Water Trial
Entering the trial grounds, the first thing the two did was give a sigh of relief. They were a bit worried that the first thing they would get is being drowned, but instead, they found themselves on firm soil in what looks like a gigantic bubble. At least they still had some rocky ground to walk on instead though, that was something to note for the two males.
As the two tried to walk forward, looking around the area allowed them to realize that they had been locked inside a small space that, according to some attempts, showed them that they could not leave. Though, it didn't mean either of them were worried, since there was still oxygen, not to mention that this place still had the same vibes as the other Trials. In the end, they just had to wait for a while before everything would be explained to them.
Well, the wait didn't last for long, since in an instant, a whole army of people arrived in the place they were. They all looked like a humanoid fish, so the exact MOMENT that he saw them, their appearance made Nico reflexively draw his Ebony, leveling it at one of them with his right eye, even while hidden by his Armour's Helmet, aimed down the top of the Handgun. For him those were not human, thus he should kill them. Past experiences reared their heads in his mind, prompting his actions as well as how each of them seemed to have weapons. It made perfect sense for him, but before he could shoot Castiel put Hruting in front of him and turned an eye at his direction.
"And why exactly do you think it is okay to just kill them without even knowing what this trial is all about? And for that matter, why do you even look disgusted by just some fish-man?"
"They are Abnormals, killing monsters is my jo-"
PUNCH, THWACK!
A punch was launched at the redhead male's face, though his Rinkaku came out, its tip a claw, and caught it before it could do so. The punch did its job of shutting Nico up though, as he stared with an arched brow behind his Helmet at Castiel who looked furious with what he just heard.
Fish-men, that is a race that he had many friends with and he saw first hand how they actually acted and how others treated them, the discrimination and how many of them were captured as slaves for no other reason than them being 'monsters' and 'abnormal creatures'. Hearing those words from Nico pressed a few too many buttons with Castiel, enough for him to want to rip Nico a new one for daring to utter such stupid words.
"I don't give a flying fuck what your 'job' is, but try and say that a fish-men is a monster just by being what he is again and this trial will be the smallest of your problems." As Castiel said that he flashed his energy by accident, and that was enough to cause Nico to stiffen behind his Armour. His heart almost skipped a dozen beats when a flood of terror spewed forth.
He had never before felt anything like it, it was like the epitome of what Evil should feel like and it terrified him as even his demonic side and his demonic weapons (Erebus being an exception due to her origins and nature, though even she felt it to a lesser extent) felt powerless before it out of sheer instinct. It was something he did not feel even when in front of Mundus, it was just so evil that even death felt like a blessing in comparison. 'Is this the energy he is controlling inside his body? How the hell can anyone control this?' The male wondered, all the while mentally noting how his Ghoul Side seemed to suddenly become a whole lot tenser. Likely due to the trauma Mundus had caused it, he figured.
After seeing Nico stay quiet for a while Castiel calmed down before saying. "Fish-men are just another species out there, treating them like monsters just because they have a different biology is stupid no matter how you look at it. In my universe, I have friends that are Fish-men so I don't want you to go around calling them or any other Fish-men monster just because of what they are. A monster is only defined by their actions, not their biology." Castiel explained, retracting his hand which allowed Nico's Rinkaku to return to its place within his being, before sitting down. He knew it may sound weird for Nico, but for Castiel, this was the truth he learned after interacting with many people.
Judging others just because they look different or have different alimentary habits is stupid, only your actions can tell if you are a monster or not. If Castiel did not believe this he might have even called himself a monster, just as many others probably do thanks to being born what he was, an angel that has the energy of Evil and Holiness running through him, but he'd rather die than give those fuckers who call him names the satisfaction of knowing their words had any effect on him. He would live as he wanted, taking the responsibilities he had and living the best he could without turning away from his own life, and if anyone had anything to say about he would present them a nice gift of a sword through the gut.
On Nico's side, the male could hardly make heads or tails out of what the young Heir talked to him about. Part of him wondered if he had been on drugs or something else just as stupid. How the hell could he say stuff like that with just a straight face? Not to mention put his usual passion into it like it was something right? Nico could hardly understand, nope, he couldn't get it one bit. Though, to be fair in his universe pretty much everything non-human has tried to kill him in the past, the Abnormals either from their instinctual detection of his Ghoul side, their predatory hunger, or recently the Demons who wanted to take his soul for their own. Not to mention how humanity itself back in his universe was being assaulted on all sides by beings whom weren't human. He wasn't anyone special though, as all of humanity had been victimized by them, so finding someone who sympathized with Abnormals was like finding a needle in a haystack if one went to his universe.
Granted, there were humans who did the same, and not just from the usual direct methods either. Assassins, poison, you name the underhanded tactic and he would have been afflicted by it at some point. It wasn't always low-grade criminals who tried it either, crime bosses, nobles, officials who were too fanatical for their own good, a whole bunch of different people all from different backgrounds have tried to kill him. Either due to his Ghoul side making them identify him as one of the monsters he fights, or to settle a petty grudge, even as a business arrangement. Thanks to his Ghoulish biology though, combined with his instincts, senses and keen training, Nico had survived these attempts. Therefore, he didn't have much faith in pretty much anyone, be it human or not. Plus, he'd seen more than his fair share of assholes and psychotic freaks in his time, therefore Nico pretty much saw little difference.
Castiel was wrong in what he said, it wasn't because of their nature that Nico had tried to kill them, he couldn't give much of a damn about what they looked like. The moment that they held any sinister intent towards him or brandished any weapons his way, then Nico would consider them an enemy of which he would show no mercy towards. Human, Abnormal, it made no difference to him anymore. It was merely his instincts telling him to get on guard, since thanks to those experiences, those who had similar intents towards them these guys had, well he'd show no mercy.
Kill, or be killed. That was the law of how his world worked on a basic level.
It was also a world every Spec Ops Member found themselves in.
Before he could say any of this however (and incur Castiel's wrath likely), the voice of Zelretch spoke up, getting their attention. Though, it looked like only the two males could hear him. "Alright you two lovebirds (cue glares towards the outside of the bubble by said 'lovebirds'), here's the next trial. Your job is to fight your way through a horde of enemies and reach the commanders. They won't appear until you'e defeated a significant amount however, so fight hard. Oh yeah, I should probably mention that large-scale attacks are both disabled and ill-advised thanks to the bubble your in being inside a deep ocean. Lastly, its going to gradually fill up with water, so you kiiiinda have a time limit. Now then... 3, 2, 1... LETS THE FIGHTING BEGIN!"
... Why did Zelretch sound like some announcer at the end there?
