Chapter 93 - Soul Edge PT2

The sounds of heavy duty combat filled her ears, flooded her system and practically became the air she breathed with how often she was experiencing them, though right now she didn't really care about that. Why would she? After all, survival was the most important objective now that she'd been reunited with her comrades and possible crush. Though, she would not be looking forward to the silence ahead. Honestly, once everything calmed down and silence would reign supreme once more, IF would honestly feel like she was in unknown territory. Or like on an alien planet or something due to just how unfamiliar it would feel to her. Even with how much she was experienced with silence, with how she had been in constant combat ever since she had left her cell, silence became a foreign concept for her at this point.

Even so, it also meant she wouldn't have to keep on her guard like she was right now.

Heat originating from the harsh embers of the magma below blew trough the air like a scorching summer breeze, accompanied by rando popping sounds from the bubbles that formed in the magma. Every now and then they would touch the iron bottom of the platform they were on, but not ignite it… yet, though. Some nearly even touched the soles of her boots, something IF would rather dread since she would have to replace them. Either with Biomass ones or regular boots, she wasn't sure. Yet, with everything that was going on IF couldn't help but not pay attention to them even as they landed on her skin. No, not with the walking mass of flesh that was called the Butcher by its master breathing down her neck.

With… about 3 seconds for her to react…

Shit.

Literally, cause it was just about to run her through with its hook.

A curse escaped her lips as she quickly bent backwards, avoiding the Hook as it sailed over her head. She used this position to swing her right arm, which was in the form of her Axammer, to knock it away from her and use the momentum to go into a side sausage flip, avoiding the large butcher Axe that came down after the hook. IF slid across the ground, jabbing her Axammer into the iron platform to slow her motion to nothingness. Once she found herself unmoving again, she looked up only to see the Butcher already on her with a charging attack, making her curse once more.

Judging by the speed the hook was moving and her response time estimates, IF figured she'd not be able to dodge it without some form of injury so she decided to harden her body with Biomass in hopes that her defences would hold.

Luckily for her Stefan saved her by generating holy energy from Ashbringer and, with a loud war cry, launching a HAMMER OF JUSTICE as he called it, basically generated a hammer made of light before throwing it like a wheel towards the Butcher's head, knocking it out of its charge and stunning it just long enough for IF to jump towards it and thruster her Axammer arm forwards, the arm morphing mid thrust into her Whip, something which she grinned at when she saw how it slammed into the creature's cranium, knocking it onto its back with a resounding THUD. She even had the added bonus of reinforcing her right leg with Biomass, hardening the limb's structure till it had the weight and strength of a boulder, before flipping forwards and slamming that limb right onto the creature's bloated stomach.

Though, like before, the Butcher just shrugged off the hits and got back up, madder than he was before.

Oh joy.

This Butcher Demon had gotten on everyone's nerves already, mostly from how it would rant about flesh being taster than zombie flesh of all things. (just what was that psycho bitch Maghda feeding it all this time?) Also, it seemed to have various abilities that made it even more of an annoyance, abilities MAGES. had theorized that came from the various demons used to make it. For one, that Hook of its had the ability to split into several smaller hooks, ones that give it a wide area of reach to grab onto them and pull them in close to attack, giving MAGES. a hard time since her attacks were best when she was launching them from a distance. Her and Stefan wouldn't have that issue, since their powers were more to do with close to mid-range, but yeah.

Not only that but the creature's charges were nigh unstoppable unless they hit its head, as when it charged it covered itself with a layer of Hellfire to protect it, and also turn itself into a humanoid fatass meteor, not something IF wanted to have touch her. Worse still, she KNEW what those flames could do when a portion of them dinged her coat's right side when she had tried to dodge the attack. Nearly burned it to a crisp had she not discarded the Biomass coat (something she didn't want to do EVER AGAIN since it felt like taking off her own skin) and forming a new coat.

Its own body mass was also a problem for them, for thanks to it the Butcher had a lot of endurance under its belt. Hell, it had been able to shrug off a bunch of high powered Spells from MAGES., a two large attacks from both her AND Stefan at the same time. She'd managed to get a sample of her opponent's flesh on one of her bladed weapons, she remembered it being her claws, and absorbing it for information. One of the perks to her being a BOW was understanding genetics and stuff. She had to if she wanted to develop new mutations.

What she'd found was… well, more than a little surprising, and nightmare fuel just as much as everything else about this little adventure of hers. Bet any kind of currency she could brag this in a bar or something.

