Tearing through the dark clouds, the screeching of one of Asmodia's dear pets shattered any sense of security in the mind of those present. Even the summoner himself felt a child so cold, he could've sworn he was back in the cold blizzards of Larian land.
Crawling out of the otherworld, its razor claws clutched against the fabric of space as his head finally peaked out of the realm of tears. Gazing down at everyone, its colossal red eyes broke into countless pieces and were scattered throughout its head made of screeching shadows to follow everyone with each and every fragment.
Opening its mouth, it deafened everyone while revealing its needle-like teeth.
"Goddammit," being the first to break the silence, Dominion became its first target.
Climbing out of the tear further, its neck grew like a dragon and so did its arms. Growing closer to Protherious mouth where Dominion was, it not only threatened the war general but the angel wasn't going to let itself be pushed around either.
Swinging its free arm onto the void eater's face, the giant angel smashed out a portion of its skull. However, teeming inside were small ghastly spiders that quickly climbed onto Protherious's fist and began running all over its body. Screeching out loud once again, the shattered piece of void eater's head quickly recovered itself as if nothing had happened.
Instead, the spiders now roaming over Protherious thrashed about its body and destroyed any piece of stone that made up its frame.
"You're an idiot," said Dominion, standing beside Haruki.
Right by the angel's mouth, he was holding it wide open so they could get inside the rest of the structure, and eventually to the place where Asmodia's body rested.
"This idiot eats us and who knows where we'll end up!" Although he knew that pursuing Asmodia's body wasn't the best idea at the moment, losing it forever after void eater devours Protherious wasn't something he was willing to let happen either.
After all, once void eater devours Protherious, Asmodia's body would forever be lost and the emperor might never wake up from his slumber.
"As if you had a better plan," having seen how little Dominion's attacks were affecting the giant, Haruki didn't have much faith in him to defeat it. "Just get in now!"
Seeing how the toothy lips of the angel were closing in on him, Haruki teleported them both in along with his other two companions. Even as they got inside, the rumbling from the fight between the two giants was rattling them to the bones.
"Don't use magic on me again…" Giving off that warning, Dominion castle-like interior of Protherious's body.
Much like its outer appearance, the inside of the angel was made of the same pillars of stones and decorative tiles. While moving into where they'd seen the locked door, they even saw countless tainted windows amongst other depictions of deities and devils portrayed in paintings and engravings.
"Wait-" Reaching an open hall that led much deeper in, Haruki stopped in his tracks as he noticed a circular pattern on the tiles with a bunch of painted figures marked onto them. "It's us…"
Bemused by the portrayal of a trio of demons following a silver-clothed man, he knew it to be them, but how could that have been?
"Master, we don't have much time!" Feeling the ceiling above them collapsing, Asuka urged Haruki to keep moving from the other end of the corridor.
Reluctantly, he moved forward, but being reminded of his place as a puppet, he was fuming in rage once more. Knowing only one who knew the future before it happened, he knew exactly who could've painted it on the ground.
"I'm just guiding you on your path," she whispered in his ears, but he was far from wanting to listen.
'Shut up, I'm already dealing with one headache, don't make it worse.' Looking over at Dominion's back, Haruki tried to figure out a way to deal with him before they got to the casket. 'Why the hell is he even looking for your body now?'
"He thinks killing me would wake up the emperor from his sleep," while Asmodia's reply cleared things up, it didn't do much in actually helping him get rid of him.
After a few minutes, as they finally reached the sealed door, the ground shook once more before all movement in Protherious's body ceased altogether. Whatever had happened to him, none of them knew, but time was running out for them as well and there was not a single one who doubted it.
"The seal's broken, that means," Dominion mumbled to himself.
The broken seal on the door confirmed his suspicion about the angel's fate. Pushing the golden doors open, he revealed a towering room with a lone casket in its center and the idol of an angel looming on its other end.
Its arms outstretched and pressed together, the statue held a glowing light in its palm right under which Asmodia's body was laid to rest. Moving closer and closer, Haruki kept his eyes fixed on Dominion as he followed right behind.
Right as they reached the casket, Dominion stopped and shifted his gaze to look right at Haruki. Without a word said between the two, they knew exactly what was about to happen. Conjuring a blade of dark in his hand, Haruki held it directed in Dominion's direction.
"That monster of yours is probably eating us alive, how about we make this quick so the winner can at least try to escape?" Hurling his blood sword over the shoulder, Dominion turned to Haruki with a big smile. "What do you say?"
"Fine by me, but just so you know, I have no plans of dying a second time," with that said, the two circled around each other with their hands firmly fixed on their swords.
Bearing witness to the battle, Riley and Asuka were forced into the back. Only if needed would they jump in to save their master, but since Haruki obviously wanted to deal with Dominion himself neither of them wanted to go against his orders.
'I hope this ends quickly.' Hoping that they wouldn't even need to heal Haruki, Asuka shut her eyes and instinctively prayed to a deity that had no interest in fulfilling the wish of a demon
Riley on the other hand was planning out traps or sneaky ways to help her master, however, since Dominion wasn't someone who could easily be fooled, she wasn't too sure if it'll all fail just like it did back in the dungeon.
"Bring it!" Commencing the start of the battle, Dominion leaped towards Haruki at the speed of sound.
'Pass through!' Holding his ground without moving, Haruki didn't even flinch as Dominion's sword and body went right through him. Hearing his moment ceasing up behind him, Haruki turned to face him again, which in turn undid the effect of pass-through.
"Sneaky little trick, huh," resting his sword on his shoulder once more, Dominion let out a dry laugh and turned around as well. "I'm guessing, that little voice in your head already told you about my weakness, didn't it?"
"When you said you didn't need mana, I had to ask her, can you blame me really?" Having realized that Dominion wasn't using any magic but only special ability, Haruki had confirmed with Asmodia that he couldn't make use of mana.
"An ability that doesn't let you be struck except with magic ability, well…" Letting go of his grip on the blade, Dominion put it back into a liquid ripple portal. "You're perceptive, but too naive to think I wouldn't be able to counter it at all!"
Like the wind, he vanished from Haruki's sight. However, heightening his senses, he felt him standing right behind him.
"Teleportation-Agh!" Hit with a raw punch right on his spine, the air in Haruki's lungs was forced right out. Downed onto his knees, he felt himself losing a hold of his senses but upon quickly regaining them he heard the worried cries of his companions warning him about something.
"Get up, I'm not done yet!" Kicked right into the belly by Dominion, he was sent flying against the angelic statue.
Collapsing over him, the statue buried Haruki along with the casket underneath. As if on cue, the parts of the ceiling started crumbling down as well, which only reaffirmed the urgency that everyone had in their hearts.
"That stupid monster, it's not gonna be long before you and are burning up in his belly," moving closer to the rubble gathered up over the demon leader, Dominion brought back his sword and tried to declutter the mess with its tip.
"Void eater…" From under the rubble, a mix of male and female voices spoke the same words over each other.
"What?" Confused by the strange phenomena, Dominion took a few steps away from the casket.
"That's his name," replied the same pair of voices as the rubble began subsiding.
"Shit, did the casket break?!" Fearing the worst, Dominion clutched his sword tight and was slashed right against the rising figure.
To his surprise, however, his sword was stopped not by painted nails Haruki or Asmodia, but by a strange mix of two with deep red skin.
"What the fuck…" Having not a clue as to what he was looking at, Dominion was more shocked than he'd ever been. The other two at the back of the room were feeling no different.
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