Chapter 41 - The Seeker-who?
The first thing the party did for the fight was to jump to random directions when the monster, or rather the 'Seeker' unsheathed its Dagger to try and stab them from above. The moment the blade touched the ground, it created a large dust cloud, as well as a shock-wave, one that blew them back further. Winds whipped through the air as pieces of debris flew away from the point of contact.
Aiden was the first to recover as he flipped backwards, Wings deploying from his Backpack mid-flip to allow him to float in the air afterwards. "It appears this enemy requires more firepower; average firearms will not get through its skin…" he muttered under his breath as he aimed his Pistols towards the Seeker.
The Pistols then began to shift, their barrels elongating with a circular ammo canister coming out of the bottom, handles coming out from behind as well as other pieces. In moments, his Pistols had transformed into large Grenade Launchers, ones he fired at the Seeker in the face.
It had little time to react, and thus got hit in the face, large explosions being triggered once the rounds made contact. The Seeker screamed and groaned in pain, holding its face with its hands while stumbling backwards. Loud booming sounds echoed from its feet, almost piercing their eardrums with their high volume. This little demonstration showed them that high speed, and high impact rounds are enough to damage its bulletproof skin. Seeing this, the group of Spec Ops Agents felt a rising hope swell within their chests,, like gushing water from a fully turned tap rapidly filling a sink. Before, when Nico had shot at it with Ebony and Ivory, its face took no damage, and it had seemed to snort in amusement, as if it were making fun of him. Now though, that fact had changed.
Now, they had a shot.
Their leader quickly regained her wits, her hard expression returning behind her white mask as she glanced to her comrades. "The enemy has been weakened, focus your attacks on its face!" Raven announced to the others, noting that its face now had a weak spot: a vertical tear that ran down the middle of its face and exposed both muscle tissue and innards. She then turned towards Nico, her eyes glowering over his form. "DEATHSTROKE, transform immediately! You said you wanted to test that form out, didn't you?!"
He didn't hear her however as Nico was already attacked by the Seeker, which had both recovered quickly as well as sliced diagonally with its Dagger upon reaching him. The male jumped onto its other arm and used it to propel himself towards its face, swords poised to strike. "Alright buster, take some of this!" he exclaimed, raising both blades and going into a flurry of slashes, one slash after another like a chain.
The repeated attacks on its face made the Seeker stumble back, dazed but not too badly. Lucy came running in when it lowered its hands from its face, her Beyblade already being hurled towards it. the weapon cut through the back of its legs, before it came back to cut them again as it returned to her hands. Lucy then jumped at its legs and swing the Beyblade, cutting through them a third time as she slid to a halt on the opposite side.
Before the creature could recover, Ivan and Aiden charged in from both the ground and the skies, the former swinging his Bionic arm in Blade Mode through the air and cutting through its right thigh, landing behind it and spinning around to point the arm, which was now in Cannon Mode, and released several blasts towards its exposed injuries. "Hah, how'd ya like that, bastard!?"
Rolling his eyes, the winged male swiftly flew overhead, peppering the creature's body with Grenade shells. He then opened the back of his Backpack and fired a Missile Salvo down on it. Each one hit it, some in the weakened, exposed areas, covering it in a cloak of explosions from them. The missiles, combined with its now weakened legs, made standing a failed attempt and thus it lost its balance, crashing to the ground.
Nico chose this chance to capitalize on its weakness, speeding forth like a blur and unleashing hell with his blades by imbuing them with as much demonic energy as he could supply them, which was a helluva lot, before unleashing more slashes on the Seeker's face. He spun into a double slash, then a double X slash, before twisting into an upward slash with one sword before following up with the next. He then brought both blades down in a double downward slash, damaging the creature even more.
Before they could damage the Seeker any greater, it quickly flailed its limbs about like someone who was having a tantrum, knocking them all away from it as it managed to get back to its feet, before jumping into the air. It landed on top of a tall rock protrusion and pulled out its Grappling Gun. It aimed and fired at the group, the claw embedding into the ground to make a stone fist to grab at them.
However, Raven appeared in front of them and Activated another Skill, one that she hadn't used since coming to this Abnormal Dungeon. "ZANGETSU!" Her blade shined brightly, before being coated in black flames with a crimson red outline, giving it a sinister, dark appearance that didn't differentiate from the demonic shit that Nico and the Seeker were used to.
