Chapter 77 - Divine, Demonic and Demonic
Divine vs demonic.
Such a battle had not been seen in millennia, ever since one of them faded away in to the annuls of history, many hoping to never hear of it again. Many times in a past long forgotten, these two opposing forces have clashed, resulting in cataclysmic consequences that were still visible in the current modern world. The floating islands that housed the four nations, the people of Gamindustri, they were the proof that everyone would need to see the effects that these opposing forces have wrought upon them.
If they were to return to the surface, then they would see nothing but charred, ruined wastelands devoid of any form of nature. Remnants of demonic and divine energies warring against each other even to this day would be felt across the wastes. These energies, in cases that gradually piled on and on over the millennium, even took physical form to engage one another, mimicking the conflict that had spawned them.
Though, nobody in the current generation, not even the divine, knew this anymore.
Knowledge of this had long since faded into darkness, never to be heard from again… until now of course.
In her Basilicom, Vert hummed pleasantly to herself as she enjoyed a game of StarCraft. She was fighting in a team match with a pro player against some other pro players. Thanks to the ranking system, Vert had been paired with people whose skill rivaled that of her own at this game. At THIS game. Notice the empathize there. While she was known as the Gaming Goddess (to those that knew about her anyways) there were some genres of games out there that she was better at than others. MMO's were her forte, while shooters and puzzle games followed suit. Vert wasn't as good at RTS as she was in MMO's, which was why she was polishing those skills the hard way, through training in high risk rank matches.
Ranked matches were extremely competitive, something she learned first hand when she first played this game. According to her research on the game, Vert found that Starcraft 2 had quite the high ratings as a highly polished sequel to the first game. She'd played that one first, and found herself seeing wat people meant when they reviewed this one. She herself preferred the sequel to the original, but Vert could still appreciate the original game this little gem spawned from.
This game was just SO addicting, almost as much as her MMO's. The way that she had to collect all the achievement badges, even though they didn't do anything for the game itself. The various elements from other genres, like Action RPG, MMO in the levelling systems, especially in the co-op section where one could play as heroes from the original two games and their expansions, including ones you could get as DLC (Her favourite was Kerrigan, cause she was a badass), made this game a hidden gem. She only wished she could have found this beauty sooner, from the moment she had first picked the game up, Vert had realised she had been missing out on an experience many gamers should have.
Until She completed the games, Vert couldn't even call herself a gamer.
THAT was how good this game was.
The voice acting was excellent.
It's Characters were interesting and deep.
Heck, she even clicked on the units dozens of times to get some funny comments out of them.
Then, one of the biggest pluses for this game was that she had been playing it last before she met the one man she had been trying to get as an in-game husband since she first met him back in 4 Goddesses online.
'Speaking of which, I wonder what Nico is doing right no… Oh, if only I could go outside, then I'd be by his side every day…' she thought to herself, imagining the possibilities. She could see it now, him servicing her in so many butler outfits, calling her mistress with a sensual voice… she'd get turned on to the point where she'd pin him to a bed then commence a night of hot, steamy passion…
Her eyes shot open as she quickly got herself back into the game. She had almost failed to notice a raiding party heading towards her base's back entrance. 'Whew, that was close…' she thought to herself as she directed her units to taking out the enemy raid party. "Since when did I become so naughty…?" Vert mumbled, an embarrassed flush escaping her lips.
According to the internet, Vert felt like she was suffering from something, something that she had never expected to feel since she was a Goddess: frustration… sexual frustration. She hadn't known what this was at first when it was mentioned by one of her many followers on an Online raid in 4 Goddesses Online. As a Goddess who had been fighting for hundreds of years up in Celestia, Vert had been admittingly… lacking in the knowledge of that area.
It only made sense, since she had been spending her entire life on the battlefield, not learning anything about her own body. She could hardly recall a time where she HADN'T been fighting up there, something that, now that she was down in the human world enjoying herself, made her frown in sadness. She'd missed out on a lot, plus this sensation that racked her body was not something she had prior experience with Thus, she began conducting research on it.
