Chapter 172 - Quite the First Impression
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The sounds of utter chaos and relentless destruction filled the surrounding areas like a plague quickly covering a city, as 3 different battles took place. Battles which had combatants who possessed powers beyond that of any mortal man, woman or child, with the enemies being titanic level beings who had retaliated with just as much gusto as they did. With these combatants, it became no surprise that the ensuing conflict had reached a HUGE level of intensity, so intense that one might thin that a full-on war between two colossally huge armies had begun occurring. Explosions of both vapor and snow covering the three battlefields as they erupted like geysers of hot springs. The number of these so-called 'geysers' reached the hundreds mark, sort of similar to a constant barrage of mortar fire which completely WRECKED the land which they erupted from without mercy. A misty fog had thus blanketed the entire landscape, making it so that over several hundred miles worth of land got concealed by its thickness like someone was hiding their face behind a white quilt cover to avoid their embarrassment being seen. Furthermore, various energies could be felt in the air, each of them carrying their own signatures and sensations, coming from all kinds of sources who had grouped together to fight off their respective attackers, attackers who responded with equal if not deadlier force.
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Of course, if one actually managed to get close enough to this scene, then they would see that some of these battles had more of an intensity to them than the others, one of them being the one between two maidens and a lone male warrior against a massive white monstrosity, one which held dominion over gravity itself it seemed due to how it fought, repelling large scale attacks like they were nothing more than bug bites to its flesh. Vicious gales and whipping winds surrounded THAT particular battlefield, almost forming a makeshift barrier to conceal the combat from prying eyes. As for the second most intense battle, it took place between a massive crimson colored armadillo-like monstrosity and a group of young maidens who flew around its vicinity, peppering it with attacks one after another though the effects of said attacks showed themselves as minimal at best.
As for the third battle…
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"WRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"
A loud shriek erupted from the Kraken-like abomination's mouth, utter fury and vicious aggressiveness fueling said shriek as its many Tentacles thrashed and thwacked around like they were continent smashing sledgehammers. Each Tentacle tore away at the ground around them with relentless abandon, leaving behind craters and fissures large enough that entire skyscrapers lying on their sides could have been buried beneath them. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on whose perspective one looked at this situation through, the ones it attacked managed to each dodge through their own means: two doing so by the means of their own ways of flight, whilst the third used the Bionic arm in its Cannon Mode to shoot powerful Lightning blasts that propelled the user across large distances, sometimes using the various craters and fissures as cover.
'Geez, this fucker's got some defense to it, not to mention the way its Tentacles keep making my strikes not reach it's main body…' one of them, the currently transformed Spring Goddess Lucy, thought to herself as she twirled her Spear in front of her then followed up with a few horizontal slashes, deflecting multiple Tentacle slash attacks until she flared her wings, shooting upwards to avoid multiple more. Not to mention that, when she noticed that above the creature's 'mouth' area a single eye had opened, Lucy made to throw her Staff like a Javelin into it with enough force that it would have just impaled it like any blade, only for the Monster to wrap its Tentacles around her form, restraining her movement and then smashing her into one of the previously generated craters.
Fortunately, Lucy managed to recover her wits as the Monster tried to bring her closer to it for feeding purposes, as evident by the many 'fangs' in its circular mouth within the Tentacles opening up, and then launch a counter strike. From the ground beneath them, a whole field of spikes made from wood burst out, stabbing through the gaps between the Tentacles and, upon her command, shifted into 'V' shapes to allow her to escape. Through the battle, she had seen that so far any of her constructs generated through her Wood Manipulation skills couldn't even make a DENT in this thing's Armour, hence why she hadn't tried to impale the Tentacles themselves. 'Ravey is going to be LIVID at all the destruction being wrought on Lowee… hopefully, she won't wreck my sweet ass too much, I still need to use it to ride on Nicky-Jr after all!'
Quickly, Lucy looked up when she saw Aiden flying on overhead, expertly weaving in and out between Tentacle swings as he slowly but surely closed in on the creature. However, he couldn't get very far, as upon dodging the tenth swipe the Kraken's 'eye' shot wide open, proceeding to briefly glow in a similar manner to the aura around its body… before a large projectile launched itself forth from it's eye. Aiden only had a split second to react, and he did so by quickly folding his Wings back into his jet pack and shot downwards, avoiding the Projectile by a hair… although a piece of his shoe touched the projectile and disintegrated instantly, exposing a section of his foot beneath it.
"Don't let those projectiles touch you, Aidy!" Lucy called out as she once again took to the skies, dodging several Tentacles as she pointed her Staff at the ground beneath the Monster. The moment she did so, a series of Trees began to shoot out like a bunch of geysers, causing the Monster to let out a surprised screech as it got propelled into the air, about 20 meters off the ground. 'Tch, if I were in Leanbox, I could have propelled it at least 60 Meters…' the plant haired Goddess thought as she quickly pointed her Staff towards the ground again. This time, wood pillars shot out and combined together, forming a makeshift humanoid 'hand' that clenched into a fist, quickly punching the beast in the side of its head to knock it back at least 60 meters away. "Looks like those things disintegrate on contact!"
Aiden himself gave a sharp nod as he unfurled his Wings again, allowing them to flap once and propel him back up into the air. It helped that he managed to repel a couple Tentacles during his ascent by unloading on them with Missiles fired from said Wings, stopping them from slamming onto the space where his ground companion Ivan stood firing his Bionic Arm in Gun Mode into several others. He then twirled around till he faced the direction of their adversary, his lips cured into a frown. "PROTON BEAM!" He bellowed, a grey energy sphere forming above his head from the grey energy that instantly covered his Wings. Soon, it launched itself in the form of a large beam, roaring like a beast as it surged towards its target… said target retaliating by firing another one of its Projectiles at him.
The moment that the two attacks collided… much to Aiden's surprise, he saw his Beam lasting only a single instance until it quickly began disintegrating by the Projectile's hand, as it advanced through the air, intending to collide with him. Heck, his beam couldn't even slow the damned thing down, almost like it continuously ABSORBED the energy into itself to use as fuel to propel itself further. 'What!? Energy itself is also affected?! Could it be that this thing attacks can destroy things even to the atomic level?!' the male wondered, his frown turning into a worried scowl as he quickly cut the Beam's power and flew out of the projectile's path, once again narrowly avoiding it by a hair.
Down below, Ivan managed to take a look at the attack himself, and from the angle he looked at it from, his eyes soon widened when he saw what REALLY went down with the beam. 'Shit… that's bad! Looks like the beam isn't even coming into direct physical contact with the projectile!' the male thought in dread, switching his Bionic Arm into its Rifle Mode to fire on several Tentacles trying to stab him from above, slowing them down long enough for him to jump backwards, switching his Bionic Arm back to Canon Mode to fire more Lightning Bolts to propel himself further. 'Its like there's an aura around the projectile that shares the projectile's properties in that it destroys whatever comes near it, no matter what. Its like… its like it destroys any form of MATTER itself, through an annihilation reaction!' the male thought further as he landed on the ground, sliding to a halt… and just barely stopping himself from falling into one of the Craters.
It wasn't only Ivan who figured this out either, since Lucy herself, after using her Natural Energy to 'read' the beast's 'aura' managed to come to a similar conclusion herself. 'Tch, something like that… combined with its strong defense and you get one hell of a combatant…' she thought, though part of her also wondered why the heck that she or other Spec Ops Agents hadn't heard of this thing's existence before. Was it a new Abnormal that recently came into being? It wasn't unreasonable to think about this, since it had happened many times in other Quests in the past, where new Abnormals popped up out of nowhere and utterly wrecked everyone's shit. However, something else about the Beast's aura caught Lucy's attention… but before she could clarify it in her mind, she had to dodge another projectile, this one launched directly at HER, as if it had sensed her trying to probe into its secrets.
Shooting towards the ground, Lucy glanced towards the crater behind her comrade, and after a couple seconds an idea formed in her mind as she quickly glanced towards Ivan, yelling out the following commands. "CYBORG, do you think you can draw it close to any Crater?!" she bellowed, to which the male looked over to her and quickly gave a nod of confirmation. Seeing this, Lucy herself proceeded to bark out her next set of instructions. "Good, do that, then wait for my signal! When you do, get the hell outta dodge!" After saying this, she then proceeded to swing her Staff upwards, several pillars of wood rising up from the ground beneath her feet that then 'sculpted' themselves, becoming a literal ARMY of long Spear-like projectiles that she then launched towards the Kraken-like monster by pointing her Staff at it. This also got helped by Ivan himself, who aimed his Bionic Arm and fired MANY Lightning Bolts at each of them, each wood piece catching themselves on fire thanks to the Lightning to transform them into fiery projectiles instead.
The moment that they hit the creature close to it's eye (it having blocked a majority of them with its Tentacles though some managed to break through by slipping between the gaps between said appendages), the Kraken-like beast howled with anger as it raced towards Ivan, choosing him as a target since, unlike his comrades he himself would be an easier target for it to crush. The creature smoothly moved through the ground, tearing it apart and creating a trail of smoke in its wake to make it resemble more like a runaway building on a collision course with him. Seeing this, Ivan paled, quickly muttering a couple curses under his breath as he flipped backwards, proceeding to fall into the Crater behind him that he had ALMOST fallen into previously.
Now, the thing about THIS particular Crater, was that unlike many others this beast had created with it's Tentacles this one seemed to be made from MULTIPLE Craters meshed together, resulting in it becoming quite… large, as in large enough that it could EASILY fit the beast inside of it with there still being room for more. Part of Lucy had speculated if she could have buried the creature alive by luring it in there then manipulating the continent's earth to form a Forest over it, using the creature's own life energy as a resource, however THAT level of power required her to be in Leanbox to pull off, so she had to go with the next best thing.
Thanks to using his Bionic Arm to propel himself deep into the Crater, the beast quickly followed suit, eager to catch the easiest of its prey and devour it whole as an appetizer for the other two. The beast slid down the crater after its prey quickly spotting it close to the Crater's center, so it quickly proceeded to launch its Tentacles forwards, intending on grabbing it then quickly retracting its Tentacles for its prey.
'Goddammit, looks like I have to fight for my life here! Not like I haven't been doing that since the beginning, but still!'