With a single horizontal swing, the flames were released in a mighty black and red crescent energy wave, cutting the stone fist in half. The Grappling claw retracted back to the gun it was fired from, but Raven wasn't finished as she quickly barked orders. "FALCON, now! Shoot it down!"
Wordlessly, Aiden nodded as he raised his Grenade Launchers and fired a series of 10 rounds at its face, hitting the target dead on in an almost beautiful display of explosions. With the its sole ranged weapon, the Grappling Gun, out of commission for a bit, the Seeker had no defense against the rounds, thus the attack went on unimpeded. It didn't take long for the Hunter to go down, the creature quickly losing its footing thanks to the impact of the Grenade Shells.
Screaming, the Seeker fell to the ground, landing on its side. The time was ripe, so Nico Activated his DEMON OVERDRIVE to get the speed boost he wanted to close the distance between them and unleash hell, quickly slashing even more at its face. This repeated itself for a few seconds, until the Seeker eventually pushed him away.
As it slowly got onto all fours, a barrage of attacks came its way, starting with a pissed off Ivan who jumped into the air before he came back down with his Bionic arm, now in Blade Mode, raised to the heavens as it began to show signs of a Skill Activating. "Here, have some of my RAIKIRI!" he bellowed, slashing it across one of its arms, sending bolts of electricity through its system. The Hunter roared in anger and pain as it tried to slam into him with its right palm, however Ivan managed to jump back to avoid it, flipping through the air.
While this happened, Lucy and Raven both charged in, the latter taking point as she pulled her Odachi back for a two-handed horizontal swing from her left hip. "ZANGETSU!" she yelled, activating the skill that she had used earlier to save her squad mates. Black and red flames enveloped the blade as the Seeker made to slash at her with its Dagger. However, instead of launching the attack right away, Raven slid under the arm while she noticed Lucy jumping over it and into the air above. Rising via a twirling spin, Raven jumped into a rising spiralling slash, releasing the flames within the blade to give her more speed by adding the pressure from the released flames.
The Seeker stumbled back, clearly showing signs of being damaged by the prey it had chosen to harass. However, that wasn't the end of its troubles as Lucy came down for her shot at it, her Beyblade now glowing to indicate that she too was activating a Skill. "Here, you need a shave, so I'll shave away your life! BEYBLADE ONSLAUGHT!" She bellowed, throwing the Beyblade at it.
While the weapon sailed through the air, it suddenly flashed in a bright light, and when it faded there were 8 identical Beyblades spinning faster than the Sawblades that were in the haunted house. Each one sliced through the Seeker's limbs, despite its attempts to parry them with its Dagger. Noticing that its current position was in jeopardy, the Seeker made to jump to a safe distance, however the Beyblades were not having that.
They then combined back together, but this time forming a larger version of the original Beyblade. To scale it's size, imagine a single decker bus's size. It then flew towards it once again, aiming to cut it in half. The Seeker landed on the ground after its jump, turned, and just barely raised its Dagger in time to block the attack from cleaving it in two. The two sides contested in strength for a few seconds, of which it was helpless to endure the blasts of Lightning from Ivan's Bionic Arm's Cannon Mode, as well as the constant slashes made on its legs by Nico and the Missile Salvos made by Aiden.
Eventually, it managed to adjust the angle of its Dagger and send the Beyblade to the side, letting it harmlessly impale the ground before it before the weapon could do what it intended and finish the Seeker off. Lucy tsked in irritation at this as she called her Beyblade back, unintentionally letting her guard down.
That would prove to be her worst mistake ever, since the Seeker saw this and capitalised on her weakness. It snarled in victory, making her eyes widen as it hurled its Dagger at her like a wheel, the weapon flying towards her with speeds that, for her, she wouldn't be able to escape unscathed, a limb loss at the least. "Ugh!"
Fortunately, help arrived in the form of Nico, the male Spec Ops Agent managing to get to her side in time, empowering his body with Demonic energy to the point where a forced transformation was only a step away from occurring, on top of his DEMON OVERDRIVE, to get to her defence quick enough to swing both Alastor and Rebellion in a single horizontal arc, sending the Dagger back to the Seeker. "Stay focused, do you want to end up dead?!" He yelled, looking behind him at the sheepish looking vice captain.