Back to the serious stuff, apparently this creature's flesh was made from the hides of various demons such as Bloodletters, Bloodthirsters, Trauma's and other ones she didn't recognise. This flesh had the combined qualities of all those demons, grating it the power that each of them held. Shivers had travelled down her spine for a picnic at the thought of there being MORE Butchers like this, dear Goddess she hoped there weren't. Though, if she knew Maghda like she thought she did, then she wouldn't rule out that possibility.

Some People were truly fucked in the head, this Chaos Religion just proved it.

Morphing her limb again, IF shifted them into her claws and then formed her Armour. In hindsight, she should have done so earlier, but A: she didn't expect this (though she could see Nico lecturing her on expecting the unexpected in their world) and B: She'd… forgotten, much to her humiliation. Hey, having so many powers than one could remember would do that to anyone! Heck, even Nico could sometimes forget one game plan for another! Just look at the Banshee Queen!

Once her armour formed the brunette grimaced when she felt a strong heat beneath her feet. She glanced downwards, already knowing that the section she was on was about to ignite judging from how the iron seemed to be gaining an orangish glow. The brunette swiftly jumped off the section and onto another one just SECONDS before the piece erupted into flames. Even while in the air, the heat emitting from those flames felt so hot that if she were a normal human, she would have suffered some form of heat blistering on her skin. Landing on a (thankfully) solid piece of the platform, IF looked to MAGES., the Mad Magician having launched a Volley of Ice Shards at the Butcher's feet to keep it off balance before shocking it with a lightning blast to the face. A flash of concern occurred in the brunette's chest at the sight,, remembering the Mad Magician's previous problem. "Hey MAGES., how's your reserves faring?"

Her yell made the Mad Magician glance over to her after she sent an array of Lightning based Spells towards the Butcher. It hadn't taken much damage from those attacks, to her dismay, though if she thought this would be easy then she would have lost her lifelong before now. Though, she had to admit that it was probably due to her restricting herself to low tier spells for the time being. "I am well, Wind Walker of Gamindustri." she replied, frowning before she casted a few buffing Spells on Stefan, allowing him to strike the creature while it's back was turned away from him. This succeeded in capturing its attention at the least, while the explosions born from shockwaves made from the collision between Maghda and Nico rung overhead. "It appears this creature has been blessed with Magic Resistance, for I sense powerful demonic Wards woven within the fibers of its flesh. I am restricting myself to low tier Spells as to conserve Mana. I do not wish to waste it on Spells that do too little damage to this foe."

Yeah, IF could understand that, if she were MAGES., she'd want to maximize the efficiency of her Spells as much as possible. Still though, they'd best have a plan in mind for this thing lest they get themselves torn to shreds. Not something she'd wanna brag about in a bar, honestly. "Yeah I get that, but if we don't come up with a plan, and I mean pronto, then we're gonna have one hell of a bad end on our hands." Her eyes then hardened as images assaulted her head. "And I mean REALLY bad, top tier horror game level bad."

MAGES. would have commented on how that wouldn't have been likely given the nature of their world, but then she remembered just what kind of world THIS Gamindustri was, and thus realised that the brunette probably had a good point. Still, she didn't want to think about what possible end could await them, so she decided to brainstorm her large library of Spells that could help them get out of this situation alive. 'Come on, MAGES., you're the Mad Magician! There has to be SOME Spell in your crazy noggin that can help us!' her inner Mage yelled inside her mind, though she ignored it in favour of doing exactly what the thought had said.

How ironic.

Before she could think of anything however, the Butcher noticed the two being idle and growled, swinging its hook in their direction. The hook split into many mid-flight and grabbed onto them before the two could even react. It let out a victorious roar, pulling them within reach of its Axe that was already raised to strike them down. The next thing they knew, the blade sped down towards them with the weight behind it that would likely split them in half. Thing was, only ONE of them would survive a hit like that, while the other…

IF quickly reacted, not wanting that to be how the Mad Magician ended, and formed both Axammers and raised them above her head. Behind her Armour's Mask, she grimaced when the Axammers met the blade, her knees almost buckling under the strain. Hell, she sword she heard the sound of metal bending beneath her from the force behind the strike, not a good thing and not something she paid attention to for too long otherwise she'd probably lose the strength battle and become an IF-sandwich for this thing.