Again, according to the internet, Sexual Frustration is frustration caused by a discrepancy between a person's desired and achieved sexual activity. It may result from a variety of circumstances including physical, mental, emotional, social, or religious/spiritual barriers. In Verts case, she had spent centuries without some form of sexual activity, and it showed when she had finally met Nico. Even she had been stunned at how she had almost lost it and took him right then and there. If it weren't for his restraint and her regaining her senses, things would have gotten steamy…
Though part of her wouldn't have minded that.
'No Vert, behave.' The woman chided herself, slapping herself in the face to stop the erotic thoughts from entering her mind. She was NOT an easy woman, no way no sir. Vert may feel a little… pent up, considering she had been fighting for so long without knowing what she had been missing, but she was by no means an easy woman. No, she would NOT follow that stereotype, no way! Nevertheless, this frustration was proving to be a problem. At this point, even gaming wasn't helping as much as it used to. Ever since her encounter of Nico, just the slightest lapse in control would open the door to a torrent of erotic thoughts and images. She would have to make sure to take care of that when she had the chance tonight.
After about 10 minutes, the game was finally cleared with her and her partner in the battle claiming victory. It was a rather close game though, intense and filled with high-risk manoeuvres. She thought only Gambling could have such risks, but apparently that wasn't the case. Vert let out a loud groan while she stretched her arms upwards, feeling the stress leave her arms in exchange for sweet relief. 'Whew, glad that that's over and done with…' the woman thought, repeating the action with her legs. With that done seconds later, Vert made to browse the internet for anything of interest. 'Now then, what should-'
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG!
Everything stopped around her as Vert's eyes flew open faster than Neptune would when eating pudding. 'What the?! What is this energy I'm sensing?!' She shot up from her seat, not caring that tit had fallen over before she rushed to her room's window. Once there, the woman peered out into the distance, trying to disconcert where the energy was coming from. 'I've never felt anything like this!'
Her senses registered three energies right now: one of them was similar in type to her own. She easily recognised it as the energy belonging to Planeptune's CPU Purple Heart, something that bothered the woman more than she cared to admit. Her current condition made her all the more paranoid about her intentions for being in Leanbox. If things were different. If she hadn't been so foolish as to go out without a guard, then she wouldn't have been as concerned with another CPU's presence in her Nation. However, that was not the case today.
This failed to keep her attention for long though, mostly thanks to the other two energies dwarfing Purple Heart's in size, almost condensing around Purple Heart's. One was significantly smaller than the other though, but that one felt more familiar, more comforting than the other one. both held this wild, animalistic sensation to them, but the larger one felt MUCH more threatening, It was almost like it was sucking the two energies, and herself, into its grasp determined to never let them go.
There were few things that Vert could openly admit to being scared of.
THIS was one of them.
'If only I could see what is going on over there…'
Unbeknownst to Vert, she wasn't the only one who sensed it.
Deep within Lastation, Noire walked along the newly repaired streets of her City, returning to the Basilicom after a hard day's worth of questing. Ever since the attack on the city by Avenir, things were slowly improving at a steady rate. The guards were now being paid much more handsomely, as well as being trained in refresher courses that they should have undertaken as part of the preparations for their job roles. Apparently Avenir had been hogging most of the national economy to itself when it was ruling, leaving unsatisfactory factors across the entire Nation. The lack of competent guards was one of those factors, a factor that Noire had chosen to remedy.
As for the Abnormals, their Pack-like mentalities were always on the rise, but thanks to the strained co-operation running throughout the nation (thanks to her efforts of course) they weren't as much of an issue as they were before. Not saying they weren't but things were slowly getting better for the people of the Land of Black Regality. Lastation had even opened up specialized trading hubs between them and Planeptune, after some careful negotiations to do with politics and business, to which they sent an allotted amount of help in dealing with the Abnormals while Lastation would supply them with materials unique to their mountainous lands, which Planeptune would use to create better weapons for their respective militia. In return, Lastation and Planeptune strengthened ties, and would hopefully form an alliance in the future.
In addition, thanks to that hit they took, Avenir had begun experiencing some form of challenges from other companies who were either too small, or two fearful of them, to try and fight their regime. It hadn't been as apparent in the beginning, but over time it had begun to show. It honestly brought a smile to her face, seeing her people rising against oppression, refusing to abide by their rule any longer.