'... In that case, I should be able to go at them, then.' Nico thought as he shifted his gaze from the outside, slowly, towards the rest of these 'Fishmen' people, according to the Heir next to him. Looking them over, Nico searched for any signs of hidden weaponry, whilst Castiel got into a ready stance with Hrunting. His eyes narrowed into a gradual predatory look, whilst he felt a twitching sensation in his left eye. Within the Helmet, the eye itself gradually shifted, the iris becoming crimson and the sclera darkening into an abyssal black. Crimson veins spread across the eye and onto the side of his head, and before long Nico's Kakugan had formed. He held both Ebony AND ivory out towards the Fishmen whom each readied their own weapons, causing Nico to look them over more carefully than before. It looked like to him, that these beings sported things like swords, axes, pitchforks and other primitive weapons... though, that wasn't to say him and Castiel were any different since they too wielded similar weapons.
Both males ended up jumping towards opposite directions, one going to the left and the other going to the right. Both ad determined stares whilst they prepared to fight in one heck of a large brawl.
On the left side, Nico landed in a crouch, sliding to a halt before he stood up, holding Ebony and Ivory out before him as the Fishmen all began charging towards him, unified battle cries echoing from their mouths. The moment he raised his dual Handguns, Nico closed his eyes, time seemingly slowing to a crawl as he thought backwards. It... must have been a while since he had last used these guns, the fight against Castiel in the beginning not withstanding. Perhaps it had been due to Leanbox's atmosphere, but Nico found himself hard pressed to recall very many times where he had used these particular Devil Arms against the enemy. The one time that DID stick out in his mind however, was the time when he had unlocked their powers while helping Vert out with that decision of hers.
'Alright Nico, here we go. This battle may proceed to be long and tedious, however if we want to correct our earlier mistake, then we will have to endure this. It was our arrogance, our opinion that relying on the Inner World for this kind of process was the right course of action, which brought this current situation upon us. It may cost us dearly, but correcting our mistakes is a large part of what we do,'
'Oh, i'm aware of that, Biko. Though, I will admit that...'
Now, part of him, the part of him that still believed that he needed Castiel's knowledge on how to properly apply the bloodlines of other beings, couldn't help but wonder if, through their talk, that he should just go in for the kill. Not like he would play with his prey as he usually just tore them apart without hesitation, but if he wanted to be as efficient as possible then Nico would likely have to do some ground control. After all, Zelretch did say that this place was on a time limit so it wasn't like he could afford playing around. If he wanted to make a comparison, perhaps the urgency he felt when he felt the girls being in danger the moment that he had awoken from that 2 week long coma after being poisoned at the Gala. If he were to lose the biggest source of knowledge he had aside from the Lexicanum, it would likely be a whole lot harder for him to undo the mistakes he had made previously.
Thus Ebony and Ivory, much to Biko and even his own fortune, actually became their most viable option for this Trial due to their powers. Rapidly firing bullets of the demonic enhanced or... some of the other kinds would surely fit this scenario to a T. Should he come face to face with the commanders though, then Nico felt like he would have to get serious somewhat.
Speaking of powers...
Opening his eyes, Nico glared at the enemy before him, the desire to kill burning inside his eyes like fiery storms as he began drawing on the knowledge of these Handguns. 'Odds are, i'll have to stick to normal demonic bullets and those 'Balas' which they mentioned when they awakened. Ceros sound like something comparable to large-scale destruction, which isn't allowed in this trial...' he thought to himself as he began going through the 'process' for a pair of Balas. From the tips of the barrels of both Devil Arms, circles of crimson electricity formed, crackling constantly as energy began building up within the barrels interiors.
Both eyes bulged at the last moment. 'Now, fire!'
In a second, the barrels unloaded two hand-sized orbs of concentrated Demonic Energy, both of them shooting straight into two of the Fishmen. None of them noticed the balls being fired until the moment they were launched, and thus when they did each of them tried to slow down their charge to try and dodge it to no avail. For the moment that the balls were launched...
BOOM-BOOM, SPLATTER-SPLATTER!
...
...
...
They pretty much zoomed through the air at impossible to perceive speeds, and ended up reducing the heads of two Fishmen to nothing, not even mush was left behind as their corpses soon got propelled backwards from the force. They got sent flying through the air and crashed into the ground, leaving small craters in their wakes.
'Holy shit!' that was all that the male could think, eyes wide from being... more than a little bewildered by the sight he had just seen. It definitely paused the approaching Fishmen, whom looked at their fallen comrades with shock, and then fear. None of them had seen something move so fast before, heck even Nico had a hard time keeping up with those shots.
All the while, the redhead male looked down at his Guns, Guns which looked... somewhat friendly in his eyes, as if they were two children eagerly awaiting praise for the 'good deed' they did in protecting their wielder. 'Geez... those Balas have SERIOUSLY surpassed the force of the default Demonic bullets I regularly use with these babies. I can see why it said that those things were 20 times faster than a Cero, in exchange for sheer attack power. The force behind them more than compensates.' Nico thought in analysis, examining both his black and white guns whilst the Fishmen, now getting over their shock of what had happened, turned absolutely livid.
Their combined roars filled his side of the area, which made Nico look up from his inspection of his Handguns to see them coming. His eyes narrowed as he got the feeling of bloodlust from Ebony and Ivory once again, along with irritation that these enemies dared interrupt their 'time' with their wielder. Raising both Handguns, Nico made to fire a series of Balas at them in rapid succession, creating a long stream of them which blew countless heads to nothingness. He made sure to aim for their heads, to make sure to guarantee a swift kill whilst he kept them at a safe distance whilst the Fishmen charged.
Not too long afterwards though, Nico decided to switch tactics a bit. Whilst he kept is two Devil Arms out, he decided to change the technique he had been using for them to better deal with the crowd of approaching enemies. Firing Baalas was all well and good, but he recalled one specific technique which could accomplish his goals much faster, one which he unleashed just now:
A variant of the Cero known...
As the METRALLETA.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-!
Upon firing it from both guns, dozens upon dozens of Ceros rained down upon his opponents, shredding through them with practiced ease. It almost looked like he had two handheld chainguns in his grasp, tearing through his opponents like they had been nothing but tissue paper. Screams, howls and cries of agony filed his ears as Nico kept a straight face. His eyes shone with a blade-like coldness, the flashes of the Ceros being unleashed from Ebony and Ivory's barrels lighting up his face like lights in a disco.
'HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YES, YES, YES! THIS IS IT! THIS IS WHAT WE ARE MEANT TO BE! RIPPING APART OUR PREY WITHOUT ANY SHRED OF MERCY, WE ARE THE ULTIMATE MONSTER, WE ARE THE APEX PREDATOR! NOW, IF ONLY YOU USE THE KAGUNE AND RIP THEIR STILL-BEATING HEARTS OUT OF THEIR CHESTS, THEN WE'D BE SET!'
