Strongest

Chapter 12: Pram And The Reaper

Written By Illuminet

Disclaimer: The cast of characters from Makai Kingdom : Chronicles Of The Sacred Tome do not belong to me, and are the rightful property of N.I.S (Nippon Ichi Software) America.

"..."-Indicate Speech

'...'-Indicate Thought

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Pram's Netherworld, Remains of Overlord's Castle

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"Lord Zetta has his body back. Doesn't that mean Lady Pram's original prediction about him getting his body back after his Netherworld was completed was proven true?"

Some of Pram's soldiers spoke amongst themselves in hushed whispers.

"Yeah, but...Lady Pram has already informed the entire universe that she wasn't a true Oracle. What does all this mean then? So confusing..."

They kept speaking to one another. Pram paid little attention on them, her only focus being on Zetta.

"Zetta, I'll ask again, how did you get your body back?"

She said to him evenly.

'How? Because this is all just one big dream come true. I get to finally kick your ass, Pram, and I'll revel in the sensation until you've finally been overcome into a slow and painful death...I'll break you apart and rend your soul from your body and maybe confine it to that doghouse throne of your's...see how you like trying to move but not being able to, not having access to your Mana energy and the like...all the things you've put me through, Pram...it's time to make you my plaything.'

Zetta wanted to say. Something deep within made him feel awkward. He had fought many of would be Overlords in order to be considered a true Overlord himself, but he never felt any great animosity towards them nor ever felt like being a completely sadistic Demon. He always felt like becoming the strongest and remain the strongest out of an impulse, one that never left him and felt as if it was ingrained into the very core of his soul. When he heard Salome's reasons for wanting to be spared and obtain power so many years back at their first meeting, he felt a sort of connection to another person for the very first time, what one might call a kindred spirit. That was also the first time he felt implied to spare another besides just merely wanting to become the strongest. His thoughts that were now focused on Pram had a much deeper motive than he had ever known when wanting to fight another Overlord. Even fighting Alex, who was a rival, never conjured up such destructive thoughts. Zetta was used to emotions of anger, but in this case of Pram's life, he had bottled it up and let it slip into the deepest recesses of his mind opposed to when he typically would act on them out right and get it over with in one sitting. He lost focus, his mind becoming foggy before he cleared it.

'Hatred for someone is to be expected in our existence...but why do all my destructive thoughts feel both oddly new yet old at the same time...as if I've reveled in the feelings of deeply wanting to destroy my enemy until they were only empty husks...when did I last feel this way if I've never felt it before in my life? I mean, sure, I kicked the crap out of all those Vegetables on that one Netherworld that was created for a component to add to my own, but it's not like I completely destroyed all of them that they couldn't just be replanted and brought back to life by regrowing. Is this rage and hatred I feel that was spawned because of seeing Pram's Netherworld...part of a memory that I don't remember?'

He went along to the lines of what his imposter had implied. That his life may have been more messed up than he could ever imagine.

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Unknown

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"So...this is the infamous Zetta? Unimpressive. Do you really think you can beat me with such a scrawny body? Don't make me laugh!"

Zetta felt strange and was met face to face with some kind of Pig Demon who was dressed in royal garbs with a somewhat similar fashion sense to King Drake. Whatever the case was, both he and the Pig Demon attacked each other, the Pig with a massive axe, and Zetta himself had possession of a strange but wicked looking black drill. That fight would not have lasted for very long had his body not been so active in torturing the Pig Demon slowly with nearly every strike. He could have seriously injured or even decapitated the Pig Demon at his own pace, but did not until the end of the fight where the heavily cut Pig was sent to the floor with a completely shattered axe.

"Wait...please...spare my life and I won't ever bother you again."

The frightened Pig squealed. Much to Zetta's disgust, his body didn't comply and expertly moved the drill horizontally to tear off the Pig's bottom jaw, allowing the Demon to only scream but not talk. Bit by bit, His arms kept maneuvering the drill to disassemble the Demon into bloody pieces of flesh and liquefied bone while the Demon screamed even more loudly in agony. Soon he was nothing more than just a giant stain of crimson along the floor of the once lavish hall. The back wall to the throne had a mirror surface replace it, and he looked at his image for the first time after letting the drill impale the ground to stand up by itself.