That also created, on the other hand, a possible cause of conflict, something that Noire REFUSED to allow to happen in her Nation. With wat she had learned through her journey with Neptune and her party, she feared the possible war-like urges humans seemed to be capable of possessing, I they were allowed to rule by themselves. Things were fragile enough as it were, so she had to make sure that whenever Avenir was near any companies, she was there to oversee things so that they don't escalate into something that would hurt everyone involved.
Her hair fluttered in the breeze, forcing her to use a hand to keep strands of it from covering her eyes. 'Geez, today sure is rather windy…' she couldn't help but think in irritation. She glared at several passer-by's that were eyeing her, before continuing on her way.
Or rather, she would have, had it not been for ONE simple thing…
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG!
Noire almost stumbled when she had sensed it. No, she had almost FELT a massive surge of energy, both familiar and foreign to her, rush over her senses and knock her off balance. Even though it was coming from far away, the amount of power she could sense so suddenly nearly made her fall over. 'Huh?! What is this?!' she shrieked in her mind.
One of the energies she could sense was undoubtedly Neptune's. That made the blackette CPU roll her eyes, wherever that little troublemaker went things were always bound to go crazy. She was just a magnet for it, so it wasn't completely surprising that she was within the midst of these energies.
What WAS surprising was that she could sense Nico's demonic energy with her.
But… she didn't know why, but the way his energy flowed felt… off. It felt very… unstable yet was recovering at a rapid pace. Like it was a strained muscle receiving healing enzymes to speed up its recovery. Kind of like the Hatcheries that produced more units when Queens sprayed acid on them in that RTS Game she had been getting into recently.
That OTHER energy though… she couldn't help but shudder at how UNNERVING that energy felt. It was almost like she wanted to make sure to never cross paths with the source of this energy EVER, even if she had to discard her pride as a CPU. Noire immediately recognised his as her self-preservation instincts influencing her thoughts, so she shot them down immediately. That was NO way to act for someone like her, she had an entire Nation to protect, if she were to run from EVERY powerful enemy she had ever faced, then Lastation would have been destroyed long ago.
Still… the fact that she COULD be so intimidated by just an energy surge meant that whatever was making it had to be powerful indeed… powerful enough that it could be a threat to the fragile peace Lastation has managed to obtain. At this point, pat of her wanted to investigate the source of this strange energy that seemed so familiar to Nico's yet different at the same time, while part of her knew that Lastation needed her now more than ever.
Thoughts conflicting each other ran through her mind as she headed back home.
Cold.
The current climate of Lowee, the land of white serenity, could be described in a single word.
Their land was always coveted by an eternal winter, with snowfall being the least harshest of the weather's conditions. There were days when they'd see the sun, if partially thanks to clouds obscuring it. On the worst of days they would get heavy snowstorms that would force people to stay indoors till the storms clear up. Over the years though, the people had developed many indoor activities for them to enjoy while under these heavy snowstorms, so those evets which used to be considered ill omens, had turned into times of fun, happiness and content.
All of this... would not console one person in a moment or two...
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG!
Within the Lowee Basilicom, a young girl, buried under a mountain of books and research notes, looked up with a slightly alarmed expression on her features when she sensed several energy surges coming from Leanbox. 'What the… Something's happening in Leanbox. I can feel it.' She thought, her eyes narrowing darkly as she remembered a certain woman there that she despised… for two specific reasons. 'What is Thunder Tits doing over there? Wait, no… this is that brat Neptune's energy. Why would she be in Leanbox…?'
Confusion coursed through the young girl's mind as she tried to access more information, tuning into these new energies she was sensing. Two new energies could be felt, and one of them seemed strangely familiar. 'Wait, this energy feels… yes, I remember! I remember sensing something like it not long after me and the others knocked that brat off Celestia…' she thought, frowning in concern.
This energy she sensed, it was not something she had felt before, and even now she had been trying to figure out what it was. So far though, no dice. There were next to no records she could find within any of Lowee's Libraries that had any information as to what this energy could have been. This wasn't the only time she'd sensed it though, she'd sensed it several times in Lastation, then again at Planeptune. Now it was repeatedly appearing within Leanbox, which made her assumed that the case for it was mobile, somewhat like a person. But, who could have such energy? That was something the girl had to find out. She had to for Lowee's safety.