The ranting Ghoul Persona cackled in a demented manner, but Nico ignored him for the time being.
About 6 minutes in though, the Fishmen seemed to close considerable distance between them, enough so that they were about 3 meters away from entering the range of one of his larger swords. Though, if it were just that then Nico wouldn't have been that bothered by it, since it would only have been a matter of time before he would eventually be forced into close quarters combat. However, there was a little... something extra which he had to contend with. Amongst the Fishmen ranks, Nico noticed several of them getting into a stance that he recognized as Karate. It was a stance which he recognized from some of his fellow Agents, a lot of them originating in Leanbox.
If that was all though, then he wouldn't have been worried, but the moment they began unleashing these complex-looking movements, Nico's Ghoulish eyes honed in on tiny droplets of water being drawn in from the surrounding atmosphere. They were then launched towards him at surprising levels of speed and force, making his instincts go wild as they screamed at him to tilt his head aside. The teen of course, followed his instincts since it was the most natural thing eh could do right now, which thus caused the attacks to miss... and destroy the ground behind him.
'What the...?! What the hell...?! Ok, that's it...! I'm fucking pissed.'
THAT earned them some of Nico's ire, since he had been keeping them away so he could pick them off groups at a time (even if some had used their weapons to shield their faces, his Balas just busted them as well). He had no idea what this new style of Karate was though, but judging from the attacks he had seen thus far, it seemed to be both versatile in its multitude of ranges, as well as powerful as all hell. However, if these guys began using these ranged water attacks, not only will he be distracted in blowing them out of the skies, something which he had discovered to be quite durable, but it would keep him from keeping the rest away for a few precious seconds. They could succeed in distracting him long enough for their comrades to close the distance. That could not be allowed, no matter what. 'Tch, they're getting closer. It won't be long before they force me into close combat, and I doubt they will let me draw any of my weapons out. Hmmmm... in that case...'
Flashbacks to his fight with Logan back in Skies end filled his mind, more specifically near the end of the final battle between them, prompting Nico to smirk darkly beneath his helmet. His eyes shone bright red with Demonic Power, as Soul Edge suddenly manifested on his back from a fiery vortex. 'Alright Soul Edge... your task is simple: guard me while I pick these guys off from afar. Using Soul Eater is unadvised for now, however. Use Hellfire to make your Inferno form to do so, your form should be enough to intimidate them enough to snap them out of their rage temporarily.' he spoke mentally, commanding his strongest Sword to do his bidding. Several rattlings on his back signified that his sword had accepted the orders, before it practically leapt off his back, spinning through the air like a person doing front flips, before Hellfire ERUPTED out of the blade.
By the time it landed, Soul Edge had already manifested it's Inferno mode, the fiery knight from hell stood tall from its crouching position, its form leering menacingly towards the Fishmen as it brandished the Sword and roared like a banshee.
SCCCCCCCRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Its shriek filled the air itself, causing the Fishmen to each pale in fright and horror at the sight. Startled gasps and loud exclamations of fright escaped their ranks at the sight of the roaring flames which rose from the dreaded Hellfire-made knight. Just the visage of this infernal knight gave them the feeling that they would be consumed by the fiery depths of hell itself for their sins, burned to nothingness with no regards to any kind of relief from their plight. Raising Soul Edge, the Knight Inferno brandished it at them using one hand, holding it with its demeanor just screaming 'come at me, bro!'
While Nico was throwing himself in the enemies, Castiel took a deep breath as he analyzed the situation.
'It is clear that these are not real Fish-men, the fact they disappear after death is a dead give away for that, but that doesn't mean I am THAT okay with killing them. It just means that I don't have to love this, but seriously I am just glad Nico will never go to my world or he would die within a week with his half-assed strength and his tendency of only looking at things from his own side. It is almost like he is a child trying to paint the world in black and white and not understanding the shades of grey and other colors.'
When he finished his internal rant, Castiel changed from his bow to his two swords, Hruting and Clarent, so as to wreck havoc around the place. However, that didn't mean he would stop paying attention, as it seemed to be clear that the more they kill, the stronger these Fish-men became. Proof of this came when he saw how some already knew the basics of Fish-man Karate, a martial arts style which manipulated the water in the atmosphere and on other people's bodies. A brutal Martial Arts to be sure, especially when wielded efficiently. After dodging one particular strike by reflex, Castiel recalled a few masters of it back in his universe and the sheer destruction which followed it.
As he started moving ahead, Castiel finished his chanting for using Siegfried while also activating Blut Vene to raise his body's defense to higher levels. He knew that while Nico's 'strategy' of fighting like crazy and hope for the best was 'viable', that was something those more warrior types would do, trust in their guts and all that nonsense of thinking himself invincible. However, Castiel was trained and raised differently. In his core, he was still a magus that was raised and trained as such, a close combat magus, true, but a magus nonetheless. If he could make things favorable for himself he would take that extra step.
Besides, with the way this test was designed, it was most likely a test of endurance, not on taking too long in the test but in fighting enemies on all sides for a long time frame. This was something that became obvious to the Heir shortly into the battle itself. Raising his defenses and preparing to tank properly instead of exhausting himself sounded better since he could waste less energy in evading enemies.
With his preparations set, Castiel reinforced his body before running towards the first fishmen. He cleared the distance between them in record time, not bothering with evasion thanks to making himself like a literal tank. He did not even bother using his sword as he instead used his knee to hit him squarely in the face with a satisfying *CRUNCH* by the end of it.
A loud series of exclamations, both shocked and fearful, erupted from the Fishmen as they beheld one of their own getting absolutely destroyed. Not stopping, he used both blades to become a whirling of death, with his defenses now reinforced to absurd levels he could instead focus on attacking with abandon much like his head haired ally, but without wasting time and energy evading.
If looked from the outside it was terrifying, he not only attacked with both swords with extreme speed and power he also released light energy arrows from his arm all the time, writing runes with his feet on the ground to create ice, fireballs, pillars of rock, and other natural phenomena, he also started mass summoning his Cursed Dragon Tooth Warriors to help as well. It could be said he was doing everything, he even launched a few jewels in the distance to create large explosions after testing one.
'So my own abilities of mass destruction are not allowed, but if it is an item unrelated to my own energy and that I possess I can still use them properly. Thanks for the loophole, damn uncle!' Castiel shouted in his mind (although really, what was the point? Since his Uncle was... well, Zelretch) as he started launching multiple small gems all around him.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
Countless explosions erupted around him, filling Castiel's vision with the sight of black from the smoke and orange from the heat. Not to mention the smell of charred sound of rumbling filled his ears, making Castiel remark to himself. 'Geez, uncle you made this real life-like...' The blonde Heir thought. As a result, he cleaned great areas all around him. Even when someone managed to hit him all attacks ended up causing a shower of sparks, no damage to his body.
