Chapter 100 - The Taste of Carnage
Things were good... for the most part.
Two pairs of feet moved along the country road towards their destination, trudging up dirt and small clouds of dust that faded away before anyone could really notice them. The serenity of the atmosphere felt soothing, calming and serene, which was a direct contrast to what they had been going through in recent times... and probably the future too, given what they were intending to do.
The cool Leanbox breeze blew gently through their surroundings, ruffling their hair. Well, the one with short hair anyways, the other had her long hair blowing in the same direction as the wind, which unfortunately meant that it blocked the short haired one's vision. One could imagine how annoying this was to the short haired one, to the point where she had to speak up on it.
"Say, uh, Iffy?"
"What is it, Nep?"
The brunette responded tiredly, glancing behind her at the preteen. She honestly had been hoping for some peace and quiet on their journey, but with this one she guessed even that was asking too much. She had her hands in the pockets of her trench coat, a mix of troubled and annoyance on her features. Annoyance for the preteen behind her (whom sported a comical bump on her head from when IF had whacked her, so she could stop complaining and making a fool of herself in front of those at the Guild), and troubled for the specifics of their quest.
A quest she feared that only they could accomplish.
"Could ya MAYBE think about tucking ya hair in or something? It keeps whacking me in the face 24/7!" Neptune whined, pouting at the brown-haired BOW. She made the motion of counting on her fingers, before throwing her hand to the side in frustration with a matching sound escaping her lips. "My Nep face has lost count of how many times your long hair's been meeting with it at this stage in the game!" Yeah, wasn't that the truth, Neptune really did lose count of how many times she had to swat away IF's long hair at this point. Normally she wouldn't have minded as much but there were several differences.
One: It was just them, nobody else for Neptune to quarrel with.
Two: it was an exceptionally windy morning, so she got the victim role for this particular hair-slapping session.
"Pretty sure your face can't count, Nep, and more than that: How about instead of walking behind me, you get beside me so my hair doesn't hit you then, idiot?" IF retorted, irritated. Seriously, not even at the Quest area and she was already thinking about dropping her here and continuing the quest solo. Neptune's whining had gone on for the duration of their trip to the target location from the Guild.
Behind her, Neptune froze and looked like she had been struck with inspiration, her mouth fallen open with her hair over her eyes in a comical fashion. Was it just her, or did IF see the skies darken and a bolt of lighting strike behind her? Glancing behind her once she stopped hearing that bratty CPU's footsteps, IF saw this and groaned audibly, a vein popping over her forehead. "Ugh, you just NOW realized that?"
After that little debacle, IF and Neptune strolled along a large plain, looking for the targets that were specified by their Quest. The moment that they entered the Guild and looked up the Quests available, this one had caught their eye almost immediately just from it's description alone. It was from a soldier in the Leanbox military, one whom apparently had been the sole survivor of his unit and would be hospitalized for months with a booking at a psychiatric hospital for PTSD. It had the following details:
To Any able-bodied questers:
A large monster has been sighted heading towards the village my unit has been guarding for generations now. It is large, and words cannot describe how disgusting it looks. I would even say that it is a Abnormal, but I cannot be sure since I've never seen anything like it. It killed all my men and did something to them, I don't know what, but I was barely able to escape! Please! Someone go out there and avenge my dead comrades! I beg of you! Uwaaaaaaaaah!"
The details may have been vague, but for some reason their instincts screamed at them that this was one they HAD to take. To that end, both Neptune and IF had agreed in union to get this quest before anyone else did, scooping I up from the Quest board, having it approved by the Quest Clerk before dashing off into the direction the Quest specified. It may just be them, but after having dealt with some pretty dark forces recently, it made them feel a bit on edge. If this was what they feared it was, then they would HAVE to complete this quest before anyone else could. They were probably the only ones who could, who even knew the true danger of the forces newly arriving to Gamindustri.
Which lead them to this point.
"At last, we're here…" IF whispered, sighing in relief. Not long now, just a short investigation where she could tap into her senses to locate any signs of demonic power. The two had found themselves at the edge of a large looking forest, located North West of Leanbox. It was similar in appearance to Virtua Forest, and right now the two stood before the futuristic looking gates that lead down the various paths through the Dungeon. IF's eyes looked up and down at the machinery here, looking mighty calculating. "Looks like the gates haven't been tampered with, so that's a plus…" she muttered.
Neptune then had a thought as she eyed the Gates with no small amount of suspicion. "Hey, um, Iffy? Why do these gates look so much like the ones at Planeptune Dungeons? Lastation's at least have the gall to look more like the theme of the land." She asked the Guild Agent turned Spec Ops Candidate.
Said woman frowned as well, turning around to face the amnesiac Goddess. "Isn't it obvious? Wait, I forgot you don't have any of your memories despite being a CPU…" she muttered, half annoyed at her before realization kicked in and she began feeling like an idiot. In an effort to move things along before Neptune could tease her or something (she didn't doubt she would considering her naturally teasing nature), she continued. "Leanbox and the other Nations raided each other a lot throughout the centuries. It's no surprise that they would have some of Planeptune's tech cause they stole it."
