GATE: the clash of the titans V2

by Qun Nguyn1

Mostly AUs. A Gate has opened in Tokyo by a Roman-esque Empire, familiar scenario with familiar faces but the people marched through the Gate is from a vastly more powerful magic world. The stage is set. Earth Alliance vs The Holy Empire. Science vs Magic. The power of the thousand sun vs The Beast of the Apocalypse. Let the clash of Titans begin. Let the worlds have War.

30. Chapter 31: Battle of the Divine

Chapter 31: Battle of the Divine

Note:

- There won't be global genocide in this story, period. Heavy collateral damage, sure? But unless your civilization is facing existential threat any attempt of global genocide will land you in Hague or the Holy Court if you are an Imperial citizen. The UEADF isn't Nazi and the Holy Empire isn't the Mongol horde. Both of them will fight clean (for most of the time) and avoid direct civilian casualties (for most of the time). We are in the 21st century, you are not going to justify attempt genocide.

- Super Mario 32: Operation Dark Storm like in the movie Matrix (technologically possible) but it will ruin the planet you want to conquest but more importantly that is global genocide. The people were signing up for a war of justice not to genocide an entire planet.

Sentinel in Matrix is a technological wonder, even ULTRON will have hard time creating something that advanced, and unfortunately it is a shitty weapon platform. They lack dedicated offensive weaponry, their fangs and welding laser beam are much more fit for construction tasks, which was their primary goal - maintenance and repair of the real-world physical Matrix structures.

Transfer human consciousness into computer: That is just too creepy for most human.

ULTRON have nanotechnology to produce working nanobots but not that advanced. It's more like self-repaired and shape-shifting material than Iron-man suit. For more information read chapter 8 or 21.

Nanolathe technology, which is basically very advanced 3D printing, ULTRON has 3D printing but the more advanced the machine, the more expensive it is to print.

ULTRON is working on a prototype of a atomic powered robot drill but honestly the weapon is not that useful. It too slow, the Titan crystal is extremely hard and put a ton of explosive near it then Boom- it gone. A specialized nuclear bunker buster is more promising.

Overlordwarhammer2019: Nuclear bomb with Eternal Flame can kill Pandemonium but it will also kill anything in a hundred miles radius including Camp Hell-One and Hellgate. The fire is inextinguishable mean every human soldier in the Eye of Terror will be trapped forever.

A flying warship like the Space Battleship Yamato is a good weapon in space but the ship needs to fly perpendicular to the target to fire the main weapon. Most of the targets are in deep underground which means the ship has to stand upright like a building to fire the main gun. It will look pretty stupid. It also run on advanced ancient alien tech.

At best, we can have the Insight Helicarrier, heavily-armed with long-range dorsal and ventral guns and cannons or something like the C-21 Dragon Assault Ship in Avatar. But that is for the future.

If the UEADF really want a flying battleship right now they can strap two dozen of rapid-fire 152mm machine-gun on the lower deck of the huge nuclear-powered aircraft with a wing span of 340 m C-177 ( A more advanced Lockheed CL-1201).

One more thing, a global earthquake is impossible. A possible chain reaction in some regions could happen, but a world wide chain reaction is not possible due to the earth's or earth like planet's tectonic plates having different positions. Try to find a super volcano is better.

One limiting factor is that rocks can't hold enough energy to cause some sort of global scale earthquake to occur. If you consider that an earthquake occurs when the crust gives in (breaks) to strain, then the strongest earthquake possible is limited by the strength of the rock being broken.

A professor once said that roughly a magnitude 10 is about the most amount of energy that can be stored in a rock before it breaks (creates an earthquake).

A continental wide earthquakes like an 'All Europe earthquakes' or 'All North America earthquakes ' could happen, just not worldwide. Exception: Of course unless a huge meteor hits us or some inter-dimensional fuckery, then all bets are off.

---

About 9km Outside of Camp Hell-One, Hellgate

Aleister channeled his immense power into his Draculian ring, using it as a focus point to refine his raw power. With the help of his magic ring, Aleister let out an enormous flow of crimson energy that shook the surrounding environment and released a giant whirlpool of blood. He then chanted a formidable spell.

"Blood Phoenix."

The quasi-solid whirlpool of blood transformed into an enormous crimson phoenix. The red phoenix tore through the sky at Mach 15 with enough power to send an ancient dragon into eternal sleep.

The phoenix struck its target with incredible power. The impact was strong enough to appear as a bright crimson flash on the planet's surface.

"Raahhhhhhhh!"

The Beast of the Apocalypse screamed in pain as the blood phoenix blew away his right arm. Not letting this good opportunity go to waste, Rory attacked Pandemonium with her own powerful attack.

"Rising Dragon Acnologia Punch."

A powerful spiral-like blast of dark energy that took on the shape of the head of the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse charged towards the Beast. The resulted explosion rocked the earth and blew away his remaining arm.

Humiliated, the Beast gritted his teeth, determined to make those insolent apostles pay. In seconds, his missing arms were regenerated. Pandemonium clapped his new hands together while grinning maliciously at Rory and Aleister.

"Stomach of Void."

The moment he said that, an uneasy feeling ran down the apostles' spines. Before they could react, the space-time around them began to warp. A black dome with the diameter of 4 kilometers swallowed both of them.

"What the hell is this !?" Aleister asked, panicking.

"It seems to be some kind of space-time magic. Is he trying to trap us in here to make it easier to attack?" Rory wondered.

"Sister, look!"

Startled, looking around, Rory saw that the space around them was turning into absolute vacuum. All matter inside the sphere disappeared, including light and heat. It was as if space itself had consumed all matter particles, even photons and gravitons. More worryingly, her magical energy was leaking at an alarming rate.

"This void is absorbing all the energy, that bastard is trying to digest us. Aleister, don't try to use offensive magic, shield all your energy with the Sacred Highness Barrier. Let Giselle attack from outside." Rory exclaimed.

Following Rory's instructions, Aleister casted a powerful holy barrier. The energy leakage rate decreased but it still leaked. At their current rate, they would run out of magic power in an hour. You better hurry up Giselle! Dammit, they should bring the Eternal Flame with them.

From above, Giselle watched in horror as the situation unfolded. The giant black sphere absorbed all electromagnetic waves...no not just that...the quantum information...it sucked up even the quantum information. This is bad! Mistress Hardy told her about this before. "Stomach of Void." the ultimate technique that could kill even the most powerful being. The space inside the sphere was actually in the stomach of the Void Dragon - King Ghidorah. Even the demi-gods couldn't survive there for long. No one, not even a new god could escape from inside the belly of the Golden Demise.

I needed to save them!... I needed to save them! But how!? The shell of the sphere absorbed all magic. I need something big, something big...but not magic!

Suddenly an idea flashed in her mind. Of course! The answer was right in front of me. "NUCLEAR BOMB."

Enhancing her sense to god-level using Sacred Sensor. Her range of hearing extended from the subsonic through to the point where signal modulation in broadcast communications could be sensed and demodulated into "sounds" if she concentrated. Giselle could distinctly hear soft sounds anywhere on Falmart if she was listening for them. Giselle had perfect pitch. She had, on occasion, sat and perceived every sound on Falmart as a symphony of a living planet.

Within seconds, Giselle filtered out the background noise and determined the radio frequencies used by the UEADF.

"Hmmm... highly encrypted I see!"

Military radio was well encrypted but for a demigoddess like herself this was nothing. She could brute force it out, her neurophysical structure were akin to a quantum computer than a human. But Giselle didn't need to, the weakest link of cyber security was human, they left notes everywhere. Symmetric cryptography required a few keys to decrypt and some dumbass left the cryptographic keys on his coffee desk. Giselle then modulated her voice to transmit on radio frequencies.

— RULER 01, RULER 01, this is Giselle, over.

At the Camp Hell-One below, in a bunker 20 meters deep, General Itami was surprised by the radio call, but it was a welcome surprise. He wanted some action already. How did she knew the radio frequency, he wondered.

— Giselle, this is RULER 01, proceed.

"That's fast! I guessed Rory was right about this man. Giselle was a little suspicious when she heard that Big Sis Rory was dating a human.

I know she hasn't had good sex in a long time due to her reputation as the apostle of war, but do it with a human!? That was pretty eccentric even for someone like her.

If Big Sis Rory wanted to do it, she could ask anyone in the Council of the Apostles. I doubt there was anyone in the Council would refuse her, I certainly wouldn't.

The Apostles could live up to ten thousand years, they definitely wouldn't be celibacy for that long.

They were the top specimens of their races, not having steamy times would be a terrible waste."

— RULER 01, this is Giselle, Rory and Aleister were trapped inside the sphere, request immediate support. Over.

— Giselle, this is RULER 01, copy 2 out of 5. Say again.

— RULER 01, this is Giselle, Rory and Aleister are trapped inside the sphere, request immediate support. I SAY AGAIN, Rory And Aleister were Trapped inside the Sphere, Request immediate Support. How copy?

— Giselle, this is RULER 01, LIMA CHARLIE now. We have eyes on ABNORMALITY 01. What do you need ? Over.

— RULER 01, this is Giselle, request using nuclear artillery on ABNORMALITY 01. Over

— Giselle, this is RULER 01, request permitted. Yield, number and location ? Over.

— RULER 01, this is Giselle, 15 kiloton, 30 rounds at grid November Brav 9, altitude 5 2 0. Over.

— Giselle, this is RULER 01. Say again the last three digits, over...

— RULER 01, this is Giselle, call for fire to follow, Warno, fire for effect at grid November Brav 9, altitude 5 2 0. Danger Close. Fire for effect. How copy ?

