Chapter 24: A True Abomination
More chapters on my (P)atreon at Saintbarbido.
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(Davian's P.O.V)
A Gillian.
A fucking genuine Hueco Mundo- Menos Grande level Hollow.
This was bad.
Not just because of the kind of Reiryoku running through the thing but what it meant.
I'd thought I would have to worry about getting cloned by one of the numerous mad scientists in DC but this was worse.
They could manipulate spirit energy and use it for their own ends.
Not to mention it was mine. And that particular thing was the most infuriating of all. They stole from me.
No mercy.
But I had to be smart about this. The Gillian as mentioned previously was very very dangerous.
Something about the corrupt spirit energy and chaos magic fusion made me tense in trepidation.
The chaos magic had changed the Gillian. Or rather...the man at the core of the hollow.
This was the second reason I decided to not spare Savage, Klarion and whoever else was in their little merry band of psychopaths.
They had fucked up my chances at getting Bronze Tiger to be my teacher. A major setback.
I couldn't outright kill the Gillian without doing the same to Bronze Tiger. Fuck fuck fuck...
'What would Chase say to do in this situation?'
He would probably tell me to focus on what mattered at that very instant. Slow steps.
I sized up my opponents.
They seemed content to wait for me to make a move. Big mistake. So what mattered at that moment?
Making sure Klarion didn't restore the dome to cut off my spirit energy again. I couldn't let him drain any more of my power.
That means he gets to die first.
"You wanted to see my power right?"
I said lowly, only loud enough for Shiva to hear.
I could feel a surge of interest from her soul.
"Watch closely."
Shikai put my parameters at the level of a captain in terms of combat potential. While my Reiryoku was still not at that level...it had been inching closer.
I pulled on as much as I could without losing control and slipped into Shunpo.
(General P.O.V)
The plan was going perfectly. Now all they had to do was exhaust him enough that capture would not be an issue.
Failing that...there was a contingency in place. One that would guarantee success no matter the outcome.
Savage knew what his biggest resource was. Time. Knowledge to a smaller but no less important extent.
Deciphering the secrets of Davian's Spirit energy had been a slow going endeavor but with the source itself, the time till he had an army strong enough to face anything would be drastically cut.
This was his new dawn. The dawn of light.
And this boy... standing in defiance to a noble cause would learn...
"He's up to something. Remember..."
Savage addressed Klarion.
"Yeah yeah...we let him think he has the..."
A shadow appeared by Klarion's side. Purple eyes blazing with murderous intent and pinning him to the ground with fear.
"Die."
Davian said, swinging Chesha Neko out and decapitating the Chaos Lord in a clean move.
He pushed his right hand towards Savage who had been standing next to the Chaos Lord.
"Hado no. 7: Akai Inazuma."
The smell of ozone permeated the air, followed by streaks of electric energy, zapping out towards Vandal Savage.
He gave no reaction as his body was immediately shredded by the power.
Klarion blinked...
'so merciless...so chaotic...'
His head flew through the air with a shocked look in his eyes.
Davian had attacked without warning, only seeking their deaths.
"Kekekeke..."
Klarion's frightened visage changed to a gloating expression.
The rest of his body turned into a dark sludge that splashed onto the ground. Tiny pops sounded out as a red magic circle appeared below Davian's feet.
"Hmm?"
His form flash stepped away, appearing on the roof of a building that had survived the Gillian's rampage.
His previous position went up in a massive explosion.
"Hahahaha! Did you really think we wouldn't see through your plan?!"
Klarion yelled from the shoulders of the Gillian where he and Savage had appeared through a portal.
"Give up. Your resistance is futile."
Savage added, cold eyes gazing down at the soul reaper.
Another Shunpo and he was upon them, above their forms ready for a second swing.
Whoosh!
Bam!
The Gillian seemingly sprouted an arm from the side of it's neck, lashing out at the soul reaper.
Davian blocked the swing on his weapon, the force carrying him back.
He stepped on a platform of Reiryoku and bounced off it, coming back towards the two Supervillains from a different angle, moving as fast as lightning.
Only for a magical circle to appear on his path, courtesy of Klarion. Red flames roared out of the magic spell.
Davian's form flashed to the sides around the Gillian, evading the wild swings of it's gigantic arms and Klarion's chaos spells while trying to get close.
When that failed, he begun attacking at range.
Chesha Neko broke off into numerous tube like constructs, all aimed at the Gillian.
"Hado no.4: Byakurai!"
The tubes glowed at the ends. Then hundreds of straight lightning beams exploded forth, streaking at the Gillian.
Klarion's finger blurred across the air as he wrote something on reality. A spell inscription that glowed red.
The Kido spell tore the Gillian into pieces but Klarion and Savage's forms evaded the attacks by temporarily going intangible.
The Gillian roared, seemingly unfazed by the Hado spell. Then it stretched it's hand out towards Davian.
The soul reaper evaded capture by climbing higher into the air while narrowing his eyes.
Byakurai had torn holes through the Gillian. However, right before his eyes, those wounds healed. It was like time was reversed on it's injuries.
'No, not time. It can devour spirit energy', he realized.
That's why they were unworried. With time, the hollow could simply outlast him while he expended more energy to deal with it.
He needed to find an effective way to put it down without using spirit energy.
Davian allowed gravity to pull him towards the ground, aiming his hands at the hollow below him.
"Hado no.1: Sho!"
The strings around him changed into glowing purple palms.
Different from other Hado spells, Sho used no spirit energy. Instead the spell caused the propulsion of air in a controlled thrust.
Like an air Cannon.
The spell landed on the Gillian, battering it with dozens of pressure blasts.
Savage controlled the Gillian by raising both of his hands, an action that was mirrored by the hollow to cover it's front from the onslaught.
"Klarion...?"
Savage called out, his tone strained as he poured as much focus into the task as he could.
Just because the strategy was going according to the plan didn't mean it was easy to fight Davian.
A hole in space manifested beside them, growing large enough to swallow the Gillian and teleport them away to another portion of the training yard.