She figured the only reason why the Axammers hadn't broke was because of the Hellblades reinforcing her weapons' durability.

Still, even now she could feel herself losing the battle of strength as her teeth gnash so hard that if she were a normal human, they would have cracked under the strain. The woman noticed how it was radiating more and more demonic power as time went on in their little struggle, which told her one thing: it was using it's power to reinforce itself just like how she did with Biomass. She didn't know if she could spare enough Biomass for her Tendrils to be of any use here, and not only that they weren't as powerful as her Tentacles, which required an arm to be morphed into existence. Thus, it left her in... quite the precarious situation.

Fortunately, before the Bucher could finish the job, Stefan, who'd been knocked away before the Butcher had thrown its hook, intervened. He'd went and unleashed a CRUSADER'S WRATH on it's back, following up with a TEMPLAR'S VERDICT and ending on another HAMMER OF JUSTICE. These combined attacks managed to sent it flying away from them with glowing energy trails flowing in front of it, the holy energy from Ashbringer damaging the Butcher much better than IF's Mutations or MAGES.' spells combined.

Stefan had explained it to her between their many battles, how Ashbringer was a Sword with no small abundance of holy energy. Energy that apparently seemed to be like the anti-thesis to Demonic beings. This had been proven when one of his Skill attacks that used holy energy seemed to disintegrate a Bloodletter they'd found into nothingness in just one strike. He'd said he'd explain in detail once they got out of here, but he did say that Ashbringer had a great impact on the Spec Ops community, and that even DEATHSTROKE would know of it. Therefore, against Demons and demonic cultists, Ashbringer would be like their worst nightmare.

To her, she just felt happy that they had some form of lifeline.

"Are you alright, ladies?" The man questioned standing beside them while keeping his eye on the Butcher, in case it made any sneaky attacks on him or his comrades. It had done that a few times with its hook before, so he would not be taking any chances. "Apologies, I was unconscious for a moment there. I will rectify that mistake immediately."

Looking up to the man since he was quite taller than her, IF sharply nodded while getting into a battle stance with her Axammers morphing into her claws. She even released 2 Tendrils from her waist, holding them in a defensive posture. "Yeah, we're good. Though that might change if we don't find some way to fry this sucker."

She goddamn hoped Nico would have an easier time than they were with this thing…


'Goddamnit, IF and the others better be having a better time than me right now…' Nico cursed in his mind.

Irony filled the air.

The male didn't have much time to breathe let alone think as he quickly parried several slashes from those Bloodfeeders that Maghda called those demonic Axes, absolutely REFUSING to allow them to even GRAZE his skin. The teen held his claws out and slashed the right one across the side of Maghda's face, only for the woman to bend her body backwards to avoid it. He followed up with a slash with his left claw, twisting himself into a spinning roundhouse kick which lead to his Tail swiping forth. His claw strike missed since the woman had hopped backwards, well, that was what she looked to have done as if there was an imaginary floor beneath them, since you know, they were flying on their very own wings.

Deciding to get some distance, Nico strafed backwards, however Maghda wouldn't allow that as she flared her Wings. Those skeleton appendages of hers acted swiftly, soon becoming engulfed with this orange crimson cloud of energy that constantly crackled matching coloured lightning.

In that moment, Nico's unmasked eye widened significantly when he felt a strong tugging sensation in his gut, and the next thing he knew his form was right before Maghda whom had her Axe's raised for a double slash. He barely raised one Claw in time to block the first and dodged the second, well, almost dodged the second as he still got nicked in the right thigh from it before he strafed backwards again in a burst of speed. Nico Looked back to the woman once he felt there was some reasonable distance between them, and noticed that the woman held a sinister smirk on her lips dripping with victorious glee. This didn't sit well with him, not one bit, as Nico raised his claws for a defensive warrior stance.

'Something about that smirk unnerves the hell out of me…' Nico thought to himself, refusing to let the shudders inside of him show on his body. He didn't want to give this witch the satisfaction of knowing how uneasy she made him. Especially with what she wanted to do to him should she get her sharp clawed nails on his body, not something eh was looking forward to should he lose. His booty was on the line here!

'Nico look at your thigh.'

