Continuing the Trial
Things slowly got from bad to worse.
That was what both Castiel and Nico thought to themselves while they constantly fought the barrage.
Thanks to Castiel's idea, the black-suited troops fared much better off than when they were under Nico's command. The fact that Nico had not been a proper leader did irk the Heir immensely, however there was an upside he had not considered during the argument he had (or rather him ranting). That Nico's strategy to draw all the attention and aggression to himself also served in preventing casualties. Thing is, while his actions irked him a whole hell lot, when he arrived and counted the amount of soldiers still remaining, part of him had been surprised at the lack of casualties, there were many more than what he had expected. It was like Nico had drawn in the majority of the invasion force to his position just by existing on the battlefield, allowing his troops to take pot shots at the enemy. In turn, Nico was able to exploit more openings.
The guy may not be a good leader, but he did do SOMETHING right at least.
On Nico's end, the teen just kept the system previously established going, no need to change it that would mess anything up. Things were done much more effectively than what he had done, which did irritate and humiliate the male, but it also proved to him that he had a lot to learn yet. It also showed him the difference between a human and a monster in terms of combat limitations... if he were to command an army, he would rather do it with his own kind, monsters instead of humans. Though, this didn't detract from the issue that he currently took to heart, and THAT was something he refused to ignore.
After all, Emiya had been right... about everything he said, as much as it pained him to admit it.
Nico felt his pride was important, but if it prevented him from growing stronger...
However, there had been one good thing to come out of this that the white suited Soldiers noticed whenever Nico was deployed to certain areas. And that was that enemies seemed to target him more than others. The teen had explained that thanks to his Red Rage Ring (a piece of equipment he told them) that he had managed to make them overflow with anger towards himself that it took over their higher reasoning. Hence, why they were attacking him more than anything else. Still, while that did SOMETHING right before, it didn't make him seem like a better leader, it made him seem like he was more of a warrior, which ironically proved Castiel's point even further.
Still though, despite the two's efforts, none of this would make any difference if they didn't find a way to stop the invasion...
'Hmmm... if these guys are attacking us like this, then they have to be taking orders from something, right?' Nico wondered as two invisible Tentacles impaled a robot in the chest, then ripped it apart from within. Something told him that these attackers had previously given orders, he noticed this because despite their random spawning times, there were specific targets that they ALWAYS attempted to get to. Though, he had made them come towards him thanks to his Red Rage Ring (even now he was using it to draw the enemy into traps and stuff that Castiel had set up previously).
'It would make sense, these robots attack in far too organized a manner once they exit these random spawning points. My guess is the enemy is waiting to show themselves... we should confirm this with Emiya, even if you hold disdain for him thanks to that argument.'
That was an understatement, but Castiel didn't say all that without reason, Nico reluctantly admitted to himself (while shooting down his Ghoul Persona's ravings with a figurative mountain). That was something both humiliating yet true for the male, however that wouldn't stop him from conversing with the Heir over tactics. He not a leader type, never was, but he could at least do something. Thus, he made to activate his Shingan, he didn't understand fully how the communication circle worked and he wasn't sure if it would accept his energy or not.
'Emiya, can you hear me?'
'HUH?! What the hell, Nico?! I thought I told you to speak to me through the Com circle I set up.'
Castiel's voice yelled through his mind thanks to the Ring, which glowed while his Kagune protected him from multiple projectiles.
'You did, but this is important, I'm in combat right now, and I'd rather not use something i'm unfamiliar with. I'm not as familiar with your magic as I am with this Ring i'm using to send my thoughts to you. Never-mind that, we need to talk about the enemy.'
'Ugh, can it wait? I'm kinda busy here, we're dealing with a pretty big load of enemies that just spawned...'
With a single thought order, Nico commanded Urthemiel to act, and it obeyed. With a roar, it let loose a barrage of fireballs from its position over the city (after tearing through a couple air forces) that destroyed the force attacking his former troops. He knew this thanks to the sounds of fiery explosions and the azure flames he saw in the distance while his Kagune took care of a bunch of dragon riding robots.
'Are you free to communicate now?'
'... What is it?'
'Its the enemy. I believe that they have pre-conditioned orders given to destroy specific structures. After they spawn, I've noticed they head in the same direction depending on where they spawn, with no deviations from those courses. My theory is that the leader see's those structures as targets. Odds are, with the way things are going, if we concentrate our defenses around them we can cause the enemy leader to change his plays.'
'Wow, and you only took a fucking ENTIRE DAY to figure that one out. Congrats.' Castiel sais with a voice dripping with sarcasm. 'It should be freaking obvious after the first ten MINUTES of this shit show that there would bean leader organizing these troops. I mean, come on who do you even think IS our final enemy? Stop putting all your cards in instinct and guts or whatever else you think with your little head, think rationally at all times and ALWAYS fight your best and be ready for the worse. A leader must ALWAYS be thinking about his next step, don't let the battle you see overwhelm your rational thinking or you WILL cause a disaster. Fuck, as far as I know, the only reason why half your troops haven't been killed was dumb luck and coincidence that you just happened to have something that just happened to work for this. Well, you know what, focus on what appears in front of you and stop fucking stopping me to say the obvious! Just talk to me when you hear about something that ACTUALLY matters.'
Castiel cut off the communications at that point, putting a bit of energy on his skull spirit bone to cut off the conversation with Nico for the moment. If he wanted to talk again, then try using the magic circle THAT CASTIEL ALREADY PREPARED! This was just another reason as to why Castiel was with ZERO patience to Nico, his unwillingness to learn anything from others.