'...!'

Zetta could not believe what he saw. He was now completely soaked in blood, but that's not what made him care in the first place. Staring back at him along the mirror's surface was the blue haired Demon that wore red clothes.

'How...! This guy...is me? No fucking way! This is...this is all...just...'

He wanted to say it was just an utter nightmare. No Demons sunk this low to kill just one other Demon.

"Why do you shutter? This is one out of several acts you've already committed of your own free will."

A voice said to him. Before Zetta knew it, images started entering into his mind. Of Demon armies that were cut down with the drill, but they got off easy, it was always the leader who was indescribably tortured in a slow and bloody death. Such vile and disgusting evil didn't exist in just any normal Demon. He became so proficient in the murdering and the blood letting that it became a kind of pleasure. Zetta could not will his mind to close, and he was continuously compelled to watch and to remember...of a side of himself he never knew existed.

:MK:CST:

Pram's Netherworld, Remains of Overlord's Castle

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'He remembers...or rather, he is beginning to remember, yet things still remain clouded.'

Baal thought to himself as he felt Zetta's memories through the link that bound them as one being.

'It is still too much of a risk to allow him any form of control...but I believe I now have an understanding as to bring this unexpected development to my advantage...Zetta, it will all come back with time...remember who and what it is you are...remember the purpose for which you were given that life.'

A smirk came to Zetta-Baal's lips.

"Dear sweet little Pram...aren't you quite the intelligent one? So unlike your own father? You should already be aware of my reason for coming here then."

Zetta-Baal spoke in a slightly amused tone. Zetta himself watched on with a detached sort of interest, his emotions having become as cold as the Ice magic Pram was so proficient at as Alex was to Lightning magic. This form of manipulation that was about to be used to deteriorate Pram's moral was so familiar to him now that he had seen what he was capable of...with a drill. The fact that he had the body of the red clad Demon seemed so irrelevant. He felt the impact of those killings that kept reoccurring in his head and could sum it up in numerical values if he so wanted to: fifty percent of his feelings had been satisfaction at watching the blood spew from his victims bodies under his applied killing technique, and the other fifty was an emptiness that allowed him to perform those unspeakable acts without a shred of remorse towards his victims for they were just prey. Just as Pram was about to be. Obstacles to overcome to be made the strongest and to sacrifice everything, even his own body and soul.

"What the hell are you talking about? You don't know my father!"

Pram insisted, though she looked slightly more paler than usual. Zetta-Baal's smirk only became wider.

"You need not worry about King Drake and your secret. Once he has served his purpose, he will be joining you. Now allow me to be more direct in my approach...to make you my plaything as you yourself have done to me."

He said, his tone becoming lower for added effect. His palm flared with dark fire as the Genesis reappeared in his hand. Pram backed up slightly, face red.

"Did he put you up to this? King Drake is lying! I'm not related to him, Zetta! Besides, you and I both came to terms with this a month ago. I saved Salome's life in turn for you sparing mine. There is no need for you to do this. I've already lost my reputation as an Oracle anyway, and you've regained your body and became the normal Overlord again. I don't know where you have Drake, but hand him over to me and I'll call it even for the destruction of my castle. Deal?"

Pram tried to bargain. She never wanted to appear this weak, but besides Zetta acting strange, he also knew of her secret and she had made that top priority to remain a secret so long ago. Plus she was uncertain. She felt she could take on Zetta and his armies if he were still the fairly immobile Sacred Tome, but he had somehow gotten in his body and even without Salome's powers to aid him, he was still formidable.

'Can I really take on Zetta? Wait a minute...why should I be scared? He should be a whole lot weaker now with Salome not helping him by raising his Mana energy. I may have the advantage...stupid me for not thinking that until now, he could tell my secret to the other Overlords, but not if I beat him first...something I should be able to do by now, right?'