Biko's words snapped his attention away from Maghda as the teen glanced down abruptly, for his eye to lay their gaze on what Biko was talking about. Though, it didn't do much to lessen the amount of surprise that crossed onto his face once he saw it. The wound he got from that last attack, while small, seemed to be oozing this… strange, reddish coloured mist, a mist that shot towards the Axe that cut into his thigh in the first place. The cut's size made the trail so slim that Nico wouldn't have noticed it unless he would be actively looking for it, which was more than enough to set off all the alarm bells in his mind. Not to mention how the Axe seemed to absorb the Mist into it's blade…

Oh, and let's not forget the shit eating grin on Maghda's face, either.

Can't forget that.

'What? What in the world is…?' Nico wondered as he held his right claw over the wound. Soon enough it regenerated as he expected, but it took slightly longer than normal for some reason. Odds were, it was likely because of that Mist, it's coloration disturbed the teen on a level he'd rather not admit to anyone, not just that but the way that the Axe that made the cut in the first place seemed to drink it up like it was a liquid…. Wait, liquid? An idea hit him in his mind, and Nico's eye showed slight surprise as the possibility dawned on him, as well as a mix of dread and fear. 'If THAT's what her Bloodfeeders can do, then I am in BIG trouble…'

Deciding to test his theory, Nico flared his wings and unleashed a single flap, shooting through the air like a bullet as he charged at Maghda, whom smirked arrogantly as she raised her Bloodfeeders to defend herself with. In seconds, the two clashed, claws vs demonic axes. Because of the force and impact, the two-battling demonic-empowered beings spiraled through the air while trying to overpower one another, using their wings as a form of balance and a way to slow their spinning to a halt. In the end, Nico managed to guide them towards a wall, slamming Maghda into it before slashing at her face with his right claw while she was stunned, clutching his claws as best he could into fists as he delivered a vicious barrage of punches to her chest, stomach, base of the neck, face, before headbutting her there for good measure.

He grabbed her by the helmet and smashed his knee into it, raising an elbow to slam into the back of her neck repeatedly with the force of a sledgehammer, before gripping her by the shoulders and spinning a full 360 degrees multiple times, tossing her with a furious war cry into the opposite wall. The male saw how her body couldn't angle itself right in time, and thus hit the wall behind her with enough force to create a Maghda shaped indentation in it.

A loud gasp escaped from her lips within her helmet, but she couldn't remain idle cause Nico was already seconds away from spearing her with his Tail. Maghda swung at his chest to try and slash him, however Nico managed to halt himself before her blade could reach him, wrapping is Tail around the limb like a snake before using it to pull her in for a slash across her helmet, finally shattering it to showcase the surprised look on her features. Maghda recovered herself and quickly responded with a kick to his solar plexus, which Nico caught in both arms and used it as leverage to twirl her around again and smack her right back into the wall once more.

"Gah! So rough... #sensual moan#"

"Ugh, don't ever do that ever again."

"Oh i'm sure you'll like it, dear..."

Cue more powerful shudders from Nico.

The two then swiftly broke off, strafed backwards before clashing again, this time entering a furious bout of swings towards each other's flesh.

CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG!

With speeds that the human eye would never be able to track, the two went at it. While Maghda's strikes carried the brutality, viciousness and savagery that the servants of Khorne seemed to embody in spades, she seemed to lack the experience fighting with weapons like this, at least in comparison to Nico who'd been doing this warrior thing for years. In that case, it would have been easy to defeat her, however those Bloodfeeders posed a problem, one that kept him from dealing the fatal blow. He needed to know what they were and how they did that ability of theirs. Nico figured out from the moment they first grazed his thigh that they weren't any ordinary weapons. He had his ideas on what that ability might be, but he needed to confirm it first.

That was where this feint came in.

Nico fainted a slash with his left claw when he really went for a right claw thrust towards her face. Maghda however, saw this and took advantage of the strike, pivoting her foot so she could spin around it. She then slashed diagonally down his exposed right side, electing a sharp hiss of pain from the male as he swiftly kicked her away, distracting her with a PHANTOM WAVE Skill. Glancing at his new wound, Nico noticed the trail, one much bigger this time, exiting the wound and entering the Bloodfeeder that she used to cut him with. 'This… pain…!' Nico thought, his lone unmasked eye narrowing sharply as his idea all but confirmed itself in his mind.

Looking over to the smugly grinning Maghda, the teen spoke with gnashed teeth and KI swirling around him like a vortex. "I see… I guess the Bloodfeeder is an apt name for those Axes. They seem to have the ability to drain the blood of those that it cuts, though how much depends on the wounds that they inflict. Light wounds make for thin trails, but heavier ones make thicker trails. You could say that you're holding two vampiric weapons in your hands." Nico deduced, while in his mind the teen added onwards to his hypothesis.

