me like those schmucks, what brings your feathered arse here?" Yetzer remarked.
"Hmph, maybe I wanted to come here." Ereshkigal lied. "Or maybe that I actually felt bad for those [Stygians] below me and offered them an out from my sister's labors."
"Or you can't go two seconds without lying." Yetzer remarked. "Like how that upstart of a Fallen Angel got nominated by our king, and then because of that kerfuffling dickmop, he's no longer on [Qilphoth], and now we have to deal with his shit piling up on his arse chair!"
"Ah, Lucifer... proud whaler of the white... Always seeking out the impossible, thinking that he can conquer all with his will alone..." Ereshkigal remarked. "... My condolences to that brave soul."
"I really pity the fool, doomed to his own hubris, forever trapped and bound by the shackles of his grudge against a mere mortal that bested him." Yetzer commented. "But hark, even we didn't see that coming."
"A fine example of what an unwavering heart can achieve." Ereshkigal remarked. "A lion in a bird that one."
"Such strength! Such will! Such audacity!" The other [Stygians] chanted in. "That one with the accursed light! The foulness of that wench!"
"To best an Archangel, now returned as a Fallen. A clash of two indomitable wills..." Yetzer continued. "... SUCH STRENGTH! SUCH WILL! SUCH AUDACITY!"
"To both, I wish them for the best." Ereshkigal sarcastically remarked. "To Lucifer, I pray for his vengeance to finally be sated. To Sephira, I wish that her legacy stands. To the rest, I wish them well, for the coming conflict will surely be over and done with."
"For all of us Hell, we expect a good showing! So do your best, dear Princes and the coming Chosen..."
"We won't mind as long as we're there to watch..."
"... As long as there's death and destruction at their wake."
"Will the Archangel's pride be vindicated!?"
"Or will the rising of the hero be abdicated!?"
"But the outcome will matter not..."
"FOR HELL WILL FLOOD WITH SOULS OF THE DAMNED AS THE LIGHT OF ORIGIN FINALLY DIES!"
*CRACK*
Yetzer's ears perk up upon hearing a crack of a whip coming from a distance, as did the other [Stygians] who all turned their heads towards the open cave shaft.
"... Oh shite, it's Ishtar-"
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE LAZY SHITS EVEN THINKING OF SITTING AROUND FOR!?" The lioness's roar boomed throughout the whole layer, her voice being amplified by her [Gauge Magic] increasing the default volume of her voice, raping Yetzer's hypersensitive ears and causing him to slip from the grasp of his ceiling and fall onto his head on the rocks below. "IF YOU LAZY SHITS DON'T GET YOUR ASSES OFF OF THE GROUND, I'M QUADRUPLING ALL OF YOUR CURRENT DEBTS AND MAKE YOU LITTLE SHITS WORK ALL NINE LAYERS ON TOP OF YOUR ADDITIONAL SHIFTS, GOT IT!?"
As the [Stygians] scrambled to get back to work as the numbers appeared above their heads and all of it began increasing rapidly, Yetzer rubbed his head as he got back up into the air as his wings elevated him from the ground.
"... You really need to tell your sister to fucking chill, Ereshkigal." Yetzer remarked. "It's not like her bottom line is going to plummet anytime soon."
"... I'll try." Ereshkigal doubtedly remarked. "Surely, she'll listen to reason as long as it clearly compromises her profit margins."
"Clearly, I'm asking for too much from a sister of a greedy bitch who's a bloody liar..." Yetzer grimaced as he flew into the shaft, passing by Ishtar stomping one of the [Stygians] to near-death as the number above its head rapidly increased, now breaking past 34-digits in total sum of his current debt. "... My poor ears are ringing... Need to go somewhere more quiet. ... Maybe [Gluttony]."
No Man's Waves, Midnight
"COME ON!" Claudius roared out as he and the others followed the thread that Gusion's [Anti-Magic] arrows traced to his fingers, pulling him closer towards Black Chaser.
The Fallen Angels continued to fly through the stormy skies, chasing after the damned whale swimming towards their ship full of Dark Elves, and the resulting being an instant massacre should it reach the ship before it can reach Clover Island.
"KIMARIS! FLY AHEAD!" Claudius cried out. "PREPARE TO ENGAGE IT AS SOON AS IT RESURFACES! I'LL RELAY THE WARNING TO THE OTHERS-"
"I won't let you." Leviathan's voice remarked. "[Water Magic: Maelstrom]."