Honestly, can't this guy understand even a little bit of what he was saying? He was supposed to be LEADING an army, not fighting on his own. Fixing his mess here was more headache inducing to Castiel than the actual battle, all because Nico could not even copy, COPY, what he was doing and telling him.
When dealing with someone that was overconfident about something that they are not actually good at, the best way was to show them their problems. Make sure they are forced to see their mistakes, even if they don't want to.
Sigh, Castiel was too young for this shit.
Anyway, he now had bigger fish to deal with. Mainly the fact that the ammunition was getting dangerously low. Of this continued then the soldiers would not be able to fight anymore. Seeing this Castiel decided to make something about it, he asked for Eevee, Solgaleo, and Lunala to go crazy on the enemies while he walked back to the base where the soldiers were staying.
"Commander." One of the soldiers gave a respectful salute as soon as Castiel got close. The respect in the soldier's eyes was clear to see, something that put a small shadow of a smile on Castiel's face.
"Stand down soldier. I will need a quiet environment to what I plan to do next so I will need you and your men to focus on only eliminating those who get too close to here. Otherwise, focus on collecting as much metal parts from these fuckers as you possibly can."
"Sir, yes Sir." He said as a small group of soldiers went out to bring me metal while the others continued to do as ordered.
I guess this is as good an opportunity as any other to work on my golenmancy, not that I am any good at it but this metal is of high quality and is a great magic inducer so this could probably help me bridge the gap.
And with this much metal to work with and my time dilator field, I can start on one of my childhood dreams.
Commanding a robot army to save the day!
'Now all I need is to get to work. This will be a good chance to improve as well, constant evolution is something to be happy about.'
He would get stronger, he would NOT be contained by the powers given to him by that wrench.
'Wow, isn't he being a jerk...?' Nico thought, sensing the abrupt severing of the connection. Something told him that he shouldn't talk to the guy for a while, at least until after this failure of a trial had been taken care of. Seriously, Castiel had already proven his point about him being better than him at leadership, no need to be a dick about it. He himself didn't see the guy in too good a light, but he at least tried to be civil with him. Not to mention, Nico didn't even NEED to look into his emotions to sense the chaos that was slowly getting a grasp on Castiel's being. 'Odds are...' he thought while listening to an order from the Commander of the white suits via a magic circle, then proceeding to head to the next area. 'That he doesn't even realize it either.'
'Indeed. as a personification of Demonic Power, I can handle his emotions easier than you. Nevertheless, even I don't exactly feel comfortable with how his emotional state his being has. In fact, If things go on this way...'
'You're right, a confrontation is inevitable... best set it straight with him after this trial, no more distractions, no more bullshit. Emiya may think he's better than me at this stuff, and he's right about that. Guy's a natural born leader, even I can see that. But right now, whatever's bugging him is slowly getting a foothold, I don't care WHAT kind of mental or soul resistance he has.'
Shaking his head, Nico decided to focus on his opponents, quickly calling Urthemiel back to him. The giant Archdemon quickly flew to its master, landing before him while crushing a robot soldier beneath it, roaring into the atmosphere. The roar itself sent any nearby enemies away from it, of which it grabbed them with its tail before smashing them into the ground, destroying their remains with Primal Fire. It then looked towards its master, a happy roar escaping its lips as it lowered itself into a sitting position. It became clear to the male what it wanted from him, and he didn't feel exactly complied not to.
With a quick motion, the male hopped up onto Urthemiel's back, utilizing his Kagune to whack away several robots who tried to slash his head off, before Urthemiel got into a standing position and roared, unleashing a wave of Primal fire that burned away more of the soldiers. Though it soon became useless as more soldiers kept spawning from the portals. Soldiers and dragon riders to be frank.
Just as he was going to deal with them...
"SIR!"
A shout came from one of the soldiers by the use of the magic communications (which still irritated Nico when he had to use, why can't it just be something he is more comfortable with like ultra futuristic walk-talks or something demonic, maybe that can shoot lasers or that eats souls? You know, the norm).
"Sir, this is urgent! There is an invasion on the west side, a strange beast appeared and the people that were guarding the west are all getting excessively sick. It is a hairless, indigo and purple mollusk mammal beast, with two pieces of hair coming out of its snout-like nostrils, forming whiskers of a sort. The backside of the head shows several veins. The beast is quadrupedal, with all the legs resembling hoofs that are actually tendrils formed around large spikes within. The mere air around it is poisonous enough that even our bullets don't manage to get close before just 'dying'. We need reinforcements there pronto!"
Narrowing his eyes, Nico scowled. That didn't sound good, not at all. Poison enemies weren't something he particularly liked to fight, especially with his recent experiences with that kind of attack. The fact that there was one such enemy having appeared from the West did NOT do their army any favors.
"Understood! Gather any of the sick and injured and get them away from the beast, its likely that the beast is generating that sickness by its aura! Getting them away from it should help!" Nico responded. He looked to Urthemiel's back, and after a moment's thinking, steered him towards towards the West side. If this was a poisonous enemy, he would rater like to attack from a distance so that poison didn't reach him. Nico knew one of his weaknesses was poison, but he didn't know what kind of poison that was, and his resistances to it usually came from his DPU form. It had of course, granted him minor forms of those resistances, but if what the soldier said was true that wouldn't be nearly enough for this one. While flying high, Nico looked down from his perch on the Archdemon he saw Castiel sitting in his lion familiar, which admittedly looked awesome, and going straight south.
