Chapter 186

Why…?

Why was she doing this? Why was she here, fighting against a damn brat who thought that he could outshine her with her own technique? A brat who much to her internal irritation, showed a surprising level of understanding regarding its applications, and even worse she had seen signs that he had practiced extensively on its use, not to mention how she felt like she should be more aware of the fact that he didn't seem to belittle the technique's appearance, nor the fact that it involved him literally 'eating dirt' which had earned the technique its name. It irked her that someone else knew the Dust Eater technique other than her and was trying to use it against her, it almost felt like he was insulting her somehow.

These questions filled one of Cassandra's mind one after the other during her bout with the brat before her, the two of them constantly hacking away at each other with reckless abandon using their respective versions of the Dust Eater technique. The two of them swerved about on their respective spots, striking away at one another and filling their ears with the sounds of their blades meet, hers ringing against that… strange sword he wielded. It didn't seem like too major of a weapon, nothing like her own, but its appearance combined with the feel of it made her stomach churn with discomfort. It was like she was fighting a warrior, but one who wielded another warrior as their own weapon, a thought she did NOT appreciate in the slightest. Between the two of them though it seemed that there was a stalemate between them.

Regarding the technique itself, as his senior in this technique's art, Cassandra admitted that he had somewhat grasped the fundamentals on a decent level, but he was nowhere NEAR the level of mastery that she possessed. From the many clashes she had with this brat, she had gleaned a substantial understanding of where he was regarding the Dust Eater's use. According to her trained eye, the brat was about at the same level she had been about a couple months after she had first invented the technique in the spur of the moment, for his movements, were nowhere near as refined as they could be, it seemed to take longer for him to activate the technique than it should and he wasn't nearly as flexible either, meaning he couldn't pull off the same kind of movements she could which allowed Cassandra to deal more damage compared between the two of them. However, he could compensate with that regeneration he possessed, since his injuries healed much faster than some of the stronger warriors she had known of, which also allowed him to pull some reckless maneuvers which could have gotten an average warrior killed on the battlefield.

Still, despite all that part of her couldn't help but… admire, the fact someone else had bothered to learn her technique. Someone had seen it as worthwhile.

It was a... complicated feeling, to say the least.

Additionally, and this did dampen her admiration a bit, but it seemed he had other techniques in his arsenal as well, techniques that were suspiciously containing elements that implied that they were designed for swords akin to the ones she and her fellow warriors wielded, yet because of his extensive list (she had seen MULTIPLE techniques with their own pros and cons to their names) it seemed like he hadn't practiced the Dust Eater as extensively compared to them. That would also explain why he seemed so excited to see her use the technique herself and why he had been sticking to it, he was simply trying to get a better understanding of the Dust Eater Technique right from the source, Cassandra herself.

Her views aside, the two of them had a bit of a connection there regardless of how she felt about it: master and disciple.

Thinking about all this did indeed irritate her, but more than that her irritation stemmed from ANOTHER source. One which lay more in some of the more… fundamental aspects of her being:

Why?

Why was she here? Fighting against this brat didn't feel like it was her main purpose, not anymore. By that, Cassandra meant that she had initially come here with two other warriors to eliminate a bunch of 'evil beings' from what she could remember. Beings who were said to be a threat… at the time she had assumed she had been brought about to slay the regular monsters she had always slain. But, the more she fought, the more she began to grow increasingly confused regarding the true nature behind these people as well as the orders she had been given. She remembered very little, just a faintly masculine yet familiar voice telling her that she had a job to do and that was all she needed to focus on for her continued existence. At the time, she hadn't been too fussed about it since she wasn't completely aware of what she was doing yet, but thinking back on it numerous questions appeared in her mind regarding that strange voice, let alone the reason for her not being able to remember anything else about it.

It all confused the heck out of her.

And confusion leads to all kinds of emotions, frustration, and irritation is key here.

These people… they weren't the monsters she was usually sent to kill, that had been something she only recently managed to comprehend. While some sported traits which could link them to the monsters she was aware of, they fought much unlike them. They didn't fight like furious and mindless berserkers like a lot of her foes in the past did, nor did they strike without any sense of intelligence, instead they fought with cunning, techniques, and tactics that were honestly somewhat impressive. If she had known about some of the tactics these people employed, maybe she could have managed to affect some of her previous battles quickly. Not only that, but they reminded her somewhat of the warriors she once called comrades, the thought sending an unexpectedly painful PANG of pain through her chest. To the point where Cassandra raised and put her hand on her chest after her most recent collision with her opponent.

Something which was not unnoticed by the said opponent who arched a brow and momentarily paused his strikes. He sensed something was going on here and wanted to know what just in case it was something that might wind up being something dicey, in which case he could sever the problem at its core with a few quick slices from his Rinkaku Kagune.

'Why… why am I… doing this…?'

Raising that same hand to her face, Cassandra lowered her head and let it palm her said face, one eye being visible through the finger gaps. That same eye looked to be shaking violently, almost like it was about to explode into a mass of chaotic emotion that reflected the state of Cassandra's mind to a T. Not only that but there were other signs that her mentality was starting to change, such as her breathing becoming gradually less labored and her grip on her sword needlessly tightening.

'Shit, this is…!' Seeing all this and deciding to NOT stand there like a doofus, Nico opted to go 'fuck it!' instead of seeing where this went and quickly formed a single large but cloaked Tentacle from his Rinkaku, it's forming that of the metallic gauntlet he had used against those Youma back in that deathtrap. He then launched it forth and had the gauntlet swipe at her in a whip-like slashing motion, intent on simply beheading the being before him before anything drastic could have happened.

Unfortunately…

SPLATTER!

"?!"

… It wasn't quick enough, for when the clawed gauntlet had gotten just within a few inches away from Cassandra's face, her eye flashed with a golden color and a fierce wave of her demonic energy burst out of her. Nico's Kakugan eye widened at the sight as he felt a powerful recoil knock him stumbling backward. This wave of energy had not only repelled the attack but also caused the gauntlet and half of the offending tentacle to explode into a showery mess of crimson evaporated flesh and gas. Quickly retracting it into his person once again, Nico didn't feel like going in close would be a good idea and, forgoing subtlety, quickly summoned a couple of Bikaku tails that he promptly launched their talons towards her with the intent of shredding her body to pieces. 'Biko, something bad's going on here, I can sense her strange energy going increasingly unstable within her…' he informed his demon persona as he watched her deflect the talons with some sword swings, her arm bulging in various places.