"S-Sorry, I let my guard down!"
The Seeker caught its dagger in its hand, before gauging the enemies before it. It had expected them to have fallen by now, so it was an unpleasant surprise to see that wasn't the case. With a demeaning snort, it reared its head back, prepping something that would help turn the tide into its favour. What that was the group didn't know, however they would be prepared to strike when the opportunity arose.
Nothing could have prepared them for what followed.
In an instant, the Seeker opened its mouth and breathed out, releasing a large smokescreen from within it that spread across the entire area, taking away their ability to see. "Oh shit, what the hells with this fog?!" Ivan exclaimed as he swung his hands in front of his face in a vain attempt to clear it. Afterwards, he released a tsk in annoyance, before waiting for an answer to his question.
An answer that came from the ever-calm Aiden, who rubbed the bottom of his chin with his index finger and thumb as he floated down till he was right above the party members. "It appears to be some form of dense fog, dense enough to conceal an area from the outside and render sigh meaningless." He had tried to break out by flying up into the 'roof' of the Fog, however the winged male Spec Ops Agent had felt like hitting a brick wall when he did, leading him to believe this tactic was used to ensnare victims, capturing them to deal with them decisively.
It was a tactic that should have been expected from a Hunter-like creature like the Seeker, which specialised in hunting prey with both its getup and movements. While they had done some damage to it, Aiden had felt that they only did a slight amount of damage to its hide, thus this fight felt like it was going to be a long, drawn-out battle. And while they didn't show it, the group hadn't entered this battle at 100% power either.
After all, through the constant harassment by its minions, the near-death experiences and all the running, Aiden was sure that they had lost a significant portion of their collective stamina. While they had healing items in their Inventories, it wasn't like the Abnormal would give them a chance to use them, and while they may heal their physical injuries, their stamina was a different story altogether.
Thus, they were in a rather tight situation.
Before he could ponder on things further, they were greeted by the sight of the Dagger being thrown at them in a horizontal manner from within the darkness, the orangish sheen made by the wheeling motion being the only sign of life that they used to realise that it was there. "Evasive manoeuvres!"
Everyone quickly did just that, Lucy and Raven jumped to one side, Ivan jumped to the other, Aiden ascended into the air while Nico slid under the wheeling Dagger. The weapon circled around them, having missed its target before so it went back for a second shot. As it flew towards them, it chose to aim itself at the recovering Lucy, her back completely exposed to the Dagger's blade as it neared her. It even shifted so that it was moving vertically instead of horizontally.
Luckily for her, she managed to see it in time and react accordingly, side-flipping to avoid its attack. "Whoa, nearly broke a nail!" she exclaimed after righting herself and checking her ruby red fingernails. She then gave a glare to the wheeling Dagger as it circled around for the third strike. "You bastard, you're gonna pay for nearly damaging this perfect body that's gonna seduce Nicky-dear!"
Even with the situation as it was, Nico couldn't help but blush in embarrassment at the words the older girl was saying while everyone else just groaned at the one-track mind that Lucy possessed. "Ugh, and you see why I call her a slut..." Raven remarked, palming the front of her Mask and shaking her head, before she looked behind her to address the other males.
Said males refused to say more, both because they didn't want to start another catfight and the fact that they were still in the danger zone here. Lucy took a few preparation steps backwards, and when the Dagger was about to impale her the older girl launched a high-speed snap kick, her heeled boot connecting with the side of the blade dead in the centre against all odds. She had literally kicked a spinning Dagger by the centre of its blade when it moved so fast it gave the impression of a rotating sawblade.
'Badass… even if she's a bit weird with her desires towards me/Nico, she's a badass too…'
The three boys looked at each other as they thought this, before turning their attention back to the fight. Say what you like about Lucy and her… disturbing insistence on seducing Nico, Lucy still was the vice leader of Team RAIL for a reason. She may not look it, but she had earned her spot and her reputation as a powerful Spec-Ops Agent. Any who tried to force themselves on her usually suffered treatments that would make all man-haters proud, even Raven.