Nico decided to ask him, however thanks to is prior conversation, his instincts told him that his Shingan wouldn't work on the Heir right now. His gut proved to be right, as the Ring simply didn't activate when he wanted it to. At first, he didn't know what that was, but then figured that the Heir was blocking it on his end somehow, making him groan in irritation.
'Nico I believe the boy wishes for us to use his Magic Communications, and is stopping us from doing our own.'
'Yeah, I know. Geez, this guy's annoyance levels are going through the roof! #SIGH## alright then, lets see how this ting works...'
Feeling even MORE frustrated Nico decided to use the magic communications for the FIRST TIME, and realized that he only had to transfer a minimal amount of any form of energy for it to activate. 'Seriously?! It was THAT easy?! Shit... okay, now I feel like an absolute idiot... not too far off then, if what other people have likely been thinking, too.'
With that thought attacking another spot of his pride, Nico felt the line form by his ear, in the form of a Magic Circle, and with that he spoke into it.
"Are you hearing me Emiya?"
'Yeah, what do you need now? Did you decide that screwing up and almost losing HALF the city wasn't enough and make some dumb shit on the side that I already organized?' Castiel responded irritably. He was never fond of sharing authority and having to do that and putting the lives of many on the hands of someone incompetent was something that brought bad feelings to the young Heir, especially when he already was NOT in his best state of mind, to begin with.
Mentally, Nico rolled his eyes. The guy was still a jerk, then, he didn't even need to use his emotion sensing abilities to see that. Part of him wanted to just tackle the guy and rip out his intestines before he could react. Still, this was combat, like Castiel had said, and thus what he was feeling shouldn't be allowed to distract them from the task at hand. Nico mentally pictured having to hold his tongue in front of authority figures, and he found his 'Mask' calming him down. "Just reporting in: There is a strange monster invading on the west side of town, attacking via poison. I am going to intercept him now." Nico explained.
'Tell me the details of this monster.'
"I heard it is a hairless, indigo and purple mollusk mammal beast, with two pieces of hair coming out of its snout-like nostrils, forming whiskers of a sort. It-"
'Yeah, I know what it is. Sheesh, I have different orders for you. Go to the south, there is a gigantic aircraft carrier approaching with many others together, all carrying many of these annoyances with them. There are plenty of enemies there and this is probably the best spot for your skills to shine. Don't worry about the north and east, for now, I used these last few hours to create a small army of golems that are creating ammunition to replace our used stock and to fight head-on against the enemies on those two sides.' Castiel explained, already feeling relieved that his work had done much more than he expected.
"Wait, I am closer to the west, shouldn't I go and face this beast? It will be faster." Nico questioned. It seemed like the logical step, and he HAD fought some poison based Abnormals before. He had equipment that could help him resist poisons, not to mention his DPU resistances and his Ghoul side. The side of him that would be able to hold off the poison's effects long enough for him to do something about it. Hell, if that didn't work, he could perhaps use his Leg's Spirit Bone to seal the poison away.
'Are you fully, completely, and undoubtedly immune to all poisons in existence?' Castiel asked, bringing back memories of what Nico went through on the hands of a poison not long ago. Hearing the lack of answer Castiel put a small smile and said. 'Well, I am so you should listen to me on this. If I am not wrong this one is an Invite Death, a beast known for its potent poison that can kill anyone below Leader-class in a matter of minutes, and sorry to burst your bubble but you are most certainly NOT on that level. Heck, this beast is another one that is marked as a KILL ON SIGHT due to how absurdly poisonous its very presence is; if Gaoh is dangerous because of excessive predation than the Invite Death is more so due to its presence alone as it can destroy an entire forest just y sleeping CLOSE to it.'
That shut up Nico's complaints, if only barely. He knew that he was most certainly not immune to poison, resistant to most maybe but not immune, so this threat struck too close to home for him. Not to mention, this aircraft carrier interested him the moment he had heard it from the Heir's lips. Multiple thoughts and ideas raced through his mind, thoughts that he found himself somewhat eager to test out. If he left this to Castiel, then he'd be able to pursue these ideas. Though, it still didn't take away the bitter taste in his mouth for listening to this asshole...
Almost as if he felt pain to say these next words Nico said.
"...Understood..."
Nico had a clear understanding of one thing as he mentally steered Urthemiel towards the Aircraft Carrier, his pride was being broken piece by piece by Castiel during this mission. And he was NOT enjoying it.
Why, just why can't one thing go my fucking way? I wanted to prove to myself that I am a good leader, this place being a perfect opportunity to test myself, to show me that the disaster that was the fight against Kokabiel wasn't my fault.
But what happens? I must share command with someone inexperienced that is too full of pride to ask for help but keeps making mistake after mistake and I have to spend more time thinking on how to fix his messes then on my own objectives!
Solgaleo felt my agitation and turned to look at me with concerned eyes, but I simply put my hand on his head to calm him down. I understand that he is worried, but it is still my duty to him as master to show him a facade that everything is fine.
Well, at least I already have an objective for right now in sight. A purple cloud approaching fast in my direction, seeing the enemy getting closer I jumped out of Solgaleo and sent him back. He was powerful, true, but he was still susceptible to being poisoned and even if I can easily heal him I do not want him to suffer.