The ground previously under them was swiftly covered by many palm impressions.
Davian's senses warned him of an imminent attack from his back.
He turned around in time to see a cero get launched towards him by the Gillian.
Through some quick thinking, his Fullbring shield appeared around him.
The energy from the cero exploded around the shield, pushing it to slam onto the ground and bounce before landing on the side of a cliff, next to a stairway leading to the peak of the hill.
The dust settled and Davian was revealed, unharmed but annoyed.
He blew away a few strands of his loose hair. He couldn't get close to them without Klarion teleporting them away.
In that case, all he had to do was keep them in one place long enough for his attack to land.
He held his palms closer to his chest, an exorbitant amount of Reiryoku gathering there in a swirling yellow sphere of energy.
Davian had discovered something funny about Kido.
Incantations could push already powerful Kido spells to another level. Logically, remembering every incantation from the anime was impossible.
However these few days spent studying up on magic had led to the exploration of different concepts.
One of them being...creation of his own incantations to resourceful Kido spells in a bid to increase their power.
His steps were measured as he walked forward, his mind going at fast speeds as he considered everything.
The Gillian could absorb direct attacks.
However, he didn't think it could absorb a spell made to suppress it's movements instead of inflicting damage.
That meant the absorption was limited. Selective even.
"Bakudo no. 4: Hainawa - (slither and bind, suppress and restrict. Heavens and hell matter little to the rogue. Bind all under the sun with the ropes of eternal convection.)
The light pouring from his palms intensified.
The energy in the swirling storm of power contained within the sphere, lashed out through the air in a wild barrage of lightning ropes.
They stretched out towards the Gillian and bound themselves around it's huge form, holding it's body in place and with it Klarion and Savage.
(Davian's P.O.V)
I tugged on the rope and shit forwards, streaking through the air towards the Hollow.
The only way I could win this without having to result into a massive drawn out fight was by actually going in for the kill.
At this point, I had to do the merciful thing and put my would be teacher out of his misery.
One sure way of killing a hollow was targeting it's mask.
The Gillian struggled under the bindings.
Chesha Neko lengthened in size as I slashed out along the mask, splitting the Gillian's face from chin to forehead.
A screech sounded out as I flew past the creature, then spun in the air turning to face them from above.
Klarion and Savage seemed to be holding on to the swaying monster as its Reiryoku begun going haywire.
Now for the finishing move.
An entire swarm of shrouds, simply floating in midair after being beckoned to the real world by the deaths in the island, rotated around my body before plunging into me through my back.
There...
I felt the power of the Spirit King take hold once more. My Reiryoku went from close to Captain Level to completely unreadable.
The storm of spirit energy was released in a wave of green energy, revealing my spirit king form.
All that happened in a split second. Power roared within my empty eye sockets as the Reiatsu I could produce more than tripled.
Every creature still alive in the island turned instinctively to stare at me.
I could feel the remaining Shadows, those left alive watch me with existential fear. The ones dying gazed at me with yearning.
I could feel the souls of Shiva, Ra's Al Ghul...and their lifespans.
The former looked at death as the reward after the final battle, the latter looked at me as if I was anathema. He hated me. He feared me.
And I was tempted to change my objective from dealing with Savage and Klarion to showing the Demon's Head the true beauty of death.
Instead I clamped down on the urge, using my anger to let out an infuriated howl.
"Vandal Savage! Klarion you Leach of magic! Your souls are forfeit! For the crimes against life and the insult upon my divine station...DIIIIEEEE!"
I declared, relishing the brief but potent surge of fear I could feel from the two.
"Come king of Spirits! This day will be the beginning of my ASCENSION INTO GODHOOD!"
Savage yelled back spreading his hands out, hiding his fear under layers of bravado.
But that's what he failed to understand. Before death...all was revealed.
I hoisted the long green Scythe, spun with it and came down for a diagonal slash that cleaved apart the Gillian from head to toe.
My speed was too fast to register, let alone react to.
The scythe went through bone and flesh easily, separating the hollow into two parts.
The Spirit King's scythe had one distinct feature, anything I injured with it, guaranteed death.
Even a simple scratch.
"Absorb that, bitch."
The corrupt Reiryoku within the Hollow destabilized, escaping through the wound infected by the Scythe.
"No...no no no! No! No! You can't do this! You promised!..."
Klarion howled, the energy escaping the hollow tearing him apart.
I could hear loud screams which were immediately drowned under the massive explosion that followed.
Hundreds of souls poured out of the Gillian, glowing beautifully in the air as they ascended into the sky.
The area around us had become a crater. We had destroyed so much of the island but it was finally over.
Fuck them. A smile worked it's way onto my face.
They tried to fight me and died. I killed them all. I will kill everything that stands in my way. Every single Fucking...
I rubbed my eyes.
No, why would I think that? The problem with the spirit king form is that it changed the way I thought.
I tightened my hands on Chesha Neko.
Something wasn't right. By all indications it was over but something was off.
The Gillian was gone. Klarion and Savage too. I couldn't feel them anywhere on the island.
So why did I feel a chill crawl up my spine as I turned around to look out into the ocean?
And this heat in my chest...
A hunger that was steadily creeping up from within me. Was it caused by the Spirit King form?
I fell out of it, my body suddenly feeling a bout of weakness. As per usual when I entered this state.
Cheshire was suddenly there, holding me up.
"Steady... you alright?"
The voice that came from her was distinctly male.
"Brand."
I called out.
"Yeah... don't try to move. You fought that thing and won..."
He said in awe.
I pulled myself up, twirling Chesha Neko while surveying the island with my Reikaku.
"Hey Deadman...let me ask you something. Do you think that it was too easy?"
I enquired from the disembodied spirit.
"Too easy?! Are you kidding me! The whole island is barely standing. You went all ham on that...thing..."
His voice trailed off as he felt it too.
"Fuck! I knew it!"
I cursed out, tensing in preparation.
There was a rumble from below the island. Deep enough that Reikaku couldn't pin point the source but I knew something was coming.
Something I had not foreseen. Savage's final plan unfolding.