However, it was clear that the more he advanced and the more enemies he killed, the stronger and stronger the enemies were getting. Hell, it gradually became more apparent that he needed to rely on his offense more the more time passed, since his combined defense of Siegfried and Blut Veine gradually lost its effectiveness. Defense was all well and good, but sometimes the best defense was a good offence...
Though some brain would also help.
'This will not be nearly as easy as I thought, there have been some new variables that I wasn't aware of beforehand. Thankfully, I at least prepared myself beforehand.' He thought as he continued fighting. Blood flowed around him like ribbons of liquid, almost as if it were being guided by his hand as he took out groups of Fishmen at a time. One second practically got filled with the falling body of a Fishman, and Castiel sorta lost track of time a little, as in he didn't know how many seconds had passed shortly into the fight. However, no matter how many enemies he took out, Castiel still didn't see much of an end in sight. There was practically ZERO end to the enemies, and he honestly knew this was getting a bit harder with time as they seemed to be moving a bit better with time, almost as if they knew what his next move would be like.
After a while of this, the blonde heir's eyes narrowed, the light of comprehension shining behind his eyes like searchlights. It became all too clear how he had realized what this was all about. Especially with how he looked at the eyes of the still-standing Fishmen and noticed a similar look to some of a certain set of clones back at the Tower.
'Oh, I see now. So they are like the SISTERS back in the Tower. They can transmit knowledge for the others, probably after they die, so they get harder and harder to beat as they keep learning our moves. Odds are, it is likely based off their own individual experiences, after all according to biology, the eyes ave visual receptors which feed signals into the brain through waves. That's how sight works, somewhat. Well, that is going to complicate things, especially if the knowledge they have on Fishmen Karate gets united. That would be terrifying.' Castiel thought as he examined the situation, clenching Hrunting and Clarent in each hand whilst he adopted a defensive stance. Throughout the a battle, he could hear the sounds of explosions ringing over on the opposite side, so at least while Nico's plan wasn't the 'best', he still seemed to be hanging in there for the time being. Odds are, he'll likely mess up somehow and ask him for help so he'd best mentally prepare himself.
As time passed, things only escalated from there.
Both boys had noticed by now, how the strength of their opponents gradually got greater and greater. Their attacks gained increased strength, ferocity, speed and versatility. Not only that, but the Fishmen's intelligence gradually became sharper as well, allowing them to form co-ordinated battle plans to thwart the efforts of their two main opponents. Aside from that, their Fishman Karate styles each grew in strength the more time passed, making dodging/blocking/evading them increasingly difficult. Their initial attack strategies would have had to change, and thus change they had.
On Nico's side, the redhead Spec Ops Agent had noticed what had been happening, referring it to a Hivemind-like situation similar to the Banshees and Necromorphs back in his home dimension. Part of him wondered if destroying the head would make this process invalid, however he quickly crushed that little spark of hope. There were several reasons for this: One, from what Nico knew of Zelretch, he didn't seem like a guy who would let something like that happen in any of his Trials. Nico would have been a fool to consider otherwise. The man was as intelligent as he was strong, after all. In addition to that, information traveled at speeds similar to lightning, so even if he kept destroying their heads with his Balas, the information processed will already have left for the other Fishmen, something which was proven thanks to the rising difficulty in fighting them even though he was still ramping up headshots like a child collecting moths.
As a result, the redhead male forced himself to change tactics, and adopt a new strategy to combat this threat. Thus, he decided to keep Ebony and Ivory firing their Bala all around him, scoring headshots by the milliseconds, all the while he would use the Perks in the Avenger and Berserker Packages to artificially generate his rage. That rage would go to Ebony and Ivory's Demonic Power, increasing its potency and concentration to result in further attack power. Since he was using their power and not his own, his own reserves remained in tip top form, too, something which he would take full advantage of thanks to how his fiery Knight Inferno keeping the enemies at bay with a mixture of Hellfire blasts, slashes, geysers, wheels, manipulating its shape and form to best suit its purpose of keeping them from getting close to its master. The Knight blurred about the space around him, covering any and all angles Nico couldn't, and if he were honest, then he would say that Inferno's swordplay rivalled that of a master while the Hellfire prowess matched such a skill.
Over on Castiel's side, the young Heir decided that, since his opponents were learning his moves, he would just adapt accordingly. He became nothing but a blur on the battlefield, passing through one section after another and leaving next to nothing in his wake. Nothing but destroyed Fishmen, to be more accurate. In contrast to Nico, Castiel kept on spamming dozens of Dragontooth Warriors, telling them to group up on stronger Fishmen to wear them down for him to finish off himself. As for the weaker ones, Castiel would quickly take them out with his swords, arrows and curses, inflicting the last one on groups of enemies to make them kill one another. Not something he would have liked seeing, so he always looked away when he did do this... though, to be frank the sounds of their pained cries and fierce howls filling the air did little to calm the Heir's agitation.
He didn't like killing these guys, even if they weren't real.
Even so, however, Castiel refused to lose in this Trial. Not just because of the rewards which would help him get stronger, but also because a straight-up brawl like this wasn't something he came across every day. No tricks, no illusions, no hidden intentions, just one big brawl which got harder and harder as time went on. This was actually reminding him of the Greek Pantheon a little bit from the few times he had went there for diplomatic reasons, as well as to learn how to be a proper leader. Zelretch may have been a troll-like asshole at times, but there were more than a few times where he meant well. It was just his way of helping people involved some serious migraines on the receiver's side, something that Castiel wondered if he would forge into salt and then drink it out of a cup. Meh, he probably would, maybe then take some cocaine since his body was unaffected by practically anything, just to get high. Wait, wasn't that a song made by some rockband back in his universe or something? Huh... well, the more you know.
At that point, however, things got real... uncomfortably so, in fact.
The reason, the first few semi-bosses appeared. One of them headed for Nico and looked like a small Fish-men with large teeth and a wicked smile, while on Castiel's side it was a large and fat Fish-men that was part hammer shard and carrying a big hammer.
Castiel could feel that this guy was far from being his equal, only around low Ultimate-class, but this did not mean that he would take him lightly. Jumping at him quickly he tried to use Hruting to finish him quickly only for the fish-men to swing his hammer at him with enough strength to actually equal Castiel.
'Fuck, I know I am better at defense but my strength is nothing to laugh at and he still equals me in it?' Castiel thought as the hammer-wielding Fish-men continued his onslaught towards Castiel. The bigger problem is that there were hundreds of enemies around that kept attacking him, making him smile at the fact he had the foresight of putting on his defense properly before.
As he tanked most attacks from others he continued to evade those from the giant enemy in front of him, and he noticed how he always left an opening right after an attack.