Looking at the enemy in front of me I can clearly see his ugly face, surprise that there actually is someone that can survive when this close to him.
Well, guess what ugly thing? I will do more than 'survive', I will fucking kill you for harming my troops.
As Nico flew through the air on the Archdemon's back, he couldn't help but appreciate the calming feeling of the draconic being's wingbeats. They moved about i is pattern that, strangely enough, seemed quite calming like a gentle breeze across a peaceful plain. The feeling had been more than welcomed by the male, anything to distract him from the turmoil in his being.
The more he talked to Castiel, the more concerned he began to grow. Not just for him (his preference for female MAY be playing a part in that, part of him figured, though the fact that he felt worry for him AT ALL felt like a massive improvement on that), but for the rest of these trials. Even a blind man would notice the way he was acting wasn't quite healthy, In fact, it could be said it was the opposite. He may not be the natural leader type, much, but even he knew that kind of mentality was NOT fit for battles like this. Granted, his own mistakes didn't exactly help, but if this kept up then Castiel might go down a dark path further down the line. He knew this cause he himself once went down that path, and he KNEW that it wasn't a path fit for someone like him. He'd had his suspicions since the first trial, but now they were almost completely confirmed.
He needed to get some time to talk to the guy, preferably time between the trials. To talk the guy down and set him straight. Nico wasn't the most patient type, and his methods didn't always work. Not to mention he didn't do this sort of thing for many people. He wasn't that kind of guy, but he could o it when the need arose. His methods may be a bit unorthodox, but sometimes that was exactly what someone needed. To him, Castiel didn't seem like a character liked those who beat around the bush, yet held somewhat more patience than someone like Nico (though with his state of mind, that part was up for debate).
But, how could he do this?
'Why not... ask that man who calls Emiya Godson?'
'What? You mean Zelretch?' Nico questioned, frowning as he stopped listening to Urthemiel's wingbeats. They were nearing the southern seas, and he could see the silhouette of the Aircraft Carrier in the distance. The male didn't know about that, for starters they didn't know where the hell that guy was during these trials. They may not have a way to communicate with the guy, and even if they did, it wasn't guaranteed that he would hear them out. After all, the man would probably side with his godson over him, the two off them didn't even know each other so that would be the logical thing to assume. 'Not sure that's such a good idea... What if what I have in mind makes the guy pissed enough to wipe me off the face of existence? Guy sure does seem like he could so that with ease.'
'True, however even HE must have noticed what was wrong with Emiya, much sooner than either of us. It would only make sense that he brought Emiya here so that he could unwind and think about things. However, what he didn't expect was for Emiya to close himself off and try to come to terms with everything alone, which could be why he brought us into this. Though I could be wrong about that last statement. However, it is likely that Zelretch is just as concerned for his Godson as any other parental figure, he just doesn't show it, keeps it behind that eccentric demeanor of his. You and I BOTH know what that is like, having parents mask their worries for their kids.'
Yes, yes Nico DID know what that was like. He remembered his own mom, Helena Dawson, head of the Guild's Weapons Development Department. He remembered how sad she had been when he refused to let her help him with his Ghoul side. Mostly for his own sake, his own pride at being able to solve his own problems. However, it was also because there was nothing she COULD have done to help him, and she knew this. THAT had been the hardest pill to swallow for her, a parent unable to help their child when he or she was suffering.
Zelretch may consider himself Castiel's Godfather, but even he should have SOME feelings of that nature towards the Heir.
In the end, Nico decided to risk it, and see if he could use the Shingan to send his thoughts over to that crazy man. He didn't know if it would work, but by the Goddesses he would damned try. This problem had to be nipped in the bud, otherwise who knows what could happen further down the line. If he failed, he'll still do what he intended to set Castiel straight, and if he were to get erased then Nico would damn well put up the best fight he could. That way, he would die without as many regrets as he would otherwise, though he would always regret breaking his promise to Neptune, to come back alive after his reckless stunts.
With those thoughts in mind, Nico raised the hand adorning the Shingan, and closed his eyes, focusing on the Ring. Once he felt the Shingan's power activating, he projected his thoughts out towards... well, anywhere he could, hoping that Zelretch would hear him. 'Um,... Zelretch? Can you hear me? Its me, Nico. I need to talk to you, it concerns your godson...' When he finished his thought, Nico felt it get projected outwards from his position, which was just over the beach connected to the southern sea. He hoped to the Goddesses that this would work, otherwise he may not live to see the faces of his precious comrades again...
'yea-ello? This is Captain Zelretch speaking! What seems to be the trouble, young'un?'
If Nico had any less composure, he would have jumped right off Urthemiel. However, he had his Demonic Power tethering him to the Archdemon's back, so that wouldn't happen. Even so, it didn't stop the surprise from etching itself across his face when he heard the ever-jovial voice of Zelretch echo throughout his mind, sustained by the Shingan itself. Holy shit, it actually worked?! What the hell, how was that possible?!
'Yeah, I have an advanced version of that ring of yours with me right now, I use it s a telephone service, just in case things went awry. Also as a means of ordering pizza! Hmmm, Piiiiizzzzaaaa...!'