Later I would come to realize the depth of this man's insanity. The depths he would have gone to, just to ensure that I wouldn't win.
Savage had used the Island's Lazarus Pit to be reborn into something else.
The Gillian, the dome
meant to drain my energy...all of it were steps to his final apotheosis.
Vandal Savage's New Dawn composed of him dying and then getting reborn as something completely different from human. A fusion of human, Chaos Lord and Hollow.
A true abomination.
And I had played right into his hands.
It begun with a rumble and then the Island split into two.
(General P.O.V)
(5000 years ago)
A village lay in the middle of a white landscape.
Winter had hit hard this time, the snow falling onto the sturdy huts and covering the roofs with a fresh coat of crunchy ice flakes.
Cries could be heard from within a hut. Cries of a woman giving birth.
A few minutes later, a man stepped out with a bundle of something in his hands.
A dozen villagers all wearing thick fur and carrying hunting spears bowed in subservience at the chief.
The chief looked on proudly before revealed to them what he had in his hands.
"Vandal...the bringer of hope. The bringer of a new dawn."
He declared, presenting his new born to the village.
Everyone cheered.
Hidden behind layers of space, Batmite rubbed his hands with a conniving smile.
"I realized something...I need to play the long game. Despite going to so much trouble to bring his soul into this world, the disgraced king failed once more."
Then he looked at the child,
"But you...you will be a valuable instrument."
That same night, Batmite stopped a massive blizzard that would have devastated the village and forced them to relocate.
In a deep jungle with trees draped in thick vines and foliage, the muddy ground crumbled under a foot, as something big and heavy ran chased after something small.
The sabertooth tiger's chest rumbled with a roar as it lunged after the fleeing figure, which turned out to be a teen, no older than 13.
The powerful lunge enabled it to clear the distance, claws and sharp teeth ready to rip apart the small annoyance that had wondered into its den when an arrow sank on it's neck.
Hunting calls and whistles sounded out as the hunters lying in wait attacked the tiger.
Meanwhile the young Vandal had stopped and stared at the tiger in its dying throes. The trap had been successful. He'd managed to lure the apex beast where he wanted.
He, curiously, like many times before watched it's eyes. It held so much fear in its gaze. No might or the almost unopposed strength it had once displayed.
Vandal couldn't understand how a powerful creature could be bowed so easily by death. Death was the great equalizer.
The others were proud of their strength, their hunting skills, their huts, their winter gatherings, their beautiful daughters, their dutiful sons.
However, to him it was all meaningless. To him the measure of life was not on how you lived but how long you evaded death.
Which is why he was never afraid to live. He was never afraid to test himself. And each time he escaped death...his soul would be fulfilled.
(Unseen by anyone)
Batmite cackled, rolling with glee on the floor of an impossible place.
A place in between the material and the ethereal.
"He's coming along nicely! Hey this is almost as fun as messing with Batman. Speaking of, time for our scheduled weekly tort- I mean meeting!"
Batmite made sure to always arrive at critical junctures in Vandal's life.
He orchestrated events that would ensure this Vandal was not just a Savage when born...but a smart brute.
One who would question the why and the how instead of just the what. The small boy grew up to be a legend.
One hailed as unkillable (Batmite was careful not to change Vandal's meeting with the meteor that gave him his abilities)
700 years after everyone Vandal had known was dead, the healthy man who looked not a day over 30 ventured forth into the world.
His legend would spread wide and his influence in human history could be felt on every corner of the globe.
It came to be that he would meet a fortune teller in his travels.
One who would inform him of his destiny. Of the reason why he was chosen by the glowing rock from the sky.
"You are the light to his darkness." Madame Xanadu would begin, eyes rolled back to her head as she swayed in place.
"Whose darkness?"
Vandal had asked.
Was it the presence he felt watching him at all times?
The chamber had been filled with smoke from burning incense, different alchemical compounds and other spell casting paraphernalia.
"The king of death. He who lounges as the bridge between the spirit world and the walking world. You shall rise up to oppose him. If he is the king of death, then you shall be the king of life."
Savage had finally figured out his ultimate mission. He had been chosen for a noble course.
One that would usher in a new age of prosperity. Free from the whims of unworthy gods and monsters.
An age where humanity would ascend to it's rightful place in existence under him. An existence free of Death.
Batmite clapped for himself at a well done job.
He had given a mass murderer a cause. He had given an immortal something they would gladly live for. In some ways a conviction strong enough to die for.
He had given a savage purpose.
(Current Day)
Vandal Savage felt his immortal form unravel as his skin burned, his flesh melted and his bones turned to ash.
Pain. Agonizing pain that he had forgotten millennia ago due to the nature of his physique, now assaulted his frayed nerve endings.
The torrent of energies surrounding Klarion and him, tore them apart as the Scythe of the Spirit King forcefully split the Gillian in half, causing the souls imprisoned within to escape.
And with it the purest essence of non-existence Vandal had ever tasted.
He knew that death was coming for him. He could feel a tug on his very soul as the gates of hell opened up and beckoned him in.
But then his contingency plan activated.
Deep within his soul was a mark. A void left behind where death was supposed to be.
For every creature contained that sliver of unlife.
Except for him.
And now he would fill that void with something else. A status of power that would put him above gods, demons and Death itself.
He had no idea if this would work before except for an instinctual feeling that it would.
A feeling he had had his entire life.
A sensation that would urge him to move forward, to stop, to kill, to pillage,to rape, to save, to rescue...
This time it told him one thing.
Devour it all.
A massive magic formation built under the island with the Lazarus Pit as it's core lit up as the final preparations commenced.
The nature of the Lazarus Pit was to restore. The Magicka within it, potent to even bring back a soul on the verge of moving on.
The island rumbled as the waters of the Lazarus pit lost their glow.
Tendrils of dark green sickly energy twisted and churned from the depths as something formed from within the torrent.
All the spirit energy gathered by the circle before the dome was destroyed, Klarion's Chaos Lord essence and the Gillian's corrupted Reiryoku, all were the ingredients.
A storm of multicolored energy gathered around a black soul.