"Eeeeeeh?!" Neptune exclaimed, stepping back while an arm was in front of her mouth in the stereotypical freaked out pose. "Wait, I remember Nicky saying something like that before… geez, this Console War thing seems to have been more of a pin in the butt the more I hear about it."
"Tell me about it Come on, let's go. Hopefully it's just an irregularly powerful Abnormal and not a Demon…"
Nico blanched within the cockpit of his Skimmer while switching out his weapon load-out. He drew both his Ebony and Ivory Devil Arms and placed them on his thighs, while also equipping Alastor. The Broadsword shaped Devil Arm thrummed with demonic power, it's blade layered with a thick miasma of Lightning. He had chosen this particular Devil Arm because he'd need a one-handed weapon to fight since he'd have to drive his Skimmer, while it also possessed the ability to fire off ranged Lightning attacks.
The teen mentally smiled when he felt the joy of being summoned by its wielder emanating from Alastor. A Wielder worthy of it's power.
Nevertheless, this would NOT be an easy battle, of that he was certain. The teen looked to the Abnormal he would soon be taking down, and frowned to himself. The Abnormal he was facing looked like a draconic wyvern variant, with two legs and two wings along with a tail, large body, and a head. The Wyvern had thick, crimson Armored scales covering the majority of it's body, while it's undersides were encased in black glimmering scales. Its eyes were like crimson voids, narrowing at him with the intent to kill. It's legs were tipped with dangerously sharp talons, talons that Nico imagined could cut through most metals like fragile tissue. The thing was, this bad boy appeared to be massive, as in well and truly MASSIVE.
According to what he knew, A Leanbox Zeppelin is about 776 feet in length, and 100 feet in diameter. It could move at 80 MPH which for it's size is rather slow. These Zeppelins weren't ideal air forces, however they were the best for what Leanbox could do with their current level of technology. If they had proposed an alliance with Planeptune, then they could have made better aircraft and upgraded their Military to a higher standard.
This Wyvern Abnormal? It was about 1,552 Feet in length and 200 feet in diameter: TWICE the size of an Average Zeppelin. Probably could move faster, too
And he was supposed to take it down with his Sword and his little Skimmer…
It was like an ant going up against a Grasshopper.
Whelp… Nothing ever said his job was easy. This was just Monday for him.
'Hell, this might actually be a challenge… and a fresh change of pace considering all the demonic shit I've had to put up with…' Nico thought to himself, feeling the raw bloodlust emitting from his Devil Arm. Yeah, Alastor felt pumped to fight judging by how much the Lightning sparked around it's blade. Luckily, it didn't try to damage his Skimmer in any way, otherwise he would have either had to resort to his hidden weapon or transforming into his DPU form for flight. Considering the partially untamed power Soul Edge had in that form, and how it apparently locks away other Devil Arms from being used while in that form, it would count as overkill.
One option promised too tough a battle, and the other promised too easy a battle…
You could guess which one he chose, right?
Good.
Yet, even before the battle he just got a visit from the brushoff death, since before Nico could launch his attack, the Wyvern roared as it reared it's head back and launched a fireball the size of a multi-story building at him. When it did, it felt like he was being blinded by rays directly hitting him from the sun, such was the intensity of the flames making up the Fireball. It had the size, power and speed necessary to, if it could, destroy a small village Nico sensed from the Fireball. The male could feel the heat roaring from within that fireball, burning like the inside of a furnace so he quickly pushed down on his Skimmer and dove beneath it, and the clouds, as fast as he could, barely avoiding getting scorched into charred crisp. He didn't even realize how he exhaled a little till after doing it, as he began circling around and spiralling upwards till he was flying over the clouds.
'Phew, that was a close one…' the teen thought, turning his head to look behind him to see the Dragon already in hot pursuit, prepping to launch another fireball within it's maw. He could tell because it's maw's interior had a massive red glow emanating from within. 'Not good, if it could fire Fireballs like that, then this thing's too dangerous to let near any of the Nations. I'll be screwed if it hits me with just one of those!' he thought in realization. Quickly, Nico reacted by pointing his Devil Arm at it's mouth and unleashing an Overload Burst from the blade. The Devil Arm almost roared as it launched a large bolt of pure Lightning towards it's prey, hitting the side of it's face to stop it from firing.
This only served to piss it off, however, Nico felt. He'd spent enough time around Abnormals to know when they were pissed off enough to go into n extreme blood rage, and this was one of those times. The Dragon reared back and furiously roared, sound echoing across the entire area while Nico constantly unleashed Lightning Bolts from his Devil Arm, trying to look around it's body to see where it's weak spot might be. Though, he did notice how the armoured hide the Abnormal possessed seemed strongly resilient towards Lightning attacks as whenever they hit it's red armour, they would only leave scorch marks behind.