On Ivan's side, the male gritted his teeth as he felt his heartbeat skyrocket in intensity, pounding away so loud that it felt like it was happening close to his eardrums, which felt like they would burst at any moment. The winds whipped around him as his clothes rustled in response to their wild caresses, all the while he kept the effects up by constantly firing Lightning Bolt from the Tesla Coil-like Cannon his Bionic Arm took. Each bolt flew through the air like the bolts of the Greek King of the Gods, Zeus himself, striking the approaching Tentacles dead center, stopping them in their tracks whilst the bast's tenacity continued, making it persist in its efforts. More wild curses flew out of Ivan's mouth at this as images of what could possibly happen to him once the Tentacles inevitably grabbed him ran through his mind. Thanks to his body being tampered by the Solitary World God Training Nico had made him go through, his combat ability had DEFINITELY risen to a much higher level than it would have been before, but the Manual didn't provide anything like new offensive abilities like the ones he currently commanded aside from sensory ones, no it focused more on refining the physical body. Thus, he didn't know if he could say that he could take on foes on the same level as the girls and Nico. Right now, though, he could DEFINITELY say he felt immense pressure as he struggled with all his might to delay the beast long enough for his companions.
'Vice Leader, whatever your plan is, please do it quickly, cause I don't think I can hold this fucker off much longer!' the male thought, sweat rolling off his brows.
Just as the Tentacles got close to grasping onto him…
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At the very LAST second, grass, trees, plants, all kinds of flora erupted out of the Crater rapidly, quickly enveloping it. One tree even managed to grow out from beneath Ivan, shooting upwards and taking him with it, allowing him to avoid the Tentacles which grasped the Tree instead. Shocked and outraged, the Kraken monster quickly proceeded to tear the Tree out of the ground to shred it to bits, causing Ivan to start tumbling back down, the male flailing his arms about like a wild man going "whoa-who-awhoa…!" alll the while. Fortunately, the sound of wings flapping caught his attention, allowing him to look to see Aide shooting through the air, scooping him up by grabbing him by the back of his waist and then ascending high into the skies. Of course, the Kraken monster tried to grasp the two of them with it's Tentacles, but with some skilful flight prowess on Aiden's part the two males managed to weave in and out of their strike paths, resulting in them escaping the Tentacles long range.
"Okay, THAT was a close one! Dude, you couldn't have timed it any later?!"
"Apologies, securing rout was necessary."
Outrage climbing rapidly within it, the Kraken's eye bulged widely at the fact that it had been denied its prey AGAIN, now feeling itself slipping into a berserker-like rage as it thrashed around wildly against the rapidly growing forestry in an attempt to destroy it all, though it didn't seem like it even acknowledged the… strangeness happening around it until it became far too late. Up above, Lucy held her Staff pointing downwards towards the Crater with a look of strained concentration on her face, her staff's tip shining a bright green as she constantly poured HUGE amounts of power into her current actions. 'Nnnngh! This is straining me more than I thought… I'll likely need some time till I can transform again once this is all over…' the young woman thought, sweat rolling off her brow in waves as veins could be seen pulsing on various body parts, all signs of the exertion that she did in order to bring this phenomenon to life outside of Leanbox. It didn't help that the beast kept destroying her Forest during its formation either, forcing her to pump more power in as she manipulated the life energy to make this all possible.
By the time the forest became big enough to fill the Crater's entire bottom section, Lucy quickly made her move, generating several large 'plants' similar in appearance to that Venus Flytrap plant that she'd once used back when on that one mission in Leanbox, each of them being differently colored roses that shot towards the beast which had been trapped by an army of Vines, Grass and Trees to limit its mobility. These plants then, once they got close enough to the beast even as it fired projectiles from its eye, eventually opened their 'petals' up in a manner similar to Venus flytraps, spraying multi colored gasses onto the creature.
"Ummm, whats that stuff for, if I may ask?" Ivan questioned as Aiden floated over to the strained Goddess's side… whilst trying not to think about how being held like a bride or a princess right now diminished his manly pride. Though judging by the redness on his face, the humiliation and embarrassment he felt inside definitely felt real right ow, though he mentally focused on the task at hand knowing that to be more important… that and he didn't want to be dropped to the ground since he knew for a FACT, that Aiden would do so if he were ordered to. He WAS more of a soldier than Ivan himself, after all. "Some kind of blindness causing agent?"
Lucy shook her head, responding swiftly. "Hallucinogenic, the gases those plants sprayed will induce it in a hallucinated state, making the beast distracted like a drug addict on high." She explained simply and as quick as possible whilst watching the beast swerve back and forth like a morning drunkard. The plants, having down their job, swiftly retreated into the ground as Lucy felt over half her power having been used up at this point causing her frown to increase whilst her eyes narrowed into slits. "We can't be lax, regardless. With how large it is, I doubt it'll last long, so we have to go for the sole weak point: the Eye." She explained sharply, swinging her Staff and a plant rising up next to her, opening its tip to form a makeshift 'platform' of sorts. "Use this, then try and shoot this thing in its eye." She commanded afterwards.
Ivan quickly nodded at this, all too eager to get out of the hold Aiden had on him and save what little dignity he had left. Flipping out of his colleague's grasp, the male landed like a knight on the platform as he shifted his Bionic Arm into Sniper Mode. Meanwhile, Aiden himself began charging up for another PROTON BEAM, his wings spreading out whilst they began charging up power, with Lucy doing something similar. Only, in her case she reared her Staff backwards and prepared to throw it like a Javelin, the Staff erupting into one of green, crackling energy which let sparks of said energy out into the surroundings.
"Nnnnnnngh! HAH!"
"HOH!"
"EAT LIGHTNING, MOTHERFUCKER!"
Gritting her teeth at the feeling, the woman let out a loud war cry before throwing her Staff forwards, a loud BOOM echoing once her hand let go of the weapon with a wave of green energy shooting out from her rear as well. All the while, Aiden got his energy gathered into a grey Sphere above him, this time though it being about 2 times LARGER than his normal shot… which fired as a larger than normal beam seconds later. As for Ivan, after he quickly got into a prone position, the male took aim with his Bionic Arm in Sniper Mode, and then fired a couple rounds.
WHOOSH-WHOOSH-WHOOSH!
SMACK!
"WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"
Thanks to the state it had been in, the beast failed to see the incoming attacks on time, and as a result the attacks hit home… right in the space where it's eye had been, carelessly exposed thanks to the state it had been in limiting its ability to sense danger as well as its rationality. The moment that they hit, multiple explosions concealed the monster's visage, although the loud shrieks of agony it released pretty much confirmed that their attacks had hit.
"Alright, it worked!" Ivan proclaimed whilst pumping his human fist, his Bionic Arm resetting itself back to normal. He then shot up to his feet, grinning broadly at the sight of the massive smoke cloud, formed by their combined attacks. "We definitely nailed that thing really good, this time, hell yeah!"
His happiness got dulled down by his friend quicker than a rabbit munching on a carrot, however, when Aiden scolded him whilst flicking his forehead, not realizing that he put in a little TOO much strength and almost knocked him off the plant Platform made for him. "Early assumptions are disastrous. Confirmation of victory is necessary, idiot, lest you wind up a corpse in early life." He stated, before turning back to the smoke as his eyes, concealed by his Goggles since the battle had begun, narrowed dangerously. Since they hadn't seen the body yet, Aiden wanted to make absolute CERTAIN sure that their foe had been vanquished. Too many rookies and even overconfident veterans died in the field due to such negligence.
Lucy said nothing in response to this, but she didn't need to since the fact that she agreed with the latter of the two males had been made clear by the still tense demeanor that she sported. Whether or not the damage had been extensive or not waited to be seen, but as the three of them knew, an eye was ALWAYS linked to the brain itself, so if they struck in that area deep enough to pierce its brain, then it'd all be over.
However, when she tried to pick up the creature;'s aura with her natural energy sensing abilities…
"?!"
"Hm?"
"What, what's wrong Vice Leader?"
Noticing her slightly wider-eyed look, each of the boys questioned her on what had unnerved her, only to look back at the smoke as it cleared up. When it did so enough for them to peer through… they soon figured out why she had been shocked: since there had been no sign of the creature's body, nothing at all to imply that it had been slain. Both boys gaped at the scene, whilst Lucy bit her bottom lip, figuring it out quickly. "Looks like we only wounded it, since it managed to get away. I can tell since I can sense remnants of its aura around here…" she remarked, glancing downwards and noticing a… rather large tunnel down beneath the space that the creature had once occupied. "Looks like it somehow managed to bury itself underground to escape that way." She commented further, unsure as to how it managed to do so since it was a literal Squid-like creature, but the facts before her weren't a lie.
Thanks to this revelation, the trio stared on in silence, worry and dread blossoming in their chests since their instincts told them that this wasn't over. It may have attacked them for other reasons, but now it had become… personal. They could feel it in their very BONES.
"FUCK!" A loud curse escaped IF's mouth, the brunette clad in her Armour form as well as sporting two sets of Tentacles along with her Tendrils. Whatever she wanted to say afterwards, she couldn't say it due to an attack that came her way MUCH too fast to be avoided properly. This attack came in the form of two laser-like crimson 'beams', ones which IF knew for a FACT would no leave good results if they completely collided with her flesh. She'd made that mistake early on in an attempt to figure out what would happen should she get hit completely, thus only got grazed in the arm that time.
Lets just say she did NOT want to get hit completely by them.
In an attempt to mitigate the damage, the brunette flapped her wings and shot herself upwards, just BARELY Getting her right foot nicked by those lasers that struck the ground beneath her, then trailed themselves along it to the space behind her. As for her foot itself, the Armour around that place seemingly… it seemingly grew rusty, like it had been in the same place for an EXTENSIVE amount of time, dripping down to the ground as tiny forms of dust like the remains of wood after being cut in half by a chainsaw. 'Dammit, good thing that I managed to keep the Armour around my feet more 'layered' at the last second, otherwise that could have taken my entire foot…' she thought to herself as her Armour restored the damage done to it.
The cause of those beams, the eyes of the lizard-like monstrosity before her, kept their gaze on her with their owner snorting derisively, prompting her to gain a few tick marks as it repeatedly fired more beams at her whilst she dodged like all hell. To an outsider's perspective, the brunette looked like a series of afterimages, reflecting how fast she had to move in order to stop herself from getting completely hit by those beams. In her eyes, the brunette felt like her Armour may as well be useless to her since it couldn't completely protect her from the aging effects those lasers apparently had, although the more she had seen them in action the more she came to understand the creature's ability.