All these energies fused into the soul of a mortal man turned god.
And when it was supposed to fail, Vandal felt his benefactor; just like the time he had helped him gather Spirit energy for the first time to study it, he felt his influence once more.
The storm of power was promptly sucked into the soul.
The Island cracked in the middle, the ancient bedrock filled with magic failing to stand up to the awakening of something grand.
Davian watched as the crack spread along the training yard, separating it into two sides.
He jumped into the air and created an energy platform to stand on before turning to the floating Cheshire. Or rather Deadman.
"During my fight, I felt you save some shadows from the Gillian's attacks."
Deadman stiffened, thinking Davian would reprimand him.
"That was Good Work. Save as many as you can and take them away from here. This is not the day most die."
Davian stated, surprising the disembodied soul within Cheshire.
Deadman opened his mouth...then closed it. There was no need for words. He gazed at the strong back of the man before him and turned to leave.
Once he was gone, Davian's breath hitched slightly as a pillar of rainbow colored energy burst out through the cracked ground.
He looked at his hands and saw them shake.
The power he was feeling from this... abomination...it sent his flight instincts into haywire.
Never had death felt so...close to him. Not even the first time he died.
This wasn't a regular enemy something told him there was something eerily off about him.
Only one of them would be leaving here alive.
"Can you feel it Davian?"
The deep and soft baritone belonging to one Vandal Savage,entered his ears as the rainbow colored pillar of light receded.
A man was revealed. No, calling him a man was a disservice.
His skin glowed golden, his hair waved in the air behind his head in a hypnotic fashion. His red eyes seemed to contain a certainly pull.
He was shirtless, much like Davian. Tall and huge, with a halo of gold light surrounding his back.
His most distinctive feature was the black boney skull on his face.
Shades orbited around him, screeching in defiance to what this being was.
Unreasonable hate colored Davian's soul.
A snarl of rage escaped his mouth.
"What have you done Savage?! You meddle in powers you know nothing about. You've become an abomination."
The new Vandal laughed, hands stretched to his sides.
"So you can feel it!"
He replied, his voice booming out through the shattered island.
"The bond between us. The unbroken connection between life and death."
Davian blinked and felt Vandal Savage presence next to him. His skin crawled with the power this abomination contained within itself.
Davian clamped down on the urge to swing out his sword and kill this thing. He had to wait.
He was angry for playing right into Vandal Savage's hands and now the immortal was a monster who simply couldn't be exorcised, a man who simply couldn't be killed.
Not that Davian was planning anything less than death for him. He had killed beings that claimed they couldn't die before. He just had...to wait for a little while longer.
Savage looked up at the shrouds orbiting around them.
"They fear and hate me so much because of what I represent. I am the killer of death. I bring life and to them I break the natural order something fierce."
He laughed once more, his lips stretched out to reveal perfect teeth.
The immortal turned his gaze to stare at Davian, whose face was occupied by an impassive expression.
His eyes were set on a spot past the Island.
On the ocean, Shiva stood on a small boat, watching the island next to an unconscious Ra's Al Ghul.
Infinity Island was no more.
Davian could see the last of the boats retreat to a safe enough distance. Nothing living was left on the island except for the two of them.
No point in holding back now.
"Oh? I thought you would have much to say to me."
Savage addressed Davian.
"As your natural opposite..."
A normal human fist could travel at 15mph. A boxer's fist could travel at 20mph.
Davian's fist burned the air in its path towards Vandal Savage, travelling at more than 100 times as fast as a normal punch.
Savage received the blow with his left palm, fingers closing over the fist. The presence burst that would have normally followed was nullified.
"That was rude. I saw how furious you got at being interrupted. Yet you do the same. A bit hypocritical, isn't it?"
The immortal said, squeezing the hand.
"Shut up."
Davian growled out, throwing a disgusted look at the Immortal.
"Unlike me, you have nothing of worth to share with the world."
Savage's face scrunched up in a rictus of anger and hate.
Davian continued, uncaring of the mounting anger within the immortal,
"I called Klarion a leach but you are worse than that. You're a parasite."
"A worm who stumbled into his power and now thinks what he says goes. You hail yourself to be my equal but you're wrong Savage. Death has no equal."
For the first time ever...Davian fully released his Reiatsu.
The stones under them shattered as gravity itself inverted in a zone around them.
The water rose up in a massive curtain, swirling into a tornado with them in the middle.
Savage looked around in surprise, then his eyes snapped back to Davian.
"I can do that too."
He declared, causing his Reiatsu, no weaker than Davian's, to rumble out from within his core.
Both Reiatsus fought for dominance and the environment suffered for it.
The island that had previously been rocks floating in the water was now nothing but a whirlpool.
The sky above the two had dark voluminous clouds that spat out streaks of lightning down upon them.
Deadman, from a boat sailing away couldn't believe his eyes.
No one could.
"How can two men wield such power? It's... unnatural."
One of the Shadows he had managed to save stammered out.
Deadman had to disagree with him. It was natural.
It was Davian Mabuz.
"Good luck boss."
He said too low for anyone else to hear.
(General P.O.V)
The air crackled with tension and power.
Both combatants watched each other, ready for the other to make a move first.
Would Davian pull his fist away from Savage's hold or would Savage make the next move?
The decision seemed to fall on whose Reiatsu would emerge as the victor.
The weight of both individual spirit pressure clashed against each other with the force of a Tsunami. Or rather, several Tsunamis.
Red eyes met golden eyes amid the flash of a streak of lightning that highlighted the two figures hovering in mid air.
No words needed to be said. The tempo of the colliding Reiatsus reached a crescendo and with a shockwave that could be heard from afar with the tornado of water around them being forcefully expelled.
The drops fell on them in a misty spray.
That seemed to be the signal and the fight truly begun.
Streaks of purple lightning washed down Davian's body as he pulled his hand back from Savage's hold.
The action was nothing more than a blur.
Then he bent the arm and thrust out his elbow towards Savage.
The immortal displayed his superior martial arts skills by blocking the elbow with his forearm and pulling in closer to the Soul Reaper.