'And, what is this other energy I'm sensing? Not good that's for sure…' Yet now, instead of just one, she could sense TWO energies of similar nature, though one of them dwarfed the other. The larger of the two though, felt WAY more malicious than the other one, which felt like it had been strained too much for its liking and needed time to recover. It was so bad that the girl actually trembled at the thought of it coming here and wrecking Lowee's shit, been more than it already had been.
Lowee had been a shell of its former self when she returned, so many issues that had been left unchecked were wat she came back to, something that personally disgusted her. How her Shares hadn't fallen any lower than what they had baffled her to this day. She had made use of this though, and re-integrated herself within Lowee's government, looking over what had happened while she had been away and making sure to get things back in order. It hadn't been easy, and it had caused her to throw out more than a few tables thanks to her infamous temper. But so far, she'd managed.
Now this new energy threatened to break what she had built…
Well then, lets' see it try.
'You come into my Nation…' the girl thought, an audible growl escaping her throat as her face darkened, her eye turning bright red like a demon's. 'Then you'll have to answer to me!'
Purple Heart was NOT having a good day right now.
She gritted her teeth as she raised her sword, blocking a Bloodletter's Hellblade before kicking it away. Just in time too, cause 3 more were already on her, swinging their Hellblades in lethal arcs. She had to trust her instincts as a warrior, combined with the training she had underwent with Nico as her instructor like they were her lifelines to keep up with these creatures. They were strong, fast, and their numbers posed a problem. It made her find it difficult to keep her promise to her beloved, considering how they would sometimes sneak past her to get to Compa. Though, that was probably due to her firing her Syringe rounds into their asses.
Not fun, seriously.
This battle had to be one of the toughest she'd ever faced on this journey. Nico in Berserker mode, or when he couldn't control himself as Crimson Soul, were other times that this level of intensity had been made known to her. It was like the battles the divine had with the demonic were on completely different levels compared to the divine vs normal enemies, something that honestly unnerved her a little. She would never say she was scared, nope, not one bit. If she were scared, then the entire party's morale would be affected, and that would be bad for them. Especially in this situation.
Dodging a third slash, Purple Heart sliced off one's tongue before flicking her hand out, summoning a purple energy blade that shot into its skull. The creature gave a dying groaning sound, before falling to the ground front first. It then disintegrated into ashes moments later, something that surprised her considering how Monsters usually dissipate into Particles when they died. Even Abnormals shared this quality.
"CROSS COMBO!"
Activating a Skill, Purple Heart furiously slashes away at an approaching Bloodletter, kicking it into the air towards one of its falling brethren she'd noticed out the corner of her eyes. She then jumped upwards and brought her sword down on their bodies, her sword being coated with her energy. Both Bloodletters cried out as they were hit, divine energy coursing through their systems and damaging them internally while they crashed into the ground.
Afterwards, Purple Heart landed and activated another Skill. One that, ironically, had come from Crimson Soul himself. "ATOMIC INFERNO - PLANEPTUNE EDITION!" Purple Heart bellowed. Her blade's edge shined as it became coated in purple trails of energy from the base of the blade, before she swung in a reverse horizontal slash. The result: the energy was released from the blade in the form of 30 purple energy rays that descend upon their targets. The Bloodletters all howled as they each swung their Hellblades and, much to her horror, slashed through the energy rays.
'Oh come on! That's just Hax right there!' the purple haired CPU shouted in her mind, quickly getting into a defensive stance as she summoned a couple dozen energy blades all around her. When the Bloodletters charged at her, she launched them like a volley of machine gun bullets. Most of them were deflected by those accursed Hellblades, but some managed to stick into their shoulders or chests. However, that only slowed them down, but Purple Heart would take what she could get.
Back behind her, Compa held her Syringe and fired several rounds, each of them hitting the Bloodletters in their chests. At first, nothing happened, until the rounds there began to glow brightly... before they exploded, sending them onto their backs.
"Huh? Eh? What happened...?" The Nurse-In-Training muttered in shock, before looking down at her Combat Syringe. Her eyes zoomed in on a slot above the Syringe's Canister, which had the picture of a Bomb on it. She saw that there was a lever there, and when she pulled on it, she found there to be other pictures, like a lightning bolt, wind guts, water waves, poison bubbles, before returning to the bomb picture.