'You are mine." Castiel yelled as he jumped ahead and used his sword to cut a big gash over the shoulder and almost cut in half his enemy by changing from Blut Vene to Blut Arterie, even if it was far from that efficient since he barely could use the attacking focused Blut Arterie, but even if weaker it still was enough to raise his powers and make him able to deal enough damage in the enemy.
Seeing this as a job complete he decided that this was a 'job well done' and was about to leave the area to keep fighting the enemies when the Fishmen took out a pill from his jacket.
"I will not be defeated by the evil humans, dosun." He said before taking the pill.
As he ate the pill his powers sky-rocketed and he instantly reached the top of mid Ultimate-class, he came attacking again but this time his eyes were red as he grew even bigger.
Castiel decided that it may spend too much energy, but he had to deal with this guy fast and if he would just possibly keeping standing up again and again then he had to eliminate him now. With that set he thought of something good. If he wanted to quickly increase his energy than at least this would be of proper use to him.
With that he ran at the enemy while cutting down all fish-men in his path as he saw the hammer approaching his head to splat him against the ground, Castiel opened his wings at the last moment to redirect himself and avoid the strike before using said wings to jump at the enemy's back of the head. This was a position that most would think would mean an possible instant victory and he could easily crave his sword at the base of the skull and be done with it, but instead Castiel put his left arm on the enemy's head as he locked his legs on his neck before activating his left arm spirit bone.
The feeling of energy that the enemy was exuding was quickly being devoured by Castiel as his reserves were replenished and even his vitality was returning, the use of his left arm spirit bone being the greatest during this sort of situations where there were plenty of enemies to fight against. The giant tried to attack him, but the weird position limited the number of ways the hammer-shark Fishmen could actually reach him and even when he did Castiel quickly evaded or blocked the strikes using his wings. As the giant's energy was lessening he tried to keep eating more pills, but no matter how much his power grew it would all be devoured and by the end all his energy and even his soul was eaten away.
'Well, at least now I am back to how I was at the start. Also, with this extra energy, I could try and release some good curses around to spend the energy.'
As this thought entered his mind he pulled from the energy of his evil core (a name he decided instead of calling it seed or something of the sort) and mixed the evil energy with the one he obtained from this enemy before he put his hands forward, a curse he imagined and developed a while ago but never found a proper chance to use sprang from his mind.
"True Evil Series: Gluttonous Servants of Beelzebub."
With that thousands upon thousands of black grasshoppers appeared from inside his mouth as he expelled them all, they were made based on one of the plagues made to be used by Moises and they had similar effects. Eat.
Eat everything in their path, and as he could not control their curse to never be full and there is no way for him to control who they could or could not eat then this was as good a chance as any to use it, the only one else that was there beside Castiel that could be affected was Nico and considering that he was not close to the area of attack of this spell then it was fine.
It was a good thing that Zelretch did not think much on what exactly defined large-scale destruction, this attack clearly had a large area but it also could be seen as thousands of small attacks so it could pass just as his creation of cursed dragon tooth warriors could work.
Thinking outside the box and exploiting flaws no one else notice, this was the very crux of a magus.
After blasting another Fishman's head off, Nico glanced to his right when he sensed something coming. When he looked to the source, Nico noticed it to be a cookie cutter shark-looking Fishman . It looked... pretty small, actually, much shorter than the ones whom Nico had been blasting to oblivion so far. Heck, even Inferno looked at it weirdly, as if to question 'the fuck are you doing here, kid?' before screeching and resuming its rampage.
As for the Fishman, aside from its height the Fishman had circular eyes, a flat nose and sharp teeth. Nico noted how his arms seemed to be quite notably larger than his hands in comparison, and his skin tone wasn't any shade of blue like the rest of the Fishmen he had seen, but red. It also wore a distinctive head gear composed of a hat similar to an aviator's, with two massive protrusion on both sides of the head, pointing upwards, and decorated on the front, paired with a plumed crest on top of it. It also wore a dark, sleeve and zipperless open jacket with a fur collar and a pair of Bermuda shorts.
While it ran towards him on all fours, the sight of it seemed to rally the other Fishmen. Those of them whom had been too frightened by the sheer destruction Nico and Inferno wrought on their rampage, now felt the courage from its appearance knock aside their fears. With unified howls, all the Fishmen charged at Nico like furious soldiers laying siege to a castle.
Swiftly, Nico raised his twin handguns and began unloading Balas onto the creature's ass. In his eyes, it didn't seem too threatening, not enough to be completely bothered with. Soon however, this changed to slightly threatening when he noticed how each Bala... got chowed down on when the creature chomped on them with its teeth. Didn't even slow down when doing so, nor did it even try to dodge the well-aimed, precise attacks coming from his practically blazing Ebony and Ivory. 'What the...?'
'Interesting... this creature seems to be able to withstand the Baalas, Nico. Those teeth it has are likely highly reinforced, if not just by calcium then perhaps its natural biology is superior to that of an ordinary human. Looks like its different from the small fry. If I were to guess, this guy would be a semi-leader. Meanwhile, close combat may be your option soon enough.'
Before Biko could continue, Nico noticed how it was getting way too close for comfort, and upon glancing to Inferno, Nico noticed it had been pinned in one place while colliding with multiple weapons at once. Therefore, Nico swiftly reacted: holstering his Handguns and pulling out Rebellion from his Void Storage to bring it to bear against his opponent. The instant that the creature leapt at him, Nico raised his sword and then brought it down in a downward slash, intending on cleaving it through with one swing from it's HF enhanced blade.
However, the moment the two met...
Nico's eyes narrowed darkly behind his Armoured helmet when he saw the creature practically chomp down on Rebellion's blade. As a result, sparks continuously flew between them whilst electricity constantly flew from the connection point. Yet, the creature didn't react all that much, in fact it would be safe to assume that it didn't even feel the sparks at all.
Not the same for Rebellion though...
At the moment of collision, the male mentally winced when he heard a high-pitched whistling sound coming from the link he had to this particular Devil Arm, so instantly he pulled out Ebony and aimed at its exposed stomach. A Baala soon shot out with a loud FWOOM, slamming into the creature's gut to send it flying and forcing its maw to let go of Rebellion.
Looked like he'd have to watch out for those teeth.
'KING! SHOW THIS FUCKER WHAT IT MEANS TO STAND BEFORE THE TOP BEAST AROUND HERE! BEAR THOSE CLAWS OF OURS, RIP OUT ITS GUTS, TEAR THROUGH ITS INTESTINES AND FEAST ON HIS ORGANS! SHRED IT TO FUCKING PIECEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!'
'... That's all I needed to hear.'