— Giselle, this is RULER 01, LIMA CHARLIE.

Following Itami's orders, a M-66 210mm nuclear artillery battery sent AZ2 pure thermonuclear shells downrange at ABNORMALITY 01. From above, Giselle could see multiple flash of light engulfing the dark sphere. The immense power of the pure thermonuclear rounds cracked the outer shell of the sphere but ultimately fail to destroy it.

Giselle raised a single brow. "That Beast is very strong." She complimented. Giselle felt she needed to do so. Even the Apostles couldn't withstand the repeated attack from That many nuclear warheads.

"But the sphere is at its limit...will it be able to stand after my next assault?" Giselle asked rhetorically.

Raising her hand to the sky, she said. "Towato, Mowto. Come to help Mommy."

Giselle summoned two ancient dragon of the highest level. Both were over 120 meters long with a wingspan of 400 meters. One was obsidian black, the other silver white, those two bastards ate like a tornado. Raising them was tough as fuck. It was high time for them to repay her.

"Towato, Mowto. Lend Mommy your strength."

As the two dragon channeled their energy to Giselle, she summoned the ultimate weapon. Excalibur — the sword of promised victory. The magical energy consumption of Excalibur was extremely high, leaving her exhausted after usage, so it couldn't normally be fired consecutively.

Giselle eyes' morphed into Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. With it Giselle could easily locate the position of Pandemonium within the black sphere.

"By the power of the Unmovable Earth," The arrow siphoned the rotation energy from the planet, grew enormously in size and power. The Enhanced Excalibur could now be classified as Anti-Mountain weapon. Pointing her finger at the Beast, Giselle shouted.

— Ekusu-karibaaaaaa!"

Leaving the divine Twinbow Crossbow Badara at 30,000km/s, the sword-arrow energy beam piercing through the weakened shell of the dark sphere like tissues paper, shattering it like glass. In less than a tenth of a tenth of a second, the sword of promised victory pierced through the wicked heart of Pandemonium, slamming the Beast to the ground with the force of a hydrogen bomb. Due to the monster's hardness far surpassing any known material, he was pushed thousands of meters below ground, causing a strong earthquake.

Finally seeing the warm light of the sun, the two apostles sighed in relief. It was getting rather cold inside.

"You're amazing, Big Sis Giselle!" Aleister praised, amazed by Giselle's performance.

"It's about the fucking time!" Smiling proudly, Rory said in an condescending tone like a big sister when their little sibling finally did something right.

Panting, Giselle mumbled. Her mouth was pouring out a small amount of blood. "Don't make me doing that again!"

"Leave it to us!"

White House Situation Room, Washington D.C, 2030

"Sir, it's Detroit. City's been hit hard, the second waves of attacks started just a few minutes ago."

"Let's hear it David, Detroit first. In a hundred words or less, please."

"Mr. President, the Chaos demons hit Detroit with a mass incineration attack. As far as we can see right now, it's the same mechanism as Gary, but bigger, faster and nastier. We shot down the spotter demon, but the portal still opened for a few seconds, long enough for the attack to succeed. We've got something like seven million tons of TNT falling out of the sky a couple of miles east of downtown."

Secretary Petraeus paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts. "The city and the Type-47 tank factories are essentially annihilated. Winsor air base took a hell of a beating and Beverly Hills, Michigan has already become a firestorm, even the DTW air base 30km from Ground Zero was damaged. As for casualties… ULTRON estimated 639,540 fatalities and 1,247,540 injuries in the first 24 hours ."

"You know, Detroit is the Democrat-voting stronghold of Michigan, if it's gone, then it might be enough to flip the state into our column."

There was a stunned silence in the room. Eventually President Dirrel's voice cut through the disbelief, pitched low and frighteningly cold. "Karl, shut up, just shut up. David, could you continue please."

"Personnel at DIMO(N) detected the portal activity at 12:43 Eastern. NORAD was informed immediately of course. We vectored in F-16s from the 128th out of DTW, they flew up on full reheat but the local United States Volunteers got to the co-ordinates first. As far we can tell, they sighted a demon of the same type that the Gary footage shows, what General Abigor calls a 'gorgon'. Local citizens already had it under fire when the USV shot it down with triple-A. Unfortunately the damn things seem to be salvage fused."

Blank faces stared back at him. "It's a nuclear warfare term, it means… never mind. The point is, shooting down the gorgon seems to cause the portal to open prematurely. We bought some time to evacuate, but not nearly enough to save everyone. Sadly the LDV unit was directly under the portal when it opened; they were killed instantly."

Dirrel stopped glaring and his face softened from his barely suppressed anger at the earlier remarks. "They died in the line of duty? That should be recognized, it'll put the Volunteers on the map as part of our armed forces. Medal of Honor?"

Secretary Petraeus thought quickly. "I agree with the sentiment, yes Sir. But the Medal is a bit over-doing it. A Silver Star each for the crew would be appropriate I think, and a Presidential Unit Citation for the Third Michigan USV. The situation in Detroit is pure hell, if you'll forgive the phrase sir.

There's a serious difference between this attack and Gary. Over there, there was only one portal and it remained in one place, over the target. So, it easier to locate the enemy.

The Chaos demons have learned their lesson and perfected their tactic from their last attack, Sir, this time there are three portals, two were used as diversion and they were moving, they're sort of dancing around at random over a four or five mile area, a bit like a deflating balloon. So we have to destroy the right portal to stop the attack.

They are using this same tactic in Rio de Janeiro - Brazil; Buenos Aires - Argentina; Manchester - UK; Istanbul - Turkey; Arkhangelsk - Greater Russia; Tunis - Tunisia; Djibouti City - Djibouti; Chennai and Surat - India; Ho Chi Minh City - Viet Nam; Hong Kong and Ganzhou - China; Busan - S. Korea, Semarang - Indonesia with great success.

Only Chennai, Ho Chi Minh City and Hong Kong have succeeded in intercepting the enemy's attack."

Oh! God Lord. If this continued at this rate, humanity would be gone in a year or two.

"I hope nobody ever thought the Chaos demons were stupid, that could be the worst mistake we could make." A slight surge of amusement went around the room at that point, briefly lightening the somber tone.

The President himself had benefited more that once from a presumption of stupidity. "As soon as word of this second attack hits the streets, we're going to be under pressure to do something. Remember World War Two?"

The reference caused a certain degree of bewilderment in the situation room. Eventually the Army Chief of Staff, General James B. Connor, explained. "Back in World War Two, there was popular demand for anti-aircraft batteries around our cities. So the President ordered 90mm anti-aircraft batteries set up. Unfortunately, those guns were also badly needed as tank-killers in Europe but the Army there never got them due to the AA priority. So a lot of our tank crews died while our cities were never attacked." Connor settled back, mentally noting that the aide who had slipped him the explanation for the President's remark had just earned himself a promotion and a choice assignment.

"Can we pull any triple-A back from the Eye of Terror?" Dirrel didn't sound hopeful.

"Not a chance Sir. The Harpies are the most effective weapon Abaddon has, they're giving us a lot of trouble. They're like early WW2 aircraft but present in infantry numbers and our fighters just can't shoot them down fast enough. We were lucky first time round, Abigor had only a thousand legions of them, nine point nine million. We believe there are at least 81,000 legions being thrown into the battle to under way. Over 800 million, our troops need every anti-aircraft system they've got. We can't even give them air support properly at the moment without the help from the Holy Order, all our planes bar a few, are killing Harpies. If anything we need more triple-A out there not less.

"Anyway, Sir, its pointless. We know now that killing the gorgon path-finder doesn't do any good, well, not much anyway. Once it's over a city, that city is gone. It's like the bad old days before we had the GBIs up in Alaska, once we spotted an inbound missile, we knew the city it was aimed at was gone, it just hadn't died yet. We can't defend the cities because by the time the gorgon appears, its too late. We have to pre-empt the attacks at source. Now, there are a few things we can do there, our early warning system based on the cell phone net worked. We need to give DIMO(N) all the resources they can use, that they don't already have anyway, for early warning. It isn't much, but it's the best we can do until we get all our pieces into place. Other than that, all we can do is to mitigate the disaster. I do hope FEMA are going to be a bit more competent this time than they were at New York during the Rumbling."

There was an embarrassed shuffling of feet at that remark. Secretary Kirk Kepthorner took the bait elegantly. "Well, at least we're arming the victims this time around, not disarming them. I guess the crime rate will be a bit lower."

"Given the size of the holes the LEO community have taken to blowing in the alleged perpetrators, I think that's a reasonable assumption." There was a brief spasm of amusement at the sally from FBI Director Christopher B. Mueller. "One thing about these lava attacks, we don't get much looting, people are too busy running to think about getting a free television. Most of them anyway. And the draft is sweeping most of the candidates for street criminals out of the way into the forces where the Sergeants are straightening them out. Law and order isn't really a problem, you'd be surprised how rarely it is in a really major disaster. How long it will stay that way is another matter, one or two more attacks like this and we'll have mass panic on our hands. That'll do more damage to our industrial production than the attacks themselves."

"Which brings us to the why? Neither Detroit nor Gary were really important production centers, so why them? Have the analysts worked out the enemy's strategy?"

"Only the obvious so far, Mr President." Secretary Petraeus took a deep breath. "Gary and Detroit were both industrial powerhouses until quite recently, very recently in Chaos demon terms. Remember, to them, centuries are a short period.