Her mind whirled with ideas about this new development. Apparently, the symbols represented the Syringe's specialized ammo, the bomb represented explosive rounds, The purple poison bubbles were self explanatory, Lighting, wind, and water were obviously the elemental ammo it had. If her lips were shown, then people would see the massive grin they formed at this theory. "Oh! That's cool!"
"Um, Compa, I would appreciate it if you focused here!"
Purple Heart's call quickly snapped the Nurse-In-Training out of her stupor as an embarrassed flush formed on her cheeks behind her Armour's Helmet. "S-Sorry, Nep-Nep!" She yelled, before leveling her Syringe and firing rounds with the bomb picture equipped. The moment after the rounds hit, they exploded once more, confirming her theory about her weapon.
Switching to Lightning Ammo, Compa let loose more rounds, each one shooting through the air like the symbol on the Canister. When the rounds hit, Purple Heart noticed tat they seemed to move slower with random sparks flying off their forms. 'Paralysis! That Syringe already is working wonders...' Purple Heart thought with a slight grin on her features.
"Alright, lets keep this up, Compa! CRITICAL EDGE!"
"Y-YESSIE!"
Hopefully, her beloved was doing just as well as she was. 'Hope's having a better day...'
Nico was NOT having a good day.
'Oh shit!'
He had to roll to the side to dodge a large Axe made out of demonic energy that flew at him with the speed of a bullet train. A second later and he would have been split in half. He wasn't too confident his healing factor would take care of it discreetly, since Neptune and Compa were here, but if they weren't then he wouldn't have been worried.
Getting a back to his feet, Nico raised his Plasma Claws and slashed, deflecting the blade of the Demon Prince's right axe to the space beside him, diverting the shockwave that would have sent him flying as well. He saw the other Axe being raised for a slam, its blade gaining a lava-like orange glow. He knew from the previous instances throughout this battle, which had been going on for at least 10 minutes to his reckoning, that he had to get the fuck AWAY from that thing before it landed.
The reasons why he hadn't used his Bracers for the time thing were A: because he was fighting for his freaking life right now, so he didn't exactly have the breathing room to check (note the exasperation there), and B: this place seemed to distort time according to some input from Biko, which would make any efforts he COULD have attempted practically useless.
Must be a demon realm thing.
Pushing energy into his legs, the teenage Spec Ops Agent jumped backwards, avoiding the glowing Axe as it slammed into the ground, releasing a HUGE wave of energy that rose up from all around it. Like a cloak of fire, of sorts, it concealed the beast from view, which wasn't really a good thing.
This was proven seconds later when the Demon Prince roared a hellish roar, jumping out of the flames with his wings spread wide. They each radiated a constant stream of pure darkness, forming a trail in the air as it circled the airspace above him. The male tried to hit it with a PHANTOM WAVE, but the Skill missed. It cut through the darkness but had hit only that, darkness. PHANTOM BLADES was the next option, but the problem persisted. He couldn't see his opponent, so mindlessly wasting energy on these Skills became a no-go. Nico eyed the creature as best he could, but thanks to its darkness eventually clouding its form the male found that to be more difficult than he would have liked.
Before he could do anything, the male noticed there to be several glowing orange bits within the smoke, and that served to be his sole warning… before a dozen or so glowing energy Axes came down upon him. Nico had to stick to his instincts like they were his lifeline as he hurriedly avoided each Axe, demonstrating expert parkour ability as he flipped, ducked, dove and dodged like he would die if he didn't… which was kind of true in a sense.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Explosions rang all around him from the impact points of each Axe, making him let out stings upon strings of curses. He mentally thanked his adoptive mother for the extreme training she gave him, because that was the only reason why he had been able to avoid all of those. That was what he thought as he slid across the skull-covered ground, before he looked up…
And saw the Demon Prince diving at him like a Falcon.
Strange, he wondered where his sense of fear of this creature went off to… because he felt considerably moot at that moment.
Nico responded on reflex, sheathing his Plasma Claws and summoning his Plasma Launcher. He raised it and pulled the trigger, firing repeatedly at the creature's face to cover it in a series of pink explosions.
"GAH!"