Meanwhile, the Seeker raised its hand and caught the Dagger, the fog dissipating which allowed their vision to return. The foog gave way to the errie red sky, and the slight foggy air, of the Abnormal Dungeon known as the Carnival of Horrors. The group sighed in relief that the darkness was gone, before the growling of the Seeker drew their attention to it once more.
Its Dagger was in hand, and it looked at them like they were going to be skewered in the next few seconds. The Seeker snarled, standing on its feet as it got into a defensive position. It then let out a loud roar as a massive red aura emitted from its body, pouring into the air and filling the area with a mounting pressure.
Team RAIL and Nico recognised this sign, and none of them were happy about it. "Shit!" Ivan cursed as he switched his Bionic Arm into Cannon Mode. "It's gone berserk! It was bad before, but with this state it'll be 10 times worse!" He quickly aimed and fired a Volley of Lightning blasts to the creature, knocking it back and sending it flying away from them.
"In addition, it appears that we have not done as much damage to it as we had initially suspected." Aiden noted, his voice calm but only barely, as he observed the areas where they had been damaging this whole time. They looked like they had closed quickly, implying that this beast had a slight healing factor. They could detect a rising tension in his voice, a tension that showed them that the winged male was feeling the pressure of the stakes in this battle. It took a lot to unnerve Aiden, due to his soldier-like personality, but when he did lose his composure even if it was slight, then they knew that the situation was dire.
Lucy groaned at this, throwing her arms up into the air, almost hitting Raven and Nico with them. "Aaaaah! Goddamnit, this sucker's annoying!" she exclaimed, before she realised what she had almost done to the two when they gave her annoyed glares. "Oops! So sorry, Nicky-Dear!" she chirped, hugging the male from behind while childishly sticking her tongue out at Raven, who was glaring even harder.
Aiden then hovered behind her and pulled Lucy off the squirming Nico, much to her dismay as she flailed her limbs about like a child. "VERONICA aside…" he began, quickly subduing the flailing girl as he continued his suggestion. It hadn't taken him long to come up with their strategy, but it had risks to it, risks he knew that everybody would see. They may be weird personality wise, but they weren't stupid enough not to see it. "It appears that our best option is to use our Drive Skills to their maximum potential. Our bodies are already exhausted after that harassment; thus, we will have a limited time to deal with the enemy in front of us."
Everyone stopped and pondered it, even Lucy who now ceased her struggles in his grip, prompting Aiden to release her. What Aiden said was true, the Drive Skills, while powerful in that they enhanced the body beyond their usual limits, were also very taxing on them. Usually they had their own records for how long they could keep their Drive Skills activated, however their optimum times were shorter now with their decreased stamina reserves. Stamina and energy were required to properly harness the Drive Skills, and both of those were in short supply for the moment.
It was then, that Nico remembered what Raven had yelled at him during the beginning of the battle when he first used his Dual Wielding talents after so long of not doing so, solving the puzzle of whether he had heard her or not. "Wait… you guys use your Drive Skills, I got something better." He told them.
At first, they all blinked in confusion, not knowing what the teen was talking about, until Raven's eyes widened in surprise as she realised what he meant, everyone else soon catching on. "Yes." She confirmed with a nod, an approving hum coming from the back of her throat. "That would indeed be a viable option. You go ahead DEATHSTROKE, we'll buy you the time to transform."
With that said, the four members of Team RAIL turned their backs to Nico as they all activated their Drive Skills.
"POLLEN DRIVE!"
"STORM DRIVE!"
"CYBER DRIVE!"
"SAMURAI DRIVE!"
Several things happened after that unified cry made by the four. First, Aiden was enveloped in his grey coloured aura, sparks and winds dancing around him in a volatile manner, akin to a furious storm, thanks to how much energy he was channelling into the Skill.
Second, Lucy's body was encased with a poisonous green aura, her eyes glowing matching colour while her aura took the shape of a living flame, faint markings shaped like vines and flower petals appearing on her cheeks, shoulders and both sides of her neck. Energy leaves fell from the sides of her aura like a constant rainfall.
Third, Ivan's CYBER DRIVE coated him in an aura that looked like it was made from blue digitised data, turning his Bionic Arm into that of Data as well. His skin gained a metallic sheen to it, as if it were just a robotic body in disguise.