His palm slashed out towards Davian's neck.
The latter read the movement of Savage's soul and knew the attack carried with it a lot of lethality.
He kicked out, both to create distance and to try and get the upper hand.
Savage merely grinned, sweeping away Davian's leg with a few well timed jabs to the shin.
Davian felt his leg go numb. A burst of Shunpo from his right leg pushed him away from Savage.
The Immortal smiled evilly and followed after him with a shout,
"Where do you think you're going?!"
Unlike Davian, he could fly unaided in the air. An instinctual ability copied from Klarion.
Davian poured more Reiryoku into his numbed leg while lifting up his hands in a boxing pose.
A hundred different blows were exchanged in a second.
Davian could scrap. Meaning he wasn't a newbie at street fighting but Savage was on a whole other level.
The punches, palm strikes and finger jabs came from seemingly impossible angles and at different speeds.
This was turning out into a reenactment of his fight with Shiva.
His head rocked with lightning fast strikes while his forearms stung from the blocks he did manage to intercept.
The difference between Shiva and Savage was made clear.
While he had Shiva outstripped in almost all physical parameters, Savage with his new power was his equal.
A blinding punch to his temple followed by a palm strike to his solar plexus that robbed him of his breath, informed him he was wrong.
Savage had way more speed and strength than him.
"Untrained."
The immortal commented, dodging a hasty haymaker and an uppercut from Davian that sent a pressure wave to the sky, scattering the dark clouds above them.
"Argh!"
Davian growled, blurring forward in a Shunpo, anger occupying his mind for a few seconds.
Savage dodged the lunge almost too easily, delivering a kick at Davian's belly that folded the younger man in half.
"Unfocused. Quick to emotion."
Savage commented once more, slamming his elbow on Davian's back, sending him shooting towards the water.
Davian's body spun and flipped uncontrollably as the air passed him, his body on a direct trajectory towards the ocean.
Savage watched as the Spirit King's body made a huge splash.
"King of Death huh? How disappeared..."
A fist slammed onto his cheek, whipping his head back and folding his neck to stare the wrong way.
It was fast. It was sudden. It was unexpected.
The shockwave produced blew the humid air away, revealing Davian with his fist stretched out, slightly steaming from having delivered his first true attack.
Savage's golden eyes blinked in confusion. The confusion was expelled by the agony of having his neck twisted and broken.
Davian who had sneakily used Shunpo to escape the dark waters of the Atlantic, had come in from Savage's blind side.
"Oy."
He said, grabbing Savage's arm as the Immortal's body lost control of it's flight.
"Don't count me out just yet, you bastard."
On the drop of these words, Davian braced his right hand on Savage's shoulder and then pulled.
The Immortal's arm came off with a sickening squelch. Hot golden ichor spurted out, dying Davian in the face.
Then he pulled his hand back and slammed a heavy fist, one reinforced with as much Reiryoku as he could, at the Immortal's chest.
Savage's back exploded out with more blood and organs. The remains of his body descended in a shower of guts towards the ocean.
Davian looked on as the Immortal fell into the waters below.
Without a word, he unsheathed his sword.
He knew that much was still not enough to actually put this enemy out of commission.
He could still feel the raw shocking strength of Savage's soul. It hadn't waned in the slightest.
The water below churned with bubbles as the golden ichor spread out.
In the depths of that sea, the self proclaimed King of Life breathed, his body regenerating from its destroyed form.
The flesh knitted, biomass stolen from the schools of fish swimming away from the scene.
But he could call upon them. The flesh, bone and blood constructs, those with the breath of life in them.
Sea life swam their way towards him as Savage unknowingly tapped into a force as old as time.
One of the seven hidden forces of reality related to the life-giving powers of the ocean. The Life Force.
Thus he had an epiphany.
He'd underestimated him.
The Spirit King was powerful. Golden eyes opened in the murky depths.
He couldn't fight him as his equal. But he could fight him as his opposite. Play to the strengths he had access to, not the ones he coveted.
'I realize it now. I cannot beat you in the spirit. So I will just beat you in the flesh.'
Davian's brow scrunched up he felt many 'somethings' cut through the water swimming fast towards him.
6 huge black tentacles covered in golden veins broke through the surface of the ocean.
He could sense the soul of the creature whom the limbs belonged to. An octopus, only this was no regular sea creature.
For starters the limbs were too long and too thick.
Its flesh was twisted. It's once graceful form distorted, with the gigantic limbs armed with razor-sharp spikes and bone spurs.
Beady red eyes stared at him in ravenous hunger.
Davian could sense Savage's energy brimming inside the Octopus. Only now it was clear enough to notice the vast difference in it's signature.
It wasn't a simple fusion of a Hollow's energy, a chaos Lord or a metahuman. Now it was it's own structure and form.
An opposing force to the force that had been created upon the Spirit King's emergence.
If Davian's power was control over souls, then Savage seemed to have tapped into the opposite. The control of the Flesh.
Davian engulfed himself in a Fullbring shield. The sharp tentacles slammed onto it and bounced off.
The soul reaper narrowed his eyes when the Octopus changed tactics.
The tentacles ensnared themselves around the shield, wrapping their length along the walls of the bubble.
Davian was about to retaliate heavily, when he changed his mind, allowing the creature to drag the shield underwater.
Nothing was visible in the darkness, yet his Reikaku managed to capture everything.
Almost... everything. Savage was hiding from him. Doing something.
He tightened his grip on the Zanpakuto, his suspicions having been proved true. His lips twisted in revulsion.
The octopus' main body was huge. More than twice the size of a truck. Not to mention, it was only the first of many.
Hordes of enhanced ocean creatures converged upon him from all sides, each more twisted than the last.
Fish with elongated bodies and dagger-like fins, their once innocent eyes replaced by savage gleams.
Crustaceans with armored exoskeletons cracking their pincers menacingly.
Eels with jagged spines slithering with deadly precision. The waters churned with a nightmarish array of horrors.