His little offensive managed to do something, because it diverted the Demon Prince's flight path away from him, sending it tumbling away from him till it was about 20 metres away. Not stopping to give it any breathing room, Nico switched his Plasma Launcher out and deployed his Plasma Cannons. Out of the urge to survive, which dominated his mind at the moment, the teen decided to activate a Skill he hadn't had the chance to use yet, his whole form seeming to glow in preparation.
"PLASMATIC OVERLOAD!"
The moment he yelled that out, Nico felt several 'clicks' happen within his armour, several whirring's spinning into overdrive. His eye bulged as his whole armour seemed to erupt in a purple arura, swerving from side to side wildly, like a living flame. It honestly looked like the activation of a Drive Skill, something that made him gasp as Plasma energy escaped his mouth. 'Whoa, so much! So much energy!'
And yet, he instinctively knew this couldn't last for long. It was like the Skill itself had put a timer in his mind to tell him how long he could use this skill for. Right now, the timer was at 1 minute, not a lot of time so he had to do this now. His Plasma Cannons charged up their shots, before Nico mentally commanded them to unload on the downed Demon Prince. The barrels shone brightly… before they unloaded a mighty barrage of rounds on the beast, with no thought to mercy.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Large banging sounds echoed throughout the demonic battlefield, slamming into the Demon Prince with no regard for wat it was currently doing, which was recovering from the previous Plasma-based attack on its being. Cracks soon formed on its armour, shown in the miniscule gaps between the attacks.
Nico scowled when he noticed the creature get up despite the barrage he had given it, swinging its right wing in a reverse swinging motion to send a wave of fire in his direction. Nico swiftly deployed his Hidden Blades, noticing that thanks to the PLASMATIC OVERLOAD Skill, they were about 30 foot long now. He then slashed through the wave in one fell swoop, twisting a full 360 degrees before making a mad dash towards his opponent. Plasma energy crackled over him as he did so, destroying the ground around him while the Demon Prince met his charge with a swing of its right Axe.
To add in a little extra, Nico went and activated a Skill.
"GIGGA BLADE!"
BOOM!
A loud blast of air accompanied the two fighters as they clashed, their weapons grinding away at each other. Axe met Broadsword-shaped Hidden Blade, the Skill GIGGA BLADE having activated just seconds before impact to give them enough of a boost to meet the Axe without being destroyed. Both growled as they tried to overpower each other, winds rushing out from the point of collision between them. At first the Demon Prince assumed it would break his petty defences, at least in its eyes. Those thoughts were soon wiped from its mind however as the weapons held their own against it's Axe, much to its surprise.
It discarded its other Axe, making Nico frown behind his Helmet, as it gathered power into its now free hand. The hand first began glowing a lava-like orange hue, but that lasted only for a millisecond before flames erupted around it like a protective cloak. "WITHESS the POWER of a DEMON PRINCE!" It bellowed.
With a loud, animalistic roar, the Demon Prince made to slam the hand to the ground in the form of a closed fist. Nico, sensing that he did NOT want to be near the fist when it inevitably impacted, threw his free arm upwards. The Hidden Blade sheathed itself back into his gauntlet, while the Plasma Chains took their place, shooting out towards the horns on its head. They wrapped around those horns, the Demon Prince not noticing this as Nico was pulled into the air by the Plasma Chains, just as the fist hit the ground.
BWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSHHHHH!
From the point of impact, a massive circle of flames roared outwards, expanding in all directions and enclosing the surrounding ground in a sea of orange. Heat surged through the air, almost burning the air itself with how intense the flames were. Nico mentally heaved a relieved sigh at how he'd managed to narrowly avoid being burnt to a crisp as he landed on the back of the creature's head.
'You're not out the woods yet, Nico!'
'I know that!'
Focusing back onto the battle, Nico quickly deactivated his other Hidden Blade, shooting out the rest of his Plasma Chains to secure his hold on the Demon Prince's horns. The said entity roared and growled as it quickly began bucking about like a bull (kind of fitting considering what it resembled) slamming its head into the ground while constantly shooting streams of fireballs at the space behind its head. Nico however, felt his Armour's Plasma-based shielding tank the hits with little problem. Apparently PLASMATIC OVERLOAD supercharged them so that they could be nigh-invulnerable. Good to know.
