CHAPTER 77: DEFEATING THE ABYSS!

Dozens and dozens of dark-colored humanoid beasts stood just below the gigantic sand dune that covered everything around them. That place looked more like a huge hole that probably led to certain doom, but in that monster-ridden place there was also a huge double door that possessed impressive measurements, making it possible for Tannin himself in his dragon form to enter there without much trouble.

The curious thing about that door was that it appeared to be a kind of entrance to the huge sand dune, as it was placed there.

The beasts continued to move different materials ranging from dry branches to different strange looking herbs. All of them would embed themselves in the dense sand and disappear into nothingness. It would be a peculiar enough sight for anyone, but Issei had not the slightest interest in knowing exactly what exactly these monsters were.

He proved that when he landed right in front of one of the many monsters, managing to visibly startle the poor humanoid insect at such a sudden irruption, dropping the large log of burnt wood he was carrying in his hands.

"Sorry if I scared you, but I'd like to know how I got in that door." Issei made a quick gesture with his hand in apology, indicating that he cared little for the fact that all the beasts surrounded him almost instantly after coming out of that daze.

The humanoid insect snarled at him once, then activated its large, sharp claws from its fingers and slid them over the young man's face with the intention of killing him immediately.

A large amount of sparks emerged everywhere, and all the monsters watched with quite a bit of surprise as Issei had activated his gauntlet to block the attack.

"I guess it'll be by the hard way..." The young man grinned at them as he landed a heavy blow to the abdomen, causing the insect man to writhe in pain.

Issei took advantage of the distraction to take a small jump backwards, noticing once again that he was completely surrounded by those entities. And it was not only that, as many of them began to emerge from the ground with the idea of finishing him off. In fact, Issei had a rather close contact with one of them when the insect emerged from the sand and tried to cut him in a surprising move, something that surprised Issei quite a bit.

That was demonstrated when he took a small leap backwards just in time for the blow not to be critical. The young man lowered his gaze, seeing how the bandages on his abdomen had been shredded by the long, shallow cuts his enemy inflicted.

"Alright, I guess I should get a little serious with you guys." After saying that, Issei smiled and raised both of his hands.

Everyone watched in complete disbelief as every wound of Issei's healed at a great speed thanks to a purple aura surrounding him. After that, he didn't hesitate and activated his Balance Breaker, generating a great surge of crimson power that visibly confused his enemies.

"Well..." Issei fixed his gaze on his first adversary, sketching a smile just before materializing his helmet.

"LET'S COMMENCE!"

Just as Issei said that, he disappeared from everyone's sight and appeared in front of the monster, punching him so hard that pierced his abdomen completely, causing a large amount of purple blood to shoot everywhere.

Seeing that his enemies were quite stunned by what they witnessed, Issei took advantage of the lack of attention and approached the closest enemy, delivering a strong kick that dislocated his neck and killed him instantly.

After seeing this, the enemies finally reacted, but Issei was quick enough to grab one of them by the neck before he ran away. Issei wasted no time and turned around, using his human shield as a defense to counter the magical attack that was heading towards his position, generating a small explosion.

Issei threw the shattered body at the nearest monsters and then bent his legs, then caused a small avalanche of sand to be created at his position after he jumped. The monster that had thrown the magical attack at him watched in shock as Issei reached his position in the blink of an eye. He didn't even have time to react, as Issei punched him so hard in the face that he shattered his teeth and followed up with his jaw, until his face exploded into a thousand pieces.

Issei gave a great leap and spun in the air to dodge another attack. He was heading straight for a mob of enemies who were waiting to impale him with their large claws. That did not go as expected, as Issei positioned his two hands downward and created a large magic circle.

The next thing that could be witnessed was a great reddish explosion that disintegrated all those who were in that place, generating large waves of sand that destabilized all the beasts that were there.

Seeing that a great part of his enemies were flying in the air without any direction, Issei flexed his legs and jumped again in a giant leap. But this time, the sequence of jumps never seemed to end, as he used various barriers in the air as a support to move at enormous speed. That caused the air to be covered with dozens of barriers as a blurry red figure was smashing into them like a ping pong ball, smashing through and killing every opponent that got in his way.