Pram was starting to gain more confidence as she thought more logically on the situation. Her Mana had steadily risen closer and closer to his own level with her own conquest campaigns even while he was still strengthened by Salome's own Mana. Pram stood a chance of defeating the self proclaimed strongest and that was what she planned to do, then she'd make him her plaything for eternity and make sure he never left her Netherworld and spread the secret.

"On second thought, maybe I should just take you down myself, Zetta. Just because you have your body doesn't make much difference without the same level of power you once had. Your tempting fate, whether you like it or not."

She said to him with complete confidence regained. But she had no idea of the other source of power within Zetta, a source from the life of the Overlord of legends. Zetta-Baal was not discouraged by this, but by the fact that she had spoken Salome's name. It had been enough to snap Zetta to attention and no longer view everything in his former detached manner brought on by the scattered memories that faded back into their former dormant state.

'Salome...what the hell happened to me? Where am I?'

Zetta thought to himself. His body took a step closer to Pram, and he remembered what it was his body was doing. Baal was annoyed further.

'Salome the Traitor...even her very name is able to make him continue defiance towards me once more. She remains a constant weakness...one I must do away with if Zetta is to reclaim his role or prove even more effective since having confined to the Sacred Tome itself. But first...'

Zetta-Baal did not speak again, deciding it was time to end Pram's existence for her interferences, even if she had no idea because they were completely indirect. He brought his sword down over her head with great speed and power, and Pram barely dodged by taking to the sky. She blasted large blocks of ice at him from her Pnakotic Diary, but he cut them in halve with well timed swings of the Genesis before ascending after her. Pram shot an ice spear at him, which was much harder to cut due to the speed it was propelled. Zetta-Baal simply guarded, making it shatter against his blade. The fragments of ice didn't do damage either since the blade was so wide. The Overlord rose up after to her location than Pram was able to react, and she was only able to bring up a thick ice sphere shield for defense. The Genesis cut into the thick rounded ice shield only slightly. Zetta-Baal reeled back with his massive blade before hacking away at the shield with tremendous power, making sure Pram could not make the shield freeze over again. She cast an Omega Ice spell above the Overlord's location. Zetta-Baal realized to late as he was close to breaking the shield, seeing the massive shadow looming over him.

'Got him!'

The former Oracle thought happily. Zetta-Baal was slammed in the stomach as he turned to see the large chunk of ice overhead. Before he could be smashed into the ground, however, his black fire consumed the ice spell within only a few short seconds. Pram's eyes shown wide with fright.

'That's right! Zetta is in possession of one of the rarest magic elements out there. He's the only one who can perform the black fire spells...and this is the first time I've seen him use it for something other than display. Dammit...the only other person in possession of the true opposing magic skill is rumored to be Babylon, who uses the white ice. My normal mastery of ice spells won't be nearly as effective against Zetta's element...I'll just have to attack with lesser but much more quicker ice spells then if I hope to stand a chance without any other weapon except for this spell book.'

Pram saw as Zetta came back to attack her once again. She charged at him head on as well, firing off a spread of icicles in his direction. The Genesis was well suited for defense just as much as it was for offense, though, and Zetta-Baal kept coming forward undaunted as his blade was held in front of him to deflect the annoying little ice spells. When they were just about to collide, Zetta-Baal swung himself fluidly to weave the sword through the air to land a destructive cut to Pram's torso. She reacted nimbly, already anticipating the attack, crouching low under the sweeping blade and remained just a few seconds ahead from getting her cat ears clipped off in the process. Zetta-Baal's movements were swift and he evaded as Pram tried firing an icicle barrage at him at point blank range. As the fight continued, Pram tried her best to close in steadily on Zetta more and more, a plan forming in her head. After a while of unsuccessful attempts, Pram evaded yet another of Zetta's attack and brought her palm to Zetta's stomach, summoning an ice sword to impale him cleanly through. The Overlord went flailing back, and the former Oracle was only surprised for a split second that her plan of attack actually worked completely without a single mishap before reacting again. She grabbed his equipped arm, sending an ice sword through it so he was forced to drop his weapon. She was retched back when the Overlord grabbed a fistful of her long hair, trying to throw her back so he could obtain his weapon again. She didn't allow it, sending an ice sword into his other arm.