Honestly, he wished he could have tested this Skill out more to see what its limitations were.
An idea hit his mind, making a grin form on Nico's lips beneath his helmet as he palm thrusted te back of his opponent's head. A familiar Marker appeared on the space he'd hit, and Nico jumped off the Demon Prince. "CHAINS OF HEPHAESTUS!" he yelled, and the moment his feet touched the ground, the Skill activated. Chains came out the Magic Circle that appeared beneath the dark monstrosity, shot around it and successfully restrained it after a futile struggle from the creature.
"Looks like you're wide open!" Nico yelled victoriously. Normally, he'd refrain from gloating right now, but the situation had shot his nerves so he wanted to use this to calm himself the fuck down. Hopefully this would end and he along with his comrades would be returned to the material world. Summoning his Plasma Launcher and prepping his Plasma Cannons, Nico prepared to finish the being off.
He should have just done it instead of gloating though… a fact he realised all too late.
"gwoooooaaaaaaaa! ENOUGH!"
Now more than a little pissed off, the Demon Prince roared and released a massive shockwave, shattering the CHAINS OF HEPHAESTUS and breaking the Seal, making Nico cover his face to shield it from the whipping winds the shockwave generated. 'What the fuck?! How'd it break free?!' he shrieked in his mind, a sense of panic rising within his gut. CHAINS OF HEPHAESTUS was meant to be unbreakable by Abnormal means, and it had worked constantly in the past. So, what the hell did it break now?! Wait, why the fuck did it break at all?!
Then, to make matters worse, Nico exhaled suddenly when he felt PLASMATIC OVERLOAD shut down abruptly. The mental timer had counted down to zero, and the Skill had shut down along with the majority of his Plasma Weapons while a recharge timer of a minute appeared in his mind. This made the male paler than a ghost as he realized how severe his situation had become. 'Shit, not now!'
The teen gasped when he felt a hand suddenly grab him, the large hand covering his body so that only his head and the tips of his toes were visible while the hand brought him to its master.
A triumphant glint shone in the Demon Prince's hollow red eyes as it held him in its grasp. Its wings flared to the sides, reflecting his gleeful mood as orange energy began travelling down its limb towards its prey. "Not BAD! For a MORTAL, you FOUGHT well! But NO MATTER, it ENDS NOW!" The entity bellowed, furious orange flames engulfing its hand before Nico could respond. While its skin would protect it from the flames that it had generated, the prey it had captured was a completely different story.
Roars of pain and agony tore from Nico's throat as he felt the flames licking away through his armour, as the strong grip the hand had managed to form cracks in it for the flames to seep through. He could feel blisters and agonizing burns forming on his skin, while his armour gradually broke apart by the second. While it was still trying to repair itself, the strength behind the Demon Prince's grip as it tried to crush him was making that a fruitless effort.
Offhandedly Nico had noticed that its Axes had been dropped to the ground beside its hooves.
'Tch, this is bad!' The teen thought, gritting his teeth. This must be what being cooked alive felt like for foods in an oven. The way these flames licked away at his kin felt like tongues trying to savour him, not something the teen appreciated. His naturally dense skin, thanks to THAT, did help in its defence, but it would only be a matter of time before the defenses fell and he'd be roasted alive. Purple Heart wouldn't of been much help since she was currently boxed in with Compa thanks to the Bloodletters. 'There's got to be something I can do! But, what could that be?!'
The male didn't expect to receive an answer... but he did.
And not from the source he wanted.
'HAHAHAHA, WHAT ABOUT ME?! THIS IS PERFECT, YOU KNOW?!' Nico gritted his teeth when a familiar, maniacal voice shot through his brain like a blade piercing through it. This was SO not the best moment for his mind to conjure up hallucinations, he needed something to get out of this mess with! 'HEY! YOU SEEM TO WANNA HIDE YOUR DOMINANCE FOR WHATEVER REASON, I'M JUST HELPING YA FOR ONCE IN YOUR MISERABLE EXISTENCE! LOOK, THAT FUCKER'S CRUSHNG YOU, YOUR BODY IS HIDDEN! DOESN'T THIS MAKE FOR A PERFECT OPPORTUNITY?!'