Lastly, Raven's SAMURAI DRIVE coated her in crimson energy, shaping itself into a Japanese themed Samurai with its energy sword coated around her Odachi, making it increasingly intimidating and ominous. Her eyes became a hollow crimson red upon its activation, while her lips turned a faint purple colour.
These were the Drive Skills that were possessed by Team RAIL, and seeing all four activated like this was a sight that one rarely got to see. Nico counted this as his third time seeing it however, since he'd been with them on mission's prior when only one or two of them used their Drive Skills. Seeing all four in effect at the same time was a rarity, and used only as a last resort due to the high costs to their stamina that the Drive Skills demanded.
To recount, Drive Skills were specialised Skills that were meant to act as single Buff skills, like the everyday buffing Skills that Adventurers and Guild Agents used. These were meant to be used for Spec Ops, to make them more diverse and powerful, so that they had something to use in critical situations. The first time one used a Drive Skill was about 50 years... after the completion of the Spec Ops Programme. Which took place centuries ago when Abnormal Monsters appeared for the first time en mass. However, what nobody would have expected, was that these Skills had the capacity for so much more, which was only made apparent 80 years after their first use.
They became able to enhance every physical trait that a person had, sort of like a mini HDD, making them into pseudo CPUs. Problem was, like HDD, the consumption of energy when a Drive Skill was used was massive, to the point where they couldn't be used in prolonged battles. Nevertheless, despite this problem these Skills succeeded in saving Spec Ops Agents numerous times over the years, to the point where they were considered a necessity for them. Some still chose not to develop one though, and for a while, that was heavily frowned upon. It was only through time that those displeased feelings died away through the generations, to the present day where Drive Skills were considered highly useful, but not to the extreme like in the past.
'Wow… no matter how many times I see them… those Drive Skills are still a sight to see…' Nico thought to himself, momentarily lost in awe at the sight before him, until he quickly shook himself out of it. 'No, not the time to be ogling their Drive Skills. You have to transform into Crimson Soul, no ifs, buts or ways around it.' he scolded himself, while also psyching himself for the transformation as he repeated the process that he'd done back at Lastation.
In an instant, his energy exploded as he was encased in flames, flames that dissipated to reveal his DDD Form: Crimson Soul, to the world.
Looking himself over, Crimson Soul flexes and clenches his free fist, looking down at it while doing so. "Hmmm… it appears in this form I don't change very much. I can feel the demonic energy writhing within me at full power, however because of my usage of it in Rebellion and Alastor I have little left. That explains why I feel so in control over it at the present time. I must finish this quickly, before I run out of power. However,"
Crimson Soul closed his eyes and remembered his time in this form in West Wind Valley, or rather, the part with his wings. "I must also experience this form's abilities, so in the future I can gauge my strength to better improve myself. Back in West Wind Valley, I could shift the forms of my Wings, thus I should be able to do the same here." He stated, before looking up at the fighting Team RAIL and the Seeker.
His eyes narrowed as he focused his will upon his Wings, feeling them respond to his will. Their forms shifted slightly for a moment, until they deformed into masses of flame. They then split, forming 20 Tendrils of pure fire, each one lunging forwards. 10 Tendrils slammed into the Seeker, ramming into it with so much force that it was sent flying, rolling across the ground. It tried to get back up several times, only for 1 set of 10 each of the Tendrils to keep it rolling, rolling till it was a fair distance away from them. This process repeated itself until it slammed its hands and feet into the ground to slide to a halt. It had just knocked Team RAIL back with a shockwave-inducing scream, when it had been cut short by the Tendrils.
A set of 10 Tendrils each wrapped around the four Team RAIL members by their waists, stomachs and torsos, their flames hot but not burning them upon his command. Obviously, they were caught off guard and indeed tried to struggle, but when they noticed who they were connected to their worries were dispersed as Crimson Soul brought them back to him, the free 10 Tendrils that had attacked before switching to defensive postures.
"Are any of you harmed?" Crimson Soul asked, not breaking his stare down of the Seeker as it got onto all fours, glaring him with bloodlust. Its berserk state made it look more like a rabid animal than before. All of them looked at each other, before shaking their heads, surprise and awe at the transformation.