So, it had lightning resistance… or perhaps he wasn't hitting the right areas? This WAS the first time he'd used Alastor in a high-speed dogfight like this… in fact, this may be his first dogfight period.
Grimacing, Nico paused his assault, jerking the Skimmer's handles so that he began spiralling upwards at high speeds till he had ascended up to 200 metres. The male's danger senses flared like crazy, and he looked towards the Abnormal to see how it was… 10 seconds away from ramming into him with it's head.
'SHIT!'
Sweat plummeted down his brow while his heart almost skipped a few beats. Like a madman possessed by the spirit of speed, Nico flicked open a compartment on the edge of his right handle, pressing a red button there. The Skimmer's engines instantly roared like jet plane thrusters, propelling Nico forwards at speeds that made him forcibly lean back on his cockpit. Thus, giving the Skimmer a massive boost in speed that became critical in getting them out of the Dragonic Wyvern's way… but only by a hair.
He'd literally felt his hair brush against it's skin, after all!
'Geez, up close this thing is freaking huge… Good thing I'm apparently faster than it, though!'
With the knowledge that the speed sector was still on his side, Nico twisted his Skimmer, so he flew perfectly upside down while the Wyvern's scaled hide could be seen below him. He quickly pointed Alastor down at it (which to him looked like he was raising it above his head), and rained upon the Draconic Abnormal with Lightning Bolts, Overload Bursts and a more than a dozen Megawatt Missiles Below him, countless explosions rang throughout as each attack slammed into the Dragon with intense force.
BOOM, CRASH, SLAM, BASH, BOOM, BOOM!
Intense sounds echoed from when Nico slammed his Lightning based attacks into the Dragons crimson armour, dotting it all with scorch marks varying in size. Nonetheless, none of them got through, not one much to Nico's dismay as he few off, righting himself before twisting into a U Turn. Up ahead, the Draconic Abnormal flipped and twisted about so that it faced him again, this time just staying there while flapping it's wings to keep the beast they were attached to in the air.
With a growl escaping its mouth, the draconic Abnormal opened its maw opened once more, and in the next second Nico found himself facing another large fireball as it sailed through the air towards him, roaring like a thousand ravenous lions closing in on their prey. The teen could feel the heat even as it got within 50 metres of him, that was how intense the heat within it had been, although he wasn't sure if it could compare to Hellfire. Quickly, Nico raised Alastor and charged up another Overlord Burst, launching the attack straight into the Fireball's centre.
Like a spear, the Lightning Bolt slammed into the Fireball, impaling it all the way through after a few seconds worth of struggle before continuing on towards the Abnormal. It almost looked more like a beam than a Bolt of Lightning, but in the end the Abnormal flared its wings and flapped them sideways, giving it the leverage to side dive out the way. Its instincts must be on point to dodge a bolt of lightning, Nico mused, before he used the smoke generated by the explosion created by his attack and the Fireball to launch over 1000 Megawatt Missiles.
The many Lightning based Missiles flew like bullets through the smoke and right towards their target, homing in on it with the intent to reduce it to charred splinters. The Dragon roared, seeing them and taking off on a random, erratic flight pattern throughout Sky's end, using a mix of excellently performed acrobatics like somersaults, rapid spins, figure eights etc to avoid the Megawatt Missiles, all the while Nico would follow it from behind, launching a wide variety of Lightning Bolts, Megawatt Missiles, and if he got close enough some Shock Grenades.
He did try to drain it's Bioelectricity with Alastor and combine it with the Devil Arm's power, but for some reason it didn't work. He mentally noted that for further investigation once he defeated this Abnormal. Maybe the boys at the WDD could take a look at it's body to see why it didn't have Bioelectricity.
Normally everything has Bioelectricity, even Abnormals and Demons, the whole Nerve system was consisting of Bioelectricity that is cause for those quick-time reactions to intense stimulus, like a life-or-death situation. It was what became the source of one's reflexes, their instincts, so it was strange that this thing didn't. Then again, Abnormals were named that for a reason, and this just screamed what he had been dealing with his whole life, so it wasn't like this fact actually bothered him.
Even so, Nico fully immersed himself in the battle, relishing in the utter familiarity, the sheer rush and thrill of finally fighting something he was familiar with after a long time of nothing but demonic and deadly surprises. This was what he loved doing the most, this was what he lived for, this was what set off his primal instincts like they were bonfires in his gut. There were those who gained extreme pleasure in others' suffering, or when fulfilling their own lustful desires. Those things weren't what kept him going though, nope, not one bit.
To someone like him, fighting monsters was his blood, the air he breathed, the sea he swam in. This was the epitome of freedom, where he could just be himself. Be the monster he always knew himself to be. In battle like this, there was no need for distractions, no need for any unnecessary thoughts about politics, relationship issues, none of that. Instead, all one had to think about was how they were going to dodge the next strike and end the battle. Nothing bad about fighting Demons, but fighting Abnormals was what Nico was used to, as he had done so for a large portion of his life.
It was such a simple affair…
Yet the simplicity from this battle had never made Nico feel more ALIVE!