According to her mental calculations, she built herself a theory that the beams that thing fired, could weather down objects as if over several thousand years passed in a single instant, she had proof of this statement by the times she had experimented with her own body contacting the beams, not to mention the ground hich the Beams touched. The snowy plains each looked like they had long lines of hard earth from the weathering ability having melted the snow and evaporated the water that had been created as a result. Not only that, but in the distance, IF had spied with her RYOKUGAN a few animals within the battle's general vicinity, and when these beams contacted with them… well, lets just say there had been little remains of their skeletons afterwards. Furthermore, the brunette felt that there was a limited range these Beams could reach, and according to her observations it seemed that the maximum range… turned out to be about 5 kilometers.
Joy.
However, even knowing this IF made sure to stay within their effective range, something which any NORMAL person would think as completely stupid. 'Well, they'd be right, it DOES seem kind of idiotic, honestly…' IF thought with a mental grimace, barely ducking under a pair of Lasers in time as she shot forth towards the Lizard monster, only to be knocked back by one of its feet (which had been swung with surprising speed for something of its size), sending hr flying through the air although she managed to recover by flipping backwards multiple times. 'However, I want to give my body some chances to get exposed to this rapid weathering, so it can adapt to it, cause judging by how this battle has went this power it has seems to be its main form of offence, so if I adapt and become immune to its effects, then I can literally wail on the fucker without worry. Of course, the next thing I'll have to worry about is that shell it has, but then again…' With a glance upwards, IF smirked knowingly under her helmet, seeing several figures in the skies far above them. 'That's what THEY are prepping to tackle…'
Just as IF finished thinking this and trailing off, multiple flashes appeared in the skies above the battle zone, which soon became humanoid silhouettes which fell down towards the creature's shell from above like multiple descending meteors intending to purge the world of all life on it. Those figures had multiple different glowing auras around them, one being purple, another being black, then a green one and finally a white one. However with her RYOKUGAN active, the brunet saw them as Purple Heart (who had her Soul Caliibur in its Railgun form), Black Heart (with Balmung in hand instead of her CPU sword), Green Heart (with the Spear named after the Heroic Spirit Brynhildr) and finally Compa (who currently had the Angels Metatron and Gabriel deployed), each of them looking just as resigned as the others did whilst falling down through the skies towards the creature's Shell.
"Alright, we know the plan, right?!" Purple Heart declared to the others as she shot straight down, her Railgun Soul Calibur already prepping to fire. Not to mention she decided to activate her Skill ARCHONIC CONVERGENCE too, proof being the dangerously crackling energy within the Railgun's barrel. "When we get within 5 kilometers of the enemy, we strike with a bombardment of ranged attacks!"
"Yessie!"
"Yeah, yeah we know already Neptune!"
"Indeed!"
Several replies came back to her from the rest of the girls, each of them circling around her as they all fell down towards their target. This plan they had come up with, to attack from above like this had been devised by IF herself actually, using her own BOW-made body as a decoy due to how highly adaptable, resilient and evolution-prone it was, in order to keep its attention on her long enough for the rest of them to get into position. This plan had been made on the basis that, throughout the entire battle, their attacks hadn't even registered to the beast thanks to its immensely strong defense provided by its crystal shell, which also implied that it didn't see them majority of their group (or any of them, really) as worthy targets to be acknowledged. Whilst this stung at their pride more than a little bit, it also opened up an opportunity to gain the upper hand in the form of a surprise ambush attack… although Compa, Purple Heart and to a lesser extent Green Heart had objections to this plan. In the end though, IF managed to convince them to agree, reasoning that them working together to beat back this monster could count as proof that they had come far in their previous training montages.
Hence, the current situation.
Nodding her head in response to their cries, Purple Heart gathered the last of her energy for her Skill's discharging, narrowing her eyes whilst closing one and using the other to aim down the top of her weapon towards her opponent. Behind her, the woman's wings shone brightly in the skies, illuminating the scenery thanks to the Share Energy coursing through her HDD Self. Similar occurrences happened to the rest of the girls; signs of their own individual attacks being readied for their ambush.
The more seconds passed as they neared their target, the greater their speed increased, almost reaching terminal velocity kinds of speeds. 'Come on… faster… faster…!' The girls thought in unison, mentally preying that things would work out like planned…
Prayers which…
"?!"
"Eh?! That's…?!"
"Oh, you have got to be KIDDING me!"
"This is…!"
… Would go on unanswered when several startled exclamations escaped Purple Heart, Compa. Black Heart and Green Heart's mouths respectively. The reason? Simple, the Center of the Beast's shell opened up, revealing what looked like a stalk with a bulbous tip… one which opened up to reveal a third eye. The moment that the eye revealed itself… the eye gave a single 'blink'… before it unleashed a TITANIC sized beam upwards towards them, its width so vast that it overshadowed the entire creature.
FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
'… A third eye…?!'
That thought passed through not only the transformed girls, but also IF's mind The beam surged through the air towards the girls, who stared on in absolute bafflement. There had been little to no time for them to react, not to mention with what they DID have, evading the beam entirely proved impossible. Well, maybe not for Black Heart since her Light attribute allowed her to move at high speeds, something she quickly recalled before quickly firing off her charged Balmung swing. The goal of her hastily thought out plan had simply been to make sure EACH of them got to out of this intact, whereas if it had been her past self the transformed Goddess knew for a FACT that she would have been too 'frozen' to act properly in time.
…The time you spent trying to change is bearing fruit, Noire. Good, very good…
Siegfried's voice sounded in her mind, but she didn't pay too much attention to that, too focused on the whole trying not to get rapidly aged thing going on at present. The attack Black Heart had launched, her TWILIGHT WAVE, erupted in a 360-degree angle. Not only blowing away each of the girls who exclaimed in surprise at the action, but also allowed the Lastation Goddess to shoot right out of the beam's way with a single flap of her Wings, NARROWLY evading the beam itself.
'Okay, THAT was a close call…' the said Goddess thought to herself, flipping through the air repeatedly until she managed to right herself. 'That third eye opened up out of nowhere, if I hadn't reacted on time then… I honestly don't want to THINK about what the effects that Weathering could have been imposed on us…' she thought, gritting her teeth as her heart hammered away within her torso thanks to that particularly close encounter. Gripping Balmung tightly in her hand, Black Heart shouted out to the others with a tone that broke through the battlefield like a Drill piercing the heavens. "You guys all alright?! None of you got turned into old hags and die?!"
A scoff escaped Green Heart's lips as she glanced over, looking like the next person to recover from the incident. "Hmph! Who do you take me for, Noire?" she questioned in an affronted tone. "There's no way I'd allow something so RUDE as ageing to affect my lovely maiden skin, not even after I eventually take Nicky's innocence." She proclaimed, almost unleashing an oujou sama kind of laugh but refrained. Soon those words got the rest of them out of their funk, if the angry glares sent Green Heart's way were any indication.
Still, Black Heart figured THIS to be better than being frozen in fear like a bunch of stupid idiots, so she curbed her anger for the time being… after all, it wasn't like she was part of the whole 'Nico lover' situation, she had more pressing matters to attend to. Like taking this bug out for example, as she looked down at it and saw the Eye blink, a slight glow starting to envelop it. "Oh, crap! Here it comes again!" she called out to the rest of them, prompting the girls to notice the same things she had and quickly make to form a countermeasure…
"OI, FUCK FACE!"
That is, until a loud bellow from IF caught the Lizard's attention as it glanced over with its head towards the brunette's direction, seeing said person charging STRAIGHT the fuck towards her opponent with a mighty war cry. She'd even entered her Awakened Form whilst doing so, pumping her Wings full of Biomass in order to generate stronger flaps, propelling her forwards faster. Her right arm had also morphed too, becoming her Shield whilst the left had became her Bio Cannon, as she aimed it and fired multiple timed towards the Beast's eyes.
Although, this didn't work out since it simply shifted its head so that they instead blasted into the Armour over its face, causing IF to curse in her mind. 'Shoot, missed! But at least this confirms a few things for me…' she thought as she continued her flight path, watching as the two ruby red eyes start to glow as a sign of two impending Beam attacks forming within. 'Looks like that Third Eye it has DOES fire off a stronger version of those beams, with a stronger Weathering effect, one likely at a longer range too, but there's a catch. It didn't continuously fire it for long, meaning that it has a limit to how long it can can be used, and afterwards it takes a moment to recharge. Hence why its charging up its normal eyes right now, not to mention that it isn't moving either, another likely side effect.' The brunette thought, analyzing what she had seen so far in her mind in just under a couple seconds.
Good thing too, cause the moment that she finished the beast's eyes released two laser Beams right at her, prompting IF to quickly out up her shield… and upon coming into contact with the attacks began constantly restoring it with her Biomass and regenerating abilities, a trail of dust left in her wake. Watching how her Shield both degenerated as WELL as regenerated at the same time, IF didn't repress the smirk threatening to appear on her lips, exposing some of her fangs she possessed in her current form. 'Great, the effects are finally enough for my body to adapt to them… glad I took the time to slowly get myself used to the Lasers thanks to those small hits, otherwise I don't think that I could have lasted even a second under this weathering effect…' the brunette thought as the weathering process gradually, as in by dozens of minutes a a time, began to slow down with her own defenses starting to last longer.
Seemingly sensing this, the lizard monster's eyes widened at the sight, IF mentally cackling at the fear she could SMELL proceeding to take control over its actions, as it tried to intensify the beams. However, that only served to aid the adaptation process that the brunette kept going through whilst proceeding to get closer and closer to her prey, intent to kill SHINING behind her eyes. It even resorted to exposing its Third Eye, which roe up from the opening in its shell and 'looked' right at her, intending to fire another beam of its stronger weathering attack at the young BOW.
Unfortunately for it, the Lizard forgot about the girls above it in its fear, which turned out to be a MAJOR error on its part as Black Heart shot down first, being the fastest of the girls. She'd only slowed herself down earlier so she could match her attacks with the rest of them but seeing this chance before her chose to act independently… something which the rest also had the same intentions to do. This ended up resulting in multiple colored streaks to SLAM right into the creature's back.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
"WRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"
Several large explosions followed suit, filled with the beast's screams.
Meanwhile, with Raven, Cecil and Nico...
"KYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
A loud cry escaped Cecil's throat as she got sent flying backwards through the air, bouncing along the ground multiple times before sliding to a halt when she stabbed her Berial into the now-covered ground. Blood spewed out of her right side from a previously inflicted injury opening up, only for her body's healing capabilities to kick in and slowly fix the damage. 'Ouch-ouch-ouch... That sting's a bit... no idea on HOW that's possible since I slid on snow, but yeah.' the young girl thought to herself, teeth gnashing together as a wave of cold assaulted her being... which soon got dispersed by the roaring orange flames that her Sword generated. Sometimes, she had to admit that this Devil Arm's power could have its moments, although if one were to ask her then she would have rather she'd stayed at least a normal girl... or rather have gotten this power under different circumstances that's she had. As such, Cecil couldn't help the complicated feelings that arose in her chest because of these conflicting feelings within her, though she soon shook her head to clear them from her mind. 'Focus, girl! Got to keep your head in the game!' she shouted at herself in a scolding manner.
According to a quick notification from the transformed Crimson Soul (whom had used his SHINGAN Ring to inform them through his thoughts), their battles with their three respective adversaries had begun at the same time, almost like a planned ambush... either that or a rather heavy coincidence. Thus, none of them had the chance to regroup with each other, forced to do battle with the members that they had on hand, not to mention that it was ALWAYS considered a bad idea to bring 3 COLLOSSALLY powerful enemies together, even for people like them, and each of them were anything but stupid. Hence, the three battles being fought separately. It hadn't been long since another thought message had been sent through her and Raven's mental faculties though, that message saying that the DPU had sensed the conclusion of the previous two battles, meaning that they would have to finish up here before re-joining the rest of the Party.
'Easier said than done, Nico...'
Gradually getting to her feet, the dirty blonde maiden Devil Arm wielder glared heatedly towards the cause of her ire, the massive white colored monstrosity which had thwacked her with one of its flippers. It had done this instead of using it's innate ability, one which her companions had already seemed to have figured out by this time, same with herself. Seemed that their battle with this thing had gone on for quite a while, more than an hour at least, which could be said to be the same for the other two as well, a testament to the powers and physical bodies these Abnormals possessed. Furthermore, just like with the other two this particular nuisance had quite the means to fight back against them, even Crimson Soul himself had to note it's strong ability... the ability to manipulate Gravity.
Now, this ability to manipulate a planetary force had very LITTLE in common with the Spirit Bone (that WAS what Crimson Soul had called them, right?) that Black Heart possessed which could do something akin to that. No, this ability seemed to be MUCH more versatile in its applications, something which had been seen throughout this entire fight. Not only did it continuously project a gravity force field around itself which kept them from getting too close to it, it also used this field to skillfully hover and move throughout the Plain at high speeds, also sometimes using its ability o warp the surrounding space to deflect attacks it deemed unblockable… and then outright blocking attacks that it could. Heck, in terms of offense, it created repulsion fields and shot them forth like cannonballs, as well as use them to repress explosions to minimize damage. None of them wanted to get too close recklessly either, since it could conjure repulsive fields around it to create spatial discontinuities, essentially creating spatial 'blades' which could potentially slice matter in two... Crimson Soul had learned this the hard way.
Using Gravity manipulation in these ways, one could see why this beast caused the trio a few problems.
Fortunately, things hadn't been all doom and gloom for them, since figuring out this ability's specifics allowed the trio to exploit multiple weaknesses. Starting with Raven, the black haired Masked woman managed to break through some of the barrier on its flippers via launching projectile attacks with high momentum amounts, shattering through the repulsion field around the turtle-like monstrosity, leaving behind areas which got frozen over... at least for a few seconds before multiple repulsion fields gouged out the frozen flesh. However, since her powers managed to spread significantly, a lot more flesh than normal managed to get dislodged from the beast's hide. It helped that, in order to fly, Raven had manged to conjure up a pair of wings similar in shape to that of Crimson Soul's but made from Ice, ones which constantly released clouds of vapour from their forms to propel her through the air when they flapped... thus helping her evade the near invisible makeshift 'cannonballs' that the beast launched her way.
As for the mentioned DPU, he had the easiest time out of the trio in terms of damaging it, his arsenal just too vast for him not to. Using a combination of his Orca King Spirit Bone to freeze the space around his opponent, then the Fatalis Spirit Bone to conjure explosive lines against it's person, allowed him to bypass it's barrier quite easily resulting in multiple burns across the beast's body. Burns which, unfortunately, got minimized by the Repulsion fields it generated, with some cases where Crimson Soul found himself far too close to it for comfort but before he could escape it would then launch a 360 degree repulsion field, sending him flying across the battlefield… this only happened once though since the beast had seen how useless it had been on him. Thankfully, he didn't get too damaged from the attacks, simply regenerating like nothing had ever happened, heck he even used his Boar Spectre Spirit Bone to try and seal away it's Gravity Manipulation ability... only it didn't exactly work, and instead the fields around it simply contorted like a fist were trying to crush it, akin to a rubber ball to no avail.
After learning this particular lesson, Crimson Soul had resorted to using his Satanic Treasures the Red Rage Ring and his Green Hatred Ring to boost his more... demonic attacks, having his Hellfire strikes absolutely WRECK the beast's repulsion fields in order to strike at its main body. Seemed like his Hellfire and Demonic attribute powers had more of an effect on the creature, hence why he had used them as the majority of his attack choices, then used his Spirit Bones for more supportive purposes.
In Cecil's eyes... she felt like the weakest link here, which didn't sit well with her... only she didn't exactly become blind to thee reasons why.
All she had seen were the true gaps between her and them in terms of sheer power.
'... Why am I even here...?'
Well, she knew herself why, it had been explained to her directly without much attempt to hide it, but Cecil nonetheless couldn't help but feel this way. A slight aching in her chest burned as she eyed the two of them, two literal 'deities' in her eyes on a power level much further than anything she herself was currently capable of, something which she'd seen numerous times during their training sessions... it only just now clicked to her on just how truly outclassed she had been in comparison.
Meanwhile, up in the airspace above the battlefield Crimson Soul idly glanced behind himself towards the downed Cecil, sensing the negative emotion of jealousy blossoming within her. 'Looks like she's starting to realize the difference between us and her...' the male thought, and if he were in human form then Crimson Soul would have immediately tried to figure out a way to smash that budding flower of jealousy immediately, knowing how dangerous it could be. However, in his current state, all Crimson Soul had his mind focused on would be the current task at hand, as he stared down at the severely wounded Monster which looked like it was one step away from trying to flee. He could tell since he observed several notable signs of such behavior from it, not to mention the wounds all over its body that would likely take a long time to heal. 'Alright then, the time to finish the prey off has come.' he thought, glancing over to his companion with the final strike plan outlined in his mind. "SAMURAI, can you blind the enemy for me?"
"Indeed."
Raven simply responded with that, her eyes narrowing at the beast down below. Now, if this were any other man and he tried to order her around like some common housewife, then they would SOON get a rude awakening from such a fantasy... an awakening which even the most twisted of individuals would piss their pants at. However since it had been Crimson Soul, the alter ego of the sole exception to this policy, Raven didn't mind complying, especially since she had an idea of what stunt he had been intending to pull with that command.
Holding out her hand, the masked woman's eyes briefly gained a blue glow to them, almost like two search lights as all of a sudden the air around the beast started acting... weird. It wasn't something inherently noticeable at first, but it didn't take long for the Turtle-like Monstrosity to notice something amiss. When it tried to blow the air back with a 360 no-scope repulsion field, the process simply continued as if ignoring its attempts, causing it to howl with fury despite its weakened state. However, this served absolutely ZERO purpose, and as a result all of a sudden vapor started circulating around the ground beneath it's feet, forming a circle quite quickly...
Until it suddenly found itself in the middle of a giant snow storm.
Startled roars escaped its mouth as the beast looked around, seeing nothing but vapor and frozen air around its vicinity, completely concealing its vision from seeing anything more than 2 meters around it. Winds swirled around it, blowing the storm faster and faster around it to the point where the light of the sun above could no longer pierce through, turning the day into something close to night in terms of darkness. Up above, the tell-tale sounds of crackling storm clouds could be heard, sending shivers down the beast's spine. Furthermore, its instincts screamed at it that, whatever this was, the situation had turned REALLY dangerous for its health, and that if it continued staying around here it would likely not live down. However, since the 260 repulsion field hadn't worked, it instead opted to make a single opening with what little of its power that remained and then make a mad dash for safety.
Its plan in mind, the beast's mouth opened up wide, allowing the tell-tale signs of distorted space to appear within its jaws. The creature proceeded to aim its mouth at the spot in the Storm which would have lead to the far away lands on the opposite direction it had remembered those mortals had been in... or were they immortals at all? Were they actually the exact opposite? Part of it did indeed wonder about that, despite the lack of proper intelligence the creature possessed, something which got proven when it dismissed these thoughts from its system.
Just as it made to fire it...
WHOOOOOOOOOOSH!
In that moment, an abrupt change in temperature occurred when the storm instantly vanished out of existence, almost like it had never been there in the first place. The sudden change proved to be significantly jarring, causing the creature to stumble and shift out of reflex... this lasting for a couple seconds until a SCORCHING heat slammed down on top of it, a heat which felt so intense, so gigantic that it covered the creature's entire being and MORE! Something which it saw as true when all around the area snow seemed to quickly start evaporating from its water form into a gas, rising steam trails visible as far as the eye could see.
Glancing up, it tried to see where the source came from...
Only to see a HUGE ass flaming meteor rapidly falling down towards it with there being zero chance of its dodging.
All its vision soon turned into nothingness after being engulfed by the hellish inferno that collided with it.
"The enemy has been defeated."
Crimson Soul stated this, lowering Soul Edge into a relaxed stance, having used it to swing downwards and launch his own empowered FIRE SCORCHER. There had been ZERO doubt that his attack hadn't collided with his target, since he had sensed the creature's death from his spot up above the battleground, with a rather silent Raven floating beside him, her Mask hiding whatever expression she had on her face. Behind him, he sensed the stunned surprise and slight fear, which sprouted within their third member and replaced the jealousy that had been there prior.
A plus sign, if he ever saw one.
Regardless, Crimson Soul had to admit that being a Multi Continent Class being may be a bit more difficult to handle than he had originally anticipated, since he had actually intended to make that FIRE SCORCHER attack only the size of THIS plain... instead he'd made it the size of multiple plains the size of this one, only dispelling it the moment this single plain had been covered. The whole plain now essentially looked more like one of steam at the moment, something which made the DPU frown internally.
Being so well into the Multi-Continent Class may have fucked with his control a little... maybe more than he'd thought since this had happened DESPITE his training.
'Demonic Power truly is a force of chaos in nature...' the male thought to himself, cupping his chin as he flipped Soul Edge into the air, letting the semi-sentient blade float down and latch onto his back.