'Seems like she's finally approaching her limit, Nico. She's been using her power too much and now it's going to… oh shit, DUCK!'

Biko's warning came just in time, for not a moment later did Nico quickly dodge a flying sword hurled his way by Cassandra herself. He dodged by doing what he said: duck, and not a second later the sword spun over his head like a rotating disk, an audible sound being heard as it did so before impaling the ground nearby. A loud THUNK accompanied the impact, and at that moment Nico instantly understood that there had been a LOT of strength put into that throw, and as to why that might be he wasn't too sure although he had a few ideas. Close one…' he mused internally, before drawing his gaze back to Cassandra (to also continue his assault with one of his many weapons), and stopping just from seeing something that proved greatly unsettling. 'Oh, that can't be anything good.'

Turned out that splattering sound didn't just come from his attack getting repelled, but also from something else that happened to Cassandra... her body suddenly becoming ENGULFED in all kinds of slash wounds, wounds that looked to have been made by many kinds of different blades yet also similar to one another not to mention they looked to e quite grizzly too, implying a sense of amateurish experience regarding execution. They completely covered her body from head to toe, stunning all who beheld her and gave off the appearance of a body made from many shattered pieces forcibly stuck together.

"Ah…ah..."

Slowly this new phenomenon registered within Cassandra's mind, which Nico felt honestly a bit impressed that it was still functioning properly in this situation. Initially, her mouth opened up with the speed of a turtle yet only a few sounds came out. Like the shock of what had just happened had robbed her of the ability to speak. Her eyes remained wide and unfocused, now completely visible with gash marks even going across them in a truly grotesque fashion. For a moment, everything remained this way alongside the immensely tense atmosphere...

SPLATTER-SPLATTER-SPLATTER-SPLATTER-SPLATTER-SPLATTER-SPLATTER-SPLATTER-SPLATTER-SPLATTER-SPLATTER-SPLATTER-SPLATTER-SPLATTER-SPLATTER!

This didn't last long, however, as thanks to the wounds being rather deep, they were able to draw blood... lots of it. Blood splattered out of her copious wounds onto the ground in front of her while Cassandra finally managed to process what had happened to her all of a sudden. Of course, this sight not being something one could take lightly nor reasonably comprehend with a level head, resulted in Cassandra hunching over with her eyes closed, a blood-curdling shriek escaping her lips as she tried to stop herself from bleeding. Not only did this fail spectacularly, as well as spew more blood everywhere, but it also contributed to the hysteria that the woman warrior found herself in during this exact moment, everything ending up as a horrendous mixture of both shock and pain.

Yet beneath all of that, Cassandra's tightly shut eyes tightened even further when an influx of images assaulted her mind like a naval force launching an amphibious assault on an enemy country's soil. These images moved through her mind far too fast to be properly processed yet despite that with what little clarity that the warrior still possessed, likely from all the stressful battles where she had to FORCE herself to keep calm as much as possible, Cassandra still managed to see some things clear enough to get the general picture which only confused her all the more. "My wounds... my wounds... from when I... was cut all over...!" She howled, catching Nico off guard when he had started to prepare for another assault. She didn't notice this though, instead, she went and stumbled backward whilst trying to cope with the sudden influx of pain and agony she found herself in, faint images of blades descending upon her flashing through her mind. "IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

'WHOA!' Nico exclaimed internally, stumbling backward while holding his arms over his face thanks to an eruption of energy that exploded out of Cassandra. To regain his balance the male summoned his Rinkaku in its default form and had it stab into the ground to anchor him, though the breeze generated by the energy surge persisted still. 'This ain't good, her energy's getting crazier by the second! Keeps strengthening too, it's climbing to sky class demon levels...!'

'It will not be stopping there, I sense. Be aware, we cannot stop what is going to happen anymore, best set up some defensive Nico.'

'My thoughts exactly!'

Whilst Nico did this, the moment that Cassandra started shrieking hysterically had been the sight that the other Agents had seen once their attention had been drawn towards their fight. Not only them, but Roxanne's and the other woman's attention had been drawn as well, and while the latter didn't show much beyond a veiled curiosity towards the spectacle especially the generation of such a high energy output, the former briefly showed a momentary look of shock... before a malicious smile crossed onto her lips. "Oh my... Cassandra... are you perhaps regaining your memories of us...? Of me...?" she wondered, a faint giggle escaping her lips.


Swords falling onto her body...

Fearful gazes on the faces of those who attacked her...

Alienated by the spontaneously created 'warped' technique...

Friends abandoned her...

Loneliness up on the top...

One called her "Dust Eater" and left...

Once carelessly exposed the technique to another, but she thanked her over and over after she had saved her...

Afterward, that person gave her respect and friendliness at every encounter...

Strange... why did she do that?

She said... that her wiping the dust off her face reminded her of her pet cat...

She laughed and soon the other joined in.

A friend was made for the first time in years.

One day, she went monster hunting with her comrades but never returned.

She went and found the monster that had killed her friend and killed it herself, but there was more to be done.

She confronted the woman leading the group her friend had been a part of.

That woman indirectly stated she had let her friend die slowly and painfully by that monster's hand...

all bets were off.

The Dust Eater made its first public appearance.

Warriors were surprised by its strangeness, before fighting back.

THAT WOMAN must have brought them here intentionally, knowing what she would do.

She lost her limbs and got her movements stopped not by a blade but by a sword hilt, an uncommon sword technique called the 'blade of evil'.

Countless blades descended... chopped her up...

Kill...

Kill.

KILL

KILL!


"...Roxaaaannneeee…"

"Ara... looks like she's remembered..."

Roxanne had said this a moment after Cassandra had stopped shrieking and just stood there, motionless like a statue with her head reared back so she could gaze upwards, blood still splattering from her old wounds. Briefly, she had spoken one word, Roxanne's name, with a tone that could best be described as one of revelation. Like a wife who had just figured out who would harm her beloved husband when said husband's death had been declared a homicide. For a moment, all she did was stare up to the heavens above, almost like she were looking one last time at a higher power she felt in her despair, that she would never see again. Then, in a flash her eyes jerked to the side... facing solely towards Roxanne, Nico being forgotten by her mind's cognition.

BIKI-BIKI-BIKI-BIKI-GOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!

FWOOSH!

At that moment, the entire atmosphere trembled when an explosion of energy burst out of Cassandra, covering her and her surroundings in smoke.

