Chapter 184 - The Yoma Production Facility PT2

"How has the battle gone, Dae?"

After parting ways with the DPUs and narrowingly escaping the claws of death that had tried to take him… yet again to the point where he wasn't very fazed by it no more, the old man from the last chapter journeyed to a stone-made throne room of sorts, built deep into an inner compound from which they had launched their 'attacks' against the Agents daring to infiltrate this sanctum. By they, I mean the old man and a bunch of shadowy cloaked figures in dark robes who sat on their own stone seats, lined up across the back of the room. The room itself didn't have much lighting in it beyond simple candles, but there were small holes on the walls that allowed one to look into the outside surroundings. Not only that, but there were a bunch of men in black uniforms standing around the room's edges acting like bodyguards, although to be fair none of them stood a chance against beings like those whom the old man had been speaking to so they're merely there for either presentation purposes or in case weakling intruders made it this far into this facility's inner compound. Where EVERYTHING lay undiscovered and would remain so if they had their way.

One of the people here, a man who had a cowl over his head, looked to the old man which allowed him to witness how the man seemed to be missing skin from half his face, leaving one eyeball and half his teeth exposed to the open. Not to mention that his age and slightly wobbling legs resulted in him using a cane to help him walk around. Still, despite his disfigurement, the cane-wielding man seemed none too concerned with it as he instead focused on answering his question with a humorous smile on his face. "Significantly positive, Rimuto," he stated, with the old man known as Rimuto sitting at his seat while gesturing for him to continue. To which he did while putting both hands on his Cane which stood in front of him. "The specimens codenamed 'Abyssal Feeders' have been working as we have programmed them to. They have been holding the enemy off and performing as we have been predicting over the course of the last month, they should last for at least another half hour before being forced to retreat, lest the enemy overwhelms them." Dae, the man whom Rimuto had named in the chapter's first opening sentence, elaborated while chuckling an eerie chuckle.

His answer caused murmurs of acknowledgment to course through the men who glanced among themselves, their bodyguards remaining steadfast as if they were members of some royalty's personal army.

Abyss Feeders.

That name, or rather that designation, had been what they had deemed necessary to refer to those beasts currently buying them the time they needed as. Creatures with their origins remaining a mystery to all save for the higher up members of this little organization of theirs, the Abyss Feeders had been their latest success. Their latest success in a long line of failures. Though their origins remained unknown, their purpose could be made apparent to even the most oblivious of people: to act like bloodhounds when tracking their prey, though they only respond to nearby sounds similar to those Zombies depicted in movies… or like some of those which had appeared back in Lastation all those months ago.

Not only that, but in the theme of hunting, they didn't have any kind of SP, Mana, or any kind of energy to them at all, which made detecting their approach all the more difficult for those who relied on detecting those energies within a person. One's instincts and presence detecting abilities may still work, but by then the majority of the time the Abyss Feeders would have gotten close enough to their targets to attack them anyway. Additionally, thanks to this lack of energy in them they were unable to sense it as well and thus, primarily relied on smell and hearing alone. Add that to their "sixth sense", and they can navigate across large terrains alongside the ability to communicate with each other non-verbally.

In terms of power levels, they would be a rival to Awakened Youma, not to mention they had potent regenerative capabilities and highly malleable bodies which allowed them to do a whole load of wacky stuff with said bodies, but that in itself was held back by something: their intelligence. Unlike their prey, these Abyss Feeders were INSANELY dumb for lack of a better word, plus they were slow-witted with few sapient characteristics unlike the majority of awakened Youma. Though given their unknown origins, whether that weakness was intentional or not remained up in the air.

After having detected a bunch of Spec Ops Agents having entered their territory and correctly deducing their target destination, these men had opted to send these creatures out to distract them, the keyword being 'distract' here.

Rimuto narrowed his eyes at Dae, his next words silencing the murmurs surrounding these two. "And what of THEM? How long till they are ready?" he questioned. As powerful as the Abyss Feeders were, they weren't something which they could rely on as a trump card beyond all trump cards. In terms of chess, they were the disposable 'pawns' that had some special traits which helped them survive a little longer. They were hunters, not warriors unlike what they truly had up their sleeves. Unfortunately, they didn't have too many options thanks to some… reasons, however, since their 'benefactors' were also here, doing their best to delay them would be in their best interests. "The Organisation's men have been ordered to remain inside the compound lest they wish to forfeit their lives, but if those Agents make it here then that will be for nothing."

"I am in the final stages of my preparations, Rimuto," Dae replied easily, mostly nonchalant about this whole situation. Something which could be seen as clear as day through looking at his demeanor and easygoing smile."I have gone over the simulations more times than the number of days I have spent on this earth, choosing the most optimal candidates based on what records we were able to obtain their strength. THOSE THINGS we were given indeed helped as well, in fact, I dare say that THEY were the sole reason why we were able to advance so far, and right now the fruits of our labors will be made known to us.

A bunch of the black-robed men growled and gave irritated stares towards him, but the disfigured man didn't really pay them much heed, something Rimuto had long since gotten used to. It was just how this man was, though Rimuto didn't give much of a damn about that since all that mattered to him were results, and the ends always justify the means in his eyes.

The ends are ALWAYS going to be worth it


SLASH-HACK-STAB-SCHULUCK-SLASH-HACK-STAB-SCHULUCK-SLASH-HACK-STAB-SCHULUCK-SLASH-HACK-STAB-SCHULUCK-SLASH-HACK-STAB-SCHULUCK-SLASH-HACK-STAB-SCHULUCK-SLASH-HACK-STAB-SCHULUCK-SLASH-HACK-STAB-SCHULUCK-SLASH-HACK-STAB-SCHULUCK-SLASH-HACK-STAB-SCHULUCK-SLASH-HACK-STAB-SCHULUCK-SLASH-HACK-STAB-SCHULUCK-SLASH-HACK-STAB-SCHULUCK!

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-!"

"Shut the fuck up!"

SCHULUCK!

A loud shout escaped his lips beneath his Armor's helmet as Nico ripped apart another one of the beasts attacking him without any mercy, cutting off its cries of pain with an Obliteron Claw through its head and its brain, therefore eliminating it.