Nico mentally nodded, already forming a plan to counter this new threat while holstering Ebony. He soon noticed how the creature had already jumped into the air, maws open wide... before burying itself into the ground. 'Huh?'
"Lord Daruma has Burrowed underground! That evil human has no chance of getting to him now! ATTACK!"
With the cry of one of the frenzied Fishmen, the rest of them charged forth with the intent of supporting their leader. It would be at this point, where Nico could see Inferno getting overwhelmed bit by bit. Of course, it wouldn't be easy nor would it take a short time to overpower a fiery warrior such as Inferno, however Nico could see it beginning to lose ground at a pace which, by all means, concerned the heck out of him. Even so however, Nico had a plan to deal with the Fishmen around him, as well as this one called 'Daruma'.
Quickly, Nico sprung into action, noticing how the ground below him seemed to be rumbling, just like when he fell into the Monster Cave so long ago. However, unlike back then, Nico jumped high into the air. Nico managed to jump up to 200 meters into the air just a SECOND before Daruma could surface. Much to the Fishman's annoyance, as he howled with fury while shaking a fist at him. "Argh! Curse you, human! How dare you not let yourself be engulfed by my jaws! Come back here!" he yelled, jumping up after him. The instant that he did, the Fishman quickly erupted into flames, making him look like a fiery shark as he flew up after his opponent while prepping his jaws to bite into the redhead Spec Ops Agent.
However, Nico just grinned at him as he swiftly held his hand out. The moment he did, Inferno suddenly howled as, in an instant, it erupted into a 10 foot tall vortex of Hellfire, incinerating dozens of Fishmen in all directions. The sword it was controlled by, Soul Edge, soon shot through the Vortex and back into his waiting hand. 'Alright Soul Edge... time to showcase your power!' he thought to the blade, clutching its hilt as he raised it to the space above.
"Hehehehehehehehe! Your puny stick will have no effect on me!"
That was what Daruma yelled as he closed the distance between the two of them quickly. The flames covering his form shielded him from the winds, making him look more like a meteor rising up to the heavens. Just as Daruma made to bite down however, Nico struck first, bringing his sword down on Daruma's head.
However, that was not the only thing that happened, for the sword itself got engulfed in flames as well... Hellfire flames to be exact, which came directly from Nico himself.
FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSH-SLAM!
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
The instant that the blade met Darums's form, the flames covering him practically gave way to the superior Hellfire-covered Soul Edge. The strike which had the reinforcement of Hellfire, as well as its scorching hot nature. The blade itself thus, promptly took advantage of the opportunity and, without any restrictions, slammed into Daruma's shoulder-blade with absolute strength. The strength, sharpness and overall impact pretty much shattered the creature's collar bone, as well as sliced right through its arm to sever it completely from Daruma's body.
Nico himself, followed up with a 360 degree twist, smacking the Fishman with the flat side of his weapon to send him crashing to the ground below.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A huge sound erupted upon impact, the Fishman Daruma's body being the cause. The moment that he crashed to the ground, creating a massive crater in its wake, the other Fishmen paused their attack, eyes enlarging into black and white circles while their maws hung open. Shock raced through their ranks, as well as disbelief in what they had just seen.
Meanwhile, Nico just landed opposite the fallen fishman, smirking darkly whilst holding a now bare Soul Edge towards his right flank, his landing having caused the ground beneath him to shatter like glass. Standing upright, the male glowered at his opponent, having pulled his hood up to shadow his face in darkness. Before those Fishmen surrounding him could get their bearings to attack him again, Nico quickly swung his Soul Edge, igniting its flames to create a semicircular wave of flame This resulted in each of the Fishmen around him screaming as the flames burned them to nothingness, incinerating them without anything remaining. Not even their weapons were spared, such was the power of Soul Edge.
With that done, Nico sought to identify the corpse of his opponent. Using his Ghoulish senses, the male checked the space before him for any life signs for the Fishman, just in case he hadn't killed him just yet. He would not make the mistake a lot of rookie Agents made and turn is back on an enemy unless he was SURE they were dead. He'd even seen that happen more than a few times during some of the Quests he'd taken over the years, and it would NEVER be a pretty sight.
'I can't detect any life signs there, you think that attack would have killed it?' Nico thought to his Demon Persona.
'Likely. Even weakened, Hellfire burns at over 3000 degrees Celsius. Such a flame would have burned everything it could get its hands on, so the enemy should be-'
Before Biko could finish however, both of them sensed something erupt from the ground behind them. The redhead male's eyes widened at this, before he shifted his head to gaze behind him, happening upon the sight of an armless Daruma jumping up at him. Hellfire burns coated his entire right side, thanks to that being the side he had slashed, all of those burns being high degree.
Not to mention, that something seemed to have... changed, within the creature. This had become apparent by how it had its muscles expanded, grew to the height of an average fishmen, and its eye sockets showcasing nothing but mindless bloodlust. "You well NEVER defeat me, puny huuuuummaaaaaaaaaaann!" he yelled, jaws open wide while attempting to bite Nico's head off...
For the male to Warp out of the way, leaving Daruma to chomp at nothing but air.
"Huh?! Wha-?!"
"Idiot."
STAB!
"GAAH!"
Nico shook his head in mocking, having appeared behind the Fishman and impaled him through his back and out his chest with Soul Edge, imbued with his own Hellfire. Maybe it was a bit of an overkill move, but the male didn't care. He wanted this thing incinerated, just like the rest of them.
That was what the flames did next, after all.
Once the flames died down and nothing was left of the Fishman, Nico looked around, seeing more Fishmen coming at him with fury in their eyes. Apparently, they must have seen their commander's demise by his blade, thus wanted to avenge him. That was what he could tell judging from the negative emotions saturating this place. instinctively, Nico went about shifting Soul Edge's form into a pair of Dual Swords. Both swords had the same fleshy grips, with hand guards that had human skulls built in, their heads sporting curved demonic horns that curved around the fleshy hilts. Above the skulls were wide open eyes, akin to Soul Edge's large sword-like form. The sides of the handguards were crimson chitinous fingers merged together to form a pair of demonic wings, with the main blades protruding from the base of the Skulls' chins. Each blade was an identical length of a sword, composed mostly of crimson metal but had fleshy interiors.
Instantly, Nico got into a battle stance, holding his dual Swords and imbuing them with Hellfire. Afterwards, the male burst forth, beginning his own little thing called 'Mass Genocide'. Something he did on occasion when Bandits or other criminals were his targets. All the while, Nico deployed his Armour and then had Soul Edge infuse it with Hellfire too, making him turn into another version of Inferno and multiplying its defenses even more. Thus, the Demon descended down onto its opponents, intent on leaving ZERO survivors.
About 5 minutes into the slaughter...