Far from her position, Nico floated in the air thanks to wings made from his Rinkaku, his main weapon now being Soul Edge that he had summoned as a means of preparing for the inevitable. Part of him had wrestled with the idea of initiating his DPU transformation into his demonic god form, however, he had decided against it since it felt like it wasn't the right time to use it. Plus that form's power would be a bit overkill and considering that this mission needed the facility to be undamaged for their search, even pulling Soul Edge out would be a stretch, memories of what it had done to that entire dungeon back in Leanbox returning to his mind's eye.

Still…

Feels like her energy's completely transformed her…! Kind of like the Berserker Mode.' the male thought to himself while he narrowed his lone eye behind his arms that covered his face. From what his senses told him, the moment that the eruption had happened Cassandra's energy had done the same thing, rapidly spreading throughout her body whilst… changing it right down to the fundamental levels. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that the woman is known as Cassandra he had fought against so far had ceased to be, a 'new' Cassandra taking her place.

'It wouldn't be too far-fetched to call this an 'awakening' of sorts, Nico. From my observations, her energy went past a certain point where changes started happening within her. Once past that point, there was no turning back for her… strange that this happened all in a few moments, this process seemed like it could potentially happen after a long time duration. Yet judging from its toxicity, this power seems to be almost fated to reach this stage at some point or another… whoever gave these women this power wasn't intending for them to live for long.'

Biko's disturbing thought process aside, Nico gazed into the smoke as it started to clear up, his instincts telling him to be prepared for anything since he didn't know WHAT would be possible from this point forward. Inside, a small knot of tension formed within his stomach whilst his innards twisted together uncomfortably, a frown on his lips beneath his mask while his inner Ghoul growled in a low yet cautious manner.

Finally, the smoke faded away to reveal what lay beneath… and Nico alongside any onlookers would admit to NOT being ready for what lay within.

There, as motionless as she had been beforehand, was Cassandra, once a human woman but now a complete and utter monster. Her form had been changed by her internal energy (which now felt MUCH more stable than before thanks to the absence of what could have been an important part of herself) to the point where her lower body looked to have been replaced by a large humanoid base. This base consisted of a humanoid torso and feminine legs without any clothing, yet the base also looked segmented, exposing various fibers beneath that looked completely inhuman. Between the 'breasts' area, Cassandra's human upper body looked to be attached with her hands seemingly infused with the breasts themselves.

Now that he thought about it, the base actually resembled what she was like when using her infamous Dust Eater Technique: feet rooted to the ground and leaning backward as if just before she swung herself. The base laced a head and arms though, but it didn't need those since it had these long tentacle-like things which rose from the shoulders and groin area, acting like cushions so the base wasn't lying completely on the ground. But where the head and neck were supposed to be, there was instead a stump of flesh which seemed to serve no purpose, though one would be foolish to assume that.

All in all, an absolutely twisted transformation.

ESPECIALLY when the transformed Cassandra began to drool uncontrollably to the point where she had a constant waterfall of drool going down her chin. "Uu… ahhhhh…" a low exhale escaping her form.

'Holy…'

'WHOOO BOY, NOW THAT IS ONE UGLY BITCH!'

Internally surprised at his Ghoul Persona's interjection, Nico couldn't really argue with him about it since he felt the same way about Cassandra's new form, somewhat. Plus, for some reason this form… irked him in ways he didn't expect it would. Perhaps this was due to it somewhat resembling how Ghouls had their incomplete Kakujas which also mutated their forms in various grotesque ways.

This only got worse on the grotesque scale when the sounds of bubbles popping could be heard behind her, drawing attention to the stub of flesh where the base's 'head' should have been… only for what looked like a bunch of thicker Tentacles that ended in heads shaped like Cassandra's own to explode out, falling to the ground and lying there motionlessly. Needless to say, a lot of the eyes drawn to this sight wanted to immediately erase it from their memory.

Though this wasn't the case for a certain cosmetic-wearing woman.

"Hahahaha… AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Loud, boisterous laughter erupted from her lips as Roxanne lost control over herself, her laughter both mocking Cassandra's current situation as well as drawing her upper body's gaze towards her. Though this wasn't something that Roxanne currently concerned herself with as she instead had a more important subject on her mind: namely mocking her fellow warrior's current form once again. "Hahahaha! Even when you Awakened, you're still rubbing your face against the ground! You must REALLY enjoy the taste of eating shit, don't you?" she bellowed joyfully, a look of twisted and downright psychotic on her face.

"R...ox...ann...e…"

Slowly, Cassandra's mouth opened up and let that word slip out, although it seemed like she had forgotten how to use her vocal cords because her voice sounded raspy as all heck.

BOOM!

This did not extend to her fighting capability, however, as all of a sudden one of the head-tipped Tentacles shot forth from its previous position on the ground to lunge down at Roxanne from above at an 8-degree angle, smashing into the ground where she had once stood since the cosmetic-wearing woman had jumped out of the way at the last second. "What the hell?! Still living up to your name, dust eater!" Roxanne cried out joyfully once more…

Until she stopped and her eyes widened as shock flooded her system.

Why was this, one might ask? Whelp, perhaps the sudden feeling of weightlessness and an imbalance to her center of gravity could be the cause. To be more precise, the moment she landed on the ground Roxanne looked to her left side and, with a shocked "ara" escaping from her lips, she saw that her entire right arm with a portion of her side had been missing, a momentary confusion filling her up inside alongside her shock. Briefly, she wondered where her lost arm and side had gone before she quickly looked back towards the tentacle that had attacked her where it seemed to be content to remain.

Said Tentacle slowly lifted its head upwards from the ground, revealing that it had Rozanne's severed arm within its crooked teeth, holding it by the elbow. Not only that, but it slowly began to chew on the limb whilst Cassandra's upper human body mirrored its actions like she was also tasting what the Tentacle was tasting. Various chewing sounds seemed to support this idea too.

The sight of this proved to be too much for Roxanne to completely comprehend, her face now that of both shock and disbelief as a small upturning on both corners of her mouth formed. "Eating me…? The Dust Eater is Eating me…?"

It didn't take long for Cassandra to finish her meal, making a gulping motion which the Tentacle mirrored, completely swallowing the arm whole which for it, wouldn't have been an issue considering the size difference. Once the whole limb had been swallowed by the Tentacle, Cassandra took one look at the woman whom she had eaten the arm off and said the following words with a bit more strength to her voice. As well as a sliver of mockery as well.