'HEH, POINTLESS TO WORRY 'BOUT SHIT LIKE THAT. BETTER OVERKILL THAN NO KILLING AT ALL, IF YOU ASK ME, KING.' Byakko suddenly spoke trough their link, causing Crimson Soul to pay more attention to him as the DPU mentally agreed with him. For as much as he saw unnecessary destruction as a hindrance, it felt much more reassuring that he could cause this much damage to an area since it would mean that his enemies would have very little places to hide. 'WHAT I'D HAVE LIKE TO SEE IS MY KAGUNE RIPPING THAT FUCKER'S ORGANS TO SHREDS FROM THE INSIDE OUT, BASKING IN ITS BLOOD AND REVELING IN ITS CRIES OF DESPAIR! ITS NOT FAIR, WHY NOT USE THE GHOUL IN YOU MORE OFTEN?! I WANNA HAVE SOME ACTION, TOO!'
Crimson Soul's lips twitched as he mentally made to answer, but when he thought about it he realized something. He really DID have yet to harness his Ghoul side's powers in greater efficiency than he already had, there had been SO much more that he could do with it than what he had been using it for since the Halo Mountain incident that it wasn't even funny, heck some of those things could have helped him compensate his Ghoul Side in its fight against Hrunting that guy had! This revelation struck the male hard, causing his brow to furrow as he began to wonder on what he could do to fix this. Perhaps in the next battle, he could 'revise' what he knew of his Ghoul side by utilizing it alone in battle? As in all THREE of his Kagune, including his Koukaku? Yeah, that sounded like a decent plan, plus it would help him notice if there had been any unforeseen changes to his Ghoul side thanks to its recent Mutation from those Gourmet Cells.
'Perhaps it would be best to ponder this later, as whilst this land will inevitably be 'taken care of' by you know who, it would be wise to regroup with the rest of the Party. With the enemy defeated, we can now explain to them what these creatures were.'
'Oh, right. Much appreciated, Biko.'
Upon getting brought out his musings by his Demon Persona, Crimson Soul glanced over to Raven and then at Cecil, before bringing his attention back to the former. "Apologies for the excessive destruction, but we should head back to the others. We'll have to stay on the lookout in case we are further separated." he stated, gesturing to the direction the rest of their Party resided.
Raven simply nodding in his direction as she sent a glowing bluish white energy ball towards the steamy Plain below. Afterwards, the two of them flew over to Cecil, grasping her by her hands and then flew back towards where they could sense their allies' presence...
Though Raven remained quiet when the male had questioned her on why she hadn't formed Wings from her powers when they'd flown to Lowee earlier.
The first thing that was said when the Party FINALLY (since a certain amnesiac CPU nearly got her comrades lost getting back to them somehow, making them wonder if she was as bad with directions as a certain three sword style user who had the nickname 'moss head') got together...
"Whelp... quite the first impression we got here, huh...?"
... A sarcastic comment which escaped IF's mouth as the brunette, now in human form save for the Wings protruding out her back, grunted with a mild level of irritation. Irritation which wasn't undeserved either, since thanks to this battle she would have to go out hunting in order to regain the Biomass she had lost... and doing that in the MIDDLE of unknown territory was akin to walking through a minefield.
Risky as all hell.
On a side note, after briefly explaining each other's fights, the following names defined the three Monsters: Purple Kraken, White Leviathan, and Red Basalisk.
Several sighs escaped the Party after hearing their resident BOW's statement, until Crimson Soul glanced to the side with a slightly ashamed expression on his face. "... Many apologies everyone. I didn't anticipate this outcome when I'd been brainstorming the last few nights. If you want to blame or hit someone, then you may use myself as my form of punishment." he suggested, even turning his Wings into chains which restrained his movements for them.
However, instead of that Noire, who like the other CPUs had turned back to her human form, shook her head in clear, calm refusal at him. "Don't worry 'bout it, Nico. Even you can't predict everything, and besides that fighting actually helped settle some of the irritation, anyways." she stated, earning a nod from the male as well as a relieved sigh as the Chains reverted back into his Wings whilst he remained floating there... then returned to his Human form as Nico at last. To be frank, part of her STILL held that irritation she'd spoken of, but it had been much less than when she'd woken up, plus the level of complexity in Wardcraft varied depending on its Class, so accurately analyzing them after so few encounters was just wish fulfilling, frankly. Glancing to the rest of the recovering Party, the black haired CPU decided to address the next topic. "Instead, we should probably focus on what to do next."
"Noire has a point." Vert added as she rubbed her shoulder, rolling it a couple times afterwards. Thanks to this recent battle, none of the girls had much to complain about with regards to the cold, since the fighting had pumped them full of adrenaline and got them used to it quite quickly. "As much as I would like to continue this, what I;d like to know first is what those creatures were. They didn't seem like the standard type of Monster, and in addition, they did not seem like any Abnormal encountered by the Spec Ops so far." she mused, getting nods of confirmation from each said Agents belonging to said Program.
All except for Nico that is, said male simply being quiet which eventually drew their gazes to him. When he saw this, the redhead decided to just do it, and sighed. "Well, that's certainly something that 'I' can answer..." he began, getting surprised looks from the rest of them, before raising his right hand to point upwards to the skies above their heads. "But first ladies, you might want to look up, cause this situation seems FAR worse than what I feared." he stated again, this time with a much greater ominous edge to it.
Each girl did so, save for Vert whom quickly grasped the exact implications that the male had wanted to convey, and had their own reactions to the sight.
"NEPU?!"
"The skies..."
"The hell?!"
"Holy crap... I'd been so focused on the battle that I didn't even notice...!"
"My goddess...!"
"Shit, that looks wrong on SO many levels."
"Same with us, Lucy."
Up above them, the skies could hardly be called 'skies' at all. Instead, they looked like something taken right out of a book of nightmares or something else filled with eldritch horrors. The skies, instead of a normal blue, had turned into this hauntingly glowing neon purple color, with black clouds that crackled with wild, volatile lightning on occasion. Sometimes, when the lightning seemingly stopped sparking it'd return almost as if it were an entity itself trying to mock them for thinking it wasn't there when it truly never left in the first place. Not only this, but trails of fire, white and crackling just like the lightning, shot through the skies above, sometimes shooting down small rays to the Landmass and creating pillars of steam upon contact. This, combined with the ABSURD amount of Demonic Energy they could feel...
"Nepu… geez, didn't expect this..." Neptune became the first to comment after she'd regained her speaking ability, nearly literally picking her jaw off the floor, although this didn't sedate the pale trembling that she did either. "What the heck's up here? Some kinda drug overdose gone wrong? Did someone start polluting the skies with something they didn't get? Cause my inner sci fi junkie isn't able to process this..." she questioned, scratching the top of her head with her right hand's index finger.
Her words served to snap the others back into reality, blinking several times to help regain their clarity. Compa then added her two cents as she worriedly placed her hands in a praying gesture over her torso, still unable to tear her gaze away from the skies. "Everything looks... so bad. It feels like... we're constantly being judged, mocked and watched for another's amusement. I don't like it." her words got nods of agreement from everyone else, save for Nico and Vert.
The latter of the two being the ones to speak. "I would wager that its the forces of Chaos that have done this..." she spoke, cupping her chin in thought as she eyed the skies with a calculative gaze. "If I were to guess which one, since we've got Slaanesh trying its hand with Lastation according to Noire, and Khorne wants to get its grubby paws on my land..." she mused, ignoring the affronted glare she got from Lastation's CPU since hearing that name sent her down some... uncomfortable memories of a her first encounter against one of Slaanesh's Greater Demons. Soon, her eyes turned into a steely pair, her tone becoming much more grave than before if it were even possible. "I would say that Tszeentch, the Lord of Change and the Chaos God governing Magic, Knowledge and tactics is the cause of this. Out of the two, that one's the more likely to want to grasp Lowee."
"Yeah, I can agree with you there, Vert." Nico remarked, getting everyone's attention as he focused his gaze to the far distance to his right. His tone remained just as grave as Leanbox's CPU as well as he continued. "This definitely feels much worse than with Leanbox. with Vert's nation they may be getting invaded by Chaos, but they were STILL able to get themselves into a stalemate with them, if an unstable one with how wild those guys tend to be. It doesn't help that no matter how many Hellgates are destroyed more take their place, with the enemy seemingly having an endless supply of reinforcements." he explained, holding one hand up as if to say 'one moment' to someone whilst the other cupped that hand's attached elbow. "However, in Lowee's case they must have been hit hard, fast and with a decisive blow, for Chaos to have the upper hand here. To the extent that they are able to warp the reality around Lowee to this level, almost making it like a Demon World. We can also safely assume that this was how the Barrier was able to cover Lowee up and isolate it, odds are whoever did this wanted to make Lowee unable to ask for help from outside forces as well as trap it. Its essentially like one big cage at this point... and we've walked right into it."
Those words caused waves of dread, unease and concern to wash over the girls, each of them looking at one another uncertainly whilst Aiden and Ivan glanced at one another. Those words did indeed have similar effects on them, but they couldn't help but note the 'calmness' that Nico had when explaining this, almost like to him this wasn't the most important, or perhaps the worst piece of information he had to share. To this end, Ivan became the one to ask this after an unspoken conversation between the two. "Yet, you think there's more to this, isn't there?" he questioned, getting Nico to look at them with an arched brow. "You seem oddly calm about this, which tells me you're either really not caring about the Chaos Gods which is unlikely to me, or your more focused on something else..."
"... Well, you're not completely wrong." Nico eventually admitted, though there was some reluctance in his voice. "Don't get me wrong I share the same thoughts as the rest of you regarding the situation's severity, however something else was made apparent to me after I realized this whole thing before we got attacked. Speaking of which..."
{It appears that those Abnormals weren't exactly that, or rather they had an.. interesting origin.}
All of a sudden, the ring underneath Nico's began to shine, as a mature, level headed voice echoed within their minds causing each of the group to jump slightly in surprise. "Whoa, holy moly!" Neptune shrieked, nearly falling flat on her backside when she first heard others had less of a reaction by comparison, although Cecil pretty much DID fall onto her backside, looking like a certain brawler when she had just seen a Ghost in a certain Dungeon.
"E-E-Ehhhhh?! A voice?! A voice echoed in my head!" she exclaimed in a startled manner. "Why is there a voice echoing inside my head?! No wait, its that ring thing, right? I saw it shine just now... but what's up with this voice, why does it sound so much like Nico, but way more mature?!"