Ivan was the first to say something regarding Crimson Soul as he looked him up and down. "Hmmm… I know this is our second time seeing it, but DAMN, dude you've got abs!" he commented, looking at his pectorals and comparing it to his human form's. While Nico was good looking for his age, even Ivan and Aiden admitted to this while they weren't homos, this older version would make both genders look at him with appreciative stares.
Also unlike his human self. Crimson Soul remained impassive as the Tendrils holding Ivan raised themselves higher, before slamming him side first into the ground. "I do not take kindly to perverse comments, and unlike my human self I won't hesitate to punish you for it, regardless of gender or relationship status." He stated coldly, glancing towards Lucy when he said this in which she got the message. Her skin slightly paled as she shut her mouth before it could say something that would result in her meeting the same fate as the now unconscious Ivan. "You all should pay more attention to this battle. That is what I would like to say, however it appears your bodies have expended too much energy." Crimson Soul observed, looking at each of them individually. Well, that was what it looked like, when he was gauging how much energy they had left.
Raven was the next one to speak, and unlike Ivan and Lucy, she was managing to control her urge to drool over this older version of the male. "W-Well, you would have a point there, DEATHSTROKE. Our energy has been spent keeping that thing off your back while you transformed."
"In this form, call me Crimson Soul, SAMURAI." The older version of Nico stated his gaze switching to her when it had been staring at the paling Lucy. "My human self-discussed it with Mrs IF yesterday, thus it will be my identity in this form."
While he looked at the form Nico had taken, Aiden couldn't help but feel that there was something different about it this time. Before, it looked like Nico struggled to control this power of DDD, but now it looked like he had perfect mastery over it. Aiden knew that this wouldn't have been possible, there was no way that Nico could have mastered it so quickly. Even if he was a fighting prodigy, the Spec Ops Agent knew that Nico had his limits, and this power seemed to push those limits. Aiden glanced to the Seeker, and saw something that made him speak with a slight raising of his voice to indicate urgency. "This talk will likely have to wait, for the enemy has started to attack." he warned, making Crimson Soul look to see that the Seeker had indeed started charging at them, its Dagger poised for a reverse strike.
The DPU merely stared blankly at it, his Tendrils lowering the four to the ground behind him while the rest got ready. "You all must wait here to restore your energy." He stated, gesturing behind him while not even looking in their direction. "I have procured a multitude of items from my human self's Void Storage that will hasten your recovery." When they looked, they noticed that there was a varied supply of items arranged neatly on the ground, from herbs to potions that they could use to heal themselves.
Their unified thought was: 'when the hell did Crimson Soul do that?'
Nevertheless, while they didn't want to admit it, the DPU did make a good point. They were exhausted, their usage of their Drive Skills worsening their condition considerably. Thus, if they were to try and help Crimson Soul, then they would more likely be a liability to him. Thus, to save their pride, they all nodded in unison, a rare thing considering the personalities that they had, and decided to quickly heal up so they could get back into the fight.
With his companions taken care of, Crimson Soul's Tendrils reformed into his wings as he parried the Seeker's Dagger with Soul Edge. Momentarily, Crimson Soul felt the strength behind the blow, but unlike in his human form, it didn't push him back. It made sense, as even if he was strong in human form, his DPU self was better in that regard. The Dagger and Soul Edge pushed against each other, grinding at each other in a battle for dominance.
That battle reached an end when Crimson Soul poured energy into Soul Edge, feeding it and feeling its strength increase, allowing him to push the Dagger back. The Seeker was open, so the male quickly swung his massive weapon across its stomach and then use the momentum to jump into a spinning slash to its face. He raised his weapon to the heavens before bringing it down to try and cleave its face in half, but the creature blocked with its Dagger.
'It appears its physical strength is greater than I predicted…'
Noting this in his mind, Crimson Soul unleashed a shockwave made from his demonic energy to push the Seeker back. He then raised Soul Edge, pointing the tip of the massive sword at it while channelling energy into the demonic blade. The blade began to glow a crimson colour with a mix of orange, indicating the activation of a Skill. "MAGMA SHOT." He whispered under his breath, though it still echoed whenever Skill names were announced on the battlefield.