"...You taste awful. Just like shit."

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Initially stunned with that same mad smile on her face, Roxanne's self-control finally snapped once she fully processed what had been said to her, resulting in her breaking forth into a charge. All the while she still maintained enough awareness to avoid several preemptive energy spheres launched by Arima who had taken advantage of her not looking at them, before she was close enough to jump up onto the transformed Cassandra's base, close to the space between the boobs where her upper body protruded from, to start slashing at her with her sword. However, Cassandra proved to be far from defenseless as some of her Tendrils rose from both her lower body's sides to block, parry, and stab back at Roxanne.


"There they go…" Rory mused this to herself, giggling while her body finished its repairs for her, her comrade Arima tossing her Emroy back to her which she caught by swiping at the air, catching it in her left hand. "Looks like the two of them weren't as truly united as they showed themselves initially…" she mused again whilst shuddering and holding herself. Why that was the case remained only known to her, however, and she didn't have any intent to divulge it.

Beside her, Arima nodded his head in agreement, though he didn't get a chance to vocalize this since he noticed from the corner of his left eye one of those head-tipped Tentacles coming towards them. Quickly, he sprung into action and launched a bunch more energy spheres at it, but the damn thing didn't show any signs of slowing down as it neared its position. 'Hmph, so they are quite agile despite their size, it seems…' the man thought to himself while switching his weapon to its rapier mode for some close combat, knowing that firing more spheres would be pointless at this stage.

Thankfully, however, Arima's actions alerted Rory to the danger so she took care of it by swinging Emroy like a baseball bat once the timing had been right, therefore resulting in the head being launched upwards and away from them. The moment that she did this, Rory then jumped forwards to sever the head from the rest of the Tentacle only to glance to the side and notice a third head coming her way, one which she made to switch targets to…

Had it not retreated backward to avoid a bunch of slash waves that had been launched at it from its side.

"Those aren't the run-of-a-mill extensions." Came the voice of Mihawk, who walked up to Arima and Rory who landed back onto the ground shouldering Emroy like a gangster. Both Agents looked towards him as the black sword-wielding man strode up to them with his arms crossed over his bare chest, his hat tipped forwards and his sword strapped to his back like it hadn't been drawn. "Just from those movements alone, it's safe to assume that each of those heads has their own ability to differentiate between targets, as well as some basic level intelligence. They appear to move on instinct as well, as that one only retreated to avoid my attack, and from the way, it's eyeing us right now I'd say it's evaluating us as potential threats," he remarked analytically while eyeing the head-tipped Tentacles that had attacked them earlier, each of them eyeing them back whilst not making additional moves to attack.

Glancing back at him, Arima's lips remained in a flat line for a few moments, before proceeding to inquire as to the fate befalling Mihawk's adversary. He already had a good idea of what it might be though, given the few droplets of blood he could see behind the man that likely came from his sword's tip. "What of your opponent? Was she…?" he began.

But instead of finishing he allowed Mihawk to finish it instead, the man's hawk-like eyes narrowing slightly while raising his right hand, promptly gesturing behind him using his thumb. "Change 'opponent' to 'stepping stone' and you're more accurate. I kicked a few on my way here, though there was one big one initially." Both Agents did indeed glance behind the hat-wearing Agent, finding the elf-like woman's body to be lying on the floor with the majority of her body being rather unrecognizable, due to the number of wounds that adorned her person.

95% of her body had been stained red with her own blood, most of it coming from the numerous deep gash and laceration marks her form sported, with many innards being rendered visible thanks to their depths. Some intestines could be seen sprawled out around her abdomen which implied that her stomach had been cut open, various slash marks present on her neck implying that Mihawk had tried to behead her multiple times at one point. She didn't have much of her arms or legs left either, and what little she DID have looked to have become some twisted, mangled messes that were hardly recognizable as what they had once been. Needless to say, she looked like she had seen better days.

Looked like Mihawk had, from the moment Cassandra had transformed, decided to 'pull off the kid gloves' and utterly slaughter the woman without giving her a chance to defend herself.

Oh well, nothing they should be concerned with.

With that consensus, Rory Arima and Mihawk turned towards the bigger issue that needed to be addressed: Cassandra… or what was left of her anyways. Not like she was dead or anything as much as they would have preferred her to be, but more like there was hardly anything left that resembled the woman who had initially ambushed them alongside their comrades. Roxanne and Cassandra had remained locked within a heated battle between them, no longer concerned with the Agents who had been their initial targets.

Rory then brought up a point which she had been thinking about only a few seconds ago, having lost herself in the carnage too much to properly give a damn about it. "Any word from our fearless leader? I didn't see him do much in the battle at all." she queried curiously. She soon got her answer, however, when Mihawk showed her his Phone without a word, to which the female 'reaper' leaned a bit to look at it to find a message sent by Charlotte, one sent shortly after the initial battling had begun it seemed according to the time. "Oh."

After giving that response, Mihawk pocketed his phone while adjusting his hat. "He decided on going ahead and sent the message to our devices to inform us. He suspected that these forces were being used for delaying tactics." He explained, having been the only one to read this message… well, he wasn't sure if Arima had done so, seeing as much about his mannerisms left him difficult to read, but he felt for SURE that Rory wouldn't. As for that kid DEATHSTROKE, he believed that the kid didn't give much of a damn. Just like the rest of them. "He's going to head them off, block all means of retreat. We'll regroup with him inside the facility."

"Mou! That bore! He could have at least given a verbal warning! A lady doesn't like to be ghosted you know…!"

While Rory pouted and looked to the side like a petulant child, barely avoiding a sword slash from the no-nonsense Mihawk that could have severed her head from her body, their conversation soon got halted by their resident white-haired member. "Looks like she's just finished up…" Arima remarked thoughtfully while watching the two battling beings, his tone and facial features blank… though that didn't mean that he was lowering his guard any. The way he held his Rapier in its blade form showed proof of that.

Initially one might think Arima's words applied to just Cassandra…

But then when the arm and legless form of Roxanne crashed near them, they would soon come to question those thoughts.

SPLAT!

Blood splattered around her, pooling like a puddle from her various injuries while Roxanne gazed upwards blankly, silent like a calm wind. Maybe she took that from Arima? All the while, the hulking form Cassandra had taken loomed over her like a giant preparing to stomp on her like the ant she was, Cassandra's golden slitted eyes bearing down on her like a spec of dirt.