In an instantly the Abnormal performed a U turn and flew directly at Nico, ignoring the pounding forces from the many Lightning attacks on it's person. Nico's eyes widened at this as he quickly pushed downwards, making his Skimmer enter a skydive to avoid a massive stream of fire that would have probably barbecued him. Even as he dodged that attack by the skin of his teeth, Nico still felt the heat roaring behind him. Speaking of roaring, the all-too loud roar of the Abnormal made him look behind him to see the Dragon hot on his heels, making another Fireball within it's maw.
'Sucker's not giving up, is he?!'
Nico grinned as he swiftly pulled upwards till he flew just above the clouds. His feet practically touched them with the tips of his boots, which showed just how close he was to them, as he swiftly threw a violently sparking Alastor behind him, launching some Arc Lightning at his opponent. The constant streak of Lightning flew through the air which the Abnormal countered with it's fireball. The result: a large explosion that rocketed the atmosphere, sending large gusts of wind that sent Nico flying about like a rolling ball.
'Whoa-whoa-whoa!' constantly circled his brain as Nico struggled to regain his balance, and he eventually did though he did feel a bit dizzy by the end of it. Shaking it off, the teen glanced about to try and find his opponent. To his surprise, the draconic Abnormal was nowhere to be found, like i had vanished from existence. 'What the-fuck, where did it goo?!' the male screamed within his mind, before the answer came to him.
You know that rule where people 'don't look up?'
Well, apply the opposite of that.
Instincts were what saved him as Nico went full throttle, shooting through the skies like a bullet just as the head of the Abnormal popped through the clouds beneath him with it's maw open wide in an attempt to swallow him. SNAP those maws went, only getting empty space though they had gotten much closer to it than Nico liked... Thing was, the teen had reacted by throwing in some Shock Grenades into it's maw before it could completely appear... which left a rather 'explosive' aftertaste.
Still did nothing but piss it off, even more though.
However, instead of just mindlessly charging at him again, Nico saw how the draconic Abnormal roared as it flew higher into the air for a moment, until it halted and faced him while hovering in the air.. Its wings flapped constantly while it's head, which smoked dangerously, lowered to look at it's tail... at least, that was what he thought it did. Soon got proven wrong though, as a Fireball began to form in it's mouth. But this was not like the ones before, oh no, for this fireball... grew and grew past the point where it could remain in it's maw as the dragon reared it's head back to the heavens above, the fireball floating above it;s maw where constant streams of fire were gathering beneath it, fueling it's growth. In no time flat, it had enlarged to the size of a small town, making Nico's face lose most of it's color as he realized just was was going to happen next.
'Oh shit, that looks fucking dangerous...!'
That was what he thought.
This wasn't good, and neither was the moment he saw the fireball get launched... as a shower of smaller fireballs raining upon him with unending ferocity. Nico nearly felt his heart thunder out his chest when he quickly deployed a Polarity wall, pumping Alastor's power into it to make the barrier as big as the entire Skimmer.
The moment the shower landed upon him, Nico grimaced as he felt the barrier roar and crackle wildly, disintegrating the fireballs that came into contact with it. His arms vibrated heavily from the strain of keeping the barrier up, so he forced demonic energy into them as well as his own SP and his other side's strength to enhance them.
Eventually, the shower let up, allowing Nico to lower the Polarity wall... just in time for the Draconian Abnormal to get in close and roar with all it's might, unleashing a mighty wind gust from flapping it's wings in his direction.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!"
The gust slammed into the Skimmer with unrelenting force, throwing both it and the rider far from the Abnormal and across Sky's End. The teen flew through the air, separated from his Skimmer which began falling to the clouds beside him. Winds whipped beside him, making his Trench coat flap about wildly while ruffling his long bangs. Barely, Nico managed to right himself so that he was going through the air on his back, which allowed him to face off against the Abnormal with Alastor in his right hand. Luckily for him, he'd managed to keep a hold of his Devil Arm through that Gust, but the same could not be said about his Skimmer, which resulted in his current plight. The teen grimaced, glancing to his skimmer and back to the Abnormal. This allowed him to see that it was already charging at him with it's maw beginning to open wide. Probably attempting to go for a bite.
'COME ON, KING, SHOW THEM WHO THEY'RE MESSING WITH, LEMME AT EM!'
Nico winced when he heard his white copy screech in his mind, as well as felt the rumbling and crackling sounds ripping through his insides. He could feel the inner beast inside bellowing in anger, desire to rip this Abnormal to shreds filling him inside like a closed bottle. You know what they say though, eventually the bottle must break.
That may be... but that wasn't today.
'Sorry, but i'm going to be using something else for the time being...'
After silencing both the white copy and his inner beast, Nico readied Alastor and drew out it's power. Purple Lightning danced along the blade while he reared it backwards, generating more than 20 Shock Grenades. Each of them sparked like they were just powder kegs waiting to erupt into their explosive glory, but Nico's will prevented them. He couldn't have them detonate just yet, nope. Not until his idea could be implemented. An idea he had thought up on the fly, and he didn't doubt it would be reckless, but hey it wasn't like he cared about himself right?