Several instances had lead him to that conclusion: the first being the name. Bloodfeeders sounded like something to do with blood, which was what it's ability had an effect on. A relatively minor detail, really.

Second though, was the way that it activated that ability, by cutting into the enemy. It wasn't uncommon in anime and Manga to have weapons with abilities that only work on direct contact with the target, just look at that eye power in CC, or that one sword in that anime about people transforming into weapons to fight alongside their partners, that sword which had the ability to scream when in contact with the enemy weapon.

Not to mention the ability's effect, how it absorbed blood by mystifying it and sucking it in like a vampire. The male hadn't felt it at first, but now that he had noticed the trail, Nico did feel a slight tingling sensation around the wound. The last clue to its power lay with how long it took for his regeneration to kick in, even with his demonic power's assistance the time it took to heal from these wounds was too long for his liking, yet it wouldn't have happened if the wound was any normal wound. That pointed to the explanation that those Axes weren't normal weapons.

Blood was one of the most important fluids in the body. This substance takes part in many important processes in the body, such as oxygen transport, Carbon Dioxide transport, the cardiovascular system, Lymphatic system, Thermoregulation and more. Yeah, one could say that Blood its practically the lifeblood of the body, which was why those that lose a lot of it suffer various side effects.

For someone like him though, it held a much greater role, and thus, if someone tried to take it…

If this WAS the case though, and even if she didn't say anything he had a suspicion that he was right, which would be MORE than enough to be cautious of those Axes of hers, then it could be a great applicant in the field of battle. For one, draining the blood of one's enemies would allow one to potentially cripple their opponents by making their movements sluggish, their vision blurry or causing their heads to spin. They would feel colder than normal, and once they lose too much blood, they could fall unconscious, allowing them to be easily captured or worse, killed outright. If there were any way that this ability could transfer that blood to the wielder, regardless of incompatible blood types, then it could be useful medically since it could stop people from dying from blood-loss by absorbing the blood that was shed in battle, then transferring it over to the patient... assuming that would be even possible, he didn't know the full specs of those things. He could only theorize at this point.

Though, like with any weapon, he could see a few flaws in those Axes and their ability. For one, it only worked if the user had a good moment of contact with the enemy's flesh, if the enemy was wearing full body Armour (Like Nico normally did) then that ability would be next to useless since armored Targets would have something to protect their flesh with. One more reason why he believed people should wear Armour more. It would also be useless against cybernetic-based foes like robots or cyborgs, due to them not possessing blood but circuits, at least for half their body structure if it were Cyborgs. For Cyborgs, and yes they were a thing in this world, they would have their cybernetics to fall back on if they were to lose too much blood, as their robotic halves have specialized features such as life support systems that'll help them function when under heavy blood-loss. full-on Robots were pretty much self explanatory here.

'What happened before with her wings felt like magnetism, how her energy creates a magnetic field centered around her wings, a field that she can focus on one specific target. It looks like gravity manipulation, but if that were the case then the entire earth around us would have been drawn in with the level of power I sensed just for that moment. Also, with how much damage we're causing to the surroundings, if it were gravity manipulation then she would also be drawing pieces of debris in. Quite useful in keeping the enemy close for CQC, especially effective against ranged enemies. However, it isn't as useful on those who specialize in mid to short ranged combat like myself, who are in their element in that situation.' Biko, in his mind, hummed in agreement with the main aspect's words/thoughts.

'That last one may not be true, considering she seems to have enough control over the ability to focus on a single target, but the rest still words.'

'True...'

"You think I'm just gonna reveal my powers to you? Pah, I'm no stereotypical super-villain, but I'll admit that you're right on the money there, hon… just this once." Maghda teased with a feminine giggle, one that honestly creeped Nico out more than Neptune willingly going a day without pudding. By the goddesses, he had hoped to never hear that feminine giggle again, it just s sounded so... wrong, disturbingly and psychotically so. He could sort of understand women better when they were being hit on by creepy dudes on the beach or something, if this was what it was like for them. Still though, this did bode ill for him, Nico relied a lot on his blood to help him with his other weapon.

It relied on a power source found only in his blood pathways, attached to his blood cells like fungus. RC Cells, Cells that hardened to teeth levels at will. If Maghda sucks them all out, then…

No, he couldn't let that happen, not one bit.