The irony was not lost on the cosmetics-wearing woman, who proceeded to erupt into a burst of psychotic laughter despite the situation she had found herself in. She honestly felt sick to her stomach, furious enough to breathe fire with her rage, and yet there was a sense of bitter humor to this scenario. "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! THIS IS JUST HILARIOUS!" she shrieked upwards at the monstrous woman. "EVEN AFTER AWAKENING, YOUR FIGHTING STYLE IS STILL THE SAME! WHAT THE HELL?!"

"..."

The silence was the response Roxanne got given to by her former comrade turned monster, who now loomed over her limbless being with the lower body's legs planting their feet on either side of Roxanne. Even if she had her body in a whole state, she wouldn't have been able to escape, not if Cassandra had anything to say about it.

Said woman leaned forwards, well her upper body did… with the sounds of flesh extending emitting from the point where her lower and upper halves were connected. The reason? Oh, nothing much, just her upper body 'extending' from the lower body like a Tendril, slowly moving through the air down to Roxanne's torso, reaching out for her when she had gotten close enough. Roxanne, in a display of steel nerves, showed no signs of flinching while this occurred, even Cassandra cupped her head with her clawed hands and licked her forehead with an elongated, serpentine tongue.

Afterward, she retreated a bit, holding Roxanne by the boobs… before offering a large demented grin, her eyes wide and glowing with malice and sinister intent. Drool dripped from her chin like waterfalls at this point, while she repeated the words she had mentioned earlier as if to further compound them into her prey's mind. "You taste awful. Just like shit."

Despite the danger she had found herself in, Roxanne still maintained that crazy grin on her face. "My, that's quite something to say… coming from someone drooling all over me."

Unbeknownst to the majority, a brief pulse of energy emitted from the fallen woman's body at this point…

Though that won't remain the case for long.


"Kukuku… interesting. How utterly fascinating…"

A sickly cackle escaped the lips of one half-burned scientist, that scientist being Dae who sat cross-legged atop a small piece of rock, one which overlooked the decimated back yard belonging to this facility. Several areas had been concealed by smokescreens generated by some of the larger attacks, with some of the gashes left by massive weapon swings being so large that even the mad scientist could see them. Though the majority of his attention had been drawn to the battle between the warrior and the monster that had once been her comrade, something which he had been eagerly looking forward to witnessing since the start of this little project.

To delve into the unknown, to unravel the secrets of the forbidden, to figure out why they were forbidden… those embodied the essence of the researcher in his eyes.

And he would settle for nothing less.

"The others have begun causing a lot of panic and chaos, thanks to you leaving them so suddenly Dae… though I guess that's not the only reason their knickers are in a twist."

"?!"

Just then, the tranquility around him got broken when Dae had heard a voice near his rear, one which undoubtedly belonged to one of his colleagues. Glancing behind him, he spotted a man who wore their group's formal uniform instead of robes like himself, complete with a Leanbox-style top hat as well as a pair of large shades that covered his eyes. "But that's not important, right now though. What's got my attention, is the fact that you KNEW those three were ticking time bombs, right? You KNEW this would happen eventually.

Yet the researcher Dae didn't give much else of a reaction aside from his creepy smile widening a little. "Ufufufu, perceptive… Rubel, was it?" the man questioned, turning back to viewing the battle and showing his priorities when he seemed to ask the name of an apparently important colleague. "It's not like I'm attempting to flee and hide, I'm just here to witness the spectacle of a lifetime. It was foolish of them to think that with 'that' these three resurrected warriors would remain that way for long. Originally, they were already ticking time bombs back in their original era by design, what 'that' did was not only revive them in the bodies we synthesized, but also accelerated the process. What was the old saying? I brought you into this world, I can take you out of it? I guess you can sort of apply that here, in a unique sense."

The Man, Rubel, hummed thoughtfully at this as he pondered what the scientist had meant by those words. In his opinion, bringing back the dead wasn't a simple process, any necromancer with experience in the field would be able to say that much, and usually, there were side effects with their experiments.

Nonetheless, what they had done was something very few necromancers would have been able to accomplish, for the act of reviving the dead was a long and strenuous process on the best of things according to their limited records about such things, records that had been 'liberated' from certain covens who pursued such arts. Reviving those from an era as far back as the DPU one? Pfft, not even the most twisted of necromancers would attempt such a task…

Yet they had done it.

It wasn't an easy process, of course. Because of how beta many up top were regarding it, humanity wasn't aware of much surrounding necromancy in the grand scheme of things which to him sounded pretty pathetic and hypocritical. Why was necromancy frowned upon when other horrors were glorified and seen as good things? Horrors such as slavery, servitude, and the likes? Many within their organization had thoughts like these, but in the end, he figured that was just natural human hypocrisy at work.

But like previously mentioned, such things usually come with side effects… and in this case, they were much more severe than normal, Rubel suspected.

"Yet you don't seem to care much for these side effects, do you? I guess I can understand why, myself…"

Dae's smirk widened into a downright twisted grin, his eye that was completely exposed thanks to his burned flesh glancing behind him back at the hat-wearing man. "That aside, Rubel… how many monsters do you think there are in this world?" he questioned with a more… mysterious tone entering his voice.

For a moment, Rubel became silent, his brain ringing with alarms at the question while he deciphered its meaning internally. From his experience, this man before him could be described as an eccentric man who had very few morals… as in an amount one could count on one hand. With that profile, such a question required one to think outside the box for its meaning, but luckily for him, Rubel had experience with people like him before. Hence it didn't take long for him to come to an answer. "...Judging by how you used 'monsters' you don't just mean the Abnormals, then," Rubel commented offhandedly, adjusting his glasses. Still, as he lowered his head, the man had an answer ready as if he had predicted it. "In that case, then I would say there's far too many to give an accurate estimate. More than thousands off the top of my head."

Nodding his head at the answer received, Dae continued with his speech. "Your right, so in the end who does this world truly belong to? Humanity? No, not even close. It's a world belonging to the countless monsters and demons which have been seeking to wipe us out. The only reason humanity has existed for so long is that there have been countless figures across history that have donned the mantle of 'monster' to fight them. The Spec Ops Agency, historical figureheads, leaders of settlements, even the CPUs to an extent. They're what humanity owes its current existence to, one could also say that they make themselves and others into 'monsters'... so it's especially hypocritical for them to condemn necromancy the way that they do. All it is is simply another form of monster making, which is exactly what has happened here. I, a human, have created three genuine monsters, that's all there is to it."