The burst of speed suddenly ended as Issei fell to the ground on his knees, and at that same instant a great shower of purple blood began to fall on the battlefield along with a large number of corpses that were split in half.

Issei turned his gaze towards the remaining ones, causing all of them to take several steps backwards with clear fear in their eyes. Even so, Issei had no mercy on them and continued advancing with his thunderous speed, giving them several devastating punches that killed them almost instantly.

This went on for a few seconds, until an enemy considerably larger than the others appeared in the arena in a surprising way. Issei's eyes widened considerably when he saw that in addition to being large, this monster was much faster and could also follow his movements.

The speed of his new adversary was demonstrated when Issei could barely dodge the attack as he swung his body to the side. The brown transformed his dodge into an attack when he grabbed the sharp claws with both hands, then tilted the enemy over his body and embedded him in the sand, generating a small tremor. But Issei didn't stop there, as he instantly moved to dodge several attacks from the smaller enemies, until he finally grabbed the arm from one of them and ripped his arm off with a strong blow, to then use those same claws as weapons to finish killing the 3-meter monster.

Just when he thought that one of the most troublesome enemies had already been taken down, a loud explosion came over his back, which also took out all the nearest enemies.

Several 1-meter entities emerged from the arena as they watched impatiently as the curtain of dust left nothing in sight. The scene focused on a 3-meter creature that possessed two normal hands, although his thin body and the large magic circle right in front of him indicated that his specialty was not melee attack, like the vast majority of enemies.

The impatience among them slowly turned to fear as a figure began to appear in the dust. That figure was Issei, who was on his back, and for that very reason it could be seen how much of his armor had been destroyed, but he had not suffered any damage.

Issei turned his gaze at the same time as his armor instantly regenerated, making everyone even more scared.

"I don't like treacherous attacks." The young man clarified behind his helmet, his voice giving away that he wasn't very happy.

That hidden threat only made the strange insect even more scared, so he began to hurl various magical attacks at a great speed.

Issei smiled at this, starting to dodge each of the attacks. At first he looked somewhat cornered, but just as he gave the impression that he would be trapped in the wake of the attacks, the Sacred Gear's voice rang out.

"EXPLOSION!"

Issei's figure suddenly disappeared and the monster felt in horror as the lower half of his body was ripped away. His eyes almost dulled at his impending death had just enough time to see how Issei had landed behind him, delivering a strong punch that had separated him from his waist completely.

Issei didn't hesitate and resumed his attack against all the enemies that approached him, delivering different blows to each one that sent them flying and killed them almost instantly.

Issei turned to meet another of the 3-meter clawed giants, who delivered swift and accurate stabs with his other companions, but all those attacks were dodged by Issei at a speed they could not comprehend. Evidently, that was a completely separate case for Issei, who saw all their attempts to hurt him as very slow and easy to dodge.

In the end, the monster and his companions were completely overwhelmed by the speed of their opponent, who quickly caught up with them and delivered several blows that shattered their jaws and pierced their chests, killing them practically instantly.

Issei turned around half a second later, sending a few enemies flying with various blows, until he swung both his hands forward, creating a gigantic sphere.

"DRAGON SHOT!"

The sand dune was completely pierced by the terrifying magical attack that disintegrated all the enemies that came in contact with it, generating a great rumble in the surroundings, until finally that massive reddish-colored attack disappeared.

Issei relaxed his posture, watching strangely how those opponents who were supposedly very powerful couldn't even give him a scratch.

Though the weirdest thing to him was that he had used a large amount of his magic to use that dragon shot, but he didn't feel the least bit tired.

Had his magic reserves increased far more than he had thought when he became a dragon?

That thought receded into the background after realizing something much more important.

"That's it?" Issei wondered with slight disappointment, as he hadn't even broken a sweat to take down the enemies that generate so much controversy in the other realms.

Perhaps he also didn't pay much attention to the fact that his attacks were far more powerful, and that he had practically destroyed the entire battlefield with a single magical attack.