Closer...
Closer...
There!
The moment that the draconic Abnormal reached about 10 meters between him and it's large head, Nico threw all the Shock Grenades he had over Alastor's blade at it, watching as they each detonated with extreme force when they touched it's Armoured head. Not that it would have damaged it much, but that wasn't he plan. Nope, the idea revealed itself afterwards when the combined force from the explosions propelled the falling Nico not only away from it's maw just seconds before it could chow down on him, but also towards his falling Skimmer.
Plus it would keep the Abnormal dazed... and looking back, he saw that it was busy trying to recover from his attack.
Excellent
Shooting through the air with a smirk on his lips, Nico flew towards his Skimmer and spread his limbs out like a star. His Skimmer was just 4 seconds away from falling through the clouds, so he would be cutting it close. Finally, through some gut wrenching parkour flips, Nico managed to insert himself back onto the Cockpit of his Skimmer, gripping the Handles and revving the Engines back to full power. The Skimmers' Engines roared to life, releasing a burst of energy that propelled the Skimmer and it's rider back into the airspace above.
'Whew... that was a close one...' the teen couldn't help but think to himself while wiping the sweat from his forehead. He even went through an exhale from that experience, seriously this fight was making his blood pump faster than it had done so in a while. A fight where he used only his Devil Arms and his Skimmer, something that reminded him of his life before the insertion of Demons and all that stuff. It was JUST what the doctor ordered for him. The rush, th thrill! This was what he lived for, this was why he was still breathing!
Those assholes in the Basilicoms and the Guild were not that wrong when they describe him as a dog, but instead of a dg, he';d say he was more like a mix of two things: a Bloodhound, and...
A Centipede.
The changes in wind currents around him alerted him to another attack being prepared by the Abnormal, which had recovered from his attack quicker than he had expected it to. It brought his attention back to it and away from his high-induced thoughts, but once he laid his gaze on it, the teen noticed that it was doing the same attack from before... only... this time, the fireball bigger.
As in...
Large Town bigger...
The teen's face nearly lost all color at that, his previous high vanishing from his thoughts. But, if he thought that was the limit of his troubles, then he'd be sorely mistaken.
As he was busy contemplating what to do to block or dodge the next attack, the male almost missed the warning signs from the front off his Skimmer… or he would have, if it weren't for the slight beeping sound he heard that sounded suspiciously like a fire alarm. 'Huh? What the…?' he wondered at first, unsure as to what was going on. His mind, filled with adrenaline, took a short moment to recognize something outside of the fact that he was in a fight, before he blinked owlishly and looked to where the sound came from. It came from the console in front of him where several dials were. Most of them were like compasses for direction ad mobility in the skies, but one…
Was the fuel gauge…
And it was running on dry in about 40 second's he guessed.
'Shit… Oh, oh shit!'
For a moment, he had widened his eyes at the discovery, but when he thought about it more… the full implications of what this meant hit him harder than a sledgehammer. If he didn't finish this battle within the next 40 seconds, then he would lose all fuel and plummet down beneath the clouds to a horrifying end. Think of ow that one human tried to make wings from clay to fly, only to fall to the ground when he flew too close to the sun. Only... he probably wouldn't even have a body left to find, not that anyone would considering where and what this place was. He could transform and continue the fight, but then he'd be running the risk of absolutely destroying this new Abnormal beyond recognition, something that when weapons testing was involved, was a big fat no-no. The Abnormal here had to be the target for every weapon he was assigned to test out, that was the rule, only after they were all tested did he get the green light to kill it.
He'd been so focused on the battle and the high that he got from Alastor (which was now being suppressed by his mixed feelings of panic, dread and morbid curiosity for what might happen in that situation) that he'd forgotten to test the rest of the weapons out. And there were more than a few left to do, whilst there wasn't enough time to properly test them. Then, there was ow next to nobody in the Spec Ops Community save for Team RAIL who knew about his DPU powers, not even his mother. He would have told her sooner, but things happened that distracted him from that action.
Why was that relevant? Well, cause he'd need to find an excuse to tell them why the tested Abnormal was charred beyond imagining. There were those corrupt enough within the community to try and use his powers to label him more as a monster than he already was, maybe even get whole groups of Spec Ops Agents to try and assassinate him or whomever he associated with. None of them liked deities very much, which only makes sense considering who and what they are.
One could say that he was in deep shit, what with this revelation is all.
One saving grace made itself apparent though, something that Nico probably wouldn't have seen thanks to his panic if he didn't look up at the right moment, when his gaze landed on the section between the Abnormal's legs. Why was this important? Nico's eyes widened then narrowed when he saw how there was a strange-looking orb-like object embedded inside where, upon comparison tot he human body, the bellybutton would be.