"I see…" Rubel mused, and he wasn't lying, he truly did understand what the man was saying. Perhaps an eccentric man like him needed someone equally eccentric to be understood, although he had mixed feelings about that. Still, that didn't change the current situation all too much. "Regardless, releasing these monsters really bit us in the ass, didn't they? At this point, we can say that our group is finished whether the three-win or not…" he whispered, although the other man heard him regardless.

Despite this, Dae didn't look like he gave too many shits regardless of this fact. "Our organization is done either way, even if I didn't release them. The moment when we were found by the 'monsters' in the Spec Ops agency, it was over, and even if we WERE to have won without those three which would have been highly unlikely anyway, we can't continue with our function, we've literally outlived our usefulness. Therefore, I wanted to see this final battle of our little struggle, then I'll be satisfied with whatever fate befalls us."

"Huh… you must be quite invested in this battle, to say that…"

Nodding his head at that, Dae elaborated on that point for his colleague. "Those three can be considered my greatest work, to the point where I'd have liked to keep them with me forever. Additionally, as a Necromancer I would probably become one of the most famous should the fruits of my labor become public knowledge. But I was roused to use them as research material thanks to 'that' which our benefactors provided for us, that which spearheaded the research of bringing back such a lost, yet wondrous and fascinating era."

As he spoke all of this, Dae and Rubel both became witness to something that started happening on the battlefield, something which would shift the dynamic radically. While Rubel looked like he had gotten the shock of his life, becoming paler than a ghost in shock at the sheer SIGHT, Dae only grinned in a downright maniacal manner, having waited for this VERY moment to occur.

"Now then… which of these three are going to emerge on top, I wonder…?"


PCHEW-PCHEW!

BOOM!

"?!"

Cassandra, having grown tired of playing around with her meal, decided to pull herself back on top of her massive lower body base, setting herself right back into it like nothing before had happened. Her expression returned to that moot one she had once worn when this transformation had first happened, staring down emotionlessly towards Roxanne's prone form while two long Tendrils, tipped with long blades, rose in front of her lower base's crotch area. They then proceeded to lunge down towards Roxanne with a massive amount of speed, the tranquil expression on Cassandra's face briefly being replaced with a look of bloody murder.

Yet just as the Tendrils neared their target, Roxanne's body…

Instantly vanished.

Shock replaced anger on Cassandra's face as she eyed the place where Roxanne, her hated enemy, had once been with her two Tendrils now impaling nothing but dirt. Dirt she had long grown used to have to cover her face so when she retracted them, Cassandra didn't bother shaking the dirt off. No, instead she had much bigger priorities, which were to find out where that enemy of hers had gotten herself off to…

GOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG!

She didn't have to look around for very long, for a huge burst of energy much like her own erupted in front of her, drawing her attention to its source. That source turned out to be Roxanne… with long fleshy innards and entrails erupting out from her severed limbs and holding her human torso up off the ground like some sort of makeshift throne. The 'throne' of flesh kept getting bigger and bigger by the second, as well as gradually raised Roanne's torso higher during those seconds. Additionally, her eyes had changed to that of Cassandra's, though hers remained half-open like she was uninterested in anything that was happening around her, even as her voice took on a more ghastly, echoey sound similar to how Roxanne now spoke. "Huh? What's… this…?"

GOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG!

If that wasn't bad enough, then another surge of energy similar to Cassandra and Roxanne's erupted, coming from the remains of the elf girl that Mihawk had slaughtered. The Spec Ops Agents quickly glanced over at her, seeing a bunch of veins starting to crawl across the sides of her head while her eyes turned into a similar set to the other two. Yet, while Rory and Arima stared in shock at this situation, well, the former had more of a mix between shock and surprise on her face while the latter had more of a slightly wide-eyed expression… with maybe a slight trace of fear on his face, though not of the woman transforming before him…

SCHULUCK!

Mihawk didn't hesitate to act, instead, he drew his black sword from his back, turning his arms into black versions of themselves while doing the same with his sword. He then commenced a goddamn FLURRY of fierce slashes from his current position, launching a bunch of slash waves that cut through the woman at the neck, severing her head from her body which got diced up till was nothing but PASTE. Briefly, they had managed to observe the wide eyes of shock from the elf woman, eyes which soon turned to those of a deceased corpse before the head fell to the ground below, lifeless.

When the other two glanced towards him with looks of approval, the man huffed as he held his sword at the ready while he and the others glanced back towards the transforming Roxanne. "One's down before she could be more annoying. The other is too far gone." He stated simply, pretty much confirming that at this point he couldn't kill Roxanne due to how far her transformation had progressed.

Speaking of progress…

PCHSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

Accompanied by a steaming sound, the smoke generated by her transformation began to fade away, revealing Roxanne in her new monster form. And BOY what a form it was: standing taller than some of the tallest Lastaton buildings, around at least over skyscrapers in terms of height, Roxanne's new form looked to be quite sleek, robotic, and slender while still retaining a feminine humanoid shape. The body seemed to be composed of metallic, overlapping plate-like structures akin to armor. She also had these long, thin, and segmented arms that were tipped with sharp claws, as well as 6 wing-like appendages, 3 pairs of 2 essentially, that were adorned with rows of feather-like blades. Additionally, her head resembled that of a hooded sphinx-like appearance, similar to some old lower ruins that had been excavated at one point in the distant past.

"Ah, I see… so that's why…"

Opening her mouth a little, the transformed Roxanne whispered in a ghastly fashion while looking down at herself, experimentally moving her arms about. Behind her, her various 'wings' fluttered about too before she noticed something down on the ground. "I'm so hungry… now I understand why one would stoop low enough to eat shit," she stated, a small smile forming on her lips while she reached down with her right arm, stabbing into what looked like the remains of a dead Yoma, one of the few which remained on the battlefield. Raising it to her mouth level, Roxanne eyed the piece of meat on her claw without much of an expression, although that probably had something to do with the way her face looked in this new form of hers. "It's just my luck that there's a bunch of corpses. Still reasonably fresh even if they will taste like shit to me…" she mused, opening her mouth to put the dead Yoma Corpse inside…

SCULUCK!

Only for a black and red blur to suddenly swoop down from above, smash into and sever her finger from her hand. Then to take her prey and shoot across the battlefield. She momentarily didn't realize what had happened, until a couple of seconds passed and her brain fully processed these events, prompting her to look to where the blur had shot off too. There, she spotted someone she briefly recognized as someone familiar till she realized that it had been the same guy who had fought Cassandra using her own technique.