... Okay. Now Nico could see why the guy had such a relationship with Castiel, and why he found the man to be more than a bit insane. Nico could only sweat drop at the thoughts Zelretch sent back to him, before he shook his head to clear them from his mind. Nico had to act fast, the Aircraft Carrier was coming up hot, so he had to get his words out quickly before he would eventually be bombarded by attacks. 'Alright, then. Look, please hear me out. I know you've noticed how Emiya's been acting recently, and my fuck-ups haven't helped. But I fear the guy might lose it later down the line, so I was wondering if I could share with you a plan I have, with some of your advice? You may be eccentric, but you're his godfather so you MUST have noticed how damaged his mind's becoming.'
'I think you should think this over. Castiel is still dealing with more things than you know of, making anything drastic now will most likely take him WAY over the edge. I must warn you, if he goes there and truly goes all out on you the chance of you dying is quite high, and yes I am counting your healing factor in this. Castiel is carrying more on his shoulders than you can imagine right now.' Zelretch said in an unusual moment of seriousness. He knew what was going on with his godson and he knew how Castiel still needed some time to get all the hidden stress out of his system.
'Even so, I have to try. Not just for the trials, but for the guy himself. I doubt anyone would want to see him like this, especially those close to him. They'll be worried sick, especially if he has a love interest or not. That's why I have to do this.'
'... Alrightie then, sure lay your plan on me! Oh, that's a song, too! laaaaaay onnnnn meeeee...!'
Once Nico had finished outlining his plan to the man, Zelretch cut the link so the teen could focus on the enemy rapidly approaching him. Though, he did say something that threw Nico off, and that was 'think about what Castiel told you at the beginning before the trial began'. Another one of his cryptic hints and all, and Nico figured it was about the information that Castiel had bought before their training. He didn't think much of it for now though, as he had finally closed the distance between him, Urthemiel and the Aircraft Carriers.
'Nico, I sense that the Carriers are not ready to fight yet. We managed to get here faster than they expected.'
Biko's words rung through his mind soothing some of the redhead's trepidation as Urthemiel grunted while hovering over what he assumed was the main Aircraft Carrier. He said this because there was a strong energy source hidden within, one that seemed to be powering the soldiers stocked inside. He couldn't sense anything like it from the rest of the vessels that supported it from the rear, so yeah. The male could sense frantic panic within, and judging by the amount he could feel, there was a LOT of enemies down there. Easily enough to make a large army if it were to ever escape the Carrier.
Well then, he couldn't have that, now could he?
With his mind, Nico commanded Urthemiel to do two things: shower the fleet with as many Primal Fire attacks as it was capable of, leaving nothing remaining save for the main vessel. The second: to form a circular perimeter around the Carrier, to keep any enemies that escape into the air away from the city. Any that tried to escape, then Urthemiel was ordered to either turn back or turn to ash (although Nico figured out which option it would be going for easily, if the bloodlust he was sensing was anything to go by).
It soon followed its orders, roaring as it unfurled its wings. From that gesture, Nico saw what could only be described as over 1000 fireballs form from the space around the Archdemon, all of them formed from Primal Fire. The male felt glad that he practiced with his Hellfire so much, cause goddammit the heat from those flames would have incinerated him alive if he hadn't. Thankfully using Hellfire so much allowed his body to build up a strong heat resistance. In the next instant, all of those Fireballs fell upon the fleet like water droplets from a shower-head.
Of course, the ships tried to fire back, as each one aimed their gun emplacements at the approaching threat, however the Fireballs exceeded them in two areas: seed and strength. Even if some of them got a few shots off the Primal Flames making up the Fireballs burned them to nothingness before they could even touch their targets. Therefore, once the shower fell onto the fleet, all but the main Aircraft Carrier erupted into an azure blaze. A blaze that even burned through the waters around them thanks to the heat they emitted. It created this steamy mist that concealed the Aircraft Carrier from view... as well as emitted enough heat that should anything get out, they would be melted to nothingness in seconds.
Gotta love that Primal Fire.
Meanwhile, Nico himself planned out his assault in his mind in a second, and with that the teen jumped off Urthemiel's back and shot downwards like a hawk to the main deck below.
BOOM!
The male's impact rocked the Aircraft Carrier back and forth, disturbing the oceans beneath it by creating rippling waves. Thanks to the previous attack, the steam resulting from it hid the Aircraft Carrier from view if one tried looking from the land. However, the heat wasn't strong enough to melt through the hull, which likely meant that the Aircraft Carrier had better Armour than the robot soldiers or dragons. Nevertheless, the redhead didn't let that get to him as he stood up, Orangish red Hellfire fireballs forming in his hands. Turned out that was the right thing to do, as portals quickly opened throughout the main deck to let about 20 or so robots soldiers come out to face the intruder attacking them.
When they saw their opponents come out, Nico gave Urthemiel a quick mental command, and with a loud roar the Archdemon erupted in Primal flames, releasing them from its body. The flames roared like millions of tormented souls, groaning in their torment while they spread around the perimeter the Archdemon had set up, forming a sphere-shaped barrier of Primal fire. Now, combined with the steam generated by both fire and water, NONE of that so called 'large army' will be able to escape this place alive.
Just as Nico liked it.
Instantly, they attacked him, with gun emplacements turning to fire on him only for Nico to generate a rainstorm of Hellfire from the top of the barrier. The Hellfire, true to its aggressive nature, succeeded in melting right through the gun emplacements, scorching them and reducing them to nothing thanks to their heat. None of them would get a chance to fire... now or ever.
As for the robots... well, they ran into a little something called Nico's Kagune.