"My guess is, this 'Belial' has worked out that our military strength relies on our industrial base. Luckily his intel is stale and his targeteering is lousy. Make no mistake though, he hit us hard this time around, this is the worst blow we've taken since this whole business started. We don't want to give him a chance to refine his aim.

"We also believe that the demons don't know Earthlings don't have magic... they have now, but that's not the point. My theory is that they bombarded Rome and other holy places because they believed that, like in Falmart, these cities were inhabited by magicians. And these magicians can cast holy spells on weapons. If they knew the truth, they would probably focus their attack on us."

"Then we have to kill him at source. Fast. Prime Minister Shinzō was right, we can't just let this pass. The Eye of Terror has to hurt for this and hurt badly. We lost under four thousand people in 9/11 and we took two countries down by way of retaliation. Now you say we're going to lose upwards of 250 times that number." Dirrel's jaw set.

"They're going to have to pay, the American people demand it. Tell me what we've got and how we're going to use it. The answer 'nothing' won't be accepted."

"Sir, we have several plans in motion. We have a path-finder of our own on the way up to Tartarus, he's expected there in 24 to 36 hours. Once he's in place, we can portal a deceased special forces team to his location and they'll position navigation beacons to home a C-177 strike in. They'd devastate the area. As a back-up we have a British special forces group ready to go in. If the C-177s can't do the strike, they'll do a ground raid. We have a MQ-1 RBA searching for Tartarus as well, if our pathfinder can't get through, she'll find Tartarus, eventually. We have time Sir, we believe that it will be a week or more before Belial manages to get set up for a third strike. One of our options will be in place by then."

"Not good enough, what do we do now?" Dirrel's voice was dogmatic and a little petulant.

"We can hit Dis with an air strike, the C-177s won't be able to hit Tartarus for days, we can let them loose on Dis. With conventional bombs of course. We have a nuclear strike plan, we can adapt it for a conventional bombing strike. That's about our only serious option right now. If possible, I want avoid nuking the place, there are hundred of billions of innocent souls there."

"There's another thing we can do." Doctor Surlethe's voice was clinical. "We can deprive the Chaos demons of their own navigation beacons. I propose we test the entire population for the demon genetic ancestry and quarantine those carrying it in isolation camps until the war is over."

There was another stir in the room, this time of anger. In one corner, Vice President Karl Urban leaned back in relief, somebody else had made a political error of grade one levels. Secretary Kepthorner was the one who took up the cudgels though. "And we know what to look for do we?"

"Well, we will, after some investigations."

"And then you propose to place people in indefinite confinement without them having committed an offense on the vague off-chance that a Chaos demon might use one of them?"

"Better that than incinerated cities."

"Even though we already know that wearing mithril foil hats offers complete protection against mind entanglement?"

"But there are a few people out there who won't. There are always eccentrics who deny that the mithril hat is absolutely essential to prevent Chaos demons taking over their minds. Remember the anti-vaxxers.

"And you want to indefinitely jail an unknown number of people, possibly millions, because one or two might refuse to wear their hats?"

"Well… Put like that…."

"And that's how it will be put ladies, gentlemen, Karl." Urban winced, he hadn't been forgiven after all. "We will make it a legal requirement to wear a mithril hat and enforce it. But there will be no mass detentions. We did that in 1941 and the stain is with us still. Thank you, we will have another meeting in six hours time when we can get some of the rest of the world in with us. Karl, Dr Surlethe, I wish to speak with you two privately."

About 10km Outside of Camp Hell-One, Hellgate

Pandemonium, The Beast of the Apocalypse, was lying deep underground while losing half of its body from the lower torso down. He was bewildered beyond words as this had never happened before.

"Nnnnnn, unforgivableeee!"

How could this happen, he was the weapon of the Chaos Gods, the livings should be cowered before him, not resist with this fierce ferocity. He was humiliated in front of the whole world.

This was the fault of those demi-gods! They were the ones preventing him from slaughter those weak mortals. They had to pay dearly for these acts of defiance.

Once this battles was over, he intended to lock those impertinent demi-gods inside a prism dimension where he would spend eternity to tormenting them.

They would learn the deathly lesson of those whose dare to defy him. He would boil them and then skin them. He would gouge out their eyes and skull-fuck their brain. He would cut off their tongue and limbs then eat it. He would drink their fear and blood like a fine wine. He would cut their body in pieces and sew it together like a doll.

The wound was pretty serious, it took him nearly a minute to fully regenerate. It was time for counteroffensive, but first he had to get out of this hole without getting shoot down by those damn demigods. Pandemonium shouted out an umbra elemental spell with an extremely high power, awfully quick.

«Death Curse Worms»

These were artificial organisms, «Life eaters», created from umbra elements. No corporeal object could guard against them, not even swords or armor of the highest priority. The countless black snakes set off in straight courses towards the enemy, scattering vibrations that seemed to spread pure fear.

In the distance, Aleister and Rory could see a column of darkness erupting violently like a volcano from the hole toward the sky. Then the swarm of snakes adjusted their course with an annoying humming sound and headed straight for the Apostles.

Raised an brow, Rory said furiously. "—the worms of death!? That cunning bastard!".

The worms of death targets being with the greatest life force, in this case the Apostles. But Triple Maximize Holy Shield and Maximize Elemental Immunity meant that the worms couldn't affect them in any meaningful way. But that was why it was so insidious. The worms would go straight to the next best thing, everyone in the base.

Only the luminous element could offset the umbra element. However, luminous elements had a low conversion efficiency thus to generate enough luminous to dispel a spell on that scale would momentarily exhaust the apostles, leaving an opening for the Beast to attack.

"—Don't waste your energy neutralizing them, You two. Just freeze them and let the UEADF do the rest." Giselle exclaimed telepathically from above.

"Works for me," said Aleister as he casted an ultra-wide area effect cooling magic on par with Strategic Class Magic. "Maximize Cocytus."

Unlike other freezing Magics, this had no noticeable effects on the surface, such as frost or cold temperatures. Instead of the target's physical body being frozen, it was their consciousness or soul that was frozen. It could also be considered a spell that freezes time in the target's spirit realm.

"This will stop them for a moment."

Just like he said, the swarm of black snakes was frozen mid-air like a peculiar dark cloud. The scene was truly bizarre beyond common sense.

— RULER 01, this is Giselle, call for THEDOT on ABNORMALITY 02, no targeting needed. I will do the targeting. How copy ?

— Giselle, this is RULER 01, LIMA CHARLIE. THEDOT in 3...2...1

Following Itami's orders, 36 Type J CPAW High Amperage Charged Particle Accelerator Cannons fire at ABNORMALITY 02 from every direction through Giselle's dimensional portals.

Using well-placed dimensional portals, Giselle was able to launch a 360-degree annihilation attack on the worms of death. Each accelerator cannon had an effective throughput of over a hundred mega joules (Mj) with a burst radius greater than 150 meters effective. Primary damage was from kinetic impact of particles traveling at nearly the speed of light. Casualty enhancement through follow-up high speed redundant particle collisions and the sympathetic burst of short lived lethal radiation that accompanied a direct physical hit also increased the effectiveness of the CPAW system dramatically. In less than half a minute, the black cloud of death was disintegrated.

Rising from the hole like the dark phoenix, Pandemonium launch his next attack.

"Chaos Release: Annihilation Wave."

He slammed the ground to send a massive wave of aura infused kinetic energy in the apostles' direction. The apostles blocked the attack using a combined spell but were injured as the Beast followed it with a powerful energy beam from his mouth targeting Rory. The explosion sent Rory flying hundreds of meters away.

Taking the opportunity, Pandemonium leapt across the battlefield towards Aleister. Aleister created a swirl of blood that destroyed the Beast's left arm. However, it regenerated in less than a hundredth of a second. Pandemonium had given up high defense to boost his regeneration.

Pandemonium tried to punch Aleister but lost both his arms as Aleister blasted them using blood phoenix.

"Rahhhhh!"

The monster howled in pain and tried to break Aleister's blood barrier with its head as multiple tentacles shot out and formed a pair of arms with conical ends on either side of its body.

"WHAT THE F—!"

Thereafter, Pandemonium furiously drilled through the blood barrier that Aleister created around him. The apostle of vengeance watched in horror as the Beast had dug through it and unleashed a powerful blast from its mouth pushing him hundreds of meters back. Aleister was severely wounded since he suffered the full intensity of the attack.

Enraptured, the monster continued to attack with an energy blast. Aleister blocked the next attack with blood dome and inflicted gashes on Pandemonium, stalling him in mid-air using telekinesis. Next, he aimed a swirl of blood that brought the Beast to the ground and destroyed his left wrist.

The usage of energy was taking a visible toll on Aleister's already weakened condition; Pandemonium, on the other hand, regenerated his limb without trouble.

Without further ado, Aleister started creating a blood vortex hundreds of meters wide. But Pandemonium easily broke through the blood vortex then soared into the sky before spreading its newly developed wings. The Beast emitted a massive beam of energy that resulted in a thunder storm.

"You have to be kidding me!"

Aleister casted another blood vortex but Pandemonium's energy beam dissipated the blood tornado easily. A flash of anger spreads across Aleister's angelic face; he unleashed more power and attacked him with a blood phoenix. Pandemonium neutralized the phoenix with a powerful energy sphere. The resulting explosion could be seen from space.

"Don't forget me, you bastard!"

Suddenly, a flash of purple cut off the Beast's wrist marking Rory re-entry, she then tried to attack the Beast from behind but was pushed back as he counterattacked with an energy blast from the tip of his tail. Thereafter, the monster took a flight and released several beams of energy that alarmed both Aleister and Rory.