And every single one of them shared the Octopus' features. Black and golden veins across their bodies. Huge forms with writhing flesh and red eyes, gleaming with savagery and madness.
He allowed them to get close before releasing his Reiatsu and stunning anything that entered his Reikaku's range.
Millions of sea life, the weakest ones at least, immediately died, floating to the surface of the water.
The most powerful of the horde were merely stunned. Savage's influence seemed to block the effects of his Reiatsu.
The millions dead were quite literally like a drop of water in the ocean. More took their place, charging towards the lone green light in those depths.
Davian's Reiatsu slammed onto those as well. Each successive wave of monsters fell under it's heaviness.
Davian was getting annoyed now. Savage had concealed himself from his spirit sense.
The Soul Reaper pulled his Reiatsu close to him, kneading it into a funnel around his form.
Weaponizing it even more.
Then in an ingenious move that his control barely allowed, he started twisting the Reiatsu in a sphere around him.
A massive whirlpool appeared on the surface of the ocean, sweeping away the sea life, shredding and tearing apart their flesh under the gyrating motion of the water.
The sea was quickly filled with dark blood.
With a resounding bang, Davian released the full effects of his Spiritual pressure, throwing everything away including the water itself, to the point the floor of the ocean was revealed.
He held a hand up, straining his Reiatsu to keep the water at bay while he stood in the air above a section of the ocean floor left exposed in the open air.
(General P.O.V)
On the patch of ground, Savage stood upright, hands crossed above his chest as he looked up at Davian.
Then his eyes jumped gazed at the walls of water surrounding them.
"Impressive."
Savage clapped his hands.
"You pushed the water and my creations away just to expose me."
He chuckled, shaking his head,
"This is why..."
Before he could continue to speak, Davian pointed his palm downwards, gazing at his enemy with cold eyes. He was done humoring the Immortal.
"Bakudo no. 9: Horin."
A sphere of yellow energy shining as bright as the sun appeared before his palm. The sphere quickly folded to gather around his hand.
Then a thick rope jumped out, shooting towards Savage. The rope slammed onto his chest and broke down around him, forming into a thick crackling net.
Davian placed his other palm above the rope.
"Hado no.4: Byakurai."
Blue lightning jumped from his hand to the rope before being conducted towards Savage.
The Immortal saw the attack headed for him but couldn't do anything has the Hado fell upon his body, spreading out in streaks that ravaged his form.
"Arrgghhhh!"
His thunderous yell could be heard from miles away. His golden skin smoked and bubbled, the flesh melting before being regenerated in a continuous cycle of destruction and restoration.
"Heads up."
Davian added, before retracting his Reiatsu and allowing the tons upon tons of the water in the walls surrounding them to fall.
Savage blinked and suddenly found millions of liters descend upon his paralyzed body.
The only thing he could do was grit his teeth.
"Damn you Davian Mabu-"
His words were cut off by the crushing wave of the sea.
Davian was left standing on a platform of spirit energy. The scales of the battle had tipped to his favor.
"And now to finish this."
With a flash of purple energy, his Shikai activated. Chesha Neko broke off into billions of strings, covering him from head to toe in the durable material.
On the ridges in-between his fingers, 3 claws emerged on each hand. They were long and sharp bearing a striking resemblance to Wolverine. Which wasn't surprising as that was who he had copied.
He made sure to pull as much power as he could into reinforcing himself.
With Savage cornered, this is when the true fight would begin.
And sure enough, the crashing sound of water as it beat upon the protruding pieces of rocks that had belonged to the island, was interrupted by bubbles.
The bubbles intensified before something thick and meaty emerged. Flesh twisted and warped upon itself as it spread out across the surface of the water, occupying the place Infinity Island had once stood.
An Island made entirely of flesh was created.
Pimples and boils sprouted everywhere on it's surface.
Davian descended on to the Flesh Island.
His silent landing sent a quiver on it's surface. The pimples and boils burst open, noxious fumes wafting into the air while pus and blood flowed out.
Along with something else.
Small and big creatures made entirely of a reddish brown colored bare flesh, missing the skin.
Some were mostly limbs, meaty balls of existence covered with spikes of sharp bones on every exposed part of their bodies.
Some flapped bony and leathery wings, screeching while flying around Davian.
Others were huge, not on the sheer scale and size of the Octupus or even the Gillian, but bigger than a regular sized elephant.
Millions of red eyes turned to glare at Davian Mabuz.
"YOUR MOVE...SCARLET DEVIL."
Savage's voice sounded out from the flesh creations, distorted and an amalgamation of different tones.
Davian bent low. The numbers were many. Almost too many.
However, never had Davian's blood lust been this potent. Never had he wanted to kill someone so bad.
And an intrinsic part of him hated Savage just for his mere existence. An unrealistic hate.
One he couldn't help but feel for this 'immortal' with grandiose aspirations to deny him, Death.
"There could be millions between you and I..."
Davian started lowly, hoisting his claws.
"But I would kill trillions just to get to you and rip out your heart."
Without noticing, the claws in his hands changed color to black as an aura of death, an aura of time erosion covered them.
Savage had no problem feeling the danger the claws posed to him.
"Attack him! Kill it! Bring Davian Mabuz' CORPSE TO ME!"
The Immortal ordered and his creations adhered.
Davian showed his teeth, growling as he blurred forward and ran the claws through the mid section of a flesh creature that looked a cross between a kangaroo and a dinosaur.
The creature was sliced into three separate pieces but even before they fell, Davian had already slain about a hundred of it's compatriots.
With Shunpo, he was going faster than he had ever gone before, a whirlwind of swinging metal blades followed by the sound of flesh and bones parting under something sharp.
His form was everywhere all at once, streaking around the fleshy landscape and delivering death.
In 5 minutes he had reduced the initial numbers of the creatures attacking him to about half.
In 10 minutes, the millions of monsters the King of Life could create had more than tripled.
Davian could feel as more and more biomass was added to the island from the sea. Then the island would produce these monsters that would then attack him.
He couldn't stem the tide. Yet he still killed.