Numerous waterspouts then rise up from the raging ocean's surface, one rising up in front of Kimaris, nearly hitting him and knocking him off of his flight path.
"DAMMIT!" Kimaris cursed. "Almost got me from below!"
"I'll cut them with my [Anti-Magic]!" Barbatos declared as he flew towards one of the waterspouts with his [Anti-Magic] glaive in hand.
"BARBATOS, NO!" Claudius cried out urgently.
As the glaive tried to rend through the waters, the waterspouts simply deflected Barbatos's swing and sending him careening back.
"... Okay, I think I now notice that his [Water Magic] isn't functionally magic." Barbatos pointed out. "The water itself is actual water."
"True." Claudius pointed out. "... But it's still magic."
The Fallen Angel flies ahead, weaving through the twisting spires of water, and flying towards Leviathan.
"Those waterspouts can't do anything if they can't hit me!" Claudius remarked out loud.
"Thank you for pointing that out." Leviathan deadpanned. "[Water Magic: Ice Shrapnels]."
"Wait, ICE!?" Claudius remarked in surprise as the waterspouts begin spraying sharp shards of ice around its sides, giving Claudius lot less room to dodge and weave through the entanglement. "DAMN YOU, LUCIFUGE AND YOUR USE OF LOOPHOLES!"
For one, ice was simply solidified water, so it technically fell under the category of [Water Magic], albeit by the smallest of margins possible. Theoretically, a masterful practicer of [Water Magic] can transition its magic towards either direction of the spectrum, either transitioning towards [Ice Magic] for solid or [Mist Magic] for gas. But Leviathan's creator being the most paranoid creature of all face of creation, the beast was given free access to all spectrum of [Water Magic], at the cost of being bound to sea until [Salamander] resurfaces in the Clover Kingdom at full power, a failsafe on the Demon's titanic power should it deviate from its set parameters.
That realization alone was simply reason enough for Claudius to simply keep advancing forward, for his pride won't allow him to submit to such cheapness. Especially from a paranoid little shit like her.
"If I could fly like you, I would've simply crunched your tiny body between my teeth." Leviathan pointed out. "But I guess this will do. [Water Magic: Mist Maze]."
The [Ice Shrapnels] that were shooting out of the sides of the [Maelstrom] all began to explode into thick, milky clouds of gaseous waters, gradually obscuring Claudius's line of sight, causing him to lose Leviathan.
"Hold yourself there. I will deal with you later." Leviathan remarked.
Claudius refused to follow that notion, and simply brute forces his way through the labyrinth of fog, ice, and tempestuous waters.
"I can simply defog the whole place, but the ice projectiles explode into fog regardless if I intercept it or not. Can't afford to waste my [Anti-Magic]. Even a Demon's mind can only muster up so much rage and negativity before it burns out." Claudius thought to himself as he continued to duck and weave through the twisting trap of fog. "Gotta focus on finding my way out of here-"
Suddenly, Claudius's flight path then took a sudden dip, his face nearly hitting a stray wave.
"What!?" Claudius remarked as he looked at his wings, now tipped with frost. "How the hell-Dammit! It's the mist!"
The mist itself was causing moisture to accumulate throughout Claudius's body. As more time passes in Leviathan's trap, the moisture begins solidifying on their occupied surface area, gaining mass and weight.
Liquid turns to solid. Solid melts back into liquid. Liquid disperses into gas. Gas amasses back to liquid. And liquid hardens back into solid.
Leviathan wasn't the master of [Water Magic]. The artificial Demon was the master of controlling the state water itself. The water cycle itself was Leviathan's weapon of choice, and his mastery to transition one of the four basic elements into their alternative forms .
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Claudius cursed. "GET YOUR STINKING PAWS OFF ME!"
The Fallen Angel's body then explodes into a wave-motion force of [Anti-Magic], shedding the ice weighing him down and regaining altitude.
"YOU WILL NOT WEIGH ME DOWN, YOU BLUBBERED BASTARD!" Claudius roared out.
"Seems subtlety did not work." Leviathan deadpanned. "Alright, eat this instead. [Water Magic: Hail Mary Overcast]."
From above, boulders of ice size of glaciers began raining down from the heavens above. One of them its the waters, but the splash then solidifies into a jumble of sharp ice spires.
"They're filled with dry ice." Claudius remarked on the dredges of his sanity. "... You can skip steps of the water cycle too, huh?"