Pushing himself to the limit, Aleister summoned a ball of crimson energy and turns it into an immensely powerful energy beam to blast Pandemonium. Working in unison with Aleister, Rory unleashed her own attack using Dark Spear.

"Invisible Blade."

Pandemonium, who was busy blocking a concentrated beam was stabbed in the rib cage and lost focus. His force field finally shattered and an explosion occurred when Aleister's crimson energy beam struck him.

"Thanks, Sis— !" Aleister said wearily, his risqué body was glittered with sweat.

Not letting the apostles a second to rest, Pandemonium soared into the sky before throwing a gigantic palm of dark energy.

"Demon's Palm of Annihilation."

Cutting through the air, the gigantic hand of dark energy released an immense pressure downward, forcing the apostles to dodge. The explosion left a huge imprint several kilometers wide on the grasslands.

Finally saw an opening in enemy's defense, Pandemonium descend like a shooting-star toward Rory before shouting the name of his next attack.

"Heaven Piercing Demon Drill."

Pandemonium enlarged his entire right arm and created an elongated whip-like sword from it then twisted his huge forearm continuously before releasing to create a massive black drill bigger than his body.

Afterward he launched its full force at Rory. An attack of this nature couldn't be block even by magic shield or armor of the highest priority as one of the drill's attribute was to negate the durability of anything it hits.

A millisecond before Rory was torn to pieces, her small body was shrouded in golden light and then disappeared. "Instant teleportation." A mid-level spell but enormous computing power combined with the divine senses and reflexes needed to teleport someone from long distance to avoid an attack with such speed in the chaos of the battlefield, even when you had "precognitive sight", was truly out of this world. Giselle truly deserved the title the Sovereign of the Sky.

Missing its main target, the drill went straight through the planet's crust creating a hole tens of kilometers deep.

"Good job, Giselle." Rory, in a cold sweat, complimented the Draconian apostle. If the drill came into contact with her petite body, it would be very messy.

"These bugs are very persistent. They think they can overwhelm me with number. Let's see how you deal with this." Pandemonium channeled energy from the Immaterial before shouting.

"Multiple Chaos Doppelgangers."

Using his nearly limitless mana, Pandemonium created 10,000 copies of himself and ordered them to attack the apostle.

Rory suddenly on her knees under extreme pain. Using Dark Spear had its benefits but it put her body under extreme pain. The pain had lessoned from the first time she had used it. With a lot more training she would be able to use it without any pain.

Despite her body being the perfect vessel to wield, any amount of power she was still of young age and needed to grow her body into a more mature body.

Rory got up from her knees and found herself surrounded by 6000 doppelgangers. The doppelgangers' smirked at her as if they promised her pain. They were all chaos doppelgangers. Judging from what Rory could sense from them, they did not seen to be strong.

''Do you wish to dance with me?'' Rory asked nonchalantly. She did not wait for a respond as her Mystic Eyes of Death Perception activated. A second later, her Titan flared to life.

With a single swipe of its black blade, the Titan blew the doppelgangers away from Rory. The doppelgangers where hit hard as they did not have time to react. Rory had attacked instantly without giving them a chance to ready for her Titan's attacks.

The Titan's size receded and it became a rib cage surrounding Rory. The doppelgangers Rory had attacked got up and prepared to fight Rory.

Rory sighed placing her hands on her waist. She was almost embarrassed for thinking that her attack had incapacitated the demon king's doppelgangers.

Rory deactivated her Titan. She casted another mighty spell.

''Holy Enhanced: Majestic Flame Destroyer!''

Gathering mana inside her body and turning it into holy flames, Rory expelled a vast amount of flames that spread out like a tsunami.

The doppelgangers tried protecting themselves with aqueous spell, ''Chaos Release : Water encampment Wall!'' They yelled as a giant wall of water tried putting out the tsunami of flames. However, the flames spread out wide and were impossible to contain or dodge.

The flames reached the doppelgangers and began to eat away their flesh. They let out screams of pain as the flames began to incarnate. Rory just watched impassively as her magic incarnated the demon doppelgangers.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Aleister was observing the scene from afar, smiling. He knew his big sister wouldn't have any trouble. Suddenly —

"Chaos release: Mud Dragon!''

A mud dragon hit Aleister from behind. The spell crashed into his Blood Wings and sent him crashing down the ground. Aleister was so busy with his thoughts he forgot that he was in the middle of an battle. Aleister hit the ground and created a larger crater.

He was unharmed from the attack. His Blood Wings shielded him from being hit by the earth style spell. The Blood Wings absorbed any damage the apostles would have suffered. Aleister was sent crashing because the Blood Wings was not rooted down to anything but to Aleister. It went everywhere Aleister went.

Aleister got up from the small crater unharmed his Blood Wings still protecting him. He looked around at the surrounding to see those who had attacked him.

''I tend to be careless knowing that my Blood Wings is active guess I should deactivate it.'' He said to himself. Deactivating would also save him from using too much mana. Blood Wings consumed a lot of mana from its user.

Despite his vast pools of mana, Aleister was not above acknowledging that keeping a Blood Wings activated for longer periods would take a huge bite off his mana.

Two dozens doppelgangers jumped down from the air and surrounded him. Aleister did not move at all his Mystic Eyes scanned them while his face remained impassive.

''That is rather foolish.'' Aleister said turning his one visible eye to those doppelgangers who dared to attack him from behind.

''Foolish?''

Aleister gave no response he pointed at the doppelgangers, ''Palapon's Punishment: Mind Break!''

Aleister trapped the doppelgangers in an illusion. He hated fighting enemies who had no power in them. It was a waste of his time and efforts.

The doppelgangers found themselves warped into another world. The world they were in was bloody red and black even the sky was all red and black. All sides to be just endless void of red and black. Under their feet a giant eye appeared. The look of the eye was menacing, cold, and devoid of any emotions. In this world he was a god.

The doppelgangers screamed in agony as they felt the worst pain in existence. The torture done in this world affected the mind bringing psychological trauma which was almost impossible to cure unless one was a medical expert. It only required eye contacted to be casted.

However, it consumed a lot of mana and put a lot of strain on his left eye, which he used to cast the powerful illusion.

In the real world, the doppelgangers Aleister had put under illusion fell down to the ground unconscious. Only a second had passed in the real world.

A second later, Aleister sensed something behind him. When he turned around a huge foot crashed into his bewitching face. The merciless kick sent him flying away. Aleister regained control over his body, flipped in midair, and gracefully landed down the ground with his slender legs touching first, then his hands.

The kick was hard and had a lot of power behind him. Aleister had been unable to dodge due to the speed and unable to block because he was also off guard.

Aleister recognized the thing who had kicked was a Saibo, a fusion of a thousand doppelgangers to increase it strength. Another thing he took notice of was that the super doppelganger was avoiding eye contact with him.

''You will died here, you androgynous whore.'' The Saibo arrogantly said and blurred out of sight.

He appeared in front of Aleister and attempted to punch him. Aleister blocked the punch with both his hands. Saibo swung his right foot high trying to kick Aleister. Aleister brought out both his hands to block the kick. The power behind the kick pushed Aleister back a few feet.

Saibo suddenly appeared in front of Aleister with his right foot raised. He attempted to kick Aleister on his chest. Aleister blocked the kick by both his hands as he could not dodge despite being able to predict what Saibo was going to do.

The power of the kick sent Aleister flying away. Aleister regained his balance and touched the ground with his hands and legs so that he could stop.

Aleister rose up and looked at the Saibo. The Beast was considerably strong, he was worthy of being a fusion of a thousand doppelgangers. Fighting something like that without his blood wings active would prove to be a nasty thing for him.

Aleister activated his blood wings preparing to fight with the Saibo. He needed to go all out from the beginning to end the fight at a short time.

''Whore,'' Saibo called with a dark look spread across his face, ''I will devour you for what you did. Your blood smells good to me, I can tell it is delicious!'' Saibo said and ran towards Aleister .

Saibo tried slashing Aleister 's chest horizontally with his claw. Aleister was able to predict the attempt thus he side stepped. He was still faster than Saibo which made it easy for Aleister to dodge Saibo's attack. Aleister caught Saibo's left hand and spun around twice picking up speed. He threw Saibo and sent him crashing towards the tree.

Saibo recovered rather quickly and jumped at Aleister again. He was faster than before. His clawed fist crashed into a tree branch Aleister was standing on and shattered it. Aleister had jumped up not intending to try and block the attack. The power behind the strike would have proved that blocking was useless.

Aleister blurred out of sight and appeared behind Saibo. He was going for a kick from behind but Saibo's tail stood in the way. The tail swung and hit Aleister with enough power to send him crashing down the ground. There was nothing more annoying than getting hit by something you could see. His mystic eyes was able to predict the attack but in the position he was in, he was unable to dodge the attack.

Saibo turned around and grinned madly, ''Where is all that power you had? I want to see it again. Show it to me!''

Saibo said as he jumped to where Aleister had fallen. Aleister stood up and did a thermal spell, ''Holy enhanced: Great Fireball!'' Aleister expelled the mana inside his body he had turned into fire. The fire ball he breathed out rushed towards the oncoming Saibo. Saibo brought out his tail and clawed arm to shield himself.

The flames intense heat burned Saibo's materialized arm and tail making melting it. The materialized parts in Saibo's body crumbled down like sand.

Saibo fell onto the ground with his legs, ''HAHAHAHAHA'' it started laughing like a maniac, ''That's the power I want to see, I want more of it!'' He said growing another tail and two hands.

Aleister saw this and knew that it was a matter of time before Saibo turned into a Cursed Beast.