'Tch, fuckers are annoying as fuck…' the male thought to himself as he ripped his Obliteron Claw out of his foe, letting the thing deactivate before looking around and finding no attackers at the moment, which let him breathe a sigh of relief. He likely had a few seconds or reprieve before he would be attacked again, having destroyed a good dozen of these things already. Glancing down at his armored gauntlet gave him pause, however, as the events of the last few moments flashed through his mind. 'It's slowly getting harder and harder to hit their heads, too…'

It had been over 30 minutes since this brawl had begun, and while he hadn't felt even minorly winded from this experience, Nico hadn't been simply just fighting but also observing his enemies for any kind of information about them. Destroying the head of these beasts had been the best thing that Nico could find to stop it, as anything less than either destruction of the head or complete bodily annihilation could stop these fuckers. He had… ample experience with this throughout the first few initial minutes since the attack these things had launched had begun, and thanks to that experience Nico had managed to figure out that other than those methods he'd just described, any other injuries wouldn't slow them down in the least since they had some ABSURD regen prowess (which sounded FILTHY rich coming from him of all people).

Thus, he had informed the rest of his comrades about his discovery via his SHINGAN.

Additionally, another thing he had noticed was that the longer this battle dragged on, the greater their disadvantage became. The reason for this lay with how these creatures seemingly operated, as when a certain number of them got killed a 'new batch' would take the place of the ones which had been fighting them and by the time that batch came back, it had slightly improved their tactics against them. While that didn't seem so bad initially, if it were allowed to continue as it had been, then things wouldn't be good for them. Sure these things didn't seem like the smartest peas in the pod, but that didn't mean that they were complete fools, even if it seemed like they responded solely to sound and movement. Once when he had discovered that little tidbit of info (doing so via falling to the ground and briefly being immobilized, the lack of movement made him pretty much invisible to his enemy, much to Nico's internal shock when it had happened), Nico had managed to try and get as far from his fellow Agents as he could before going immobile to try and snipe at the creatures from a distance… only that only worked for a short time before he got forced back into the fray.

Blinking when he noticed a moving shadow on the ground, Nico instantly knew that he had to move or block an incoming attack, which was exactly what he did. Twisting around and raising his arm, the male reached out and caught the offending claw by the forearm it was attached to, the creature that owned this arm being held suspended in the air. Nico didn't let it strike again though, quickly tossing it to the side and slicing off its arm with a newly deployed Obliteron Blade.

Good thing he did, because it had looked like it had been about to launch some kind of projectile attack at him judging from how its flesh seemed to mold itself back to normal.

Not wanting this thing to get near him again, Nico flung both arms down while deactivating the Obliteron Blade and, after a second or two of deliberation, decided to try out some of the more… Amor reliant skills that he had. When he had gained his second Armor from his mother way back when, she DID say that there had been some new stuff installed, stuff which had been Desecrated by his powers like all hell but still. With that, he mentally commanded his Armor's in-built AI (he remembered this thing having formed when his Armor became this demonic version) to act upon his will, and it obeyed. The shoulder pads lifted themselves like opening boxes, exposing some hidden compartments of which revealed a pair of crimson skulls with flaming sockets and permanently open mouths that had a fiery hellfire-like interior.

Unwilling to waste any time, Nico aimed his Obliteron Canons he remembered them being called, formerly Plasma Canons back before his Armor's corruption and unloaded a bunch of blasts made from his Hellfire, firing them rapidly like they were a pair of Gatling guns. The rounds flew true and with high accuracy, shredding through the quickly regenerating creature with countless sounds of flesh being burnt to cinders filling the air until he ceased… noticing that the entire body had been reduced to a hot mess in which the Creature wouldn't be able to regenerate from.

'Nice, and since they're apparently 'learning' from us as we fight…' the male thought as he remembered the growing difficulty to get headshots off previously. 'That just means that they won't be able to handle it well when I switch tactics. Not sure how long my Armor's weaponry will remain this effective, but I'll milk them for as long as I can.' With these thoughts in mind, Nico pulled his Obliteron Canons back inside his shoulder pads and their compartments, before he proceeded to deploy his Obliteron Claws and jump forth into the battle with a loud war cry escaping his throat.

After he saw 2 such creatures lunge at him with their claws bared, Nico noticed them quickly proceed to fire their nails like projectiles at him, only for his Armor's shields to activate and cover his form to protect him from their small sizes. Once this happened, the shields then vanished to allow him to close the distance and easily slice their heads off with two swipes, one for each Obliteron Claw. He didn't let up from there though, as just in case he made sure to slice those heads into tiny pieces so that their bodies didn't somehow reattach them.

'Huh… now that I think about it, this may be the first time since I got this Armor that I saw the energy shields work. Did the author forget about them when they were introduced back then… well, I can't blame him, I thought the same thing.'

Instincts then told him to duck, and Nico did so to avoid a lunge from another creature which performed a handstand, then flipped back to avoid his retaliating swipes before flipping through the air and landing on all fours. Lifting its head, the creature had just enough time to see one of Nico's knees close in on it before that knee slammed into its face with enough force to render it to mush. The male hadn't held back, and behind him one could see the fading remains of an afterimage, providing the answer to how he had managed to close the distance between them so quickly.

But things wouldn't be so easy for him, as Nico then quickly jumped back to avoid a bunch of Tendrils which slammed into the ground where he once stood from above, their wielder landing beside them and retracting the Tendrils into its body. Reacting on instinct, Nico flung his right arm forwards, multiple long fiery crimson burning Obliteron Chains burst forth from the crimson forearm armor. Each chain succeeded in wrapping around the creature by coiling around its multiple limbs, multiple smoke trails rising from its form which caused it to hiss in searing pain. Not like Nico cared though as he roughly yanked his arm back and pulled the beast along with the Obliteron Chains…

Right before the barrel of the Obiteron Launcher, or basically a demonic-looking Grenade Launcher.

BOOM!