When she noticed a hand being offered to her, she looked to the source to find it to be IF, causing the girl to smile in slight relief at the familiarity which helped her somewhat gain some composure back. "Yeah, sorry kind of forgot about telling you about him during training..." the brunette commented with an apologetic gaze, chuckling in an awkward manner whilst the others looked on, collectively sweat dropping as they too realized the thing happening here. "You haven't met him before, but that's Biko... think of him as an alternate aspect of Nico which is sentient, he's been with us since Lastation, and seems to be using the Ring to project his thoughts if I understand its workings correctly." she explained, also recalling hearing Nico's voice in her head before the attack, concluding that to have been the Ring's doing. "If i'm understanding this correctly, am I right Biko?"
{You are not wrong, IF. It has been a while since you and the others have last heard my voice, but that matter isn't as important for the time being. What IS though, does actually concern young Mrs Cecil, nice to meet you by the way. Apologies, social conventions are hard for me to stick to, but for now lets talk about those Monsters... or rather, how they are actually people.}
"...WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"
A collective outcry escaped the group upon hearing this information, with the loudest being the CPUs themselves. Nico, having prepared for this since he himself still had trouble digesting it even now, had simply covered his ears to mitigate the influx of noise to his earbuds. Once it died down, with each of the group looking like they had a BUNCH of questions (although the more composed ones like Raven, IF, Aiden, and Vert hid theirs well),quickly proceeded to explain on Biko's behalf. "Its a surprise for me too, even now after Biko managed to tell me before the fighting began... but there's no mistaking it, cause I scanned them with my sensing abilities. They were indeed once human beings... but not anymore, Demonic Power has warped them into their current states beyond repair."
"B-But how did they end up like that?" Noire questioned, looking as pale as a ghost, and who could blame her? As someone who took her Goddess duties way more seriously than the rest of the rag-tad CPUs, the thought of killing humans did NOT sit well with her, especially since it reminded her of what COULD have been.
{I'm afraid that's where... Devil Arms come into play, Noire of Lastation.} Biko responded through their minds, his tone slightly forced to give a sense of discomfort, as if talking like this wasn't something he was used to. Well, the group could see why. {Remember what Nico told you all about them during last month's training? About how some managed to transform into a stronger form which had been how he had managed to recover from the Gala Incident? Well, that's your answer, those humans... they had remnants of a Devil Arm's presence attached to them, which meant that they had went through the same process which Nico did... only they didn't make the cut. This is the result of that failure.}
"Th-that's..."
Shock, horror and explosive fear erupted within the girls hearts when they heard this information, especially those whom had romantic interests towards a certain redhead who wielded said Devil Arms as his main weapons, as well as possessed MULTIPLE Archdevil Arms. If what Biko had said was true, then that meant that there would be MULTIPLE opportunities for this process to fail on Nico's side of things, which could result in him becoming.. like those beasts. They each recalled how difficult and annoying those things had been, not to mention the scale of said battles. The possibility of him becoming like that... well, they understandably didn't want to think about that, not even Aiden and Ivan who exchanged concerned looks with one another, knowing JUST how dangerous things were... only, they knew slightly more about the situation which made it all the worse for them.
The only other person who figured this out besides Nico and them, turned out to be the previous speaker herself, Cecil, who looked like she was trembling like a leaf violently being shoved about by harsh winter gales. Her skin colour had turned ghostly pale, her eyes wide with shock and her mouth hanging open. The revelation did NOT hide the possibility of what could be implied to happen to her, especially when she reflexively grasped Berial's shaft since the weapon clutched onto her back. That hand also turned out to be the one that transformed into her Devil Bringer upon her will, which sent a NEW wave of dread since she realized in that moment the Devil Bringer Ability... may as well be a reminder of what bullet she had just narrowly dodged. Her mouth then opened up, but instead of expressing this, another revelation got expressed instead, one which shook the Party yet again. "Then... the reason why Mrs Helen had been so adamant about me joining you...
Nico, confirming her horror-filled thoughts, frowned as he gave a grave nod. "Yeah, I was stunned myself, but what she said checks out..."
(Flashback)
"You want me to do WHAT?!"
Helen, sitting at her desk in her Office within the WDD Department, stared stoically at her son who stood opposite her, looking like he had been told that he would be getting no pay for an exceedingly difficult S Rank Spec Ops Quest. Behind them, Aiden and Ivan stood on opposite sides of the door, looking just as gobsmacked as the redhead male did. The three of them had just been about to join the others on their month-long training trip after spending some bro time together when they had been called here specifically by Nico's adoptive mother, with the messages only telling them to come to her office alone, strictly 'alone' meaning only those three. It had been a surprising message, but since it seemed quite urgent it had been a no brainer that they'd show up...
They just didn't expect THIS to be the case, though, ESPECIALLY not Nico.
Said male had a right to be shocked though, given what she had just dropped on him. "You heard me, DEATSTROKE, your not getting bad hearing." she stated.
Although it didn't lower the dismay, anger and confusion that the male had inside his chest at all. If anything it just made it all the worse. "B-But WHY?! Why have her learn under me as my APPRENTICE?! Do the higher ups have some kind of screw loose or something?! They freaking hate my GUTS, mom!" the teen exclaimed, gritting his teeth as he scratched his head furiously in an attempt to try and ascertain the motives his superiors in the Guild had. Unfortunately, the male didn't get much, and that only irritated him more. "There should be ZERO reason for them to do this, since me having an apprentice could potentially pull me 'out' of their control. I AM their watchdog after all, having someone who could possibly 'change' me from my obedient ways wouldn't be in their best interests." he ranted, slightly calmer but still pissed off as all hell.
It wasn't that he hated Cecil or anything, quite the opposite, but he could just SMELL some BS happening right now. Not only had he been VERY careful with how he used his powers so nobody found out about the Eyepiece being gone (although he got the feeling his mother already saw through that ruse), not to mention he hadn't been acting out too much so they couldn't have clued in on his bit of 'rebellion' (the pun wasn't lost on him, either), so something like THIS absolutely threw him for a loop. Nico hardly considered himself to be the mentor type, merely a killer who had a leash around his neck that he had to keep on for the sake of his family. So being told that he'd be having an 'apprentice' of all things...
Yeah. Confusion understandable, it was.
"Ah, believe me, I was stunned as well, and they didn't give me a reason why at first..." Helen began, reclining on her chair. She then reached down to a draw under her desk, pulled it out then took out some files. "But then I did some research, and here's something interesting. According to what I found, it seems that the higher ups have some 'interest' in young Mrs INFERNO, especially since she apparently shares a commonality with you, DEATHSTROKE. Tell me, what do you think that is?"
Huh? A commonality? Nico paused his inner ravings when he heard this, as evident by his expression changing into one of confusion. What did he and Cecil have in common? It wasn't like his mother to completely BS him unless she had teasing intentions, of which he could sense none. Running his mind through the characteristics between them for a couple seconds, his eyes then widened as it clicked like a lightbulb switching on inside his brain, a light of realization sparking within his light blue irises. "Wait, don't tell me..." he began, before summoning Rebellion from his Void Storage, holding it out in his right hand horizontally in front of himself. "THIS?"
The woman nodded, her tone getting graver and graver with her next sentence. "Indeed, unfortunately. Young Cecil is like you in the fact that she possesses a Devil Arm, a weapon which according to what you told me can evolve into a stronger form the more its power is used, correct? However, that process risks turning people into monsters to summarize it, Archdevilification as you described it. You both have those on you, only in your case you have multiple ones which goes to show the strength of your Soul to withstand them. But, Cecil on the other hand is a different case entirely. Here, look at these files..."
She handed him the files she'd taken out, and Nico received them, dismissing Rebellion so he could look them over. Once he opened the file's first page, his eyes widened again as Helen proceeded to explain. "In recent months, it seems there's been a growing number of cases where Devil Arm users have been emerging, each thinking themselves much too fortunate to be able to fight against the enemy on our doorstep. Many of these are Soldiers, Guild Agents even Spec Ops, with some even being people who fight on the front lines... people like Cecil. However, since they lack the knowledge and the proper procedural training needed to properly understand these weapons, cases of them going 'out of control' as the higher ups say began cropping up. People have been transforming into these monstrosities on par with X Class Abnormals, with the casualties on a... rather alarming amount already. Most recently, a moth-like X Rank Abnormal appeared and it took out a BUNCH of our top Agents before it got defeated. But, since you told me on that Tape, what this actually was..."
"...Was Archdevilification." Nico whispered, finishing her words for her as he closed the file, handing it back to her as he struggled to take this all in. It seemed obvious to him that his mother would have been obliged to share this knowledge with the Spec Ops Program or at least the Higher Ups, since it had been common knowledge within upper society that understanding the Devil Arms was a MAJOR thing on their to-do list. So, it should have been known that this was going to happen in some cases eventually, but from what Helen had told him it seemed as though the higher ups had next to no clue as to what was happening... or was it something else...? "But, I thought that they would have known by now, so what the heck's going on...?" he wondered.
Then at this point the air in the room grew even colder than it already had been, especially when Helen provided a rather... dark answer, as if this conversation wasn't dark enough already. "I have a theory... I did indeed try to spread the word using the tape, but not long afterwards people started to 'vanish' if you know what I mean, and when I posted videos on it or prepared other means to show it, I always found it sabotaged not long after. Not to mention I had a few 'run in' encounters whenever I head home... which means to me that someone is INTENTIONALLY trying to suppress the information from reaching the relevant ears, and likely bribing others to stay quiet about it since my hidden investigation didn't form any meaningful leads." Helen explained, killing intent radiating from her being ESPECIALLY since talking about this made her recall the 'cases' of the emerging Abnormals from tis process.
One being how a mother mutated into one and then TORE her husband apart, eating their two toddlers afterwards before being killed off by Spec Ops Agents, or another being mutated then ripping out a pregnant woman's own CHILD then eating it, the woman and her husband for last before that one ended.
That last one got to her on a personal as well as a spiritual level.
"Thus, whilst she's going to be with you as part of a Spec Ops Quest, Nicky-Nick..." she began, and used his nickname made by her to showcase just how 'personal' she had become from all this twisted talk. "But in reality she'd be your apprentice, in which I hope that as the only one other than myself with knowledge of these weapons you could at least save her from that fate... Goddess knows she doesn't deserve it, that child..."