Fiery trails exploded from Soul Edge's eye, which converged in a star formation around his blade. Each trail spiralled in on itself, and in a second Crimson Soul had 5 large fireballs floating around it in a star formation. Soul Edge pulsated with power as it launched the fireballs at the Seeker.
Said Seeker tried to slash them with its Dagger, however the last one hit it on its chest, the force and the impact sending it flying into the air and onto its back. Crimson Soul took his chance and quickly activated another Skill, ATOMIC INFERNO. Flames coated Soul Edge's… well, edge, and soon Crimson Soul swung horizontally to release the 30 Homing Rays that all converged on one target: the downed Seeker which made to move out of the way. However, it couldn't move in time and thus was hit with all the Rays, causing it to roar out in pain as it was set alight.
Constantly rolling across the floor was how it put out the flames, however the damage had been done. What wasn't covered by its fur cloak and harness had horrible burn markings, some areas even exposing the muscle and bone along with the burns. The creature's breathing was laboured and heavy, and it looked like it was rattled with pain.
Something that showed that Crimson Soul was making progress.
It swiftly pulled out its Grappling Gun and shot it's claw at the space in front of him, forming the stone fist that tried to grab him. However, Crimson Soul raised Soul Edge into the air before bringing it down on the space between the middle and index fingers, and the fist was reduced to tiny pieces seconds later.
As the claw retracted back into the barrel of the Seeker's Grappling Gun, Crimson Soul frowned as he held Soul Edge in a combat stance. 'This foe… speed would be a suitable option to taking it down. My demonic energy empowered Soul Edge is easily capable of puncturing its hide, if those wounds from my blade are any indication.' He thought eyeing the places where Soul Edge's metallic edge had met the flesh, leaving moderately deep wounds behind. 'If I wish for speed, then something liked dual swords would be preferable. My human self was smart to train in various styles of combat, for it allowed him to change his kills for various situations.'
The image of Rebellion and Alastor appeared in Crimson Soul's mind, the weapons that he dual wielded in human form. They appeared in perfect clarity, right down to the tiniest detail, almost like they were projecting themselves through his mind's eye. While it was strange to be dual wielding 2 2-handed swords like he did, his human form had made that skill one of his specialties, mastering that path as well as the path of the two-handed sword, Axe, claws, Scythe and other weapons.
Almost instantly after he had these thoughts, Crimson Soul began to feel something off, something was wrong with the weapon in his hands. Looking down, Crimson Soul's eyes narrowed while the spectators had bulging eyes, as Soul Edge deformed itself, deforming a mass of flesh in his hand. The mass looked like a mass of flesh and eyes at first, with bits of metal sticking out occasionally.
The mass suddenly separated, the second piece flying into his other hand which reflexively grasped onto it. It felt soft, squishy like the feeling of jelly in his fingers. Crimson Soul almost blanched at the discovery and the comparison, remembering how disgusting jelly had tasted to him when he had first tasted it in human form. It had tasted like eating other person's vomit, vomit that was still alive and wriggled about within the confines of his mouth.
Quickly, Crimson Soul pushed those thoughts away before he could throw up in favour of looking down at the squishy things in his hands. However, while he had been struggling with his thoughts whatever had been happening was finished already, and when he looked down, Crimson Soul was greeted to the sight of 2 swords, both the same in appearance, and 1 in each hand.
Both swords had the same fleshy grips, with handguards that had human skulls built in, their heads sporting curved demonic horns that curved around the fleshy hilts. Above the skulls were wide open eyes, akin to Soul Edge's large sword-like form. The sides of the handguards were crimson chitinous fingers merged together to form a pair of demonic wings, with the main blades protruding from the base of the Skulls' chins. Each blade was an identical length of a sword, composed mostly of crimson metal but had fleshy interiors.
While its form may have been different, instincts told Crimson Soul that this was indeed Soul Edge, just as he had wished it to look like for that brief instance. "Interesting… this sword can take on a multitude of forms depending on what I desire…" he mumbled, his stare mostly the same. However, there was a slight widening in the eyes which showed that he was impressed with the new capabilities he had discovered from his weapon. Said weapon seemed to vibrate in both of his hands, as if they were proud that he had gotten their ability right.
