Chapter 135: Ch172. Clash of monsters
It was as if everyone had acquired a single consciousness there, through which they understood that, from the moment one made the first move, everyone should follow.
And the dance of death, then with all its members, finally got the start it deserved.
Lightning flashed and thunder roared, bullets clashed against flesh and armor plates, fire burned, magic was called upon and protected or struck enemies.
If there was one word that could describe that final battle, in that world of shadows, the word was chaos.
Evellyn used the new strength she had acquired from months of training at Hana no Nagame, in conjunction with her precognitive ability, and, unlike when she had stepped into a Nest - at least in the world where that echo of hers came from - for the first time , not only did he depend on his powers to deflect and evade enemy attacks.
No.
Evellyn, with a sword that she had found on the ground, after removing it from the severed hand of someone who no longer had a name or face, anticipated the attacks of the enemies around her, and deflected, blocked, found openings, and cut or pierced. with precision worthy of a swordsman.
Toshinori and Asahi would have been proud of her, if they could have afforded to take their eyes off the various enemies surrounding them.
Melissa used her fire to turn everything around her into glowing embers.
Nikolai and Rodrick stood back to back, with the young Russian firing his weapons, loaded with awakened energy-infused projectiles, at the opponents who were still a considerable distance away from them, while Rodrick used his massive fists and powerful feet to deal devastating damage to those unlucky enough to get close.
In every corner of the field, the battle raged, incessant and frenzied.
And wherever the roar of battle echoed, lives were taken, regardless of which side they belonged to.
Away from everyone on the battlefield, however, Octavius, Kurt, and the [SHADOW PUPPET] stared at each other, motionless.
"Who would have thought that you, blood of my blood, would not understand the wonder that is about to descend upon the world..."
Kurt had forgotten for a brief moment that he was able to make his [SHADOW PUPPET] speak, through his own vocal cords, so the puppet was silent for a few seconds, until Kurt recalled the actions of the last fight against Octavius, and then the puppet moved its lips.
"Unless you’re calling death wonderful, I really don’t understand." The puppet assumed a serious expression. "And maybe I’ll never be able to..."
At that moment, Kurt remembered his mother’s death, and how, even with Essentium’s help, he still hadn’t been able to say goodbye to her.
That sent a shiver down his spine, a bitter regret, however slight, taking over his emotions.
"Don’t you miss her...?" The puppet asked, Kurt’s voice vibrating on her shadow vocal cords with cold desperation.
Octavius’ response, however, made Kurt’s blood run cold.
"From who...?"
The worst part for Kurt was the look in Octavius’ eyes.
There was not a drop of memory there.
Much less any emotion other than perplexity, painted with a brief tinge of confusion.
"That’s what I thought..." The puppet said, sighing heavily.
Then it was as if she took control of herself, moving without Kurt commanding her.
The sudden movement of the [SHADOW PUPPET] made Kurt startle for a very brief instant, delaying his attack very slightly, even if just enough to consider the possibility of just watching there, the battle that would ensue between father and ’son’ .
But not.
No matter how powerful Kurt was, there was still a risk that his puppet would not be strong enough to face Octavius alone, head on.
He trusted his skill and destructive power, but still, any carelessness could mean an unwanted end to that war, and so Kurt advanced against his father, using his almost instinctive ability.
Kurt felt darkness surrounding him, and the next moment, he was on Octavius’ back, at the exact moment his puppet delivered a powerful punch against Octavius’s chest, which was open, even though it was covered by the chest plate.
Octavius had fallen to a task that not even Kurt had ordered his puppet to perform.
But still, it was extremely timely.
Kurt drew his weapons, and his eyes widened between movements, as he noticed that the metal of the [MOON SHADOW] seemed to liquefy in his hands, molding itself into a completely different shape than the one he was used to.
The metal glowed, blindingly, as Kurt described a downward arc towards Octavius’s back, and, to his complete and utter surprise, he saw a pair of glassy-bladed, completely black daggers appear where they had once been. just the rolled circles of your trusty [MOON SHADOW].