Thus, the teen began brainstorming to think of a way to end this fight quickly…

Though, he couldn't think for long because when Maghda's wings flared AGAIN, they gathered demonic energy into their fingers and fired it as a bunch of freaking LASERS made from pure orangish red demonic power. It forced him to dodge like crazy, the difficulty in this because being similar to dodging minigun fire. It didn't help that, by analyzing the way they moved in accordance to Maghda's will (he just KNEW she was controlling them by how she'd kept her eyes locked on him), that she had perfect control over them and manipulated them so they always hit their target. Not only that, but when he'd managed to slash them apart with Soul Edge's claws, Nico felt a shadow looming over him from behind, and when he looked he saw a darkly grinning Maghda about to strike… with two large versions of her previous lasers.

'Shit!'

BOOM!

The resulting explosion that followed when the Lasers connected with him, sent Nico flyng through the air and into one of the chamber's walls with intense force. The wall around him literally became an indentation shaped like his body structure for crying out loud! How the hell did this Chamber hold up with all this damage, anyways? Glancing behind him awhile biting through the pain, Nico noticed the faint but still present runic symbols pulsing through the interior of the walls, shown only through slight holes in the walls. Demonic Wards from what he could sense.

Guess that was why…

A sense of danger came to him from Soul Edge, and Nico quickly jumped off the wall to avoid a slash from Maghda's right Bloodfeeder. The teen flipped through the air multiple times, curling into a ball until he threw his legs forwards and landed on the opposite wall, using that as a springboard to ounce back for a strike towards the woman's back. Maghda however, sensed his coming, and thus responded by twirling around and blocking his claw swing. Though, Nico refused to let up as he switched to his left claw, then his right before spinning into a reverse roundhouse kick, the talons over his feet allowing his kick to have extra reach. Maghda blocked the first and second strikes, but the last one managed to get through her guard and hit her in the side of her head, sending her falling downwards towards the battle between Nico's comrades and her Butcher.

However, she soon righted herself by flipping to the upright position and facing him. The woman scowled, pumping Hellfire over her Bloodfeeders to make them larger. Hellfire roared to life like a thousand lions as it covered her weapons, increasing their intimidation factor tenfold. It looked like she now had a pair of two-handed Axes in hand, burning brightly with the desire for bloodshed and carnage. Their sinister light reflected off her face, what could be seen of it anyways thanks to her Armour.

Oh yeah, it was also self-restorative, like Nico's Armour.

Small world, huh?

Instantly, she moved forth, spreading her wings and taking off towards him. Nico held his claws out, making to strike her when she was close enough, only to pull a fast one on her by whipping her on the side of her head again, with his Tail this time. Seriously, Soul Edge's tail sometimes felt more like a bludgeon than an appendage, but maybe that was due to how he was using it? Meh, whatever, it did its job fantastically for him. Now, he would have to press his attack before she recovered and tried to pay him back for that stunt, women her age tend to favor their faces highly, so when someone whacks them there and injures their faces, they tend to go a bit more aggressive. He would know, he'd made that mistake early on in his training with his adoptive mother. Word of advice: NEVER go for Helen's face, EVER. If you do, the angels will sing. The teen then dove down towards her like a falcon, latching onto her by gripping her thighs with his talon clad feet and digging his claws into her shoulders.

Both spun around in the air like a pair of vicious dragons, their wings flailing madly as they tried to get some form of grasp on the air space around them. This eventually succeeded, and lead to their battle evolving into a wide circular flight pattern around the edges of the Chamber of Suffering, all the while clawing and slashing at each other to get an edge. Because of the enclosed space between them, though, Maghda found herself to be in a bit of a disadvantage since her weapons were larger than that of her opponent's, something Nico exploited. That was why he had initiated this little flight session of theirs in the first place, he knew she'd try going for bigger attacks in this enclosed space of theirs, he knew this based from previous experiences. Even as she dismissed the Hellfire on her blades, Nico already had done significant damage to her body that her power was forced to restore to keep the host going.

After a few moments though, the two broke it off when Maghda unleashed a wave of demonic power, knocking Nico back through the air, for the teen to flip into an upright position and spread his wings halting his movement. However, the teen refused to let up his attacks, so he quickly launched a series of kicks in her direction, these kicks being the catalysts for a series of PHANTOME WAVE Skill attacks. His sole unmasked eye shone with malevolence, born both from his emotions and his demonic power. Hell, it almost looked like it was on the verge of transforming into that of his DPU form's. There was a red rectangular shine to it, and the pupil seemed to be tying to become the demonic power button symbol of Crimson Soul.