'Hold on…' Nico thought, scowling in confusion as he twisted his Skimmer around and hovered to try and conserve fuel. 'Draconian Abnormals follow the whole 'lay and hatch from egg' procedure that a lot of animals do, so why would this one have a Bellybutton? Something's up here, first it doesn't have any Bioelectricity and now it has a Bellybutton? Even for Abnormals, this was too weird. Even with their unpredictable natures, Abnormals did have at least SOME form of reason for their natures being what they were. What was this one's, then?
Wait, questions could be asked later, right now he only had one shot.
'Hopefully that is the chink in it's armour. I'll charge up as much power as possible and am for that bellybutton-looking thing…I can picture Neptune going all like 'aim for its imaginary bellybutton'' he thought with a roll of his eyes. For some reason, imagining something that Neptune would have said calmed his nerves immensely. Maybe that was just another part of her charm, and why he was so… well, fond of her…. Can't believe he just admitted that. Hell, he'd be fond of the others too, but now was not the time for that.
Right now, his window of opportunity was closing fast, so he needed to get this right.
Alastor in hand, Nico hopped onto the front of his Skimmer, gathering up every last ounce of power that Alastor Possessed, feeding it while mixing it with his own. This would have to work, the male thought to himself as he drew more and more on Alastor's power, bringing forth more than he ever had before. He could tell that this was the case from how violent the sparks emitting from the blade were, and he almost got the feeling that even if he held it a whole mountain range away from his Skimmer the sparks would still hit and fry it's systems. Nico even went as far as to channel his own energy into his Devil Arm to give it a power boost, the male's focus on his next attack being the reason why he ignored how it gorged itself on his power.
While they feed off the energy of their wielders to stop themselves from vanishing, they also have their own power reserves, power of which they replenish either naturally (which is what they normally do with minimal energy leeching involved) or when they are offered by their user more and more power. It's like when a ravenous lion is offered a large pile of massive meat slabs, they wouldn't hesitate to gorge themselves on the prize. This has the advantage of boosting their attack strength, but one has to be careful as to not overuse their energy reserves otherwise they may fizzle out and die. Some Devil Arms are also more ravenous than others, thus it is important for Devil Arm wielders to know their feeding habits for battling.
In Nico's case, he had various Devil Arms latching onto his soul, weapons that each drain their own amounts of his energy, though his energy replenished iitself at a rate of which where he doesn't even notice, therefore he doesn't need to worry about this issue. In addition, Alastor was a Devil Arm that sucked up his energy like a vacuum,in layman's terms it drains his power quickly. At first he had been worried about this, however Biko had told him that this would also help is reserves grow and refine themselves as it provides stimulus. He even called it 'energy expansion training' which took place constantly.
The Devil Arm pulsated heavily with power, both it's own lightning and the orangish red energy of his DPU power engulfing it's blade to make a hue that was a mix of purple and red. He swore he could hear the Devil Arm roaring and groaning from how much power was coursing through it, but this fact only briefly manifested within his mind before it vanished forever. Lightning sparks flared dangerously and violently like wild serpents, so Nico quickly raised the blade, so it wouldn't get near his Skimmer… and brought it down in an overhead slash.
On the opposite end, the dragon had just finished charging up it's latest fireball attack. It had done well in avoiding/enduring the whole Lightning assault that it's opponent had thrown at it, plus those Shock Grenades into it's maw had hurt a LOT, but now that the assault had relented, it was time for it to strike back. Now, all it needed to do was swing it's head down to launch the large Fireball… wait, what was this heat it was feeling?
Uh oh.
In that moment, the Dragon became witness to one of the strongest Lightning Bolts it had seen the boy known as Nico use. It was long, large and easily dwarfed the previous ones in power. It was also strangely being tainted with this red hue over it's purple frame. That, and it went… straight for it's bellybutton.
CRACKLE, CRACKLE, CRACKLE, CRACKLE, CRACKLE, CRACKLE, CRACKLE, CRACKLE, CRACKLE!
Lightning coursed through it's body as the Dragon opened it's mouth yet releasing a silent scream. It's body froze up at the joints, various small explosions aligning over it's form like dots on a shape. What got Nico's attention besides the random sparks from within the armour, was the faint sounds of hydraulics malfunctioning within the Dragonic Abnormal. Nevertheless, Nico couldn't think on it as the Draconic Abnormal began falling into the clouds below backfirst, it's wings flapping uselessly above it.
As it beyond view, neither it nor Nico noticed that a small figure, robotic in nature, had seen the whole thing and quickly left to inform it's masters of what was going on.
"Looks like we made it…"
"Yeppers, though this kind of scene is…"
Neptune and IF frowned as they stood within the centre of a large clearing within the virtua forest lookalike. The clearing had obviously seen better days, what with all the craters, cracks along the ground, and how so many trees had been uprooted and scattered all over the place. The entire clearing looked like someone with massive feet had just up and stomped all over it, eradicating every sense of beauty there ever was with this place. Then, there was how they could feel an abundance of demonic power in the air, all but confirming their fears of this being a demon related incident. Considering the nature of these Demons and soul sucking and all that mojo IF told the girls about…
Yeah, it was pretty clear what happened to those soldiers now.