Slashed, tore and ripped apart all of them, in a bid to get to the center of the flesh Island where he could feel Savage.
The Immortal was inside a huge flesh pod, no doubt scheming.
At some point, Davian started adding Kido spells to the mix.
His Hado spell, Akai Inazuma would be launched out through dozens of palms constructed from Chesha Neko's strings.
With Reikaku providing him an image of what was happening around him at all times, this made him an even more effective Killing machine as he mawed down more and more flesh creatures.
The battle ground was full of smoking bodies and the sweet and sickening smell of burning flesh.
"I WILL NOT LOSE TO THE LIKES OF YOU!"
Savage roared as he witnessed the havoc unfolding before him.
He was connected to the Island and it was essentially a part of him. The power the Spirit King was throwing around hurt.
Especially those claws!
Any flesh slashed by them could not be salvaged. The flesh would rot into a putrid mess before drying and breaking apart into ash.
He couldn't let him continue to act with impunity!
Which is why...
There was a rumble from underneath the island. Then a pimple grew from the surface.
The large meaty sack shivered as something grew from within.
The pimple burst apart, revealing the sea monster of sea monsters.
A bony white mask on it's face. It roared at the heavens, waving it's numerous tentacles and limbs in a furious dance.
The ire of it's hate being the small form below it, surrounded by corpses of abominable creatures that were it's master's creation.
"Meet my pet...the Kraken."
Savage announced.
'kill kill kill'
A mantra continuously went through the Kraken's mind.
Davian looked at the massive creature trampling other flesh imps and monsters as it advanced towards him.
The Soup Reaper had come to realize something.
Just as Savage's energy seemed to have an innate suppressing nature on Reiryoku, the opposite was true.
He didn't lack ways he could use to remove the threat of the Kraken.
However, deep within him, something was brewing.
Raging to come out into the surface. He had noticed Barragan's Respira energy coating the claws.
His Kido was deadly as well. His strings could be made as sharp as the sharpest of weapons.
Yet...
Something wanted to rush out.
He allowed instinct to guide him. To trust in whatever this sensation was.
The strings around his form unravelled into his Zanpakuto. He was left with his upper body exposed, silver hair waving in the air.
Davian then lifted Chesha Neko, cold eyes gazing at the Kraken looming over him.
"From one king to a self proclaimed one...your fate was determined when you decided to fuck with me. And now all that awaits you at the end of this path is Death."
There was a pause. As if the world itself was waiting with baited breath.
"Bankai."
The lone word...
That simple lone word and the world shuddered.
All at once, none of them could ignore him any more.
Not with the power he had called upon.
Rama Kushna, floating in mid air above her garden, frowned in hate.
"Hmph! A bunch of hags who don't know what's good for them!" Her divine presence surged out, cutting off the numerous cosmic gazes and shrouding Davian under layers of obscurity.
Rama Kushna looked at a particular spot in space.
"None of you can have him! I forbid anyone from laying a single claim to the Spirit King!"
(General P.O.V)
"He could have used our help you know."
The cloaked figure said accusingly.
"Whaaa?"
Chase asked groggily, turning his head to stare at the figure seated on a gravestone, looking out into the cemetery.
"I was enjoying a quiet if slightly uncomfortable sleep. If you have anything to say, get straight to the point."
The Trickster cat shot back, annoyed.
The cloaked figure tilted their head to the side, shoulders set in amusement.
"I get it now...you don't like this too. You know, pretending that you can't reach him."
He observed.
"So why not help him fight?"
Chase groaned a bit, turning to lie on his back on the same branch that was impossibly holding his weight.
"A lesson. He needs to learn to..."
Before Chase could finish, there was a rumble from the Inner Dimension.
The cloaked figure sat up immediately, his eyes glowing green. The color was shared by the starry film of energy that covered his form.
"Was that..." He begun, only to be cut off when the Inner World rumbled once more.
The ground shook, the gravestones trembled and Chase had on a complicated expression on his face.
"That fool..."
The cat muttered shaking it's head.
However, he couldn't stop the wide smile that appeared on his face. Nor the pride coursing through him.
(Elsewhere)
The news anchor wore a serious expression on her face as she watched the camera.
"3..2..1. Live."
She was given the countdown to begin the broadcast.
"We interrupt this program to bring you breaking news. A series of weather incidents have led to extreme conditions in areas surrounding the Carribean sea.."
She begun explaining.
This scene was shared by many news stations and channels across North and South America.
"...a seventy foot tidal wave headed towards Cuba..."
"... The Tsunami is estimated to land anytime in the next half hour..."
"...sources indicate that the Earthquake is as a result of underwater volcanic movement..."
"The authorities have begun setting up a perimeter around the shores of Puerto Rico, which will see the worst of..."
(Justice League HQ: The Watchtower)
"Give us a rundown of the situation, Batman."
Superman told the Green Knight in urgency.
The members of the League, those who were available under short notice, stood ready behind them.
Batman used his ring to lay down a projected map above the holographic screen. The map contained a triangle that pinpointed a location in the Caribbean sea.
"I have triangulated the discrepancies in the weather patterns and I believe...this to be the origin point."
He explained.
"Wait. That's where the headquarters of the League of Shadows is located."
Green Arrow pointed out.
Batman narrowed his eyes at the screen.
"I know."
(Davian's P.O.V)
"BanKai: Owaranai Chesha Neko. (Unending Cheshire Cat)"
As soon as the activation phrase left my lips, I realized something.
I had no idea what this was. The difference between the Shikai and the Bankai was not supposed to be this huge.
It made no conceivable sense. It hadn't merely scaled everything up. It had completely changed everything I knew about my abilities.
I couldn't even sense my own Reiatsu.
But that was okay. Ever been outside when a storm was raging?
The trees would bend, the wind would sweep through the land, carrying sheets of ice cold water to buffet you, lightning would flash and by all indications...it would look like the end of the world.
I was the storm raging in the sky above the Flesh Island.
I was the origin point of a massive power that showed me how weak I had been before. How powerless Savage actually was.
The King of Life was inconsequential to my new form.