Hearing this, Nico gulped as a whole VARIETY of emotions swirled around his gut, most of them related to anger and disgust as he glanced downwards, teeth gnashed and his fists clenched whilst his Kakugan looked to be one step away from forming. He could see where his adoptive mother had been coming from, not to mention that he essentially WAS the only other person aware of Archdevil Arms it seemed, with anyone else becoming potential targets if they were told or had learned of it. Hence, he didn't think he could tell anyone himself either lest they too get popped off... something only shitty assholes would do, and in this Gamindustri those were in MAJOR abundance (though he had a few theories on who it might be doing this, and for once they didn't involve Yvoire).
It became pretty obvious what his response was, now didn't it?
(Flashback END)
After he finished explaining, Nico paused to let everything sink in...
… it DEFINITELY seemed needed, judging by the girls' expressions followed by a silence so thick and tense that one could literally cut the air to make confectionary out of it.
"... How DESPICABLY inhumane!" The first one to speak about all this had been the absolutely shell-shocked Vert, who looked like she had been one step away from throwing up her breakfast at this point. Nobody could blame her, especially with how she felt about her duties as a CPU. "Only an absolute monster could do something as despicable as this!"
Noire then continued, although the anger in her voice made her words seem more like a river of venomous poison instead. "This also implies that nobody is safe from Demons anymore, well, not like anyone was safe in the first place, but still. I can feel my faith in humanity dropping little by little..." she remarked, her anger mixing with disappointment and sorrow. As someone who knew a good deal about how Vert felt about her Nation, she could only sympathize. Her own Nation may be in a political mess thanks to Avenir, but Leanbox to her looked more like a literal forest fire than the campfire that was Lastation.
Neptune remained silent, her hair shadowing her eyes with her thick, crackling dark sinister and DEMONIC aura pretty much explaining her feelings for her.
"... Any ideas on who it might be?" Raven questioned, looking eerily calm save for the glowing blue eyes she sported behind her mask, a glow bright enough to break through the said accessory's eye pieces.
A hum came before Nico's reply, the male explaining darkly. "A few come to mind, forces of Chaos for one since they would benefit a lot from Leanbox's weakening military and civilian populace in terms of strategy, but I doubt its them since they thrive more on direct combat with very few above averagely intelligent fighters in their ranks. This feels more like something someone who follows Tzeentch would do, if you ask me, but i'm not so sure its that thing's doing either. No, I feel its likely someone with a lot of connections, possibly with a deep understanding of information and how to manipulate it. That pretty much puts a majority of the Nobles AND military families into suspicion." after saying this, Nico turned back to Cecil, who stared at him with her eyes wide still. "So yeah, don't worry Cecil, I'll make sure you know EXACTLY how to tackle this situation, you'll be seeing your parents alive and well if I have anything to say about it." he declared, all whilst twisting around in a manner which made the bottom of his coat flap about in a rather epic mannerism, both hands now within its pockets.
Hearing that along with his trudging footsteps, Cecil managed to promptly snap out of her shock, aiming a rather relieved sigh as the words he spoke managed to soothe her worries. This to her, had reminded the blonde of why she idolized Nico more than other Agents, since Nico once again showed her how willing he had been to step out of his comfort zone just to protect who he believed was worth protecting. She wasn't going to be all naïve and say EVERYONE needed protecting, since clearly that wasn't the case here, but to know what was truly important here instead of just blindly believing in money, fame and glory, Cecil believed THOSE to be true Spec Ops Agent qualities.
And as the rest of the Party confirmed with her that they'd do the same, even those who had romantic interests in Nico (showing the lack of true jealousy between them right now since they all knew Nico's standing on things, really what he had done both here as well as in the Hot Springs had been one hell of a good play on his part)…
SPLAT!
… in came a snowball that slammed into her shoulder, exploding onto her form which caused her to yelp in surprise, rather than anything like actual pain. All the while the tense atmosphere abruptly crumbled into pieces just like that Snowball.
"Eh?"
A collective sound of surprise passed through the Party, until the perpetrator, whom upon looking to the direction of the Snowball turned out to be Neptune, hooted with laughter as she held several Snowballs in hand. Where she got them and how she made them without the others noticing nobody could say, instead IF questioned first. "Um, Nep? What are you..."
SPLAT!
Her words got met with a snowball to the face, much to her surprise as Neptune laughed even more. "Hehehehehe, Iffy you slowpoke! Ya gotta crank it up a notch if something like THAT was enough to catch you!" the amnesiac Goddess proclaimed with a Cheshire cat grin, two stars replacing the eyes on her face whilst she made to throw another... only to get a Snowball to the face herself. "Nepu?!"
"Ufufufufu…"
The cause turned out to be Vert when the others looked, the said woman having a... larger than normal sickly sweet smile on her face as she idly tossed a Snowball up and down... whilst standing next to a small pile of the damn things. "My Neptune. do you think that you should try following your own advice there? Hurting my poor, cute iffy there without giving her a chance to fight back... looks like this superior Goddess will have to punish you, ufufufu-MPH!"
SPLAT-SPLAT!
"I'm sorry, WHOSE the superior Goddess around here?" A loud, pompous smirk formed on the equally proud Noire, whose Samsara Arms held a BUNCH of Snowballs together whilst she had her main ones crossed in front of her chest. All the while she acted like a haughty princess in front of a snowball-covered Vert. whose brow madly twitched at the sneak attack.
'Looks like a certain someone's work took effect quicker than I'd thought...' Nico mused in his mind, watching as the whole Party (including Team RAIL and Cecil) became sucked into what could possibly be one of the most DANGEROUS snowball fights ever seen in human history. On one side, Neptune commanded a small legion of her crystal constructs with her Soul Calibur being her main weapon of choice here. She had her forces create a small fortress made from snow, whilst each wielded a minigun which fired snowballs instead of live ammunition.
In another corner, Noire and Vert along with Cecil utilized their powers in order to even things out, with the third girl using her Devil Bringer (forgetting about what had just been discussed for now) to quickly gain ammo from the ground beneath her which also seemed to be Noire's strategy as well, with how she manipulated her Samsara Arms to gather ammo, whilst also using her Torso Spirit Bone to manipulate the snow around her via Gravity manipulation. Meanwhile, Vert simply used a combination of Beninuki as well as her Brynhildr Spear to destroy the enemy forces as well as block all kinds of attacks aimed her way. She could be considered the main 'fighter' on her faction's front lines. Guessed that those two COULD follow some kind of command when uniting under a common goal, huh?
Then, there was Team RAIL, with Raven making FULL use of her Ice powers this time to create barriers and other things to help her side win, although Nico had an odd feeling that she had been trying to compensate for her little 'I forgot' moment earlier. Lucy would go on to summon Plants similar to the ones she'd used on that Kraken Abnormal earlier, as well as create traps with her Vine manipulation... as well as some wooden pillars to strike at her enemies from afar.
Finally, poor, sweet innocent Compa… she soon found herself deciding to throw off that little façade, smile like a crazy demented psycho which made her look absolutely HOT for some reason, and become a freaking one-woman army like Neptune (Nico mentally had the urge to play a song called 'one woman army' seeing this, but refrained), summoning her Astral Dress, GABRIEL and HANIEL. The former would be used to weaken her opponents as she herself would use the latter to transform the AIR ITSELF into more Snowballs, ones which she would then launch at her opponents with rapid, blur-like fast movements to utterly WRECK the newfound battlefield.
And all Nico did so far... was watch everything unfold.
'Heh, I see what Neptune did... trying to get everyone to vent their emotions so we can think clearly, as well as lighten everyone's mood with the one thing we do best: combat... at least with snow in this case.' the male thought as he built himself a little snow hill to sit on with a few quick cloaked Rinkaku movements. '... Girl's a lot sharper and smarter than people give her credit for.'
'Indeed, the amount of negativity in the air from them has gone down considerably, your own too, thanks to her actions... I had almost considered advising you to get away lest their negative emotions overwhelmed our senses.'
When he heard Biko say this, he couldn't help but smirk knowingly with a bit of a chuckle, mentally wishing he could eat some human food so he could have had an excuse to bring out some hot popcorn to watch the entertaining show before him. Whenever someone managed to earn BIKO's honest praise aside from Nico himself, it had to be a HUGE occasion, and this definitely fit the bill. 'Well, this IS Neptune we're talking about here, she'd do something like this since she's not too fond of serious situations... she probably felt the worst out of all of us, thinking about both her innocence slowly being destroyed by cruel reality and the 'monsters in human flesh'.' he mused internally, getting a hum of agreement.
'AND YOU'RE WUSSING OUT KING, BECAUSE...?'
'Oh, we ALL know just who would win if I stepped in myself, don't try denying it. Remember that time, whe-'
CATCH!
"...?"
Slowly, Nico turned when he sensed his Rinkaku automatically leave it's Kakuhou in the form of a long black arm with an equally black claw that sported crimson, talon-like Nails. It had quickly intercepted a snowball the size of his head, halting it and stopping it from hitting it's target. Similar sounds reached his ears and multiple arms of similar appearance came out to catch them. Glancing to the direction they came from, Nico spotted Neptune, Compa, IF, pretty much everyone looking at him with varying levels of challenge in both their expressions as well as their eyes. ANYONE could tell what they wanted from those actions alone, at this point.
"..."
"C'mon, Nicky!" Neptune yelled with a prankster smile as Nico wordlessly stood from his makeshift seat, hair shadowing his eyes whilst his Kagune crushed the snowballs in its grasp. "What, ya think ya too good for us, or ya afraid to lose to a bunch of young, innocent maidens?" she mocked, making sure to flutter her eyebrows rapidly for good measure.
"..."
Nico didn't answer, glancing at his hand curiously to barely catch a glimpse of the fading shine from his SHINGAN. Instantly, he figured out what had happened, mentally sending a message to his alternate Personas. '... you just WANTED this, didn't you? Couldn't help ourselves, huh?' Judging by the silence he got as an answer, he figured he'd guessed right there, though Nico soon put it to the side for the time being. he'd pay them back for that one later, for now he had some more PRESSING matters to attend to.
"Well, you guys..."
Slowly the male proceeded to speak, noticing several of Neptune's constructs proceed to fire at him. In response and with the urge to pull off evasive action with some swagger, Nico twisted around the initial shots and pulled off a moonwalk to the left, looking like he was holding an imaginary cowboy hat over his shadowed eyes. Soul Edge appeared on his back as he then flipped over the last of the Snowballs, crashing into the snow beneath him with enough force to launch a 360 degree wave of it into the air... which then got taken over by the sword's telekinesis abilities since it got moulded into a set of snowballs... which then rose to the skies to join the literal HUNDREDS of their brethren.