"I remember reading once, that this was one of Leanbox's patrol routes, as it leads to a [path that can lead to various wealthy Nobles' homes." IF remarked to herself, her eyes scanning the area intently. "If a Demon has appeared here, then those cowardly bastards would send as many men as it takes to defeat it and secure their own interests." She explained, turning to Neptune whom was looking about like a curious child. "You know just as much as I, Nep, that normal soldiers can't defeat a Demon, especially if it's one of the stronger ones."
Without looking back at her, Neptune nodded at her companion's words, too focused on looking about the destruction to care really. "Yeah, yeah, things are bad, we know…" she remarked, before something clicked in her mind. "Oh yeah, hey Iffy? You ever think about getting a new outfit?" she asked suddenly, throwing IF for a loop at the seemingly random question.
'Then again, this is Nep we're talking about.' The brunette couldn't help but snidely think to herself. Randomness should be Neptune's domain, not Planeptune, cause she embodied that stuff like it was nobody's business. It was a lesson she'd learned not long after meeting her, but it still surprised her to this day… as well as mildly annoyed her. Remembering that she had asked a question, IF went and answered in a dry tone. "Pretty sure this has nothing to do with the mission, here."
This didn't do much in regards of swaying Neptune out of it though, not by a long shot as she pursed her lips, flailing her arms up and down. "But Iffy! Outfits are the jam! Remember how in the games we have varying sexy outfits? Pretty sure few other fanfics have us changing outfits."
Okay, hearing that made IF's brow rapidly twitch. It didn't help that she got reminded of how sometimes, her profile on social media would be filled with links to various fan arts of her in some… risqué situations. Especially with her BOW powers. Apparently, she had fans… very creepy fans who have WAY too much time on their hands. "Hey, those are just for fanservice, Nep… oh goddess, you've gone and made me do it, too." She groaned at the end, holding a hand over her forehead. Seriously, first Nico, now her? Neptune definitely had the infectious stat down pat. "Anyways, those don't do anything but show off skin uselessly, it's got NOTHING to do with fighting."
"Of course not, the demographics for the games and pervy fanfic writers pay extreme attention to these details." Neptune replied shamelessly, winking while sticking her tongue out while making a V shape over her closed eye.
IF's response: to groan audibly once more.
Fortunately, before she could develop another migraine that would probably be regenerated by her BOW powers, her eyes widened as her senses picked up demonic energy signatures heading their way. 'Oh shit, look like we got company!' she thought as her instincts made her react. Quickly, the brunette spun around, practically catching Neptune off her guard while throwing her arm forwards and morphing it into her Tentacles. "Not getting us that easily!" she bellowed, each Tentacle speeding through the air like pieces of earth falling from high in the skies, slamming into the wilderness where she sensed the energy.
"Nepu?! Iffy, wha-?!"
Before Neptune could run her mouth, she too sensed the Demonic energies and quickly Summoned Murasama and held it in a ready stance. She even deployed her Armour, feeling the comforting metal press against her flesh and encase her form from external forces such as the wind and stuff. "Oh, Ok! I get ya, Iffy! Come on out, busters! We know you're there!" Neptune shouted into the distance, gripping her right fist after removing it from Murasama. She then pumped it full of Share Energy, allowing various Purple Blades to manifest around it before she threw them in the same direction as the Tentacles.
In response to their attacks, several Shadows jumped out of the wilderness to dodge them. All of them had been so fast that the girls could barely recognize them as such, let alone identify their appearance. Whatever the case though, all they COULD tell was that these Shadows were quite large. Probably dangerous too, but hey, that seemed to be part of the course in Gamindustri, huh? When they reached the apex of their jump, however, each shadow… erupted into orangish red flames that rained down upon them.
"Whoa!"
"Nepu!"
Both girls made loud exclamations as they leapt backwards, avoiding the fiery shadows as they crashed into the spaces where the girls had once stood. IF managed to land in a crouch position, digging her right fist into the earth to shalt her momentum till she lost all of it. That resulted in a 12-meter-wide fissure drawn into the earth by her fist, while Neptune… she just flipped back repeatedly, flipped into the air, rolled into a backward spinning ball before landing on her own two feet.
When their landings were complete, both girls looked up to see what it was that had almost attacked them… and instantly, they felt their skin crawl like dozens of bugs were running up and down their bodies. Standing before them, were a group of masculine figures, though they could only tell they were masculine thanks to their big, bulky crimson armour. This Armour seemed fairly consistent, with slim leg armour with fractions where the joints were, leading to this mechanical waist-like armour piece that was connected to bulky torso armour, and eve bulkier shoulder pads that hid slimmer arm armour. On their backs were these strange rectangular packages, while their heads were concealed by tall, rectangular helmets with two black sockets, these 2 large, curved horn-like pieces rising from the top of these helmets. These Helmets also had vents where the mouth should be, complimenting their slightly intimidating appearance. This intimidation factor got aided by the many chains wrapping around their bodies, like every movement was at risk of hurting them while their armour suits were adorned with skull-like engravings. Each of tem had a series of large Axes, each of them armed with a set of teeth that were constantly rotating across the Axes' Edges.