Even if he were to get a hundred times stronger in the next few seconds...that would still not be close to a percent of this new...pow...
Authority.
This new authority rendered me effectively invincible.
Everyone I'd faced off up until now was nothing to write home about.
The transformation into Bankai was seamless.
One second I was holding on to Chesha Neko, then the next my sword was gone.
A long flowing sleeveless coat, adorned my shoulders.
It waved in the air, alternating between the physical world and the spiritual one. Shifting color between snowy white to the darkest of black.
In the middle of my chest was a green gem in the shape of a diamond, pulsing gently.
And my Zanpakuto had changed forms into two Artefacts of incredible power. The source and symbol of my new Authority.
It wasn't uncommon to have the Bankai change from a sword to something else.
On my right was a white satin glove with yellow inscriptions.
Enochian script.
I knew instinctively it was the language of god.
The script then spread out across the entirety of my right arm.
The glove was called the Hand of God and exuded a holy aura.
On my left was it's opposite. A bulky black gauntlet that was reminiscent of the boosted gear from DxD that covered my palm, wrist, up to my elbow.
The Gauntlet was called the Hand of the Devil and produced an aura of death and darkness.
The Hand of God and the Hand of The Devil were powerful artefacts with unique abilities to interact with the grid, the web of existence.
The web of existence was everything reality was made of.
There was the physical world, where down to the smallest atomic structure, strings and threads of creation bound everything together.
My eyes could perceive the subatomic realm and the grid that made up the web of existence.
The web I could now control in various ways.
Then there was the spiritual world. The web of existence here extended out into strings that lacked material substance.
They were colorless phantom replicas of the physical world that I could see as clear as day.
"I see now..."
I muttered, my voice soft.
"This is why she told me to open my eyes."
Rama Kushna had foreseen this. She had known I would arrive at this point in fate.
She wasn't the only one either. More clearly than ever before...I could feel their gazes now.
Gods, Eldritch monsters, Conceptual beings...
I lifted the right hand, the inscriptions on the Hand of God glowing.
The Hand of God gave me a number of abilities, all stemming from one thing.
I could interact with the Web of Existence and manipulate it how I wanted.
"Begone."
I declared, purple strings launching off the sharp tips of the Hand of God, and ensnaring the uncountable strings in the grid, surrounding the whole section of the Carribean sea.
"What...?"
Savage finally broke out of his surprise.
Or rather, I slowed down my thought process after perceiving the true nature of reality.
The clouds shifted, the sea churned after I'd underestimated the effects of the Hand of God on reality.
The Web twisted, the strings unfolding and folding simultaneously.
Silence.
The gazes disappeared, banished to their own realms of influence.
Another glow from my right hand and the strings reattached.
Nature calmed down.
I opened my eyes and found the Kraken, the flesh monsters and even Savage immobilized in place.
I clutched my hands behind me as I walked forward, passing by the Kraken.
To give you a context of how overpowered the Hand of God was, it allowed me to break off the strings making up the grid and reattach them in different ways.
Essentially allowing me to manipulate the subatomic strings of reality, altering aspects of the world according to my will.
I could use it to repair or restore damaged or disrupted subatomic strings within the grid, thereby healing injuries or diseases at a fundamental level.
My mind was already thinking of the kind of power I could tap into at higher levels.
Imagine reversing the effects of entropy or decay, rejuvenating objects or even whole ecosystems. I could terraform a planet.
I could bring her back...
The yellow inscriptions and enochian script tatted on my arm could allow me to learn new things by tapping into God's all knowing light.
I could use it to banish evil.
Even create new life forms from the grid. It was all a simple matter of attaching the strings in a structured way and breathing in life through the Enochian script.
My base soul powers could then allow me to shape a soul.
However...all that power was nothing on the kind of havoc the Hand of the Devil could unleash.
I passed by the Kraken and watched as it dissolved into nothing.
Not even energy.
The flesh monsters were similarly reduced to matter that was then reduced to nothing. No life. No existence. No memory.
I could feel Savage's mind break down as the memories of the last 5 minutes disappeared, his brain begun to regenerate the neurons destroyed.
The Hand of The Devil pulsed with the darkness from the depths of non-existence itself.
I could feel it whisper to me in the Language of the End.
A language that had never existed and never will. It spoke of the Darkness below...and it's comforting nature.
The Hand of The Devil scared the shit out of me. But it also filled me with a sense of wonder.
It's main ability was causing Chaos and Entropy.
By targeting and destroying key subatomic strings within the grind, the Hand of The Devil could cause chaos and increase entropy in the world.
This would lead into unpredictable and destructive phenomena, unraveling the fabric of reality itself.
Lesser abilities included, localized or widespread destruction, obliterating matter, energy, or entire structures.
Then there was Dimensional Manipulation.
Its destructive nature also allowed me to rupture or tear through the fabric of reality, opening portals to other dimensions or planes of existence.
I could travel to other dimensions or universes. Holy...
The most useful ability I had access to was essentially anti-magic.
The Hand of the Devil could disrupt or nullify magical energies.
That meant weakening or dispelling spells and enchantments. Even rendering magical artefacts ineffective or inert.
I wouldn't be weak against Chaos Magic or Order Magic anymore. I was past that...
I had the power of a god.
And what is a god except for self serving and selfish?
So the first thing I would do, would to be to make good on my promise to Savage.
My steps slowed down as I finally arrived before a flesh pod the king of life was hiding in.
The area around me was devoid of Flesh creatures. A mere gesture through the hand of The Devil had destroyed them all.
Then with my right hand, I had rendered the island infertile. Savage was cut off from his control over the island.
The layers of flesh between me and Savage squirmed, toughening and thickening as he sort to keep me away from him.
I could sense is wariness, confusion and anxiety. He didn't understand what was happening.
One minute he was winning...then the next everything was going wrong.
I reached out with my left hand, the spiked nails easily piercing through the pod and grabbing him by the neck.
Then I pulled him out.
"Did you think you could hide from me?"
I asked as he squirmed in my hold. His eyes carried hate, anger and fear.
I wanted more.