One way or another, that question was answered practically instantly when three more enemies emerged from the arena. These three were just as large as the more powerful enemies, so he quickly became alarmed.

"I shouldn't have let my guard down!" Issei gritted his teeth hard as the three monsters fell upon him with their claws outstretched.

A loud crash erupted on the spot, causing the entire arena to shake. Issei parried all the attacks with his two forearms that were raised above his head. The grappling was slowly overpowering him and was causing great damage to his armor, so it didn't take too long for him to get tired of this ridiculous fight.

"GET OFF ME!"

Issei's loud shout was accompanied by a small tremor as he used all his strength to repel the enemies' attack, causing them to lose their balance for a short second. And although it was only that instant, that single instant was more than enough for them to die.

"UUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

Issei shouted at the top of his lungs as he clenched his fist tightly, and immediately after, it could be witnessed as his armor began to change as he connected all of his enemies with a strong spinning punch that sent them flying and destroyed them in mid-air.

"WELSH DRAGON: TRIAINA EVOLUTION!"

That simple action generated a large line of destruction that forced him to abandon his position. As soon as he hit the ground, Issei was forced to cover himself with his arms when two other enemies just as big as the previous ones tried to slice his head off. The simple act of blocking created a shockwave that Issei used as inertia to propel himself backwards, doing several somersaults until he finally pulled himself together, using a double kick on the enemies behind him to use them as an impulse. That impulse made him leap to deliver a strong spinning kick to two approaching enemies, sending them flying right where more enemies were approaching, causing them all to collide and a large portion of them to kill each other because of his long, sharp claws.

Unfortunately, his great display of skill was overshadowed by a strong tremor that emerged from the arena, causing Issei's eyes to widen in complete shock as a fist just as big as his body emerged from the ground, delivering a blow so powerful that it shattered much of his armor and caused a huge bang to be created. But it didn't end there, as Issei was thrown at an enormous speed, generating a great line of destruction in his path, until he collided with the huge door, which, by now, was levitating in the air.

The crash was so strong that all the sand swirled as if it were a great hurricane, a great hurricane that dispersed practically instantly as a gigantic crimson aura shot out in all directions.

"WELSH DRAGON: ULTIMATE EVOLUTION!"

Issei emerged amidst all the explosion of crimson energy, staring at the massive 12-meter enemy that landed in front of him.

The remaining 3-meter enemies all threw themselves at him, only to fly away completely torn to pieces. Issei emerged among the corpses and blood with a leap, going straight for his enemy's face.

Issei delivered a hard blow to his head that brought him to his knees, though he didn't stop there, as he delivered a blunt roundhouse kick that shattered his face completely and sent him flying.

The destruction and sand swirling in all directions caused the entire sandy desert to start shaking from the great combat that was taking place between the giant monsters that kept emerging, only to be defeated by Issei after 2 or 3 blows.

The action continued to repeat for several seconds, until Issei received a strong blow that sent him straight to the ground, generating a huge explosion of gusts of wind that sent everything flying far away, to the point of disappearing from sight. And so, a small silence finally fell on the battlefield since the combat had begun.

The few remaining monsters stared with great attention at the gigantic crater as they landed behind their queen, who appeared to be a humanoid mantis that was even taller than Tannin. It was obvious that she had made that monstrous strike.

When they thought the trouble was finally over, they all watched in complete surprise as Issei emerged from the sand with large wounds all around his body. Said wounds regenerated practically instantly as the brown man thundered his neck.

"I guess you're the boss, right?" Issei smiled as he fixed his gaze on the giant enemy.

Everyone stood in complete stupefaction as Issei's body began to be surrounded by a much purer and more powerful aura than before, but what certainly stood out the most, was that this dark violet aura was truly terrifying.

"I don't want to waste any more time with this, there are a lot of people who must be feeling really bad about my supposed death." Issei concluded, and a strange black colored gauntlet with red gems appeared in his hand.

Issei flexed his legs, then took such an incredible leap that he generated a huge destruction in his previous position.

The queen could not even react, she could only witness how a dark flash was approaching her face at full speed.