Once Nico pulled its trigger, a large grenade made from Obliteron (he remembered that being a hybrid of his Hellfire and Plasma) got fired from the barrel. It slammed right into the creature's face before it could react and promptly detonated, exploding and blowing its head to nothingness, as well as a portion of its body.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

A few rounds later, and several more met the same grizzly fate which prompted Nico to glance down at the large weapon for a split second. 'This thing may not be a Devil Arm, but it's not that much of a weakling, either...;' he thought in that short moment before he jumped into the air.

The reasoning became clear in the next few seconds when a bunch of spikes bursts out from the ground where he had once stood, rising into the air. Knowing that he had to move or risk letting his Armor's shields handle it, Nico slammed his feet into the spikes and used them as a springboard to propel himself away from them. Up in the air, the redhead identified the locations of the four creatures making these spikes, so he promptly deployed his Obliteron Canons after dismissing his Obliteron Launcher.

'PLASMA BLAST!'

With that mental yell, Nico's weapons unleashed two large blasts from their barrels in a manner akin to a Cero from his Donner and Schlag. Blasts larger than the ones which he had been launching previously just like his mother had said back when he'd gotten this Armor, but in the end, he had managed to blow the pillar of spikes out of existence, creating a massive crater as well as a shockwave which blasted the pillar's makers up into the air. Now unable to move out of the way of any attacks, Nico shot them from his position in the air, managing to score a bunch of headshots…

From over several hundred feet into the air.

Enhanced eyesight really worked wonders, huh?

Once he had them covered, Nico promptly began rapidly firing down on the enemy like he was a cloud releasing water in showers of rainfall. Each blast fell upon their targeted enemies mercilessly, blowing off limbs and creating headshots amidst the forming smokescreen much to Nico's internal delight as he deactivated his Obliteron Cannons after a few moments of shelling. 'Alright, a good chunk of the enemy has been dealt with.' The male thought to himself while landing within the smoke, then performing a 360-degree spin while kicking his right leg out, balancing on his left. This allowed a 360-degree shockwave to be formed from his kick that then proceeded to wipe away all the smoke, revealing the charred remains of the dead creatures.

Utilizing his multiple sensory abilities, Nico searched for the locations of his various comrades. It wasn't too hard for him to do, and when he picked up their presence/location, scent, etc, the redhead found that they were doing alright too as if the sounds of dying monsters weren't enough to indicate that. 'Hmmm, looks like they've got their hands full with the enemy. They must have slowly learned to adjust to their tactics and movements, managing to therefore keep them separated from one another, in addition to still possessing great numbers on their side. Bet the only reason why my situation isn't as bad is due to having so many options to fight the enemy with. The others probably don't have NEARLY as many weapons…'

Judging from what he was picking up, Nico theorized that the one having it the worst would be Rory herself. As brutally effective at close combat, as she was, she had a style akin to a berserker: vicious, simplistic, and beastly, yet easy to understand. Her movements would eventually become easy to read, and while simplicity can be effective at times, these creatures have had the ability to adapt to one's tactics over time. They probably did so when a bunch of them retreated and then came back with more of their brethren, and thanks to this they must have managed to keep Rory pinned down. If somebody didn't step in to settle things over there, then she could get worn down. He wasn't sure how good her regeneration was, yet he bet that she wouldn't be able to heal if every part of her got devoured by these things.

Mihawk and Arima probably would be in similar situations thinking about it, since while slightly larger than Rory's their arsenals weren't THAT much bigger than hers, leaving them with little variation in tactics to use to befuddle their enemies. The best way Nico could describe his efficiency in killing these creatures because he didn't do it the same way all the damn time, he'd made sure to keep killing them using different methods and movements so that the enemy wouldn't be able to adapt to him as quickly as they should be able to. THAT was his biggest advantage here, a large as hell arsenal of weapons, powers, and abilities for different ways to kill.

As for the one doing the best here, he would have to say that Katakuri filled that spot rather well. From what he was sensing, the male assumed that the guy had figured out the same things which he had, meaning that he had been keeping up with changing his tactics and being as unpredictable as possible to throw their learning way off course. That way, he would be able to keep killing them with relative ease as well as eventually regroup with the rest of them.

Rory and the others likely would appreciate the assistance if anything.

'It would be wise to assist the others, Nico. That way, we can clear these foes off the face of the earth before the enemy can realize they are doomed.'

'True, alright let's do that.'

With his Demon Persona's suggestion being accepted, Nico proceeded to head on over to where he had sensed Rory's presence was first, intending to help get her out of the sticky situation she had found herself in. Not like she would admit it though, from what he had learned from her Nico theorized that she was like himself and the other agents, they all had stubborn streaks when it came to requesting support… although the redhead hoped to correct that for himself at least.

However, before he took even a couple of steps…

"?!"

Instinctively widening his eyes, Nico sensed danger coming his way through his Presence Detection ability while he followed his instantaneous urge to jump. He jumped into the air, and just BARELY missed a blade descending onto his former position, flipping through the air and launching a couple of PHANTOM WAVE attacks from his feet in the form of kicks between flips. He couldn't completely make out what the result was, but from what his ears told him they likely didn't do much damage though he DID feel like he had bought himself enough time to land on the ground in a crouch after righting himself at the apex of his jump.

After this had happened, the male had raised his head to get a view of his attacker… only to bend his head back to dodge another blade swing, though this time he got a better view of the offending weapon. The weapon itself looked to be a large claymore-like sword, with its blade being narrow at the tip while enlarging the more his gaze ran down to its base where he could see a blue foot long handle. Not to mention that he saw a strange symbol close to its base.

All of this he had seen in one instant, by the way.

Post the blade entering the last phase of its horizontal arc, Nico promptly kicked upwards to launch a vertical PHANTOM wave, knocking the attacker back before flipping backward. He landed on both feet this time and upon looking to the attacker again, finally got a full view of their person. 'Hm? This one… this isn't like the Youma or the creatures from before…' he thought to himself, narrowing his eyes behind his helmet.