A smile spread across Kurt’s lips as he finished the movement, causing two very deep cuts in the Dread Paladin’s armor.
’Holy shit...’ Kurt thought, gasping as he recognized the blades and the comfortably familiar grip of those weapons.
It wasn’t the old [MIDNIGHT SISTERS], nor the [MOON SHADOW].
It was as if all the positive aspects of each of the weapons he had had throughout his journey through each echo had come together into a single pair of weapons, simple and lethal.
And it had all the physical characteristics of the obsidian daggers that Kurt had carved from the mental echo of the catastrophe crater.
A strange feeling of relief took over his chest, as a nostalgic sigh escaped his lips.
’It’s good to see you guys back...’ Kurt thought, stepping back and blocking a blow with the back of Octavius’s gauntlet.
The blow had been so powerful, it had displaced a mass of air that had messed up Kurt’s slightly long hair.
"You know how to hit." Kurt said, with that voice muffled by the shadow mask. "But you know there’s no point in having a powerful blow if it can’t hit its target, right?"
The sound of Kurt’s laughter made Octavius’ blood boil.
"INSOLENT BOY!"
Kurt had become a master in the art of lurking in the shadows, moving through them, and using them as tools of attack and defense.
But there was one thing Kurt hadn’t tried since the last time he faced Octavius.
And the idea came in handy, right when Octavius let out a deafening roar, loaded with destructive energy, in his direction.
Kurt felt more than perceived with his eyes, the shadows moving around him, leaving their static positions, and coalescing into a single, enormous focal point before him, forming a barrier that deflected the strange beam of energy upward, exploding in the skies, parting clouds, and letting the sun’s rays enter the atmosphere.
Daichi, watching the confrontation from a distance, couldn’t help but chuckle.
"I need to learn some things from this boy..."
In fact, everyone around the battlefield was static, frozen in their own positions, feeling the ominous presence of the three figures clashing against each other.
The fight between them seems completely insignificant compared to the direct confrontation between the masked man, the father, and the son.
Even Arias and Groth, who had previously helped Kurt’s friends with their own fights, lay motionless, their chins almost touching the floor in amazement.
’Was he always this powerful?’ Groth asked Arias.
’No...’ The dragon replied. ’He’s always been incredibly strong, but there’s something very different about him this time...’
No one could hear the ominous tone in Arias’ voice when answering his lupine friend’s question.
And as everyone watched, the battle unfolded, like a spectacle that very few could have the pleasure of watching.
But that, in fact, everyone, both in [SHADOW WORLD] and in the real world, was witnessing.
Octavius launched blow after blow, sometimes managing to hit Kurt and the puppet, and the two did the same, completely abandoning the hit and run strategy, and making the fight practically an exchange of frenetic and devastating blows.
Kurt’s armor could withstand every impact, even if some of them made him spit blood, which meant that the puppet’s armor was also capable of the same.
However, Octavius prepared to block a blow coming from the two attackers, who simultaneously threw crossed punches, one aiming from top to bottom, and the other in the opposite direction, from bottom to top.
Octavius solidified his stance, and prepared to receive the full impact of the blows, trusting in the bone helmet that materialized on his head.
However, the moment he felt the impact, Octavius felt his feet leave the ground.
And the next instant, he was in the air.
No impact had come from above.
The masked attacker had not finished his attack.
Feeling a sudden sense of relief, Octavius braced himself for the fall.
"Behind you..." He heard the masked man’s voice.
And when he turned around, falling for the oldest trick in the world...
Octavius felt the weight of a fist encased in a gauntlet of pure, solid darkness, colliding against the helmet that had materialized on his head.
The force of the blow was so devastating that Octavius heard the bones in his helmet crack, shattering into countless tiny fragments.
And your body will be thrown forward and down with force.
The last thing Octavius saw, before he crashed into the ground, was the sneer on the puppet’s face.
That caused Octavius to be overcome by a primal rage, unknown to any human being.