Maghda's response? Simple, deflect each one with her Bloodfeeders after re-engulfing them with Hellfire, the wave before having doused them thanks to her lack of concentration.

She then dove towards him, her wings tucked in for extra speed, with the intention of a beheading. However, Nico had a plan for this, something she learned seconds later when he, just before she entered striking range, suddenly and sharply flapped his wings, and ascended above her. The teen angled himself so his front faced her while his back faced the ceiling above, and thus he unleashed his PHANTOM BLADES Skill. The Blades fell down upon the demonic woman like rainfall, not unlike that of her Lasers previously.

However, Maghda didn't hesitate at the sight of them as she swiftly angled herself in the same manner as Nico did, with her back facing the ground below and her front facing him, before her Wings gathered demonic energy, releasing it as her Lasers. Purple blades and orangish red lasers collided against one another like two armies clashing against each other, creating a resounding series of explosions across the space between the two fighters.

Panting hard, Nico gazed at the smoke down below him, his eyes narrowed as he searched through it for any sign of attack. Thanks to how high up they were, and how thick the smoke was, he couldn't see how things were doing on the ground, however he refused to think of any possible negative scenarios. Why? Because that would make him agitated and that would cloud his judgement. Voices of worry for his comrades' safety filled his mind, but Nico mentally shushed them, shaking his head while gritting his teeth.

A costly mistake.

"Hohoho, you're wide open my dear." Maghda's voice whispered into his ear from behind, a sinister seductiveness present in her tone that reeked of honey that had gone off. Nico's eye shot open with a trembling pupil. Just as he turned his head, Maghda already had both Hellfire empowered Bloodfeeders brought down towards his back in an overhead smash. Fortunately, Soul Edge's Tail managed to intercept them in time by moving in front of his back, however it wouldn't be able to stop the strike completely, no matter how much demonic power Nico fed it.

The attack hit, and Nico got sent flying towards te ground at record speed. He fell through the cloud of smoke, popping ou of it like an exploding balloon, before he barely managed to regain control over himself, angling his body and flapping his wings to halt his descent. The teen didn't stop for breath though, not when he had to get back at that bitch. Behind his Mask, Nico's teeth were gnashing so tightly that any normal teeth would have shattered under the weight. Nevertheless, Nico could only focus on one thing: Maghda, or to be more specific, his desires to utterly rip her to pieces, desires that were fuelled by the chaotic emotions of his Devil Arm. She needed to pay for this, she needed to pay for what she'd done! She had to pay, she had to pay, pay, pay!

She would pay for a list of crimes:

Harming the innocents, using them for nefarious experiments. For separating husbands/wives and fathers/mothers from their families.

Practicing an art that seemed to have been built solely from mountains of corpses. Of bloodshed, of the wronging of the unlawfully damned.

Daring to show that ugly mug of hers in front of him in spite of their past history.

But more than that…

Kidnapping those that were close to him, kidnapping IF. Forcing Nico to prioritize between rescuing her and stopping more innocents from being victimised by demonic hands. For forcing him to risk sending his comrades into such a situation, making him worry sick about whether or not they were okay. Hey, when you have strong connections to someone you send out to the battlefield, you tend to worry, alright?! Him especially!

Then, one of the worst crimes in his book, was the crime of a permanent crippling wound on one person whom Nico found himself quickly learning to give a damn about. Tekken. Just the thought of her with what would probably be blindness for the rest of her life thanks to that injury, made his blood boil like it was no tomorrow. The teen didn't even care that it hadn't been that long since they met, not in this situation anyways. Images of her state when he managed to rid her of that Hellfire on her face filled his mind, as well as images of their interactions throughout this Dungeon. He'd gotten to see so many sides of her here, the strong, confident marital artist being one of them. Yet, she had a sweeter and timid side that came out when she became scared.

And Maghda dared, she DARED to injure her while he was around?! As if she would escape his wrath?!

Nu-uh, not happening!

Anger, frustration and anxiety boiled over, and Nico reflexively focused it all into his right leg, don't ask him why, he just did. Anger bread irrational actions, it forced people to do things they wouldn't normally do. Yet, it soon turned out to be the best damned thing he could have done, for heat began rolling off his leg in large amounts, steam rising from the limb that went on unnoticed by the male Spec Ops Agent.