Saibo took off at a very fast pace and appeared in front of Aleister . Saibo swung his right hand attempting to hit Aleister. Aleister blocked the hit and attempted to hit Saibo, but the beast blocked his attempt with his left hand. Saibo caught Aleister 's right foot and threw the apostles away. Aleister was sent crashing towards the trees by Saibo.

Aleister groaned as he tried getting up but before his attempt could be a success Saibo appeared above him. Both Saibo 's clawed hands where speeding down towards him. Aleister could only bring both his wings to block. The power of the strike resulted in making his attempt to block useless. The double hand punch grounded Aleister.

Saibo jumped up attempting to squash Aleister under his feet. This time was able to escape Saibo's strike. Saibo hit the ground with his legs created a large crater.

''That would have been nasty if I got hit.'' Aleister said to himself.

Saibo raised both his clawed hands pointing at Aleister. He began to shoot mana bullets at Aleister. Aleister jumped around the trees dodging the mana bullets. Saibo only increased the number of bullets he fired at Aleister. He was laughing maniacally as he was enjoying watching Aleister dance around. It was quite an amusing scene for him to watch.

A crimson wings surrounded Aleister protecting him from Saibo's bullets. The blood wings blocked all of Saibo's mana bullets Aleister was unable to dodge. Saibo finally stopped allowing Aleister a chance to catch his breath. Aleister deactivated his blood wings and prepared for another around.

Aleister channeled mana into his feet for more speed. He suddenly disappeared and appeared in front of Saibo. He punched Saibo on his gut with a powerful punch. He proceeded to punch Saibo at his face several times before jumping up. Aleister swung his right leg towards Saibo. The leg connected with Saibo's face sending him crashing towards the trees.

Aleister landed gracefully on the ground, panting slightly. He converted the mana kneaded inside his body into fire, ''Holy enhanced: Flame Dragon Caterwaul!'' Aleister said as he expelled five large flame dragons. The dragons sped towards Saibo.

They were set to explode upon hitting their targets. Four hit Saibo 's arms and one hit Saibo's tail. All three materialized body parts explodes exploded into flames.

The Beast let loose of a pained scream because of the explosion, ''I refuse to be beaten!'' Saibo yelled out as he leaked considerable amount of demonic energy. An explosion of mana rocketed the surrounding.

Aleister remained calm despite knowing the dangers that was knocking. It was of no good losing calm because things were not looking good. If anything loosing calm made a person make rush decisions resulting in mistakes that one would not have made had he remained calm.

Aleister watched as the debris cleared. Saibo had transformed into a cursed beast. Aleister created a blood clone and sent it towards the cursed beast. The blood clone sped towards Saibo and engaged him in a fight.

While the clone kept Saibo busy, Aleister converted mana inside his body into dense and intense fire. ''Holy enhanced: Majestic Fire Destruction!'' Aleister said as he expelled a stream of intense flames towards Saibo.

The stream of fire hit Saibo and the clone setting them ablaze. Both where engulfed in a sea of flames of intense heat. The fire spread out wide incarnating everything it touched.

Aleister knew Saibo would not be incarnated by the fire because of his form. His real body was inside of the beast he had become. The cursed beast was like an armour. The flames would only burn the 'armour'.

Aleister stopped his spell and watched as the cursed beast crumbled down into dust leaving a slightly burned Saibo. The beast was breathing heavily and his skin was burned off his body leaving him many deep burns.

Saibo began to leak large amounts of demonic energy that would make anyone run away for their lives. Aleister knew what was coming. He rushed to appear in front of Saibo then took out a drop of his own blood and placed it on the Beast's wound.

"Blood Disperse."

The beast's body shook violently before exploding into red mist. By mixing his own blood with the beast, Aleister was able to control the beast's blood.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Not far away, Rory was busy with her own Saibo. The Saibo was attacking her from behind. Saibo raised his right hand with his left supporting it.

''Dark Serpents Rise.'' Said Saibo as multiple dark serpent sprout out from his hand.

In a swift and fast movement, Rory cut every snake with her dark spear, surprising Saibo with her skills with a double-bladed spear.

''Is that all you got? if you don't take this serious you will die very soon, which would be disappointing,'' Rory stated calmly, ''Come at me with all you have and don't worry about looking into my eyes I won't use illusion on you.'' Rory said.

''Don't be cocky, Bitch."

Saibo blurred out of sight with hypersonic speed. Within seconds, Rory was sent flying away by a powerful kick from Saibo to her chest. Rory was slightly surprised that a Saibo could move that fast.

Nevertheless, she never showed any surprise on her smug face. Saibo appeared above Rory and pummeled her to the ground. Rory flew down like a bullet and crashed to the ground creating a large crater.

Saibo smirked and unleashed an incantation. "Chaos release: Mud Dragon!" he yelled whilst still in flight. The mud dragon roared its way towards Rory who was still lying down.

Rory moved quickly and got away from the path of the mud dragon. As soon as she landed a few feet away, Saibo appeared behind her and spun around attempting to kick her from behind. Rory spun around and blocked the kick with both hands. The force behind the kick pushed Rory back a few feet back.

Saibo landed a few feet away from Rory with a sickening grin. He had proved his point.

"You might just come close to bruise me if I do get careless…that is unlikely though." Rory stated as she recovered from Saibo's assault. "Shall we continue with this dance?"

Rory blurred out of sight and appeared in front of Saibo. The beast eyes widened at how fast Rory closed the distance between them.

Rory punched Saibo with a powerful punch to the gut. Saibo groaned in pain and clutched his stomach for a second. Rory spun around her right leg, swinging along with her movements.

She landed a powerful kick to the beast neck. The kick sent Saibo crashing towards a large rock. Saibo hit the rock and broke through it as a testament to the power behind Rory's kick.

''This is what I meant when I said you will die soon.'' Rory stated simply looking past through where Saibo had crashed. Rory was continuing where she had left off after Saibo had began to attack her. Saibo had proved his point Rory had proved her.

Saibo walked out of the debris looking unhurt by Rory's assault, ''Something like that cannot kill me.'' Saibo spoke with a smirk.

''That was not meant to kill you. I just wanted to show you that I could hit you anytime I want.'' Rory said. She just wanted to show Saibo that he would be killed easily if he did not take the seriously.

Saibo slammed his hands on the ground. Multiple dark serpent appeared in a puff of smoke. The serpent rushed at Rory while Saibo just watched his serpent run towards their 'prey'.

Rory unleashed her own spell. ''Holy Enchanted: Dragon Breath!'' Rory expelled a powerful stream of fire from her mouth. The fire travelled towards the rushing serpent, burning them.

The fire continued to speed towards Saibo, who used mana shield to avoid taking a hit from the flames. The spell was easily S-rank, the black serpent stood no chance of survival.

Saibo lunged at Rory. He swung his hand to punch Rory on the face. Rory blocked the attempted and followed with an attempt of her own which was blocked. Saibo's arm lengthened in no way possible for a human's arm, truly a monster. The arm wrapped itself around Rory.

Rory brought out her right hand, which was free and drew out her dark blade. She cut off Saibo 's arm. Saibo hissed when the sword cut through his hand. He leaped back creating some breathing space between him and Rory. Few seconds later, his arm regenerated from a number of snakes that transformed into his hand.

''You really have turned yourself into a snake.'' Rory commented seeing how snake like the beast had become, literally. The only response she got was a chuckle from the beast.

Rory ran towards Saibo with her weapon at hand. She attempted a swift cut across the Beast's chest but the monster leaped back, dodging Rory's attempt to cut him. Rory ran towards Saibo again, swinging her blade vertically.

Saibo again dodged but the blade of the sword cut a bit of his horn. Saibo had very good reflexes. It was what one should expect from a fusion from a thousand clones. This Saibo's style of fighting made him a rather difficult opponent to fight in close combat.

Saibo opened his mouth and a snake carrying a sword came out of it. It was the Sword of Jörmungandr, the sword said to be able to cut almost through anything.

Saibo took the sword with his hand and charged at Rory. He quickly tried to cut off Rory's head with a swift swing of his sword. Rory parried the attempt with her own dark spear.

Saibo attacked Rory with his sword. He kept swinging it again and, again but Rory parried or dodge each time. Saibo 's attacks where rather barbaric and straightforward. Rory guessed that it was because Saibo believed that because his sword could cut through anything most opponents would be afraid to fight him in a sword fight knowing about his sword.

Even if they tried to fight, the sword of Jörmungandr would break any sword. It gave him an advantage. With Rory, he did not have that advantage, as Rory was not reluctant to engage the beast in a sword fight.

Rory jumped away from Saibo creating a space between the two, ''How barbaric,'' Rory commented on Saibo's sword art, ''Your attacks leave you wide open, vulnerable to being attacked.''

Saibo grinned he did not believe what Rory said to be true, ''Why don't you show that to me, bitch?'' Saibo had been fighting for many years and none of his opponents has ever said that his sword art was barbaric. In fact, many have commended him for his sword art.

Rory rushed at Saibo swing her blade. Saibo parried the attack. Rory using her superior speed grabbed Saibo's hand, which held his sword with her free hand. Rory gripped it tightly making sure that Saibo did not go away.

Rory kneed the beast in the face with a powerful right knee that made him wince. Rory still held Saibo's hand. She swung her blade cutting off Saibo's hand off its shoulder. She threw the hand way with along with the Sword of Jörmungandr. Saibo hissed in pain as he jumped away from Rory. He reformed his arm for the second time.