Claudius then continues to fly forward, now dodging the boulders of ice containing liquid nitrogen inside raining down unto his head. The ocean waves shot up around him upon the ice splashing into the waters before they immediately froze themselves into more spires of ice.
... In hindsight, this worked to Lucifuge's advantage. Even as the waters themselves were frozen and melted down so many times, the fact that Leviathan itself was focused on sinking the Black Chaser rather than trying to kill Claudius himself. So in essence, since Leviathan wasn't making the Fallen Angel its main priority...
*CRASH*
There were no water left in the sea that be frozen. All that's left beneath Lucifer himself were a field of spires of ice, including the [Maelstrom], now frozen solid, no longer producing [Ice Shrapnels], that now no longer can dissipate into fog upon triggering...
"Like creator, like creation." Claudius deadpanned as flew faster around the self-sabotaged trap that he was placed into, quickly making his way out the stranglehold. "... Intellect foiled by their own impatience."
Upon the air being clear, now Claudius can clearly see Leviathan catching up on the ship, slowly resurfacing and exposing its blowhole.
"I only have one shot at this..." Claudius remarked to himself as he took out his ADAM from his pouch. "... THIS BETTER WORK!"
He then shoves the whole black apple with the stitched-up smile on its skin into his mouth, crunches the whole fruit between his teeth, and his body morphed into his stronger Apocrypha Form. His black hair turned snow-white, his head grew a pair of elongated black horns that jutted out to his sides, another pair of black wings grew from his back, his chest was now bearing the black-inked brand of the five-leaf clover, a third eye opened on its forehead, and his forearms were now covered in explosions of [Anti-Magic], turning them into a pair of massive clawed hands.
"BRING IT ON, YOU DAMNED WHALE!" Claudius roared out as he sped towards the cetacean Demon as it fully resurfaces, draining out its internal water to keep itself buoyant in the sea. "I'LL TAKE THE FIGHT INTO YOU!"
Even as the whale's blowhole shot out a geyser of seawater and blood alike, Lucifer simply ignored the blast and ripped through the pressure in order to force himself inside of the cetacean Demon.
"Am I to believe that these actions are the actions of the a loving Origin!? A just Origin!? A wise Origin!?" Lucifer ranted as he flew through the geyser's pressure and the shaft of his blowhole, using his rekindled rage and fury of his broken pride resurfaced by that wretched Cherubim back earlier to power through the whale's jet stream blasting against his face. "I spread your word and did your work! TO HELL WITH YOUR PUNISHMENTS! AND TO HELL WITH YOU!"
His flight then ended up inside Leviathan's belly, crashing inside of it with such force that it causes Leviathan to lurch in pain, causing him to stop swimming for a moment, giving Black Chaser enough time to regain some distance.
"WHAT THE HELL!?" Jeanne cried out. "DID THAT THING JUST STOP!?"
"IT DID! SO SHUT UP AND KEEP FLYING!" Thor screeched out from the crow's nest, now looking ahead of the stormy seas, seeing a patch of earth ahead. "LAND HO! 7 CLICKS!"
A window of opportunity was now open. And it won't be long before the entrance towards salvation is denied.
Time was of the essence. This was now the pivotal moment.
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes: Schoolwork is a bitch. And on top of that, MIDTERMS.
... My brain is fried. And this is all I got for now.
So anyway, formally introduced Taro Platnia, and regarding his looks, he's basically Ryuki Gaoh from Kengan Omega, only less prone to killing people, albeit, Ishmael is the one who's mentoring him. [Story Magic] is basically recording his own physical actions into a chain that can be replayed at the volition of the user, and what magic is better for a martial artist than a magic that lets him replay his own actions?
As for Claudius Nero Bael/Lucifer's Apocrypha Form, I finally streamlined it and based it off of Asriel's Absolute GOD of Hyperdeath, Final Form, albeit more humanoid. And his little monologue aimed at the Origin (Black Clover's God), was a last minute inclusion from the Cathedral Monologue from the West Wing. That and well, it fits with the whole "Lucifer" mythos.
With that said, I hope this will be enough to suffice, because the way second year's going, it's gonna be a while before the next one shows up. Until then, here's the hypothetical voices for my OCs (for funsies).
Leviathan: Yuuichi Nakamura (JPN), Gabe Kunda (ENG)
Taro Platnia: Daisuke Hirakawa (JPN), Stephen Fu (ENG)
So, what do you all think of this Saga?
Please leave a comment or a review for this Saga, for I'd like to know what my audience is thinking!