The sword in question, looked to be held by a humanoid woman, one who looked to be a bit taller than himself. She had a short, pale blond layered pixie cut for a hairstyle that looked to be a little wavy. Additionally, she possessed a pair of ears shaped like those of the Ice/Nature Elves that Nico had been made aware of, her eyes being a brilliantly glistening silver. For her attire, she wore a white shirt over a pair of matching pants, pants that were tucked into a pair of golden armored boots. Around her waist, he could see a golden armored 'skirt' designed akin to a civilization that once dominated Planeptune's lands so long ago. Her arms had vambraces that matched her boots, with similar appearances befalling the Pauldrons on her shoulders which also had a lower back-length white cape attached to it. As mentioned, she wielded that long Claymore sword which he had almost gotten hit by, although to be fair his Armor would have shielded him from the blow in more ways than one.

One thing which TRULY caught his attention though wasn't anything like her clothing or her weapons, no something else had him focused more on her than reuniting with his fellow Agents at the moment. She didn't speak, nor did she look like she expressed any kind of emotion as she just charged at him, her movements as silent as a gentle breeze whilst she instantly closed the distance between them, forcing Nico to frown as he deployed his Obliteron Claws and crossed them in front of him, blocking a thrust to his stomach.

She didn't stop there, though, as she rapidly thrust towards various body parts with speeds that made her look like she had countless arms to use to shred him to pieces. Not only that but when she saw that he wasn't budging from those moves, she instead went for a low kick to his right leg, one which he lifted into the stance of a crane before twisting on his left leg and launching a kick of his own in retaliation. The woman didn't let out a sound though as she vanished from sight, and the male quickly lowered his leg to twist around and block a downward slash which would have severed one of his arms had he done otherwise. His Obliteron Claw sparked wildly and dangerously against the edge of her sword, the two weapons clashing in a battle for dominance while their wielders tried to overpower one another.

Eventually, the two broke apart to get some distance, before Nico deployed his Obliteron Cannons and began firing away at her. She once again dodged this attack though via dashing forwards and then jumping into the air, sausage flipping through the space between them before coming out into a beheading slash that Nico reared his armored head back to dodge before swinging his right claw towards her neck intending to repay her beheading attempt in kind. Just before the limb could impale her flesh, however, the woman lashed out with a kick, planting her armored boot straight onto his chest to use him as a springboard to launch herself away from him, spinning around a bunch of rounds fired from his Obliteron Cannons.

'PLASMA BLAST!' With those words, the male fired two larger bursts of Obliteron beams from his Obliteron Cannons, prompting the woman to dodge them by power sliding beneath them, then she tossed her weapon towards his lower body like it were a frisbee forcing Nico to cut the power and switch to his Obliteron Blades. With a mental calling of 'GIGGA BLADE!' The male saw his Obliteron Blades enlarge themselves, changing from their previous spike-like states to broadswords made from the hybrid of Plasma and Hellfire. With them, he swung them in a reverse X slashing motion, deflecting the sword away from his person before jumping forwards to try and slice the woman's head off. She HAD to have the same weaknesses as those creatures in that a beheading would stop her, she'd been doing the same to him, so that was his reasoning behind that.

Unfortunately, she slid past him while avoiding his strikes, as well as grasped onto her blade while halting her motions. Nico quickly jumped into the air to angle himself before falling towards her, somewhat similar to what she had done to HIM earlier. At this point, his Obliteron Blades had returned to their usual spike forms so he figured that the GIGGA BLADE skill didn't last very long. The two of them then proceeded to clash with one another, which then got followed up with a mad frenzy of slashes exchanged between the two, blade gashes appearing on the ground surrounding them.

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!

Yet, through all of this, Nico could hardly feel any kind of changes in her emotional state, like she was just a well… blank, a blank slate. Like a baby. It honestly felt like he was fighting something that wasn't even alive in the first place, or rather… now that he thought about it there was something familiar to him about this woman, something about her which reminded him of something that had happened way back when.

This… this wasn't right.

Something was DEFINITELY wrong here, more so than most of the things that had happened so far.

This assumption quickly spread through him the more they fought, the more they traded blows with one another. The way she looked at him was one thing, with those cold dead eyes like she had nothing, not even a shred of life to her. Heck, when he tried to get a read on her emotions using his DPU powers, all he felt from her was an eerie, silent void that rang more than a FEW alarm bells inside his mind.

This woman…

Could she be…?

'Biko… this woman, she…' he thought, more than a little disturbed by this revelation.

'...This feeling… Guh! This is…!'

'UGH, SHIT SERIOUSLY?! WHEN THE FUCK ARE THESE GUYS GONNA WISE UP?! PLAYING WITH 'THAT' IS TABOO FOR A REASON!'

… Looked like his multiple personas were onto the same thought process as him, as usual.


Unfortunately for him, Nico wasn't the only one experiencing this dilemma.

"Ufufufu… looks like a certain someone's in a bit of a bind…"

Narrowing his eyes at the one who stood confidently before him, one Dracul Mihawk frowned as he held his black sword at the ready, standing before a lone woman who had ambushed him just a few seconds ago. He had not long ago regrouped with Arima during the early stages of the bout against these creatures, with the two of them quickly exchanging information about the enemy's tactics that they had observed, coming to conclusions about them quickly. Conclusions which unknowingly Nico would reach later on, thus they had promptly worked together as best they could to compensate for the flaws in their movements and made it difficult for the enemy to adapt to them quickly. This allowed them to note how the enemy seemed to have a hunter-like mentality which meant they likely could hunt only one target at a time since the adaptation process happened at an almost turtle-like speed.

Unfortunately, something happened which forced him and Arima to be separated, with two blurs seemingly colliding with their respective foes and drowning them in fountains of blood… not their own, but that of the creatures.

Briefly, Mihawk swore he heard one of them mutter something of a complaint, but dismissed it.

Especially since one of them stood before him right now: a woman, to be exact. Not something Mihawk had expected, but he had learned through experience that women could hold nasty secrets of their own.

This woman looked to have been wearing a white uniform of sorts with gold boots, a makeshift 'skirt', vambraces, and shoulder pauldrons as well as a cape. She possessed a set of long, straight, and pale hair that was pulled into a partial ponytail, her hair sporting four braids with two forming her bangs and two merged into her ponytail. Other than this, one gripping facial feature she had were her silver eyes, eyes which while on the outside looked to be glistening with a beauty comparable to some of the female nobles he knew of back in Leanbox, were anything but in his eyes They currently locked onto him with the kind of intensity which reminded him of a predator, one which stared at their prey with rapt attention.