Seriously, his Rinkaku was a beast, especially with its invisibility. With how it couldn't be detected by the five senses, it made perceiving it almost impossible unless they could see vibrations well enough to make them visible. Something that few could do. Not only that, but thanks to those vibrations, their speed and power definitely held up against some of his stronger weapons and attacks. This proved itself when Nico's Rinkaku lashed out, ripping through groups of enemies at a time by going through limbs to immobilize them, then either tear their chests out or behead them.
Up ahead, Nico could see the main doors to the Aircraft Carrier's interior, which were slowly opening up to reveal a LOT of enemies having gathered behind them. As in, there was nearly over 100 of them, each of them narrowing their senses towards Nico, whose Bikaku swiftly came out while he pulled up his hood, took off the thing over his eye, and donned his Mask. Now, his Kakugan found itself visible to the world, while his Bikaku reared itself back like a set of spider legs. All the while, the male stared impassively, slowly striding forwards towards the army which broke into a mad sprint. Some of them shot at him with their guns, but his invisible Rinkaku took care of that assault. None of the bullets got through to him, which only made sense considering this Kagune could keep him dry in a rainstorm.
Just as he made to call forth a large Hellfire blast to erase this wretched thing from existence, Biko sudden;ly spoke within his mind.
'Weren't you going to test out these ideas you thought of before? Destroying this carrier would go against that...'
Those words gave Nico pause, surprise welling up inside his lone Kakugan eye. Whoa there dude, hold your horses don't destroy the thing that piqued your interests! That was what he chided himself with as Nico disengaged the Hellfire, letting it recede back into his being. The male lowered his hand, which had been lifted above his head, allowing it to fall to his side limply. He had been so caught up in the thrill and the adrenaline, that he had almost forgotten what he had originally came here for in the first place. Destroying the Army was his primary objective, but not the carrier itself. Originally, he would have done as Castiel ordered and destroyed this place, but then an idea had piqued his interest, and thus he couldn't allow this idea to go investigated. Also, if he was right then they would have a MAJOR boon against the final boss, the leader of this enemy force.
An Aircraft Carrier, or any vessel built, always had data stored in their archives, archives that were either secured by passwords or security codes. If he were to access that archive, then he could gain access to a whole truckload of useful information. It could make up for his previous blunder with the men back at the city, and it wasn't like the Army would be able to escape Urthemiel's flames. That meant he could destroy them at his leisure, but Nico would prioritize destroying them first. He didn't want to leave any of them left alive to fuck things up more than he already had.
Odds were that this thing's archives had their data protected by passwords and all sorts of software, though. If that was the case, then he would have to try hacking into the mainframe to get past everything and into the archives. Attaining information wasn't always easy, he didn't always have the option of interrogating live people. He remembered back in Lastation when he had to learn how to crack pass codes and security measures to break into Umbrella security laboratories to get at their classified data. Accessing that information had taught him much about hacking into software and hardware (through trial and error though, but still that was the best way to learn in his opinion), though it wasn't often that he used those skills. Not that many knew of those skills either, since he had been kept mostly out of the public eye. Much of his involvement had been mostly covered up, his presence replaced to keep his existence a secret. However, Nico hadn't let many people know of his hacking skills, there were many eyes on him after all.
Still didn't let them get rusty though, having practiced them by himself ever since. He practiced them through his lone searches for criminals across the Nations, whenever he was told of their existence through quests. Made information gathering through technology like the internet a HELL of a lot easier, and he was definitely aware of that ironic statement. Even if he had them though, Nico didn't want to use them unless absolutely necessary, he knew how dangerous hackers could be in a technologically-specialized Nation. Or anywhere with technology as a part of its lifestyle.
Those thoughts made Nico scowl to himself, dark memories resurfacing in his mind, all of them being about the Raccoon City outbreak. He remembered what it was like, seeing countless civilians getting chowed down on by ravenous infected, to hear their screams for help only to be unable to do exactly that. Simply thanks to knowing that the moment they are bit or scratched, then it was game over for them. That they would turn into an infected monster just like the ones that bit them in the first place. He remembered the helplessness he felt while helping his fellow Spec Ops team get civilians to safety, how he had to watch come of them die for others to remain alive.
At that thought, a picture of an old man filled his mind's eye's view for a moment, before he vanished it.
Thinking back on it, that was probably the biggest reason why he struck out on his own, aside from not trusting many people. The utter helplessness to do anything significant, combined with the fact that it was covered up and made to look like an accident, spurned him into action. He had dropped off the grid, 'disappearing' in order to take the public eye off him and then wage a one-man war against Umbrella. Probably not the best idea to go at it lone, most would say,. But to Nico, he would retort back that he had to do this alone, as there was nobody else with the desire to do so other than himself.
In the end, no matter what kind of opinions one might have, not only did he learn hacking abilities, but he also brought the entire organisation into the light by releasing their classified data about the outbreak and the viruses involved to the public. They had been put on trial, and he remembered the looks on the faces of their board of directors when their fates were decided. That had been honestly one of the most satisfying things he'd seen in a long time. That incident always remained fresh within his mind, especially with the recorded footage he kept. It showed him that, with the right motivation, one can do a WHOLE load of stuff if they put their minds to it. Which was what he planned to do with this Aircraft Carrier. Gather as much data as he could and then depending on the data decide on what to do about this vessel.
Things go south, then he'd destroy the Aircraft Carrier regardless. Then face the consequences.
Couldn't let things get any worse, after all.