'One strike through the heart should be able to kill him.'

Pram could hardly believe how easy things were going. He had been completely dispatched in only a two hours worth duration of fighting. She could not see any option for him to possess to have the tables turn back into his favor. She placed her hand over his chest while he had still been stunned by her previous attack, but contrary to what she expected, the Overlord swung his cape forward with his left arm, covering her in darkness. When Pram realized she was standing alone, she felt the palm of his hand reach her small shoulder from behind. She was sent screaming through the air as he sent a burst of black flame through her shoulder, turning the pale skin charred black as she skidded roughly against the rubble. Pram gritted her teeth to repress the howl of pain she wanted to release, focusing one eye on Zetta's back as he stood there, having not turned to face her. His arm was still outstretched with black flames emanating from his palm. He gave her a side long glance, the black fiery aura surrounding him and melting the ice blades from his body. He took up the Genesis once more though with some effort now that he was injured, and treaded towards the downed former Oracle.

'How the hell did he make me reappear behind him?'

Pram noticed the inlaid section of Zetta's cape no longer show with the typical red design, and shown with an image of a universe. She realized then what had happened, and it didn't bode well with her at all.

'Impossible...to be able to open a gate through the physical plane by using an inanimate object, enabling him to transport Overlord classed Demons through areas of their own Netherworld that he chooses...this wasn't in his battle data, and he's fighting completely different than analysis showed. What happened to you Zetta? The silent behavior, the use of your magic for the first time...it's all wrong! Not even those injuries have impeded your ability to hold that sword of your's or use all that magic through your hands still, either.'

Pram dragged herself back to her feet, staining her white dress with blood that flowed from her blackened shoulder as it seeped through her small fingers that clutched tightly at the numbing wound. Through levitation did she will the Pnakotic Diary to float up in the air in front of her.

"You ungrateful son of a bitch! Your really going to go back on your words now, huh? I thought I could take you on now, knowing all your battle data, but you reworked your own tactics. Now, I'm gonna get serious and kick your ass once and for all!"

The former Oracle snarled out, her aura powering up as she was encased in a translucent white sphere.

'Damn...she's going to transform. Come on body, let's take her out now. Not that I'm frightened of Pram's transformation...but what's the point of taking unneeded risks?'

Zetta thought to himself, but his body didn't stir.

'Is this not just a dream? Do you doubt your own power that much?'

A voice(Baal) said to him. Zetta was quick to take offense.

'There's no reason to doubt my power...I'm the strongest, most bad-ass, freaking Overlord there is! This is gonna be child's play since it isn't even the real deal. Stupid dreams. I'll crush this Pram like a twig, no matter what it takes...because I'm Lord Zetta, dammit!'

Zetta-Baal raised up his left hand, letting the dark flames wash over him as he too began to pulse with power that resonated with Pram's. His eyes became blood crimson, glowing dimly within the darkened outline of his form. The black beast's form reappeared in the flames that consumed the Overlord's body briefly.

'This should prove amusing, Overlord Pram. Go ahead and use your transformation, for you will still fall in the end, just like those other Overlords of this universe. Then after all that...Zetta, the time will come...'

Baal only allowed himself to further grin maliciously than before as light coursed all around the Overlord's body from the brightness of Pram's aura.

:ToBeContinued:

Note: Yeah, just another short fight scene kind of chapter, with a bit more insight to Baal's and Zetta's connection once again. Hopefully the plot still remains an exciting one, without seeming to tedious because it's so drawn out at this point of the story. It's so tough for some reasons unknown to me to write about fights between a close ranged attacker and a long range one, so this Zetta and Pram fight falls short much like the Zetta and Alex ones a couple of chapters back, in my opinion. I'm just happy to know that I'm almost to the main part I want to write very much about since it has a lot of questions answered. Lastly, as always, I apologize for late updates.