Twisting so his form could face upwards through the smoke where he could sense Maghda's rapidly approaching presence, likely because she would be diving at him, Nico released a war cry unlike any other, kicking in her general direction. He expected to launch a PHANTOM WAVE at her for the woman's transgressions against him and the innocents of the world, but…

What he got instead…

FFFFFFWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSHHHHH!

Was a PHANTOM WAVE… made from orangish red Hellfire.

The attack roared like the emotions within him, the teen having put everything he felt into that one attack. His eye shot open, wider than it had ever done before as the wave literally consumed everything around it while moving upwards, burning away the smoke even as it headed towards its target. Instinctually, Nico just KNEW that she'd be hit by that, there was simply no way that she could have dodged it with the distance between them. This fact became reality, by the feminine scream that tore through the air before it became nullified by the massive explosion above him.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The explosion that followed, well, one could rate it a 10/10 on the intense heat scale, cause even Nico couldn't look at it without covering his eye. Hell, even the one covered by his Mask's eye patch felt like it was being burned alive from the fierce heat, the teen turning away to redirect the heat away from his face.

Nevertheless, despite the intense heat blazing above him, Nico sensed Maghda's energy vanish just seconds before his attack could hit. If it vanished during it, he'd assume that his attack had burned her alive. Part of him screamed to go after her, to dispose his wrath onto her to make Maghda suffer for her actions, and he'd almost gave in to that urge. After all, he could still track her down then rip her apart piece by piece. It would be so easy for him, hanks to Biko informing him about his ability to sense negative emotions, Nico could track down the obvious damaged pride, anger and humiliation coursing through Maghda right about now. Then, he'd unleash his 'fangs' to tear out her throat and gorge himself on her leftovers. However, the sounds of conflict beneath him reminded him that he wasn't alone, that he had the responsibility to his comrades, to get them out of this alive. He couldn't chase after her and leave his comrades to die, that was NOT what he stood for. Plus, he'd given hem his word that he would get them out of this alive, and if anything Nico would always keep to his word. This resolve, like hot flames, overtook the vengeful flames within him, filling him with new purpose and reminding him what was really important.

Still, part of him also felt unsatisfied, letting someone that dangerous get away before he could unload on her with all these powers Soul Edge apparently possessed. Powers that would become fully available once he regained his ability to transform, Nico felt. One silver lining however, would be that because of her little... obsession with him, Nico felt that the two of them would be meeting again on the battlefield. Maybe even sooner than he'd think, it would definitely be something to behold.

Even so, it didn't stop the shock to his system that he got from the experience of having used Hellfire in his human form, albeit the unawakened version. There would be only one person he could consult on the matter, and that person was…

'Biko! What the hell…?!'

'Hmmm… interesting. It appears many changes have happened other than the availability of Soul Edge, one of them being that you can now use that weakened version of Hellfire in your base form, while its true form is likely restricted to your DPU Self. Odds are the reason for this is the re-stabilizing of your powers and the forced evolution your body had to undertake with Berserker Mode. I did not expect there to be such a drastic set of changes though. I can imagine that the Demon Skills that Crimson Soul possesses may be available to you, but I would advise not to try that for now.' Biko explained, humming thoughtfully at this event happening.

Hellfire, an element that should have only been usable in DPU Form… now had a weaker variant he could use in his human form. Seconds passed, and the teen gradually calmed down, his eye alight with clarity and realization. Honestly, he shouldn't be surprised at this point. It felt like Soul Edge's situation, actually, both powers manifested as weaker versions of themselves in his human form, restricting their true forms and powers for his Crimson Soul self.

Nico shook his head at this information, deciding not to think about it for the time being. While in no way was he done talking with his demon persona about this, there were much bigger fish to fry right now. More specifically, the one trying to fry his comrades (and Stefan, don't forget about Stefan) into crisps. He still had to pay MAGES. and Tekken back somehow, and while he did have some things in mind, he didn't know if they would be properly satisfactory for what they've done today.

Whelp, thoughts for the future, then.

With that in mind, as well as the knowledge of his Hellfire powers being available, albeit weakened, to him now, Nico shot down towards the battle raging below. The teen got so caught up in what was happening, he didn't notice how reddish orange energy began radiating from him, his body slowly beginning to change. No, all his focus right now lay with his comrades. Nobody else would be dying today!

Not on his watch!