One could guess why Mihawk was not a fan of this.

'This woman…' the man thought to himself, not taking his hawk-like eyes off her while noting the whole 'ring' of corpses surrounding them. From the amount of blood on her blade compared to his own, it's easy to assume who had been more responsible for the carnage. 'She came here to attack me, I am sure. I feel bloodlust emanating from her despite her calm demeanor… She's obviously here to fight us, but she killed the creatures as well. Something must be going on behind the scenes that we're not aware of just yet.' Mihawk thought to himself as he remembered how this woman just came at him as if she were a phantom, swinging that large Claymore sword like it were an extension of her body.

It probably was in her case, Mihawk knew a sword user when he saw one. It's not enough to hold a sword, one has to be 'intimate' in terms of familiarity with it, and judging from the way she held it this woman had held a sword for quite some time. Whether or not she would be good enough to match him, and esteemed swordsman himself remained to be seen though based on the number of kills she had made in just an instant, she wasn't any slouch.

Right then, the woman finally took her eyes off Mihawk before raising them to the skies above, heaving a small sigh of what seemed like melancholy. "Ahhhh… this feeling… the sensation of wind pressing against my face… it been a while since I felt this sensation last." she mused to herself, a sense of contentment being present within her words.

On his side of things, Mihawk chose to remain where he was instead of attacking at this moment, mostly since he still got the feeling that her guard hadn't dropped since she had let her eyes wander. Either it had been due to extreme confidence in her skills or it was to do with arrogance, he felt significantly inclined to believe it to be the latter. His instincts, honed through many battles, told him to keep his guard up around this woman, as unlike many who had stood before him to challenge him as one of their top swordsmen, this woman had none of the bravadoes that they possessed. Or rather, she didn't seem to care about much, but these were just his mental assumptions at this point, he'd get a better picture of her in the next few moments.


"Ri...Ridiculous…"

"Wiped out?"

"...They wiped out that many foes in such a short time…?"

Commotion buzzed like it was all the rage within the Youma production facility's innermost compound, the residents inside having overlooked the battlefield from afar. They, the men wearing black alongside their bodyguards, did so either by looking through the windows that showed a vague outline of the battle that had just proceeded to a halt thanks to the new arrivals or viewed it view their own orbs like those fortune tellers would use. To say that they had looks of sheer disbelief at the scene taking place would be an understatement, though that didn't mean that they were happy with the outcome they had just seen.

Not only were the Spec Ops Agents halted, but pretty much the ENTIRETY of the remaining Abyss Feeders had been reduced to fleshy chunks, none of them having the chance to retreat and adapt to their combat data. Sure they weren't exactly hard to replace, there was an abundance of 'resources' coming in to make sure that it wouldn't be a problem to remake what had been destroyed, but those things probably never saw them coming. They were trained to hone in on a specific target under normal circumstances, and because of the lack of time they hadn't been able to program them to hunt anything in particular, they'd merely been used as shock troops in essence. Therefore, they hadn't even CONSIDERED the possibility of them getting wrecked before any of them could retreat.

Unfortunately, they couldn't even call this a necessary sacrifice either, for the invading Agents had managed to survive the initial assault that their 'trump card' units had launched on them without warning, and now had been rendered immobile thanks to the standoff taking place at the moment. If anything, the Abyss Feeders' mass genocide could be seen as a waste of precious resources, something which their higher-ups would NOT be happy about upon learning this information. Still, one small bit of silver lining regarding this situation could be that they had an idea of what kind of power levels each Agent possessed, since the 'trump cards' that they had sent out had the theoretical ability to deal with the upper echelon level Spec Ops Agents.

Theoretical being the keyword there.

However, all this about potential and theory remained moot in the mind of one of the observing black-robed members, a completely bald-looking man who didn't even have irises making his ability to see clearly be considered questionable. What HE focused on instead was turning to the one who had let those 'hounds' loose in the first place: a certain man who wielded a walking stick with a disfigured face who JUST so happened to be the only one who looked positively elated at the destruction that had just been wrought. "Dae!" The bald man yelled, utterly furious with the disfigured man. "You…!"

"Hehehehe…" Once more, Dae let out that low-sounding, disturbing, and downright creepy laugh of his, sending chills down the spines of those who heard it save for the bad man. Glancing at him, Dae offered a smile as if to say 'nothing to see here, carry on with your day' all while offering a playful sneer. "What? I did SPECIFICALLY mention that I chose these in order of strength in a previous meeting of ours, one which involved the EXACT scenario we are currently facing."

A low growl escaped the bald man after he had opened his mouth to retort, only to close it when he remembered at the last moment that Dae had indeed made a good point. He DID mention that he had chosen these 'trump cards' based on how powerful in their few records of documentation from THAT era, and he had made it a point to refer to how he had warned them of the possible collateral effects. He had just thought that the man had made absolute certainty that they would be manageable, NOT by destroying their own assets as well as the enemy. To make an analogy, it was like launching an unfinished ship right into a hectic war zone and expecting it to perform at 100% efficiency with no flaws:

Completely impossible…especially considering the circumstances surrounding that bunch.

After staring into the fuming man's eyes for a moment, seemingly reveling in his own internal struggles, Dae finally shifted his gaze back to the battlefield, looking out through one of the windows with his usual creepy grin on full blast. "In all seriousness, it's understandable for you to be concerned. After all, there have been… issues with controlling them, in previous experiments. But at this point, you should probably be thinking more along the lines of 'is worrying really going to help me here?' if you ask me." He declared, multiple guards looking at one another with eyes implying that they were starting to think more carefully about his words. Looking out into the battle, Dae smirked knowingly at what he saw while addressing not just the bald man, but everyone… or so they believed from the vibe he gave off. "Besides, I wouldn't say the battle is going to be over so soon anyway, so let's watch and see what happens."