"You freaking noobs must REALLY want me to own you all here..."
Saying that, the teen slowly stood upright, his left hand flicking forth and some black Shades appearing seemingly out of thin air (though it was really his Kagune operating his Bracers to pull them out his Void Storage). Putting them on with the UTMOST care... Nico's Kagune sprouting over a DOZEN arms like the first to which proceeded to scoop up more snow for extra ammo as the rest hovered around him. Finally, to add to the spectacle, a slasher smile had formed on his lips, with a single glowing eye indicating the activation of his Kakugan behind his Shades.
It looked both insanely cool, as well as foreboding at the same time, making the onlookers wonder if MAYBE getting him involved was such a good idea given what he had just done.
Too late for regrets though.
"...Fine then, I'LL PLAY WITH YA!"
Carnage...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…
What followed after that maniacal declaration could only be described as such.
Things had cranked up by a MILION when Nico had his opening assault started, with launching the Snowballs his Kagune wielded at his prey whilst scattering the ones Soul Edge created out as shotgun blasts, utterly DECIMATING the battlefield. It didn't help that he had pulled out his Bikaku and had used it to thrash their constructs either, creating a literal WARZONE for the girls on a level which surpassed what they'd made by FAR. Not like they gave in or didn't fight back though, their actions only escalated Nico further to perform many countless 'flexes' as internet users called it. Pulling off dance moves like the moonwalk to avoid snowball fire, putting breakdancing into his CQC style, hopping about like a Monkey or restraining his opponents like a Centipede, Nico absolutely and figuratively KILLED the competition.
As a rookie, Nico felt NO mercy in flexing on Cecil as he'd managed to use his Star God's Broken Shadow combined with the Extreme Mirage Lightning Skills to hide behind her, letting her wonder where he had been until she got peppered by Snowballs from the others.
He'd flexed on Compa by pulling out his Guitar and strumming some music to counteract her GABRIEL's sound waves whilst countering HANIEL by whacking it with his Rinkaku before it could take effect. She didn't go down though and instead had just carried on fighting, so that had been something.
The male had simply flexed on IF, Vert and Noire the same way, distracted them with snowballs then pecked them on the cheek, catching them off guard for a second to let his Kagune finish them off. Kind of evil there, and he DID feel a little guilty about it, but al was fair in wars, boooiiiiiii!
Nico had flexed out on Neptune by having Soul Edge's Inferno Mode activate then wreck her Constructs, all before setting her backside on fire to let her get snowballed out of the game.
She'd likely try to get him back for that one, so he'd like to see her try.
Flexing on Lucy had been a simple affair, he'd distracted her by going 'walloping requested. payment pending.' intentionally discarding his upper portion of his outfit (minus the Shades), causing her to pause for the BRIEFEST of moments, so he could drop a pile of Snowballs on her from above then restored his outfit. He'd then pulled out a notebook, wrote something on it then pulled the paper out, only to go 'receipt delivered' before tossing it at her fallen form and then twirl around like a boss, walking away with his hands pocketed inside his Coat, which flapped in an imaginary wind with some light shining down on him.
Raven, Aiden and Ivan had the bright idea of teaming up on him, only for Nico to use their own abilities against them by tricking the second into crashing into some Ice made by the first, then grabbed the two and tossed them into the third, knocking them down and bombarding them with snowballs.
...
...
...
...
… so yeah, CARNAGE... also a one-sided massacre once Nico had stepped in.
What did they expect, combat was LITERALLY where the redhead shone the most. They should have prepared for such an inevitable end in challenging him to a snowball fight.
It was practically ASKING for some flexing and ass kicking.
"Note to self... NEVER challenge Nico to ANY kind of battle..." IF remarked whilst breathing heavily, lying face first on the snow covered ground. She soon got up though, groaning as she continued her words whilst rubbing the back of her head. "You're just asking for it."
Hearing this, a sheepish chuckle escaped the said redhead's lips as he sat cross legged on the snow, his Kagune still out but no sign of Soul Edge, having dismissed it earlier. "Well, that's to be expected." the male replied with a 'little' bit of haughtiness... all before lifting his arms and preforming a dab for a few seconds, which IF caught.
"...You just HAD to do that, didn't you? Did the freaking T-Posing at the end not satisfy your huge ass ego enough?"
"Heh, what I had to assert mu dominance on you noobs somehow, right?"
Brow twitching with the urge to pin the idiot to the ground in her loins, IF chose not to respond to that, as the rest of the Party recovered on their own as well.
"Should have figured, Nico always DID have a violent streak in him. Not a shred of mercy, even on his bros..." Ivan commented, chuckling awkwardly as he recalled the thrashing they'd gotten. Of course they had gotten a FEW hits in, but that had hardly slowed Nico down, if anything it just sped things up and increased the 'flexing' that he'd done.
Aiden shook his head, hiding the slight discomfort he felt from the mild aches across his body that quickly faded away. "A 'Dangerous Monster' in a whole new context..." he stated, which pretty much summarized the 'demon' Nico became on snowball fights actually.
Several comments similar to these escaped the defeated girls, with some of them (IF, Lucy and Neptune) vowing to pay the redhead back in a... rather steamy way once they got the chance. Yet Nico just basked in his glorious victory regardless, cackling like an evil mastermind when his plan had gone off perfectly.
After a short while (with everyone still grumbling about their defeat to Nico's amusement), the redhead had a small flashback to something, which caused him to slightly tense up as he mumbled something under his breath. "Hm? What was that, Ni-Ni?" Compa questioned curiously as they all regrouped together.
"Huh? Oh, its not much, just remembering something I'd heard a while back. One time I'd overheard some rather 'drunk' Spec Ops Agents after another successful mission, commenting about something. That turned out to be what was called a 'winter ratio' with it being 2 to one." Nico replied, surprised that he had even recalled it. At the time, the redhead had just dismissed it as idiot talk, but thinking back on it and then on what he had experienced now... a new perspective appeared in his mind, one which caused him to shuffle awkwardly on the spot.
Surprised, confused (and a little amused) at the sudden mood swing, Neptune opted to ask what had effected him such, if only to get some embarrassing blackmail material for later. "Oh? and what's this little ratio thingamabob of yours, Nicky?" she asked, grinning as she leaned on his shoulder in a teasing manner. Even pressed her chest up against his arm just for added effect... it worked too, if the awkward shuffling increasing had been any indication.
"...Snow..."
"Hm? Nep can't HEEEAAAAR YOOOUUUU..."
"I think they were talking about how girls look twice as gorgeous in the snow... though I'd say that to be an understatement since I can't think of anything ti quantify said snow-enhanced beauty."
POOF!
Apparently Nico should have the title of dating sim protagonist, since he just activated his smooth charmer ability as evident by how EVERY girl either romantically attracted or friendly with him in the vicinity turned a pure red in the face. Both embarrassment and happiness flowed through them at the admission, especially with Neptune as she backed away like she had been repelled by a gravitational force. What hammered the nail into the coffin completely was how bashful, embarrassed as all hell Nico looked since his face matched theirs, practically steaming... yet the fondness and soft, affectionate gaze matched by his timid, shy smile radiated a purity which ONLY came when one meant every word they said about their loved ones.
Beating the girls in a snowball fight then outright flattering them afterwards without any ill intentions behind his actions... a complete victory for him.
"... you smooth bastard."
"A formidable force, indeed."
Ivan and Aiden mumbled this under their breaths, witnessing the bashful atmosphere that the girls and Nico had generated.
Fortunately for the two, their bro quickly snapped to attention as he hurriedly threw a suggestion out of embarrassment, wanting to move on from this lest he lose his cool all the more. "A-Anyways, lets see if we can t-t-track the L-L-Lowee Baslicom down, maybe there we can get some a-a-a-answers. If not, then its not the end of the w-w-w-world, I know a few places we can go for shelter, supplies and a place to plan our n-n-next m-move."
"Y-Yeah!"
In a hurry to move on as well, the Part et out to find the Lowee Basilicom, where they hoped to FINALLY get some answers to what had happened.
Chapter end!
FINALLY! That took WAY longer than expected! Probably due to the battles being so extensive and the whole serious stuff mixed in with that comedy and romantic elements too, but hey at least this chapter had a lot of content for you all.
Speaking of content, lets address some things:
First, the Monsters. They are actual creatures from the anime 'Unlimited Fafnir', basically a highschool harem anime where humans who've got powers marking them as 'D's fight against Dragons. Really enjoyed it, and the monsters felt like nice additions into OEG, although they came in differently to the standard 'Abnormal' origins. Yeah, I intended to showcase just how lethal the results are if one fails the Archdevilification process, even tied it in to why Nico is with Cecil right now (real dark there, especially with that reference to cautious hero, eh?). I'm thinking of showcasing more elements that I previously hinted at in previous arcs, to show the actual consequences instead of just mentioning them once and never again, gives a sense of tension and stakes if you ask me. Now you all can see why Nico takes this process as seriously as he does, not to mention what he could be capable of if ALL his weapons succeeded in this process. I'm REALLY excited on what I can turn them into, hehehehehe…
Then there's the whole issue of the suppressing of the information. Since Nico shared info with Helen about the Devil Arms with Helen, I figured that she'd try to spread awareness of it since she IS part of the Guild as much as she wants to not be. So, having this info suppressed creates another unstable element, and a whole NEW layer of suffering for Gamindustri's residents. Aren't I just evil? lol. But in all seriousness, its messed up and I can guess VERY well on who would be responsible for this, but I'll keep that to myself.
Third, there's Lowee's situation, and whilst not much has been shown yet its ALREADY apparent that shit has gone DOWN, son, since its quite possibly one step away from being exactly like a Demon World. Reality looks to have been warped across the entire Landmass from what has been observed, a testament to the ways of the Lord of Change. Thus, wonder what's Blanc's situation like? How many survivors are left? Is there even a Nation left to save? Its DEFINITELY worse than Leanbox, I can tell you that much.
Finally the comedy side of things that I put in to take the edge off the action and seriousness in the chapter... man, I had FUN writing that. Nico dealing with the foes with Dante-style swagger when pulled into the Snowball fight (which Neptune started, so really its her fault), then pulling the smooth moves only a skilled dating sim protagonist could do to utterly 'defeat' his opponents in every way possible, though he had no intentions on seeing it that way, just being the pure boy He is deep down and not the cocky jerk people might think him to be. Like Ivan said, that smooth bastard...
Hope you all like, and see ya'll the next chap.
Peace Out!