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
Nico shifted his Helmet-covered head to the side, socket-covered eyes narrowing when he saw countless explosions erupting like those of a volcano, heat and ash roaring into existence as the sounds of dying Fishmen filled the air itself. Nico himself scowled behind his Helmet, eyes shining in confusion as he quickly deduced the cause of such explosions. Spinning a full 360 degrees and launching a wave of Hellfire from Soul Edge, pretty much immolating his surrounding opponents and incinerating them into nothingness, Nico frowned. 'What the hell's up here? Didn't Zelretch say that there was to be no large scale attacks? So, why is Emiya using such offensive measures when it CLEARLY goes against his rules? Does he even care about this trial at all?'
It was then, during that bout that an idea hit him, one which came from Biko himself. If Castiel was doing that shit, why not him? All the while, Nico engaged one of the swords Soul Edge appeared as in its dual blades form with a Quicksword technique, alongside launching continuous waves of Hellfire to his surroundings which resulted in a shower of Hellfire attacks slamming into groups upon groups of Fishmen at a time. He also returned Soul Edge to its default form afterwards, then manipulated his Hellfire into his free hand till he had a basketball sized fireball over it, tossing it into the air afterwards.
Once it reached the height of 50 feet, Nico mentally commanded it to initiate its attack... which resulted in it spitting out golf ball sized fireballs down at the Fishmen which would have the impact force of a double Decker buss slamming into a wall at full speeds. Bones got shattered, organs melted, and entire bodies got set aflame, all the while he remained untouched.
Despite the glee he felt from the blade, Nico kept an eye on his surroundings. 'Even if Soul Edge is enjoying this slaughter, it would be wise to keep my guard up. Emiya's probably doing is business 101 thing and manipulating the rules to better suit his own ends. Though, its not like I'm incapable of doing something similar, the events at the Hellverse come clearly to mind there. Still... perhaps we can put SOME of the knowledge that he shared with us to good use here, see how effective it really is.'
'Indeed, and since I'm a part of you, I can sense your mind already beginning plans to see how far we can take this new information. Try using that new Spirit Bone we got from that Crimson Fatalis, along with the one we got from that Boar creature back in the Hellverse.'
When Biko said those words, Nico's eyes shone with remembrance, flashing as he remembered those two encounters all too well. 'Oh yeah! I almost forgot about those!' The male thought to himself. The male then mentally commanded those two Spirit Bones to appear on his legs after focusing on their presence, deep within his legs, and with two flashes, the two Spirit Bones appeared.
Although, Nico didn't show any discomfort from this as he looked upon his opponents, whom had once again surrounded him and were once again on the charge. Just by looking at them, Nico could feel the hatred and other negative emotions rolling off them in waves.
Although, Nico didn't necessarily feel too threatened by them at this point, as he mentally recalled what his two Spirit Bones could do.
The first thing he did as he saw the Fishmen close the distance between them and him, to a point where they were a sword swing's distance from him, was activate his Boar Spectre's Spirit Bone on his right leg. Thing was, the male also activated his Rinkaku as well, sending 2 Tentacles towards his opponent. The energy from the Spirit Bone, true to his internal theory, transferred over to his Kagune, which ended up using its devouring powers on the Fishman with his Rinkaku as a medium. As a result, he fell to the ground and looked like he had lost all energy.
In contrast, Nico felt like he was on high, likely due to the energy surge. 'So, it looks like I managed to gain energy from those strikes... though, it felt marginally weaker in comparison to using just the Spirit Bone. Transfering its ability to my Kagune weakens the overall power, but it lets me attack multiple foes with the ability as an offset.' Nico mentally noted.
Startled exclamations ran wild through their ranks, wondering what had happened all of a sudden... none of them expecting it to have come from the Bones on Nico's legs.
Meanwhile, said male recalled what his Spirit Bone's rules were after his little revelation. 'Mental fortitude determines how much energy this thing can absorb using its powers... the greater the fortitude, the lesser amount of energy absorbed. Looks like these guys are just grunts after all, if they are affected by just this...' the male thought to himself, frowning before the male looked to his other Spirit Bone.
'Calling down Meteors over a wide vicinity sounds like too big a risk for us to take, judging from the rules established. It would feel to me like it would be classified as a large-scale attack by Zelretch's pre-set rules, which means I can only use its other ability safely: the flammable Gas.' The male thought to himself before closing his eyes. Memories of his fight with the Crimson Fatalis, as well as records he had seen of its other variants in the Spec Ops records, played in his mind.
This gas had been used in a multitude of ways by this beast, for example it would imbue the gas within its claws and fangs, thus making its attacks cause huge explosions seconds later, explosions which would make his PHANTOM EDGE look like a small itch in comparison. Either that, or it would breathe it out of its mouth and form a straight line by swinging its neck at the same time, resulting in a line of explosions triggered by each other's detonation.
Nico felt he could make a few means of using this gas from this Spirit Bone.
With that opinion in mind, the redhead male Mentally commanded it to start exuding the gas, something which followed right after when the Bone started radiating this orangish, blackish colored smoke from its form. After this, Nico looked to his opponents, each of the Fishmen having slowly gotten back to their feet and looked to be reorganizing their ranks. Several of them looked to be organizing the rest into groups once more, for the process of resuming their attack. Some groups had already began to charge at Nico, intending to get revenge on him for the humiliation he had caused them.
Though, none of them dared to treat him as any less of a threat than they would an opponent which could cause city-wide devastation, as evident by the lack of mindless rage shining in their eyes.
'Looks like they're wising up...' The redhead thought, narrowing his eyes behind his Helmet as he analyzed their movements. He could sense attacks coming from behind, and according to his calculations, they would end up getting the chance to strike first in comparison to the ones up front. 'Well then, lets throw them off their game even more.' With that, Nico raised his left leg, causing the Fishmen to tense as they quickly made to slow their movement down.
Too late however.
For the moment Nico performed the back kick, the gas radiating from the Spirit Bone had launched itself like a herd of angry bulls, rushing through the air and down a straight line. The gas rushed down the teen's rear flank, ending up right at the edge of the bubble surrounding the battlezone for the Water Trial. None of the Fishmen within the gas's embrace would have had the chance to wonder what the fuck just happened, for in the next second...
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
A chain reaction occurred within the Gas itself, causing this long trail of explosions the size of a single caravan to erupt into existence. These explosions took the Fishmen which had gotten caught up in them by storm, leaving no survivors in their wake as the smell of charred Fishmen filled the air around them.
Those that didn't get caught?
Well, Nico didn't let them have the chance to register what had happened as he quickly began using a combination of his Quicksword technique and his Hellfire blasts, ending up causing massive destruction around him with each swing of the massive blade claiming groups of lives into smithereens and absorbing their Souls. All the while, since nothing had happened to him that the rules of the game didn't say that his attack just now had been a large-scale one.