Back onto the battlefield…

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

The sounds of blades and other types of weapons clashing against one another filled the air. For their sources, they seemed to originate from several different points on the battlefield, these causes being the Claymore swords clashing against various weapons belonging to a group of powerful Spec Ops Agents:

One fought against Nico.

One clashed with Mihawk.

Finally, the third one shot towards both Arima AS WELL as Rory Mercury herself.

Speaking of those giant Claymore-wielding women, the one which hadn't been described yet looked to have the same blonde hair and silver eyes as the previous two even wore the same uniform as them. The only thing was, that unlike them she had her hair wavy, as well as pulled into two pigtails with straight bangs swept to the left, her silver eyes having prominent lashes with her right one having a beauty mark beneath it… not to mention some dark red lipstick.

One might think that she spent more time in front of the mirror than on the battlefield… save for Arima and Rory.

Right now she charged forth like a human bullet, shooting through the air towards them with her blade poised to claim some more victims, the first few in a long, LONG ass time. Just as she neared them, the woman's brow arched when Arima dashed forth with what looked like a… a Lance? Yeah, that's right, it looked to be some sort of Lance attached to a weird-looking handle, one which allowed him to hold it in one hand, as well as a spiked pommel.

CLANG!

With a reverse horizontal swing, the man's Lance clashed with her Claymore sword, and initially, the woman didn't think too much of it beyond a mere hindrance, this assumption being backed up in her mind from previous battles. However, those assumptions promptly vanished when she saw the weapon constantly grinding against her own, holding its ground against her.

SCHWING!

Flicking her sword upwards, the woman tried to disarm the man before her, however, Arima didn't let that happen and ducked backward, avoiding a slash that would have decapitated him before he thrust his Lance forwards several times, each one being blocked by the woman's sword which she had returned to a defensive stance seconds before the first thrust. After the fifth thrust, Arima's Lance… shortened its length to that of a shortsword, much to the pigtailed woman's confusion that showed itself on her face.

This confusion soon got cleared up, as in the following seconds when a spike made from a series of Tentacles burst out of the ground beneath her feet to try and impale her, though she had flipped backward to avoid it at the last second. "Huh… well, that's something. For a lottery-like this, this isn't a bad prize…" the woman muttered, speaking for the first time since this whole battle even began.

"Ara, is that so? Are you so sure about that?"

"?!"

Instincts screamed at her that danger was near, causing the woman to calmly bend her neck backward to see Rory appear behind her, swinging her Emroy downwards as if she were an executioner performing his duty on the chopping block. However, instead of claiming her head like she had wanted to, Rory's Halberd missed when the woman continued her flip and kicked her weapon to divert its course, resulting in it hitting the ground harmlessly while the woman herself managed to plant her free hand on the ground and enter a one-handed handstand, swinging her Claymore in Rory's direction to force her back. This worked, and seconds later the two Agents were charging at the now standing upright woman who charged right back.

Just before they clashed, with Arima's Lance soon being accompanied by another weapon which he had formed out of a second briefcase that took the form of a white rapier-like weapon, the woman let out a slight smirk with a look of sadistic joy in her eyes. "Let me be the judge of that…"


Over on another section of the battlefield, more blade clashing sounds triggered, thanks to a large Claymore being repeatedly exposed to the swings of an equally large black sword. Two weapons clashed together like vicious alpha beasts baring their fangs and constantly snapping their powerful jaws at one another. One could describe the state these two weapons and their owners were in at the moment, with there being no openings for anyone to try and assist either party even if there were any others available.

Yet, just as the sword slash fest kept going and escalating every collision, the two fighters then ended it by breaking away from one another, sliding back till they had cleared about 10 feet worth of distance. Neither side showed too many injuries aside from slightly torn clothing though, with both of them having assumed their fighting stances.

On Mihawk's side, the man held his sword in his right hand near the cross hilt, angling the blade in a downwards diagonal position while pointing its tip towards the long-haired woman's direction.

As for the long-haired woman, her stance looked to come from the art of fencing. Her left leg faced behind her with the same being said for her left side, her right side facing towards her foe, her Claymore held in an upward diagonal angle while its front striking edge remained fixed in her enemy's direction.

For a moment, the two of them remained silent and just simply stared one another down, letting the winds blow their respective clothing to the side. Two pairs of eyes kept their gazes locked together as if they were having a duel with just mental imagery alone, despite their owners not making a single movement whatsoever. In contrast to their silent postures, the sounds of conflict raged around them, yet neither of the two paid them much heed, not the sounds of their comrades duking it out nor the devastation caused by those who had left… quite the devastation in their wake with AOE attacks (Rory and Nico). No, it could be better said that they didn't even acknowledge anything except one another, keeping the focus on the sole thing that they registered as important.

...

...

...

"...Hey."

All of a sudden, the silence was broken, by the woman no less when she opened her mouth. Mihawk remained silent for a while, prompting her to elaborate on what she wanted to tell him, or rather ask him. "Have you heard of the name 'Rockwell Hill'...?"

The moment that he heard that name, Mihawk's expression didn't change one bit, his piercing gaze both unflinching and unchanging just like the black blade that he wielded. He hadn't heard of a place like that, nor did it spark any interest in him, but from what he could guess the swordsman predicted that she would let her guard down during this small bit of one-sided exchanging.

True to his internal predictions, the woman held a hand out in front of her and gazed down towards her palm, her words coming out like they had a will of their own. "I've been thinking for quite a while now, but I just can't seem to remember it. My name, that is…" No longer having an interest in staring down at her hand, the long-haired woman let it fall to her side while retaining the locked gaze between her and Mihawk. "Somehow, the inside of my head is all fuzzy, the only thing that's clear to me being that I must kill the lot of you."