Rory casted a spell while Saibo was busy reforming his hand. ''Holy enhanced: Blazing Inferno!'' Swirling extreme flames appeared in front of Rory. They swirled their way towards Saibo and consumed him.

There was no scream of pain from Saibo. Rory hadn't been expecting to hear such. If one was caught within her spell they would have their skin melted off their bodies and are cooked within the swirling flames.

Rory eyes shifted towards the four figures behind her. ''So, this is the famous Five Beast ...no rather Four Beast. The leader is dead. I just kill him,'' her words were not to console the Four Beast.

They charged at her. All four of them. With the way they disappeared Rory knew it would be tricky. They were the Beast Four and the four of them were used to working as a team. This meant that they could coordinate their attacks perfectly in sync with one another. Another thing to their advantage was the cursed form. Rory was not going to give them a chance to use their cursed form. If she allowed them to do so, it would prove nasty and time consuming for her.

With that Rory activated her Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. ''Unfortunately, I have important matters to deal with Pandemonium and I am short in time. Having said that I will not take much time with you.'' Rory stated preparing to fight the Four Beast.

She could see them scoff with her eyes when she had said those words. They did not believe that she could actually beat them. Such pitiful animals.

Beast 2 -the fat one-was the first to charge at her. He appeared in front of Rory and swung his left hand from downwards to upwards as attempted to punch Rory on her chin. Rory leaned back to avoid the powerful punch.

Just as she did that, she found herself in need to block against a flying kick that was sent sailing towards her head. She managed to duck under the powerful punch and the only female member of the Beast Four passed her and hit the ground.

Rory narrowed her eyes to her left side as she felt someone charge at her. She saw Beast 3, he was very fast. But Rory was also fast. The beasts jumped up into the air as Rory was still in a crouched position after having to duck under a kick from Beast 4. Beast 3 came descending down towards Rory with his right foot poised to connect with Rory head. Rory brought out both her hands to block the attack. The power kept her grounded.

While still on the ground, Beast 2 charged at her and kicked her from behind. Luckily for Rory, the beast foot connected with her blade which absorbed most of the attack. Still, Rory was sent flying.

Rory landed on the ground gracefully but was forced to jump away to avoid a powerful punch from Beast 2 that left a hole on the ground. Rory was amazed by the power of the attack. She made a point not to get hit by one of the attacks.

Rory tilted her head to avoid a piercing golden arrow that almost pierced her head. The arrow flew past her at a rather fast speed and went to hit a rock breaking through it.

The Beast Four stood next to each other with smirks on their faces. They were smiling because they had been having Rory on the defensive.

"Foolish beasts." Rory said looking at the Four Beast. ''I guess this is my turn now. One of you will probably be dead in the next minute,'' Rory said. Again, they merely scoffed at her words.

Rory charged at the four at lightning speed. Within a tenth of a second she was already in front of them with a single spell in her hand. ''Holy Enhanced: Tempest Breakthrough,'' she muttered releasing a wave of wind that blew at the Four Beasts. The gale was not powerful enough to cause any damage. But it was enough to make them loose their footing and act.

Beast 3 and Beast 5 managed to escape from the spell. But Rory did not attack the one's that were hit by the spell. No, she vanished from sight and appeared in front of Beast 3 after the beast had landed down. She crouched down and attempted a led sweep at her opponent but Beast 3 leaped into the air in a horizontal position. Rory reacted quickly kicked Beast 3 on his chest sending him flying away.

Upon landing on the ground, Rory sidestepped a punch from Beast 5. Within another second, Beast 4 was at her with a raised foot attempting to kick her on her temples. Rory simply caught the kick with both her hands.

It appeared to be what the Beast Four wanted as Beast 2 came charging at her with an intent to break a few bones. Rory yanked Beast 4's leg and gripped it tightly before spinning around once and sending her flying towards Beast 2. Beast 2 reacted quicker, surprisingly quicker for someone his size and caught Beast 4 .

Just what Rory wanted. She flashed behind the two before they could get hold of their bearings. Before she could pummel the back of Beast 2 , Beast 3 appeared in front of her to intercept. Rory did not waste time to act, ''Hardy's Flame,'' she muttered.

Beast 3 was engulfed by black flames that begun to consume his flesh little by little. ''Gah!'' he screamed as the black flames heat ran around his body. He fell to the ground kicking and screaming as he tried to put out the fire but nothing seemed to work.

Rory took out her dark blade and walked calmly towards the fallen beast. She unleash dark aura from her blade poising to cut of Beast 3's head to end his misery.

But she was stopped from going further as an arrow hit just in front of her. She looked up to see Beast 5 holding a bow. ''One step closer to him and I will spill your guts out with the next arrow.'' he hissed.

He thought he could actually pierce Rory's gut with his arrows.

Arrogant animal.

Rory said nothing. Simply, she put back her blade away and finally spoke, ''I wanted to end his misery quicker. But I guess you like seeing him suffer,'' she said. No way in hell was Rory feeling pity or sorry for the poor demon. She cared less for any of them.

Beast 5 's response was shooting arrows towards Rory. Rory was forced to back flip several times to avoid being pierced by the arrows. She stopped when she hit a rock. An arrow came flying towards her chest piercing her. Before they could be any celebrations, the 'Rory ' that was hit simply disappeared in a flash of light.

A minute later, Beast 3 was already dead due to extreme pain and a part of his body had already been consumed by the black flames.

Rory appeared behind the three beasts left. She did not want them to use their cursed form as it would prolong the fight-something which she did not want.

''Holy enhanced: Lightning Dragon,'' Rory muttered before the three opponents took notice of them.

They did however notice the energy spike from behind. But before they could do anything the lightning dragon had already reached then. It hit them dead on and gave them incredible shocks throughout their bodies leaving their entire bodies paralyzed, temporarily.

She flashed towards the three opponents. She grabbed Beast 5 by his neck and lifted him up before punching him on the gut. She then proceeded to knee the beast before throwing him into the air. She spun around, as she did, Beast 5 was coming back towards her. Rory kicked Beast 5 like a ball and sent him crashing towards a rock.

She moved fast and kicked Beast 2 away from Beast 4.

A few seconds before the paralyses wore off. Rory placed her hand on Beast 4 's forehead. ''Sigh of The Yellow Dragon,'' she muttered and gathered large amounts of mana. Rory delivered a huge amount of debilitating shock to Beast 4. She then generated excessively huge amount of electric energy that made her body glow slightly and released it through her hand on Beast 4 's forehead.

The huge amount of electricity that Rory released burned through Beast 4 's body and turned it to ash. Rory sighed, and turned around as she felt a spike of malicious mana. The spell she had used required large amounts of mana. It would probably leave a sage level magician drained of mana once used.

The two remaining opponents had activated their cursed form-something that Rory did not want to happen.

''Well I guess it can't be helped,'' Rory said to herself and withdrew her blade.

Beast 5 who was now holding a golden blade was the first to charge at her. He got closer to Rory and attempted a vertical slash across her chest. Rory leaped back to avoid the attack. Beast 5 did not stop with his attacks, he swung his blade horizontally attempting to cut Rory's head off her body. Rory brought out her own blade block the attack.

Her opponent retrieved his blade and begun to thrust his blade towards her with fast and precise attacks. Had it not been for her mystic eyes and speed, Rory was sure she would have been cut several times. Beast 5 was good with a sword...no, he was just exploiting the weaknesses to his sword art.

Suddenly Beast 5 crouched down. Just then, Beast 2 appeared with his large fist gunning straight to Rory's face. Rory immediately brought out both her hands, even the one holding her blade.

Big mistake.

Beast 2 's fist crashed onto Rory's hasty defense. The punch held so much power that it forced Rory to drop her blade and send her crashing towards the ground. Her hands were still shaking in front of her as she was now part of the ground.

Beast 2 was quick to attack Rory again. Rory only managed to move her head to avoid the punch Beast 2 had sent her way. The punch hit the ground creating a huge crater. Rory eyes met with Beast 2 's.

''Haven't you been told that its suicide to look into a mystic eyes while fighting against it?'' she said. ''Palapon's Punishment: Mind Break!''

Locking eyes with her knowing that she could use illusion on him.

Ignorant animal.

A second later Beast 2 was falling down, but Rory caught him. She winced though as her hand hurt from being hit by Beast 2 's earlier punch. Rory placed two of her fingers on Beast 2 's chest where his heart was located.

''Nine lightning destroys the sky : False Darkness,'' she muttered and released a beam on lightning that pierced through her opponent's heart killing him instantly.

Rory was not given another chance to breath as a wave of arrows came flying towards her. She used Beast 2 as a shield before throwing him towards Beast 5.

Beast 5 saw his dead teammate flying towards him and opened his mouth. He released a webs liquid that wrapped itself around Beast 2 's corpse.

Rory used the distraction to her advantage by flashing behind her last opponent while he was still focused on Beast 2 's dead body.

''Lightning Beam,'' she muttered. A lighting beam shot towards Beast 5 who tried evading the beam but it ended up piercing his right shoulder shocking him and also leaving him stunned.

Rory did not waste a second. She flashed closer to Beast 5 and placed her hand on his chest. ''Sigh of the Yellow Dragon.'' the results were the same when she used the spell on Beast 4.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

While Rory and Aleister were busy fighting the doppelgangers. Pandemonium, did not waste a second, launched himself into the sky towards Giselle direction at tremendous speed. His plan was perfect.

"I will kill that Bitch first!"

The Beast realized Giselle was the reason why Rory and Aleister were so hard to kill. She repeatedly ruined his chances of delivering the killing blows and rescuing his preys. So he had to eliminate the eye in the sky first.