Looking up at the Seeker, Crimson Soul got into a battle stance that resembled the one that his human form had done earlier, only both swords were pointed forwards and not like an X. "Very well. Let us test your abilities: Soul Edge." He whispered to his blades, feeling his mouth turn upward slightly when he felt a chortle from deep within his being, proving that he and this weapon were linked on a deeper level than most beings were with their weapons.
The Seeker roared, its berserk state inhibiting its mental faculties to a single thought: kill. It ran at him, its feet stomping on the plank-made floor which made mid-level tremors. These tremors kept Team RAIL from getting up since they couldn't regain their balance enough to lend any assistance.
It reached him within seconds, and swung its Dagger in an overhead slash. Crimson Soul raised one sword and blocked it, feeling the impact of the weapon for a brief instant before swinging his other sword to push it away. He used the momentum to spin into a double horizontal slash, bringing his swords into a downward X slash right after. He then flew up to its face and made a double upward slash, before switching to a pair of reverse grips and spinning slashed it in the forehead.
These attacks succeeded in dazing the Seeker, but not enough to topple it. Crimson Soul immediately went to rectify this by going into a downward descent and cutting away at its legs. He made several cuts on them, before the Seeker jumped into the air and came down with a lunge to his head with its Dagger. Crimson Soul responded by flaring his wings and strafing back, the resounding impact of the Seeker creating a large shockwave and a tremor. Fortunately, him floating like a CPU managed to protect him from the majority of both, but he was still pushed back by it.
An idea crossed into his mind, and Crimson Soul got back into his battle stance, his Wings quickly reforming into 4 long fiery arms which ended in 3 fingered, 1 thumbed slim hands. 2 slammed into the ground and propelled him forwards as he imbued Soul Edge with his energy, the dual swords mode it was in erupting into flames. These flames weren't the orangish red flames that he had been using before however… but pure crimson flames with a black outline, opposite in colours to the flames produced by Raven's ZANGETSU Skill.
This fact was ignored for the time being, as Crimson Soul's warrior mentality forced him to focus on the next attack. As he closed the distance between them, the DPU used the other 2 arms to grab the Seeker by the shoulders, gripping them tightly to stop it from moving as he raised both blades to the air. He then brought them back down on it, causing another massive explosion, one that was larger than the ones that the Seeker had made previously.
The intense heat that was produced by the attack was enough to force the members of Team RAIL to cover their faces with their arms, and even then, they felt like they were still being burned alive by the heat. "What the hell-this heat is incredible!" Ivan exclaimed as he and Aiden came together to shield each other from the heat. Aiden had the advantage of his deployable wings to act as shields, and thanks to them having been built with fire residence in mind, as the winged male would be closer to the sun above, heat like this was no problem for them.
Once the heat died down, Team RAIL lowered their arms, trying to peer out to see what the result was. In the end, the smoke cleared and they were privy to the sight of Crimson Soul hovering before the head of the downed Seeker, which looked like it couldn't battle anymore. Its body was covered with serious burns, burns that made even Raven wince at their severity, feeling a pang of sympathy for th creature… only a minuscule amount though, as it did try to kill them the entire way here.
Hovering before its face, Crimson Soul looked to Soul Edge, which reformed itself back to its default massive sword mode. He gave the creature a flat stare, gauging its wounds and deciding to finish things now. Just when he went to raise Soul Edge for the killing blow…
"Champion… of Sparda…!"
For the first time in this entire battle, Crimson Soul's face showed an expression other than his default monotone and slight surprise, to one of shock and confusion. "That name… I am not aware of it, but why does it feel familiar to me…?"
Ignoring him for the moment, the Seeker, knowing its life was about to end, made its last words known to the DPU about to slay it. "You… have been found… the time has come for… our return… you… you are dead. Just like… that whore human… Just like… your whore mother…"
Momentarily, Crimson Soul felt a brief flash of rage spark in his being, but that spark belonged to his human self which was taking a backseat right now. The DPU cast an expressionless gaze towards his fallen foe. "Whore mother…? I do not know my maternal guardian, however if you are calling me a… son of a bitch… then you would not be the first, nor the last." And with that, Crimson Soul brought the blade of Soul Edge down on the Seeker's head, the metallic edge cleaving through its forehead and brain, ending its life.