'That must explain why she attacked in such a disgraceful manner…' Mihawk thought to himself, remembering that sneak attack that this woman and her two colleagues had launched. His gaze betrayed none of the emotions he felt inside, a skill he had developed over many years, yet the more he heard this woman go on like a blabbermouth the more the pieces of the puzzle started to piece themselves together within his brain. Mihawk may not be an expressive man, but that did not mean he was an idiot. 'What Arima once told me during our previous conversation may not be too far off the mark…'

Just then, the atmosphere shifted once more, leveling up in the intensity department like an RPG that he had seen the youth of today's generation ramble on about to the point where it proved infuriatingly annoying. The air became thicker the more seconds that passed, the source being the woman herself as she glanced down at her hand again, this time her head is angled downwards slightly so her eyes were slightly shadowed. Though with the bright silver eyes she had her gaze only looked all the more menacing. "But when I felt the wind press against my cheeks a moment ago… I did recall something. It seems that… I was SLAIN on Rockwell hill."

"..." Once more, Mihawk remained silent, his lips set in a firm line while his hawk-like gaze increased in intensity. "...I do not know of this 'Rockwell Hill' you speak of. Nor is it relevant." he stated, speaking for the first time in this entire battle, the woman noted in her mind, before swinging his sword and launching a compressed air slash the woman's way. One which the woman quickly dodged due to the sheer surprise element within the attack. Appearing in behind her, Mihawk tipped his hat downwards slightly over his eyes, muttering the following words with a vicious edge to them. "Especially not to the already deceased."

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!

One moment nothing had happened, then the next thing anyone knew the woman looked to be bombarded with different slashes from all over the place, the slashes being dealt with by Mihawk's large sword. For a moment, Mihawk expected the woman to have been shredded to pieces by his blade…

But when he had glanced towards his sword, the man noticed something off: his sword lacked any blood.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

Reflexes borderline superhuman got enacted when he pulled his blade into a defensive posture, one allowing him to block a multitude of strikes to his person with practiced ease. His sword arm moved so fast that it looked to almost be invisible, blocking and deflecting each invisible slash that had been launched his way no matter the angle. He freaking made it look like dance too, with how casual he swung his blade-like it meant nothing to him… to which it likely didn't.

"Hoh?" Turning towards the woman who had been the source of the strikes, Mihawk eyed her body… finding that she lacked any kind of damage to her person herself. It made him arch a brow in her direction but otherwise remained silent as she did the same to him as he had done to her. "I see… your reflexes are not human. I wonder if you're inhuman… like myself." she mused almost silently, a slightly intrigued tone to her voice. Seemed like her attitude towards him had changed, Mihawk noticed. Before, she seemed to have been looking through him, like she wasn't truly acknowledging him, something which he had long since gotten used to after dispatching countless cockroaches in his lifetime. NOW, however, it seemed that the woman was now truly 'looking' at him, instead of going through him like before.

Still, what she had mentioned about him not being human did not sit well with him, but Mihawk remained composed enough to not let it show. "Hmph. Associating one's skills to simple superhuman shows how little you know of humanity's potential," he remarked, his tone neutral with hints of something else deep within it, something which remained unknown for the time being. He then held his black sword in front of him in his usual fighting stance, any intent on talking quickly vanishing from his posture if the intense stare from his bird-like eyes wasn't enough of an indication. "Learn this lesson well, when you depart to the afterlife."

Seeing this, the woman's eyes narrowed slightly as her killing intent began to rise within her, sparking slight changes in the air itself while adjusting her posture to prepare for an attack. "...I usually hate being ignored more than anything else, but being looked down upon is a close second. Regret THAT when you depart to the afterlife, BOY." She spat, blasting forwards like a human blur. A gesture which Mihawk responded to in-kind…

Beginning yet another festival of slashes.


CLANG-SLASH-STAB-THRUST-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-SLASH-STAB-THRUST-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-SLASH-STAB-THRUST-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

A pair of fiery Obliteron Claws collided once more with the edge of a Claymore sword, their wielders striking away at one another with a swift and terrible sense of brutality. One Nico and one boyish-looking woman traded blows in this fashion, their limbs like blurs as they repeatedly clashed all over the battlefield. In one instance they could be in one area and the next they could be in a completely different section, this being due to how the male would sometimes fall back to bombard her with ranged projectiles fired from his Obliteron Cannons, only for the woman to dodge them with practiced ease having gotten used to his movements and attack patterns using them. Fortunately, Nico kept a level of unpredictability in his battle style, mixing his claw swipes with differing kicks and headbutts, sometimes even sneakily employing the use of his Kagune (mostly his Rinkaku due to it being near-impossible to detect) to launch strikes from a multitude of different angles.

Right now, Nico had managed to finally land a blow using an uppercut to the woman's jaw, knocking her up into the air. Having expected her to right herself at the apex of her unwilling 'flight', which she did do, the male launched 2 Rinkaku Tentacles at her with the intent to slice her legs off, only for the woman to flip herself about to avoid them which caused the redhead to narrow his eyes at her. 'Biko, you have an idea how she's seeing my Rinkaku's attacks coming? Feels like she's using a special method to sense their approach that's gradually increasing in effectiveness the longer this drags out…'

'I would assume she's used to sensing demonic power, Nico. I sense some sort of such energy within her, not to mention the others who came with her as well. It… not like what we have though. It feels more… raw, for lack of a better word. Like a double-edged sword, more so than what we command.'

The redhead internally winced at that as he launched his Tentacles into the ground, having them surface beneath the woman when she landed in the form of two large 'hands' made from spikes that he intended to trap her with. However, just as the two hands clasped together as if preparing for an overhead chop, the woman managed to bend herself backward to an angle where she looked like she almost touched the ground, swerving herself about to and slicing the hands apart. 'That does not sound good… if that's the case can this power run amok and cause damage to everything around us?'

'... From what I can sense, it may be more of a question of 'when' not 'if'. This… this isn't the same as when we fought Okada Izou back on Halo Mountain. Not even close.'

Well, wasn't that just perfect? Looked like they were racing against the clock in that case, if this energy was as unstable and volatile as Biko told him. More proof of this came in the form of what he himself could sense from this woman's energy, which had helped him draw a similar conclusion to his Demon Persona. Additionally, his inner Ghoul kept screeching at him to end this 'threat' to his life as quickly as possible, since throughout this whole fight he had lost a few of his limbs to her more than a few times, only to regenerate them promptly and continue the brawl.