With those thoughts in mind, Nico broke into a sprint as he made his way towards the Aircraft Carrier's interior through the doors that USED to house those attacking robot soldiers from looked to be on the verge of closing when he did, however the male had used his Kagune to wedge them open, enough for him to get inside and then wrenched them shut behind him.
Destroying the army had been... rather easy, actually, much easier than Nico had initially expected.
Apparently, the entire army he had faced on this thing, having destroyed a quarter of their total forces (he found this out by scanning the Aircraft Carrier with his Bracers between each battle)had been hooked to this artificial AI unit that had been located deep within the vessel. Nico managed to locate and destroy it though, by using a combination of his Holomap, Motion Tracer, and the many battles he'd fought. The closer he had gotten, the m,more enemies Nico had to the time he had destroyed it by introducing it to his Hellfire, a loud 'ALL PERSONAL: INITIATE SHUTDOWN' had echoed throughout the vessel, and the sounds of hardware powering down had registered to his enhanced senses.
Whelp, that was step one, at least.
Then, with the use of his Holomap, Nico had managed to locate the Vessel's archives, and from thereon he found himself locating any form of control device for accessing the Archives. It took him a while, but eventually Nico found a control terminal. There, the male used his Bracer to access the Terminal, thus began to access it. 'Alright, so far so good...' the male thought to himself while doing this. Standing in front of the control terminal with multiple cables connecting it to his right Bracer, the male looked at its holographic screen, which showed a series of numbers floating about while the programs ran themselves. Honestly, sometimes he found it similar to letting a bunch of hounds loose to search for the location of the prey. His opposite hand worked overtime, constantly moving like it was a blur on a holographic keyboard, keeping the program running.
However, like he had assumed earlier, there had been some tight security installed in the form of defense software, anti-viruses, firewalls, etc. However, compared to the things that he found on the hardware of Umbrella this was indeed NOTHING. It almost made him snicker had he been any less composed, though he didn't let it hamper his work. Not when this stage of the hacking was underway. That Company had specialized in many fields, protecting their classified data would only make sense to be one of them.
Fortunately, things didn't go wrong, and the male finally found himself on a home screen of sorts, allowing a small smirk to form on his lips under his Mask. 'Alright, i'm in...' the male thought to himself, pride swelling within his chest as he began digging through the archives. Searching for information that could help himself and Castiel in the trial. His eyes occasionally and slightly shifted directions as he read one piece of data after another. He also downloaded copies of it into his Bracer for reviewing later, a habit he had formed thanks to his war against Umbrella. It was always necessary to have a copy on the side, just in case something happened and he lost the main files. It was something he learned from hacking into the mainframes of Umbrella's various research facilities.
'Hmmm... Oh! This could be interesting, let's see... oh shit, now i'm glad that I didn't destroy the Aircraft carrier!'
"Okay, then what to do with you?" Castiel half-asked himself as he faced the Invite Death. It was truly pathetic, the beast spent most of the time launching wave after wave of poison and viruses at Castiel, but his complete immunity make him not even feel the slightest effect of it.
In a way, it could be said that Castiel was the most perfect counter to Invite Death. The only reason as to why he hadn't defeated it yet was that he could not lock on the creature. It was immune to his curses, probably due to how scattered and unfocused they are and he never going too far with them, and locking it in place was hard as it could simply evade most strikes he would launch and it transformed the field to his advantage due to its acid poison.
"Oh well, I guess I could try and see what are my limits anyway." Castiel commented while evading a jab from one of the tendrils this beast had.
Deciding that this was a perfect opportunity for an experiment Castiel started focusing in summoning the cursed powers from the pieces of Angra Mainyu's polluted grail that resided within him.
It was, strange. Like calling out to a group of kids to wake up. Some would wake up and start moving instantly, others would take their time, slowly waking up or refusing it all together. In the end Castiel only could summon around 30% of all the pieces within himself. He wanted to see just how strong what this truly was, how deep was the power that he was born with truly was.
And so Castiel flew above the Invite Death and released his curses.
'WHAT IS THIS?!'
Both aspects of the Spec Ops Agent (including his Ghoul Side who freaked the fuck out within the Inner World) shuddered when they felt it, a whole load of evil and negative emotions suddenly explode out from a nearby position. The eruption felt like that o a volcano or a geyser shooting out of the earth, roaring into existence in all its chaotic splendor. Not only that, but deep within it Nico and Biko sensed MUCH of the dark emotions that they had detected within the Heir himself, which along with memories of what Castiel had told them about his Curses, meant he had just used either a ridiculously powerful one, or just unloaded a whole barrage of them at once on an unfortunate opponent...
Nico thought it was the latter.
Still, if this was the power of Castiel's curses, Nico could only imagine what they could do in a wartime situation. From what he could tell, these curses were powered by sin itself, the sins of an entire species which made their negative emotions particularly thick. Condensed, even. If that was indeed true, then if they were at their full power, who knows what terrors they could cause on an unsuspecting force.
But still, if Castiel used that much negative emotion, then surely he would have emptied himself of some of that stress he had sensed, right? That was what Nico hoped, but he would only get a chance to confirm it for himself when he would talk to him momentarily. At least, until then...
'Maybe I'll hold off on my plan, for a while longer at least. It seems that there are variables that warrant revision of it.'
'Agreed.'
"Well, I guess it was a bit much." Castiel mused to himself as he looked around. If before the poison make the area ugly to see now it was empty.