As Pandemonium entered the stratosphere, he was engulfed in multiple explosions. "Explode Air Mine." He was running into a trap like a damn fool. Gritting his teeth, "that bitch will not humiliate him any longer!"

Pandemonium converted the mana kneaded inside his body into void energy, ''Chaos release: Fury of the Golden Demise!'', the Beast howled as he expelled three large golden dragons. The void dragons sped towards Giselle ready to devour her very existence.

— Or to be more precise, the position he thought she was in.

There was nothing there, thus the void dragons flew straight into deep space. Magic dummy. Being the sovereign of the sky, of course Giselle knew how to fake her magic signal. Pandemonium was tricked again, wasting a considerable amount of mana for nothing.

"HAHAHAHAHA. Dumbass, do you really think I haven't prepared for this!?"— Smirked. "Want to challege me in aerial combat, wait another thousand years." Giselle boasting from a safe distance.

As the Beast of Apocalypse grew frustrated, his anger reached new heights. He could explode at any moment as his frustrations added to his rising anger. The Beast gritted his teeth, ''You little bastard, I will make sure you pay from this!''

"Midnight Echo."

Pandemonium unleashed an extremely energetic burst of shortwave electromagnetic waves directly into the ionosphere. The ionosphere act as a reflective surface that refracted radar waves toward the ground, allowing them to detect target from beyond the horizon.

"Turn himself into an over-the-horizon radar! not bad!" Even Giselle had to admit that was ingenuous.

Finding Giselle, Pandemonium rushed towards her in anger. He would tear her to pieces when he caught her.

Giselle was unfazed by the anger of her opponent. Nevertheless, she called for support.

— RULER 01, this is Giselle, BEAST 01 is having a locked on me, request immediate support. Over.

— Giselle, this is RULER 01. We have BEAST 01 on radar. What do you need ? Over.

— RULER 01, this is Giselle, request using nuclear armed surface-to-air anti-aircraft missile on BEAST 01. Over

— Giselle, this is RULER 01, request permitted. The payload is on the way. Over.

The ground started to shake as the first of the salvo of SA-12C Giant two-stage ATBM left the 77P6 launch vehicle. Within a second, four missiles were arching up from the S-500 Prometey, heading northwest towards the Beast.

SA-12C Giant was actually a high endo-atmospheric interceptor nuclear-tipped missiles but due to the fact that Falmart had an atmosphere that were 3 times thicker, 6 times denser and about 25% more gravity than Earth, the SA-12C Giant was reclassified as surface-to-air anti-aircraft missile.

Pandemonium never stood a chance of evading the SA-12C missiles that were streaking down upon him from above. They had tipped over at 150,000 meter and were now heading down in a Mach 24 dive.

Their radar sets were fully active and they had locked on to the figure below them. They didn't need designation any more, They had Pandemonium in their sights and they were going to blow him up. Pandemonium barely had a chance to register their presence before they exploded around him.

Four 50 kiloton warheads. The explosion had the striking power of 200,000 tones of TNT. Pandemonium disappeared in a ball of superheated plasma that brighter than the sun. Of course, normal weapons couldn't kill a chaos demon due to his connection with the Immaterium. But it gave the apostles time to do this.

"Towato, Mowto, Enryuu. Roar of Dragon King!"

Three ancient dragons of the highest level, two from Giselle and the last one from Rory, combined their power to create the biggest annihilation sphere then fired it. The ball so dense it pushed the Beast downward.

From below, Rory and Aleister unleashed their own forbidden techniques.

"Blood Phoenix."

"Rising Dragon: Acnologia Punch."

Three powerful techniques collided in mid-air, creating an explosion as powerful as the previous nuclear explosion. Pandemonium was burned crispy but he regenerated quickly. He truly deserves the title: the Beast of the Apocalypse.

Indian Air Force J-86 Over the Southern Front, Phlegethon River 3rd Bulge

Statistically (as confirmed by the Federal Aviation Administration) 80 percent of cockpit voice flight records recovered after aircraft crashes, end with the words 'Oh Shit.'

The speaker may have been the pilot or the co-pilot (or, it is rumored, in some cases the aircraft itself although this possibility is denied, derided and generally rejected) but the ultimate words remain the same.

So, Flight Lieutenant Aniruddha Mehta's exclamation when a black wyvern came out of nowhere and removed his J-86's entire vertical fin and rudder assembly was entirely in accordance with tradition. It was no consolation when the wyvern almost there after immediately had a terminal encounter with a U.S. J-88/101 and gone down after taking two hits from AIR-125 rockets and a burst of 30mm cannon fire. The fact was that J-86 was going into a flat spin and there was nothing Mehta could do about it.

Mehta had seen this kind of creature before on the sky of Falmart, but nothing this big. It was a huge flying creature two legs, one pair of wings and small steering fins on the lower tail and upper neck. Mehta estimated is size as roughly 15 meters long and its wingspan around 45 meters. It had been fast, it had dived on him in a collision course with an approach speed of around 500 knots.

As it had passed it had taken a swing at his aircraft with the great spiked ball on the tip of its tail, a ball covered in very strong scales. It had totally wiped out his fin and that had killed J-86 as surely as a missile hit.

He looked downwards, he was over the battle area but whether he was on the Chaos demon or human side was another matter. On the other hand, he had no real options in the matter, J-86 was uncontrollable, going into a flat spin and would soon break up.

His only choices were to eject or ride the aircraft in. He opted for the former and felt the slam in his back as the ejection rocket blasted him through the disintegrating canopy of his aircraft.

U.S. J-88/101 "Eagle One" Over the Southern Front, Phlegethon River 3rd Bulge

The Indian pilot was out of his stricken aircraft, that was one good thing. What would happen on the way down and when he reached the ground was quite another. Lieutenant Commander Michael Wong really didn't have time to worry about him. The sky was full of flying things, harpies, a wide variety of human aircraft and now these wretched giants that had appeared out of nowhere. They were about the same size as the Greater Heralds he had killed right at the start of the War of Armageddon and which were now proudly represented by the two great red kill marks under his cockpit.

"Eagle One to Regent. New sighting, big creature, looks a bit like a traditional dragon. One just took out an Indy J-86. Pilot's out, call in CAESAR for a pick-up,"

"Very good Eagle One, for your information, new sighting is a dark Wyvern. They're reported to be hitting the ground troops hard. Report status."

"All AIM-125s gone. Two AIR-125s left, cannon and fuel low. The sky's full of shit out here. Target rich environment."

"Well say goodbye to it Eagle Flight. Return to Earth-Yankee base for refuel and rearm. Also for your information, the O-club is open there."

That was a step in the right direction Wong thought. The tempo of flight operations precluded a beer but even soda would cut through the dust of the Eye of Terror that seemed to get everywhere. His squadron was lucky, after being detached from their carrier they'd been assigned to one of the satellite air bases that surrounded the Hellgate. What it must be like for the air-crews, mostly J-4 and J-100 drivers, who were based in the Eye of Terror was difficult to contemplate.

Wong swerved his aircraft around and took aim at a harpy that was coming dangerously close. He lead it a little bit, squeezed the button and saw one of his remaining AIR-125s streak across the sky towards the bird-like creature. It saw the rocket and tried to evade but it was too late and the harpy vanished in the explosion that was part rocket and part its own body chemistry. "Formate on me Eagle Flight, we're outta here."

The navigation beacon was dead ahead, closing fast. "Eagle Flight to Regent, we're closing on the portal now."

"We have you Eagle Flight, you're clear to transit. Hand over to Yankee once you're though. Warning the apostles are having a fierce battle at this end, so fly as fast as you can in transit."

The first news was lucky, the amount of traffic through the portal could mean aircraft stacking up for hours. The second news was very disturbing, the whole human war effort in the Eye of Terror was being funneled through a bottleneck that was 1800 meter wide and 600 meter high. If it closed now, the whole lot would be cut off.

Then there was the quiet, undramatic switch from the red murk of the Eye of Terror to the clear blue skies of Lemuria. Wong felt the engines surge in power as the filter vanes in the intakes rotated to clear the air flow. On the right he could see a huge dust storm caused by titanic explosions. He even saw giant energy beams clashing with swirls of blood. The scene was unreal, it was like Dragon Ball Z or some shit like that.

—15 minute latter—

"Yankee control here, Eagle Flight, you're clear to land. Turn to oh-eight fiver and come straight in on runway 85." Wong swung the J-88/101 to the bearing and saw the comforting rectangle of the new concrete strip up ahead. Something the Russian pilots, flying birds with undercarriages that looked like they could handle landing on a plowed field made fun of.

The runway was approaching fast now, Wong made minute adjustments to line himself up and cut power back so his aircraft drifted down in to the concrete. A different feeling entirely from the spine-crunching 'controlled crash' of a carrier landing.

Over on the parking strip, Wong saw that a group of J-4s and J-86s had arrived. The UEADF was fielding virtually every fighter jet it could for this Operation, over 80,000 aircrafts. His J-88/101 stopped rolling and he added a touch of power to taxi off the runway on to the parking strip.

The debriefing hut was still a temporary structure, little more than a tent. Wong went inside and sighed to himself. One of the other J-88/101 pilots, a Lieutenant George Witz, was standing over the officer behind an interview desk. One of the problems with the mobilization was that it was calling back the bad as well as the good. Witz was one of the bad, Wong believed that first time around he'd probably resigned rather than be eased out.