Still, this unstable energy was a greater cause for concern if one were to ask him. Judging from previous experiences with demonic shit, he knew for a fact that an overly violent energy source which could go off wasn't a good idea. Sure one could call him a hypocrite since he's Devil Arms, heck even his OWN Demonic power to an extent, could be seen as a dangerous double-edged sword since, if his mind were ever to lose its 'will' and 'resolve' he feared that controlling it wouldn't be as easy. Thing was, there was the difference between their respective energies, his and this woman's, sure his own could threaten to destroy him one day if he ever lost his 'control' over it when using it, but that was a big if at this point due to the practice he had with it. From what he could sense of this woman's energy, however, it sounded like it would go wild whether she had control of it or wanted it to or not like there was LITERALLY nothing else for it.

Part of him honestly felt like he was looking at a mirror of himself, and he did NOT like the reason why.


"Honestly, that idiot…"

Those three words, spoken by the pigtailed woman, echoed throughout her side of the battlefield which so happened to be located quite close to the one which Nico and her fellow Claymore wielder were duking it out. She didn't look too impressed by the sight she was witnessing however, instead, she looked more exasperated than anything else, like a parent who was witnessing the usual unruly antics of their children. "Looks like SHE hasn't changed a bit…"

Her thoughts eventually turned to something that she could use to take her mind off that girl's performance. Strangely enough, she couldn't help but notice how some areas suddenly had gashes appear on them without any kind of reason, but she figured that it had to do with what she felt from that armored boy. 'Hmmm...Now that I get a good look at him, I wonder what he's packing under that Armor of his…' The pigtailed woman mused to herself, her lipstick-covered lips turning upwards into a sly smirk, her gaze slightly lustful as she analyzed the armored male's movements. 'May not know who that is… but from what I can see he's no slouch on the battlefield… wonder what his blood looks like… maybe I could find out for myself if my 'playmates' don't get up soon…' she thought, glancing behind her…

To the sight of Arima kneeling on one leg in a defensive position, only his Rapier-like weapon available since the Lance one had been destroyed during their bout. Ordinarily, she bet that he would have kept on attacking her despite the loss of one of his weapons, however, she bet that either their leader had given him orders to do otherwise, or he was doing the following of his own accord… but he currently stood in front of Rory's dismembered head, her body having been split into many pieces that were slowly returning to her. Each body part had been scattered across their little section of the battlefield, so it looked to be quite difficult for her body to gather its parts back together.

At this, the pigtailed woman had the audacity to arch a brow, a fake innocent damsel expression forming on her lips. "Well, at least it's a start. That healing process of yours is slow as heck, isn't it? Doesn't that make it so inconvenient? Seems like it's not like mine anyways…" she remarked thoughtfully. "Meh, please hurry up and heal before I grow bored. I'll wait here in the meantime," she stated, before looking back to the fight. Upon doing so, her mood soured as she hefted her sword atop her shoulders. "Seriously, those two… they can't even remember their own names despite being brought back from the dead…"

For a moment, the pigtailed woman eyed the fight between Mihawk and the long-haired woman. "One of them I'm seeing for the first time…" she mused, trailing off as her gaze landed on the other battle again, this time a sly yet sinister smirk forming instead. "But I do recall that I fought with you in our era. Oh yes, I do so remember that indeed…" she mused, chuckling like a damn sociopath. "Yes, I do recall dealing the finishing blow before you were cut up, CASSANDRA…"


Chapter end!

Whelp, here's the second chapter, on another cliffhanger too! Hehehe, I like these kinds of things...

Alright, slowly I'm getting through these large ass chapters. I'm using Google Docs from them, and if you haven't noticed these chaps are like over 10K words. In docs, they're like 20 pages long, cause I'm trying to keep them consistent with one another alongside adding content to the chapters to thicken them up a bit. This is also to keep people satisfied with the chapters as well, since thanks to stuff IRL I'm not updating nearly as frequently as I had before, therefore if the chapters are large and filled with content like a stuffed pinata, that'll hopefully tie readers over till I can pop the next chapter out.

In addition, for those of you who are wondering about Katakuri and what he's going to be up to during all of this, I have something in mind for him. There's going to be a reason as to why he isn't participating in many battles, but don't worry its not like he's going to abandon his comrades so he could go ahead, from what I have researched about him he's not that kind of person. He honestly reminds me of that advisor from Kingdom, Ri Boku I think his name was. Both of them are leaders serving under twisted individuals, even being somewhat twisted themselves, but they're more understandable than a lot of their comrades. He won't be discarded like used goods in this arc, oh hell to the no. He's too much of a freaking badass, heck if anything in future chapters there may be some juicy scenes I could make with him, heck I can even see him competing with Rory or some of the harem girls in terms of chapter content. Some of the ideas I have in mind for him are quite interesting, to the point where the thought of how he could influence events to come excites me.

Then there's the whole 'revival' thing going on with the three women, and if you have seen the arc that I'm referencing a lot for this one, then you'll know for a FACT that this is something unlike that of Mundus's revival of Nico's ancestor (Okada Izou, it was revealed in the crossover chaps) back at Halo Mountain. Each one has somewhat of a personality to them, especially the one fighting Rory and Arima (as someone who hardly expresses himself and is a 'reaper' in his own right, I'm hoping he's not too OOC regarding protecting Rory the way he is, but to be fair he was revealed to have always wanted to 'let someone go' in the Manga, hating himself for killing so many Ghouls) How that's possible won't be revealed just yet, but hopefully, it'll make more sense once this arc's climax is over.

Oh, and if anyone is ever going to ask if this stuff is just like filler or anything like that, don't worry. I'm intending to revisit this stuff, later on, to see if I can bring it back to the table somehow, something I believe I can pull off. By the time OEG is done, I hope that there will be as little filler as possible, and what I DON'T use may come into play in potential sequels. It's like I'm sewing Seeds, I can sprout them into brilliant flowers later on or in the form of side stories. Speaking of which, after this arc ends I might switch to another story like the Tekken side story I've been neglecting, or maybe my Sympgogear one. Not sure yet.

Anyway, hope you like the chapter, and look forward to the next one.

PEACE OUT!