Issei bent his arm backwards, squeezing tightly. His gaze became more serious than usual at the same time as all his aura was concentrated especially on his arm.

Then, when he was at the level of the huge beast's face, he bent his arm forward once more, and the following words were heard:

"Sepulture of ice..."

Those whispered words did not combine at all in the face of what happened next. For the queen's face contorted in an exaggerated manner when she came into contact with Issei's fist. Though she would have wished it to end there, as a huge blast of power shot out that took care of disintegrating half of her body practically instantly.

The energy and power released was so great that it collapsed in all directions, killing all remaining enemies and causing the entire area to be decorated in a violet color almost as dark as the night.

END OF CHAPTER!

This is probably the shortest chapter I've done so far, but I think I was able to encompass everything I wanted to. Actually, there's still a little talk below that will reveal a lot of events that will be vitally important for the next arc.

That's right, the next chapter will be the end of this arc. At the beginning I evidently estimated that it would be longer, but since I have removed certain things, in the end this is going to be much shorter.

As you already know, the next arc will be the last, and probably the longest. That's because it will focus a lot on closing all the main characters' romances, and, therefore, there will be a lot of romantic scenes and reunions, among other things. The final battle will also be really long, and it won't just focus all on the Trihexa. It will also bring closure to many things about God that were not entirely clear.

Having cleared all this up, I'll leave you with the real ending of this chapter, which will probably surprise you quite a bit.

"Why the hell aren't they here yet?" Azazel wondered somewhat worriedly, holding up the box that supposedly held the Boosted Gear.

"Sorry for the delay, but really strange things happened." Azazel, Penemue and Vali turned around as Odin entered his own office along with Rossweisse and Yasaka, who looked serious and... confused?

"What happened? Where's Michael?" Vali questioned seriously, not really feeling like waiting any longer.

"As soon as we finished the mission, he decided to leave to continue his duties at Elysium. But that's not what's important." Odin clarified instantly. "We split up into the different groups as we had planned. The problem arose when we entered Grigori, as there was not a single soul. Only just when we entered the castle did we see a few waiting in the main hall."

Yasaka and Rossweisse took a step forward, implying that they had the last details, and thus the most important ones.

"At first we didn't think much of it, so we set out to attack instantly. While Odin and the Angels were in charge of destroying Grigori and finishing off the lesser Fallen, I, the Valkyries and my army went towards the general office where technically all the Cadres were supposed to be gathered, but no one was there." Yasaka finished her explanation, managing to make everyone impressed at what they heard.

"But that can't be, I never showed up with them to go towards the meeting..." Declared Azazel, who could not hide his astonishment and confusion.

"And what happened to the missing Fallen Angels and Cadres?" Penemue threw out the necessary question to continue the inquiry, though neither knew how to answer her correctly.

"The reality is a mystery. It's as if they already knew we were going to attack them, and that's why they fled before we could do anything..." Rossweisse clarified, bringing a hand to her chin.

"Now that you mention it, I guess there weren't many really important Demons at the meeting either." Vali added, and that was enough information for Penemue.

"It's not like they would have known, they already knew." The Cadre's answer came as a great surprise to everyone present, who looked at her with great attention.

"What do you mean...?"

"Are you sure the Boosted Gear is in that box?" Penemue interrupted him with another question, getting Azazel to look at the box suspiciously.

"It's obvious, Ajukala pointed as..." Just then, Azazel began to spin the dots, so it didn't take him long to open the box all at once.

The Cadre pulled out a small gem from inside very similar to the Boosted Gear, but clearly, it was not.

Azazel threw the gem out the window out of sheer rage, only to then take his face in a grin covered in frustration.

"That means they always used me, and it wasn't the other way around..." The Cadre concluded, understanding that Sirzechs never really trusted him.

"But why would they do this? What were their real goals?" Everyone wondered the same thing, a question that was impossible to answer.

At least, it was until Michael entered the office abruptly. His paler-than-normal complexion and the cold sweat covering his face drew everyone's attention to him.

"We have a big problem!" Michael exclaimed frantically.

"The seals holding the Trihexa captive have been weakened!"