More importantly, the male had landed a fair distance away from her and had chucked her meal as far as he could out of the battlefield. Obviously, Roxanne wasn't a fan of this development even as she tried to scoop up some more corpses to feed on. "Stop taking my food, you meanie!" she bellowed, reaching for another corpse…

Only for a certain head-tipped Tentacle to suddenly bite down onto her handhold it there.

"?!"

"?!"

Both Nico AND Roxanne looked at the hand in shock with the former still moving the other Yoma corpses away from the latter's position. As for the said latter, Roxanne looked towards where the Tentacle had come from to see Cassandra's large form almost sliding along the ground towards her, her gaze that of disdain. "What, you plan on getting in my way, Cassandra?" she questioned while her lips curved into a dangerous smile, bloodlust building within her.

Not like that fazed the other woman though, her mouth still chewing whilst the Tentacle retracted with a piece of Roxanne's hand in its jaws which got devoured promptly afterward. While this happened, she gave the following retort in a horrible display of manners, though she probably didn't give a shit right now. "All the food here belongs to me. A number 2 like you can just go eat shit, or something." she declared without an ounce of arrogance to her tone, rather it had been filled with a sense of finality and confidence, like those words were meant to mean something to the onlookers who remained clueless.

That dangerous smile on Roxanne's monstrous visage started widening at these comments, and if she gave a shit about manners at the point one might have seen her put the tips of her hands (or claws now) under her lips. "Oh my! When you were pitifully cut to pieces and killed, I became the new number 1. Do you not recall?" She questioned in a mocking undertone, trying to insinuate that she was a 'number 1' just like Cassandra had once been apparently.

Still, Cassandra's expression didn't change, and more than that she repaid that insult with some savagery of her own. "Nope. You, who tastes worse than shit, can keep eating shit forever until you become shit."

"... DIE, CASSANDRA!"

What once had been a silent but the intense, dread-filled atmosphere, soon got shattered when a loud and angry yell escaped Cassandra's lips despite her features still being schooled into a serene and calm facade. Yet the intensity in her eyes could be felt for miles all around her while her arms sprung to life alongside her wings, each of them lashing out like whips towards Cassandra's position. These limbs ripped and tore through the air, slicing and dicing through various earthen buildings, the ground, and pretty much anything that they came into contact with while practically yielding zero openings for a counteroffensive.

Now, this would ordinarily be something EXTREMELY difficult to dodge out the way from due to the wide range and reach that these strikes possessed. However, much to Roxanne's dismay, Cassandra's massive form didn't hamper any of her evading abilities in the least once she activated her Dust Eater technique, a feat she seemed apparently capable of achieving even in her current monstrous form. It almost looked like she had left afterimages with how fast she was moving.

"I told you…"

While dodging each slash despite her enormous frame by swerving about as a result of her signature technique, Cassandra once more began to taunt the other monstrous being, her human upper body having leaned back while moving as one limb sliced the air just inches above her head. Unfazed by this, Cassandra looked down towards Roxanne with a crude sneer of mockery on her lips. "Just a lousy number 2, lower than shit."

Additionally, down on the ground below each of the Spec Ops Agents didn't have the concept of dodging these strikes in mind from the moment they first saw them, instead, they got their respective weapons ready and proceeded to deflect each strike away from one another, creating their own respective little area where they would be safe and unharmed by this massive offensive.

The one who had the most effective time with this would be Mihawk, the man making huge swings constantly with his sword and deflecting the massive blades with ease. He, Rory, and Arima each stood in a triangular position back to back, having done this wordlessly as if they each had known what the other had been thinking, thus they kept swinging their weapons about and keeping their heads attached to their bodies as a result.

Rory laughed as she deflected an overhead strike away from her which slashed into the ground, creating this huge ass explosion of dirt that got blown into her face, the shockwave almost causing her to fall over had she not endured it. "Hahahaha! Now, THIS is what I call a rush, boys!" She remarked with a crazy wide grin on her face. As much as she wanted to just go buck wild and strike away at these things like she would have done normally, Rory knew for a FACT that wasn't a good idea since those blades could potentially mince her to pieces to a point where she would take AGES to regenerate from, if at all. Hence why she curbed those instincts for the time being, though that didn't stop her from enjoying the experience.

"Focus on deflecting." However, in contrast to Rory's hyperactivity was the ever-composed Arima, who kept the smaller berserker girl on target with his cold and detached tone. The man in question used his weapon in its ranged form to constantly let loose energy spheres which acted like explosions of electricity upon contacting the blades, sending 'jolts' through them and causing their speed to drastically lower, allowing either himself, Rory, or Mihawk to have a better chance of deflecting them away from their position. "Lest you lose your head from playing around too much."

The only silent one of the bunch, Mihawk's gaze shifted about wildly as he slashed and hacked at incoming attacks from his side of things, ignoring the riff-raff behind him save for the sounds of their weapons doing their jobs. He wasn't concerned about them at all right now, nor would he show any concern for the sole member who wasn't with them defending this formation they had developed, it was more of a matter of convenience than anything. Instead, like his namesake Mihawk kept his eyes on the goal, that being to regroup with their leader after defeating those two monsters. That was his duty as a Spec Ops Agent, not to mention that he rarely found times where he could let loose a little like this, though he wondered if there would be someone who he could fight at full power against around here. It would be a… refreshing, change of pace for him.

Now, one might be thinking about why the heck these Agents had chosen to do this instead of retreating or perhaps defending themselves on their own. After all, each of these Agents had their own reputations, and Nico wasn't the only lone wolf among them. One could also say that each of them had their lone wolf tendencies, so working together like this would be seen as rather… odd, to say the least.

Well, that WAS something which had passed through their minds during the last few seconds before the barrage began, but a quick look towards one another had confirmed that they had been thinking along the same wavelengths, with a quick non-verbal chat taking place in those precious few seconds that had resulted in their current actions. In the end, each of them had come to the same conclusion, that fighting back and counterattacking wasn't a viable option with how large this ranged attack seemed to be so they would have to resort to weathering out this storm before they could proceed with anything else.


Over on Nico's side…

SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH!