Now, he was cursing steadily, damning his aircraft, his missiles, the ground control. The AIR-125 was his present target and his denunciation of the unguided rocket was colorful even by fighter pilot standards. Wong sighed and went up to the first vacant desk. The officer behind it smiled at him, she already had his camera gun "film" up on her laptop. There was a lot to be said for digitization.

"Right Mike, we got you down for 14 harpies and a wyvern. Four AIM-125 kills, two gun kills and eight AIR-125 hits on the harpies, two AIR-125s and gunfire into the Wyvern. That square with what you remember."

"Sure does ma'am." In fact, Wong could have sworn he got two more harpies with gunfire than he was being allocated but in the wild furball that was going on in the Eye of Terror, who could really say what was what?

"Bullshit."

"I'm sorry?" The intelligence officer's voice had gone cold. If she'd been the speaker's wife, the victim would shortly be due for the 'we've got to talk' treatment followed by long nights sleeping on the couch.

"I call Bullshit. Nobody's getting eight kills with those bits of crap. Somebody's faking their claims."

The AFIO was about to blister Witz's ears when Wong cut in ahead of her. "You have a problem with the AIR-125?"

"Sure have, damned things go all over the place. Not one flies true. Haven't had any luck all day with them crapshoots. You claim you got eight, you're bullshitting."

"Camera gun doesn't lie, Lieutenant." The AFCIO's voice had dropped through sub-zero.

She called up White's download, the shots clearly showing the rockets flying straight and true but passing ahead of the targets. "It's pretty obvious, you're firing from too great a range and leading the target excessively. You're using a rocket, not a gun, the lead you need is minimal. You watch Lieutenant Commander Wong's downloads, they'll show you how its done properly. We can't give you ammunition to waste, you're off flight roster until you can get consistent hits on the simulator."

Witz turned away, still cursing under his breath. The AFIO packed up her laptop and smiled. "O-club's open Mike."

"Join me for a drink, Captain?"

"Be a pleasure. My name's Patricia."

"Is Witz going to be all right, he doesn't seem happy."

"Oh, don't worry about him, he's just Witzless."

Wyvern Flight, the Southern Front, Phlegethon River 1st Bulge

If the dark wyverns and their riders could have seen the radar tracking plots, they'd have known they were heading at 300 knots towards the center of the human positions along the southern flank. They couldn't so all they knew was they were heading at their normal speed to where the humans were fighting.

Each side of the wyvern, on panniers made of Beast leather, were loads of Pyromancer Stone, ready to be set on fire and dropped on the humans below. Pyromancer stone, burning thermite, was one of Netherworld's great weapons, an attack that burned, crushed and gassed all in a single blow. Far below them, they could see the human sky-chariots tearing into the harpy cloud, leaving the sky studded with the orange-and-red balls of fire as the harpies died.

Up here, more than half a league into the sky, the formation of 800 wyverns had gone more or less unnoticed. That had to be why the human sky-chariots were ignoring them in favor of rending the harpies. Still, it given the slaughter that was taking place in the harpy ranks, the wyverns and their riders were content with what small mercies they were given. There were whispers that more than seventy thousand harpies had died already, more than seven legion's worth out of the six hundred legions that had started the day's battle.

Faranigranthis saw the wing leader up ahead make the signal, it was time for the attack. He ran a quick glance over his equipment, the sacks of pyromancer stone were ready, all it would need was to pull the bronze bar from the rings and the sacks would upend, pouring the burning thermite on to the enemy below.

Behind them were the steel flechettes, hardened in Belial's workshops and also ready to be dropped on the enemy. Then, he returned his attention to the formation, already the first rank were peeling off for their dive on the enemy below. His turn came, he jabbed his spurs into the wyvern and felt it drop out of the sky as its wings folded and it howled its battle-cry.

This was the bit that made a wyvern rider's life worthwhile. The screaming dive on an enemy below, watching them disperse and run to escape the deluge that was to come. Faranigranthis saw the humans below, their fortresses built around their iron chariots besieged by harpies and with the ground forces and beasts closing in.

Off to one side, he saw a strange rippling blue flash tearing at the human positions and realized that had to be the naga witches at work, pouring their mighty lightning bolts into the enemy ranks. As his wyvern dropped, Faranigranthis could see them more clearly, could see the great coiled forms strapped to the back of the Great Beasts that carried them.

He touched his wyvern with his mind and the creature changed the angle of its dive so he could dump its load on the humans engaged by the naga wizards.

It was time, nearly time. Faranigranthis calculated angle and speed, He had selected a line of three fortresses for his attack, a group that was already under heavy fire from the naga, the blue lightning bolts rippling off their armored chariot. He touched the igniter that set the left hand set of pyromancer stone bags on fire, then hesitated slightly and pulled the drop bar.

To his delight he saw his aim was true and the deluge of burning hot yellow stones at 3000 degrees Celsius swept across the human iron chariots. Beneath him, the harpies swarmed over the stricken vehicles, burning them with pyromancer urine while the infantry floundering across the open space between the Phlegethon and the human defenses. They swarmed up the banks and over the iron chariots that lay within them

Then, Faranigranthis saw how the human defenses worked. As soon as the three fortresses he had hot were in danger, those on either side opened fire on them, the little red flashes that streamed from them raking the position held by their fellows. From beneath the seething mass of harpies and infantry, he saw the iron chariots moving backwards, out of the overrun fortress, back towards the safety of the line behind.

Still they were being raked by their fellows, but Faranigranthis saw the red fire flies bouncing off the iron chariots and he realized what was happening. The human fireflies couldn't penetrate iron chariots so they bounced off and just killed those outside its protection. None of whom were human of course.

Well, Faranigranthis knew what to do about that. He still had his right side pouches of pyromancer stone and his flechettes. He dragged his wyvern's nose around, touched its mind and gave it the instructions necessary. His next run would be on the second line of fortresses, the ones that were covering the escape of his first target. Once more his aim was true and the yellow cloud of flaming pyromancer stone engulfed the iron chariots in their fortress. The pyromancer stone was burning at 3000 celcius, their fireflies faded away and stopped as the chariots tried to back out from the cloud.

Above them, Faranigranthis turned his wyvern again and headed for the chariots that had been the victim of his first pass. They were still there, fighting the infantry and Beasts that surrounded them and theharpies that flew over them. He aimed carefully and saw his flechettes hail down upon them. As he turned away, his load gone, he could see a rolling cloud of black smoke, laced with orange. An iron chariot was burning and finally exploded and he, Faranigranthis, had killed it.

It was time to go home. The Wyverns were assembling back at their original height above the battlefield and Faranigranthis could sense the exultation of the riders. They'd got in and they had struck a savage blow at the humans. Then, he did a count, there were 539 Wyverns flying in the formation of the 800 that had dived on the humans just a few minutes before.

Okthuura Yal-Gjaknaath, Tartaruan Range, borderlands of Netherworld

It was hopeless. No matter how she struggled her ripped wings couldn't find enough purchase on the air. The magma level had already dropped noticeably, but the receding lava just exposed a steep, jagged rim of still-glowing rocks. To Euryale it looked like a rack of red hot knives ready to tear her apart.

Already she seemed to be drowning in an ocean of mercilessheat as she fell into the volcano's throat, the rim drawing away even as the ground rushed closer. She knew it was hopeless, but instinct made her try to flare anyway, throwing away the last of her airspeed to prevent an instant crushing death on impact.

In what seemed like a miracle, as she hovered for that final two seconds the sharp glowing rocks were replaced by a shifting mass of gray-brown rubble. The gorgon landed heavily, splaying onto the still scorching-hot stones and gaining a fresh set of sprains and bruises, but to her utter surprise she was neither incinerated nor broken.

Elation lasted for only a moment as Euryale realized that the lip had collapsed and she was crawling on a landslide. Desperately she tried to out-pace the sliding rocks, scrabbling for purchase as the rim continued to crumble into the throat. At last she was out, stumbling into the crater proper and panting despite the searing air.

She wasn't out of danger yet though; the unstable portal was still churning the lava, which was spitting out globs of molten rock at random. She'd emerged near one of the shrines, a tattered mess of bent rods and half-melted wires, still sparking feebly with residual psychic energy. A half dozen naga lay collapsed in front of it, abandoned by their peers, who were slithering out the crater as fast as their coils could carry them.

Euryale found most of the naga rather hard to tell apart, but one snakelike form was unmistakable; Yulupki had always had a taste for tacky jewelry and for the ritual she'd liberally festooned herself with beaten gold trinkets. Euryale had an overwhelming urge to leave her there. It would certainly make explaining the disaster easier.

No, it didn't make sense, too much was riding on Count Belial's scheme and losing Yulupki would be too much of a blow, to their portal capability and to morale.

As she got closer she saw that the naga's eyes were still open. "Baroness! Snap out of it! Come on, you can't stay here!"

"It's gone! My magic! I have no magic!" Yulupki wailed.

Euryale shook her head. She'd seen Megaaeraholrakni suffer exactly the same thing when she pushed herself too far. It was temporary of course. Demons could recover from anything that didn't kill them outright, except the touch of chaos or holy magic. "Snap out of it witch. You're mewling like a kidling."

The naga didn't seem to have heard her. "I can't hear it… I can't feel it… I am nothing…"

Euryale rolled her eyes then slapped the baroness across the face. The naga hissed and bared her fangs, suddenly focused. "You'll be fine… if you get out of here now. Come on. I can't carry you."

A thump followed by a sudden scream issued from nearby as a piece of lava narrowly missed another of the naga, spraying the creature with glowing fragments. Yulupki painfully began to slither up the slope towards the crater rim, while Euryale went to find a Great Beast to help her move the other wounded survivors.