'Oh… Shit…' IF cursed in her mind, gripping her armoured fists as she tried to not show just how much dread was coursing through her right now. Nico had told her once while they slept in the same bed together, about these guys that he had encountered with MAGES. and Tekken back at the Hellverse Dungeon. He'd told her that these beings held skill in combat unmatched by any Gamindustrimen, woman or child. He'd told her how if it weren't for Harvester, the fact that he had allies at the time, then Nico may have still won the fight, but he would not have been able to continue fighting for quite a while as he would have been on the verge of death afterwards.
She hadn't believed him when he said that, as she hadn't been there herself to see what went down. During her fights against the residents of the Hellverse Dungeon, IF had not once seen what Nico had described, so she didn't put too much faith in it. Though, Nico was not one to tell a lie and with the way he spoke of it, she did believe in taking caution, so she would not take them lightly if she ever met one in person. IF couldn't believe the foolishness that clouded her mind back then, cause right now these guys gave her so many chills it made Lowee's climate feel almost warm in comparison. The way each of them looked at her and Nep through those helmets, with sockets that looked like they could be set alight at any moment like she were staring into the burning pits of hell itself. The way their Armour seemed to almost scream in delight and joy at all the bloody red adorning their forms like proud trophies, as well as the way their weapons gleamed ever so menacingly in the sunlight…
Yeah, these guys DEFINITELY looked like bad news.
"Um, Iffy…?" Slowly, and without taking her eyes off these new foes, IF glanced over to Neptune, seeing how her armoured self-appeared to have similar thoughts to her, but with a lot less knowledge on what the fuck these guys were. Honestly, IF had momentarily forgot that she even had a companion for a moment there that's just how freaked out she had been when she saw the twisted, demonic-looking armoured figures for the first time in their demonic glory. Still though, this didn't detract from her observations, ad boy did she notice some things about Neptune right now. The way she held her Murasama, the way it shook in her grasp showed her just how unnerved the preteen felt, even as she tried to hide it in a fake curious tone of voice. "Do you know these guys or something? Cause they don't seem very happy to see us."
"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE! DEATH TO THE ENEMY, LEAVE WIDOWS UN-NUMBERED, ORPHANS BEYOND COUNT!"
"WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
A mighty war cry echoed from what appeared to be the leader. The girls could tell with how this leader raised his Axe, which seemed to vibrate heavily with molten flames along it's edge like the rage that he bellowed with seemed to manifest into the physical world. His roar sounded like a mix between man and demon, his helmet's sockets engulfing themselves in pure orange flames like the gates of hell were opening to suck in their souls for eternal torment. This war cry only served to incite the other men in red to scream out in delight, twisted savagery in their outcries as they each drew their weapons against the girls. All of them wielded a variety of Axe-like weapons, their rotating teeth ripping through the air like how predators would when feeding on their prey.
"Nepu!"
"Get ready, Nep! We've got ourselves some nasty-looking customers right here!"
Those were the few words exchanged between the girls as they got ready to receive a fight that they would NEVER be forgetting for as long as they lived.
"It appears that it has finally begun…"
Standing atop a hilltop, Arfoire herself, clad in her usual witch's outfit with her Glaive held like a walking stick beside her, commented to herself after she opened her eyes, having closed them to expand her senses. She had sensed an abundance of demonic energy appear throughout Leanbox, like cracks in a damn allowing water to slowly spill out onto the surface. She knew of course what made that energy, after all she knew the being that was responsible for this.
Said being actually stood right behind her, cloaked in darkness to remain invisible to the naked eye, as if it were a blight on the land's otherwise pure nature. Said being also soon spoke, though it's voice made it difficult to tell what gender it was. Just like when it was nothing but a formless mass. Yet, it didn't fail to send shivers of anxiety down the woman's spine. It WAS after all, one of the few beings in this world she would never even DREAM of crossing.
Other beings of this level would soon be arriving to Gamindustri, as well… returning to what was once theirs.
"YEESSSSSSSSSS, the dawn of WAR… will SOON be upon US… This FAKE world… will KNOW the TRUE meaning of WAR once more… a WAR… which those FLEDGLINGS will never even DARE to IMAGINEEEEEEEE…"
The way this being spoke for the time being never ceased to make Arfoire tremble. Even if she acted like a haughty bitch at times… okay, maybe all the time, but still there were beings out there that even she feared, and she had went and unsealed one of the worst ones of all of them. If people thought the DPUs were powerful NOW, the being she found herself sharing companionship with would be their worst nightmare. But, this was necessary, for Gamindustri to return to what it truly should be. This world' this fake world' as the being called it… where the Goddesses are too lazy, ignorant, arrogant and too weak to rule their nations right, will collapse in a sea of carnage, rot, change and sin.
For now, all she had to do was watch the show….and probably seek out some old relics.