'Sheesh, these attacks are making my Rinkak work overdrive…' the male thought while on all fours, his Rinkaku (still cloaked) slashed around him with all its Tentacles like a bunch of wild men. Each one slashed and smashed at the whips coming at him from all directions, providing him an open space in this barrage. Of course, he had a similar idea to the other agents and probably could have gotten to them in time with his speed, however, he chose not to because he found his Rinkaku more efficient at repelling this kind of attack. Past experience taught him that one. 'Still these things… they remind me somewhat of my Bikaku with its talons…'

'Agreed, However, hers are much longer and do not seem to explode like bombs unlike yours. Regardless, this is the first time I'm seeing what amounts to a gigantic monster showdown like this…'

'FUCK YEAH, IMMA EXCITED! THIS IS THE BEST! OI BOOKWORM, LET'S GET SOME POPCORN!'

Heh, looks like the usual with him. Thinking this, Nico smiled to himself behind his mask for a few seconds, until it got swiped off his face when the male adopted a thoughtful frown, staring up towards the battling beasts. 'You have anything about what had happened to these two, Biko? From the looks of things their energy went completely out of control... did NOT expect it to do all this, though.'

'It appears that the energy taking them over affected them not just physically as you can obviously see, but also mentally as well. It seems that they are now more focused on eating human flesh according to my readings of their emotional states. The thing that's stopping them from trying to devour us is their animosity towards one another.'

'Which likely comes from their shared history. They must REALLY hate one another if this is preventing their seemingly instinctual desires for flesh... more than that though...' taking a momentary pause, Nico glanced towards the Yoma Facility where he used his presence detection alongside his other sensory abilities. As a result, he detected an OVERWHELMING sense of fear, despair and, frantic panic mixed in with fierce anger, mostly centered around a specific someone. 'Looks like Katakuri's being productive. He's seemingly isolated the entire facility by blocking its exits somehow... something about some kind of Mochi?' he wondered after briefly utilizing his SHINGAN Ring to read the surface thoughts of those within the base itself.

How curious, yet interesting all the same.

But before he could get an answer from his demon persona, the male's eyes widened when he suddenly felt someone grab him by his shoulders after some kind of... wave, he guessed? A wave of what seemed like energy smashed the whipping limbs to temporarily stop them from moving. The instant he felt that hand on his form, Nico felt a brief pull akin to what he felt whenever he Warped, before he soon found himself high up in the air, about over 300 feet if he were to guess. 'Whoa!'

Briefly making an expletive, the redhead promptly reacted by generating his Rinkaku wings, having them flap constantly while he put a big bunch of distance between him and whatever had grabbed him, not wanting to have to deal with any sudden injuries to his person despite his Ghoulish skin being a decent defense all on its own. After having gotten that distance, the male looked to see who it had been that had surprised him like that, only to narrow his Kakugan into a dark glare while rage bubbled up inside of him. "You..."

"Heh, nice instincts ya got there, at least. A second longer and I would have slammed my rod up yer ass."

"Ugh, you really need to get laid soon."

Two voices Nico knew all too well came from the space he had once been at, which now had two familiar people residing within it: two VERY familiar people that Nico had hoped to not encounter on this mission.

But since he had...

"Although I had hoped to not encounter you here, seeing you two puts some confirming details onto my theories about this place: Kafka. Jules." Nico stated while his Hellfire engulfed his form, transforming him into Crimson Soul after the DPU emerged from the flames with his fiery wings spread open wide. His Rinkaku had receded into him for the time being, although his inner beast could still be heard growling within the back of his mind. In his right hand, Soul Edge appeared within a Hellfire whirlwind, pulsating with Crimson Soul's demonic power.

The same power which, in terms of presence, didn't affect the two males Kafka and Jules: Mundus's disciples, one little bit. As beings of similar levels of power to Crimson Soul, such a thing could be considered as child's play for them, although should THEY attempt to put pressure on the DPU with their energies the same result would happen, although that wouldn't be the case should they fight a CPU.

Though the sight of it did make Jules sport a massive grin with a matching energy flare erupting from him and batting away the other DPUs energy. "Heh, already rearing to go, huh? I like it, gets rid of all the tediousness!" he bellowed, cackling like a crazy person fresh out of an insane asylum. His eyes gleamed with bloodlust while his hands fleed themselves into a claw-like formation, his energy readings starting to rise according to the other DPUs' senses.

"Your presence here confirms all I wish to know, Disciple." Crimson Soul stated bluntly, cutting any BS himself. There was no need for it, and unless he had questions that needed beyond doubt to be asked, then he'd keep his mouth shut. Not to mention that he had his suspicions as to why those women who were likely from the DPU era had been revived into this one, and seeing that these two had seen it fit to ambush him as they did had pretty much confirmed that Mundus had something to do with it. Though it was probably due to an alternate method to his since none of them looked like how Okada had looked.

In his hand, Soul Edge engaged its PREDATOR ability as well as its BLOOD RAGE, SCORCHING AURA, and AKUMA NO ME just in case of any surprise attacks.

Briefly, it looked like the previous two skills, skills which were meant to debuff the enemy, had worked on Jules when his body started showing signs of their influence. However, that instantly changed when the male's brow twitched and he clenched a fist, reverting back to his previous state. "Sorry fucker, no debuffs work on THIS ass!" he proclaimed while throwing his hands to the side and opening them so that his palms became visible...

Which then gave way to what happened next.

In an instant, Crimson Soul narrowed his demonic slitted power button-dominated eyes when he felt some... strange oddities in the air around him. The wind currents felt off for some reason like they were coming towards him or something. However, he soon figured out the answer when he looked back towards Jules... who now loomed over him with a psychotic smile on his face. In his right hand, the DPU spotted an elongated blade of wind that was shaped like a Cutlass.

Yet, at that moment...

'So, that's how he's able to fly, simply manipulating the wind currents around him...'

All Crimson Soul thought was sussing out the guy's apparent elemental ability.

CLANG! Both Soul Edge and the wind blade collided with one another, quickly bouncing off one another with sounds akin to metal meeting metal emitting from them for some strange reason, although their wielders didn't give a shit as the two proceeded to charge at one another once more... with the third one simply watching.


Chapter end!

Not long now guys, the finale's almost here. Once that happens, the next time I write for OEG beyond this little arc will probably be a small set of chapters dedicated to character interaction and development. We need some of that at the moment, but not to worry I'll also sprinkle some bits of plot, throughout the chapters so you guys can speculate what may be happening next. One thing's for certain, there may be more to this arc than meets the eye.

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

PEACE OUT!