Empty of everything really, all that could be seen was a whole were PART of the Invite Death escaped and black.
And so much black and evil that it developed physical form. It was like a sludge covered everything with all manners of atrocities playing on each drop. Fake promises of glory, manslaughter, betrayals, any and all forms of evil really.
It was like this piece of the world itself was tainted, somewhere that even in a thousand years would still leave others feeling dread inside, even the plants would avoid growing here with just a few exceptions.
This mountain was now truly toxic to all life, with the only exception being Castiel himself who was feeling comfortable there. A feeling of acceptance and calmness within him for his place just felt right to him.
It was like the most peaceful place he has ever been, somewhere that would bring dread and death to others was a 'home' for Castiel right now.
But, even as he felt that he could see now. Why it was that his powers were sealed when he was younger, this power was intoxicating and dangerous beyond belief. But, he still could not forgive his 'mother' for putting this seal on him, for abandoning him, for all the pain he felt when practicing magic and how damaged she let his magic circuits be. He still could remember, even after years trying to forget, how he had to feel like molten magma was flowing through his system when he started practicing, how it felt terrible and how he waited all those birthdays for his 'mom' to appear just to be disappointed every time.
He would not forgive it.
Anyway, now he was quite sure that even if Invite Death manages to survive he would not live for long and would likely end up dying in the near future even if Castiel did nothing. Heck, he was quite sure that no more attacks would come from the mountains as even these machines would not advance through here.
Just then, he received another transmission from a particular 'annoyance' when a Magic circle appeared.
"Hello, this is Castiel talking. If this is a message about you screwing up something just tell me what you need me to fix, if something else then thank God for SOME good news from you."
'Is the Invite Death dead yet?'
"Sure is. Well, dead is a powerful word, I'd say that he ran away in a similar fashion to Gaoh, but if we consider it then we will not be facing him again."
'Was he hard to beat? I mean, I felt the dark emotions from over here and there was a big load of it coming from your area, like you had to go all out and everything.'
"Actually, it wasn't hard for ME at all. The beast was launching God killer level poison like it was its birthday, melted half the forest and area with poison, but couldn't do SHIT against me. I am really lucky that my spirit bones focus more on immunities instead of pure power. And to be fair, no it was not that I HAD to use my curses full force, but I wanted to experiment with them."
'And the results?'
"I used around thirty percent, which is as much as I can due to a few problems in my body, and I can safely say that I eliminated everything in the area and the Invite Death will die soon enough even if I don't go against him. I think that using All the World's Evil in its raw state was a bit much. Oh well, I think all the evil and curses that humanity ever committed are not so easy after all." Castiel admitted with a nonchalant shrug.
'Well, t-that's something at least,' Nico responded, trying to hide the chills coming forth from down to even his inner world. All this power he was feeling from kilometers away was just 30% and in its raw state? Fuck armies, he could see why Zelretch said that Castiel could kill him period. He would DEFINITELY hold off on his plan if that was the case, and perhaps he should start thinking about not just rewards that could help entire groups of people, but also ones that increased his overall power levels. That mental and soul resistance stuff seemed oddly more appealing as time went on. 'Anyway, I've found some information you will want to hear. It concerns the final boss of this Trial.'
"Oh" Now THAT got the Heir's attention, his mix of nonchalance/annoyance towards the other male now having a tinge of curiosity and excitement to it. Information? Well, looks like the guy had done SOMETHING possibly good then. "Now that IS interesting, tell me more about it." Castiel questioned eagerly, leaning forward slightly. Information was an essential thing in the world and anything that could help him win this tiresome battle was an advantage.
'I destroyed the fleet except for the main Aircraft Carrier, destroyed the army inside and left the vessel intact. I feel like we could use it to our advantage, and that it had valuable info for us. I'm glad I did, cause I was right. It works like this, after both the army and the Invite Death are destroyed, the final boss is set to spawn right smack dab in the middle of the city. Not in the same manner as the other troops either, once it appears the vicinity is practically destroyed, half the city would be gone.'
"Well, then this info ought to be wrong in a few details." Castiel replied, furrowing his brows. "If it instantly destroys half the city then we automatically lose the battle BEFORE the final match. It is just not fair at all."
'Since when is anything ever truly fair? FORTUNATELY, it seems that whatever you just did altered its plans somewhat, as according to the data I've acquired, its changed its spawning time to 30 minutes from now. It's been put off by your attack and will be recalculating the ideal place to spawn. There's a lot more intelligence I've gleaned, but it's best if we share it in person. I'll bring the Carrier into port with Urthemiel, could you let the soldiers know that the Aircraft Carrier's harmless so I don't get shot at? It would be both inconvenient, plus I strongly believe we can use this vessel to our advantage. It is your call on that one.'
"Ok, we will use this vessel alright. I want you to approach the harbor, I will send the soldiers there while the metal golems go straight to the center of the city. Also, I will be planting a few of my unique seeds around to help safeguard the city itself as well as I can. Put all the soldiers inside and see if the main weapons are still functional, if they are use your hacking skills to learn how to use them even if marginally and put the soldiers to work. Let's win this bitch." Castiel said.
'Understood.'
After the call ended Castiel turned on his heels and went straight back to the base he had been working on before, he had left there a few seeds he inscribed with runecraft and of a... unique type, a last minute gift he had received as a reward before entering here.
These few seeds will probably help him make sure that the boss's arrival was NOT an instant game-over.