Looked like Emiya was right about what he had been talking to him about business. This would DEFINITELY come in handy later on.
It was during the mid point of the battle, when the two boys found an opening in the army and thus, promptly regrouped. Castiel arrived at the regrouping point (something which he had told Nico about via magic circle com array to which Nico agreed) via simple running. All the while, Nico arrived in a more... stylish manner flipping through the air while doing multiple tricks and spins before landing on the ground beside him with a crash. Once he landed, the redhead teen walked back to his comrade as the two stood opposite each other.
After evaluating Nico's energy, Castiel found himself pleasantly surprised when he noticed how... little of it was actually used. In fact, it barely looked affected at all, like he had never used it. 'Huh? That's weird, I could have sworn I had sensed him using some fire attacks before...' he thought to himself, before looking to where he had been fighting.
That was when the heir noticed looks of heavy fatigue across that side of the fishman Army, like they had their whole energy reserves drained out of them. 'Ah, that's why... he must have something which drains the energy of his opponents, just like my World Devouring Wolf Spirit Bone. That's actually some useful information...' he thought to himself, looking Nico up and down before his eyes landed on his legs. Or to be more specific, the Bones that glowed while attached to them. 'Looks like that Boar Spirit Bone's the one, and its ability isn't anything to scoff at. Alongside with that ability to seal one skill at a time inside itself, if Nico uses it correctly that Spirit Bone will be someone's nightmare on the battlefield. That other one though... feels like something from a powerful spirit beast. At least 100,000 plus years or something... wonder what it does.'
On Nico's side, the redhead Spec Ops Agent also analyzed his companion, noting that the guy also had suffered very few injuries to his person, even less than himself for what he could see. Not even had his Armour on unlike himself, although Nico used it since he didn't like relying too much on his regeneration powers. Having good healing matters shit if you rely on it too much and end up overtaxing it, thus Nico had gotten quite good at defending and dodging attacks, but in pure defending he could see that Castiel had an edge over him, especially considering that disgustingly defensive wings and how tough his skin could be.
Furthermore, the guy's clothes looked to have minor rips and tears in them, something Nico noticed that he got every trial they had been in so far but got magically restored when it was over. 'His energy looks to be barely affected throughout this whole battle. Looks like he has something similar to my Boar Spirit Bone, then, likely that same thing which tried to devour my Bikaku during our bout.' he thought to himself, before mentally nodding in satisfaction with his analysis and beginning to speak. "You look like you're doing fine on your end."
"Yeah, you could say that. Truth be told big battles are kind of a perfect stage for me." Castiel said as he used his eight wings as if mobile shields. It was not even that hard for him after all his defenses were impossibly tough to begin with, and considering that he knew how to divide his mind to execute multiple things at the same time he felt confident that even if the numbers were that much bigger he would still be on the winning side.
Besides, he still had not used the power of his mystic eye until this point to anything besides the better vision, and now that so many 'practice dummies' were around, it was as good a chance as any to see how much he could use it.
Castiel then turned to the thousands of enemies and decided to try it out. Putting energy into his right eye he turned it a shiny gold with no irises, but the strangest part was how everything in his line of sight started appearing with tints of gold, almost as if there were small stars around everything ahead of him.
That is, until he made those stars connect between one another, eliminating anything in between. It was a bloodbath of absurd speed, everything in front of him started being consumed in sparks of light as bodies started dropping everywhere around.
It was a surprising skill for Castiel himself, he could see the light energy before in the air but manipulating it was almost impossible before, but now that his understanding of light has increased a bit more he could start manipulating light to a degree.
Meanwhile, seeing the prowess of this person, Nico refused to be inferior by any means towards anyone, especially someone he had developed something of a rivalry with. Thanks to what he had learned with the Boar Spirit Bone, Nico had an idea in regards to his Fatalis one, as he unleashed his Rinkaku and Bikaku. He split the power of the Spirit Bone into each of them, the gas swirling around each appendage of his Kagune, making it so that when they connect with things, they will leave behind the gas which would cause explosions. After doing that, he held Soul Edge in its Default form as he reignited his Armour, becoming a flaming inferno as he burst into motion, blurring throughout the battlefield and tearing apart everything in his path.
One could say that, if they saw these two unleash their powers on these Fishmen, would say that it looked like a freaking MASSACRE of the highest order, neither of the two surpassing each other but remaining mostly equal. There was a difference between the two however, and that was their opposing Natures. On one side, one looked like a holy spectacle, like a divine angel of death descending from the heavens to punish the wicked in the most brutal manner possible due to how Castiel constantly sent out rays of light from his wings which both blinded and burned his opponents en masse.
On the other side, the other looked like a sinister, twisted and disturbing disaster as if the entire landscape was being terraformed by Hellfire, explosive gas, blood and soot, making it look like the legions of the underworld had emerged from their fiery pits. Their task being to drag down the souls of the unjust back into their domain, where they would be punished for all of eternity. Blood flowed, limbs were being torn apart, holes got made in bodies by the dozens, it was just an all-out merciless slaughter.
In the end, though, the results from both of these approaches were the same.
Death and destruction to all in their path.
RRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
It was then that a roar echoed in the distance as three giant shadows appeared, a giant squid with dozens of tentacles with all having almost one hundred meters, a giant humanoid Fishmen with a stupid face, as well as a monstruous creature with five eyes, hairless eyebrows, a wide jaw with large teeth, amphibious fins on its head, 7 octopus tentacles lining his chin like a beard. It is bipedal, with a big broad chest, a large belly and muscular arms with octopus tentacles sprouting out of its forearms and it has an enormous amphibious tail.
Sensing that they had some new arrivals , both the bloodstained 'Angel' and the 'Demon' looked towards them and registered their presence. As a result, both of them regrouped and stopped their destructive onslaughts for the time being as they began marching their way towards their opponents.
"I get two and you get the other." Nico suggested, or rather stated as Soul Edge almost squealed in delight. It honestly wouldn't are as long as it could revel in the bloody slaughter some more, the brutal savagery shining in its eyes at this point.
Though, that didn't sit well with the Angelic Heir as he aimed a narrow-eyed glare Nico's way. "Fuck you, I get two and you can be with the other one. Or if you think this is absurd I can go and get all three." Castiel yelled back while advancing towards those three.
In the end... it resulted in the two arguing like little toddlers. Shows that down to the core, that they were just children, huh?
"NO, I am the strongest one so I should face the danger and you stay with the small fries!"
"NO! I am the strongest so you can go and do whatever!"
"Ugh, you're insufferable, you know that?! You know what, lets make this a race! Who beats three can be the leader during this mission!"
"Fine by me, I am a natural leader after all!"
And so, both fighters approached the next challenge of this trial.