Nico's lone eye widened when those words, after a short moment of being burned by the flames, registered within his mind. IT had a point. His demonic powers were next to useless right now, thanks to Berserker Mode, so IT would be the only thing he could fall back to aside from his Armour and Plasma weapons. CQC wouldn't be very effective here either, so he ruled that out as well. It wasn't like he wasn't deficient in using IT when he had to, he was just scared of people finding out his secret.
But now… let's see here:
Neptune and Compa were distracted by the Bloodletters
The Demon Prince's hand was covering his body from view.
IT was ready to be used.
Like he said before, Nico didn't have a problem USING IT, but it was just that he'd tried his best to keep IT a secret from everyone he came across. When he was alone however, that was a different story altogether. IT became his primary weapon, his go to for most situations because of how versatile IT was. Out of all the weapons Nico had in his arsenal, IT was considered to be both his most versatile, and the strongest, of them all.
Thoughts filled his mind, conjuring images that presented themselves to his mind's eye as clear as crystal:
Neptune being slain by Bloodletters.
Compa being defiled and used for the whims of these creatures.
Countless innocents, some he even knew, being slain in horrific, gory ways.
Eventually…
He... just... SNAPPED.
Biko frowned in sadness when he felt the changes occurring deep within Nico's psyche. As a part of him, he had access to his mind, which was how he was always able to break through to him whenever he hallucinated. There had been times though, that he would be beaten to the punch thanks to outside intervention, but those had been few and far between.
Looking to the left, he could vaguely make out in the distance, rising blood vessels, each one being as large as a single shack and coming from one of the many buildings within Nico's inner world. One of the most forbidden places as decreed by his psyche. 'So… he's finally beginning to use IT to this extent…' he thought sorrowfully. Biko didn't doubt that if he had been able to, Nico would have refrained from using IT at all, and resorted to DDD. The power of the DPU was a power Nico favoured because it helped keep IT under wraps, something that helped keep the wool over his comrades' eyes.
But now, he was risking the possibility of uncovering that wool so that they could emerge victorious.
'Apologies, Nico, for I could not help you more. It would have taken 3 more minutes, but you would have been able to use your Demon Skills at that time.' He thought mournfully, dipping his head. 'I can only hope things turn out for the best in the end… something that rarely happens in your life, it seems.'
The Demon Prince grinned as it watched the puny mortal in its grasp flail like a fish caught in the grips of a predator. Joy coursed through its veins while it watched this weakling suffer for angering a being far superior to him. When it first received word of its followers being slaughtered by a group of suspicious Mortals, it had worried that it had attracted the attention of the divine ones. They were very dangerous beings to the demonic, so it wouldn't be advantageous to have them onto their little scheme of returning.
Fortunately, it had found one and caught her by surprise. Once he dealt with this mortal, then it would devour her soul and have the female mortal be his slave for eternity. Such a thought brought a pleased shudder down its spine as its wings fluttered in response to its excitement.
After a few more moments, the Demon Prince began to loosen its grip, expecting to se nothing but ash from its hand. Except…
SCHULUCK!
Chapter end!
Whelp, looks like things are getting heated, huh guys? Nico will finally, FINALLY, showcase a small PORTION of the monster he has deep inside, the secret that he is trying to hide. It'll be done in a way that doesn't spoil it, yet when the secret is fully revealed it will be seen as one of his strongest weapons in his entire arsenal.
Also, the Demon Prince that I have created is inspired by Warhammer's Thorgar the Blooded One. I have only played that Game on the Xbox 360, and I don;t have the PC for the other games, so yeah. I'm making use of what I have, here. More Demon Princes can potentially appear though, so there'll likely be a few that are taken from the other games. Hopefully I can present them in a respectable manner.
I hope that, with the more of the DPU age is revealed, that people are getting an idea of how OP they are compared to the CPUs. They will need some SERIOUS OPness if they wanna survive against these literal deities. Hypersdimension kind of made the Goddesses look... kinda tame, in my opinion. I mean, there was so much potential for these Goddesses to be super OP and broken, but in the end they're reduced too cute girls with loads of fanservice.
Kinda disappointed nobody tried to guess though...
Here though, they will be both that AND a bunch of Badasses at the same time. They will hace the warrior spirit within them, mark my words.
Peace out!
