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"Haaaa... who the hell are you?"
Abadis asked the floating hazle-haired beauty, who was just looking down at her from afar. The woman, of course, simply said.
"I go by many names Has... I mean Abadis, I am frequently referred to as Yog-Sothoth, Allumei, the first Astella, the Eye of *********, the Observer of All, the Key Maiden, the Head of the Valkyrie, The Coordinator of Fate, and many other titles. But, to be honest, none of those names mean anything right now, and you wouldn’t understand me even if I explained, as my story is, in its truest sense, incomprehensible. But to prevent misunderstanding, simply call me Brunhilde, like everyone else does, young Abadis."
These were Brunhilde’s comments to a perplexed Abadis, who didn’t comprehend a word she was saying, but she quickly realized that when she heard the name Brunhilde, she could recall a distant memory about that name, although it wasn’t one she could recall fully. But she did hear that name before, although she would need to go and check her family historical archive when she got back.
On the other hand, Abadis was more interested in why she knew her name when she herself had not even told her anything about it.
"Why do you even know my name?!"
"Hmm... why do I even know your name, ha? Hehehe... I know a lot more than you could possibly imagine. But, as I already stated, from your perspective, my comments are nothing more than rambling nonsense. But, in any case, give me your hand; as things are right now, it is critical that I give you this thing while I still can."
Brunhilde ordered Abadis, who just gave her a look as if to say, "Why should I trust you?"
Of course Brunhilde already saw the hesitancy in Abadis eyes and simply replied to her as such.
"*Sigh!!* If you don’t believe me, you’ll be confined here forever. On the other hand, I can physically leave here at any moment; you, on the other hand, can’t, since your existence is no longer bound to common reality as you know it. To be honest, young Abadis, you are practically dead."
When Abadis heard this, her eyes opened wide in disbelief, and she responded as such.
"Dead!!?"
"Me.... Dead?"
"That’s... No! Don’t fuck with me; it’s impossible. If I were dead, the souls within me would have taken my place. Unlike ordinary beings, I can always have another opportunity; how can I be dead?!"
"Well, what Substance did to you was beyond what your souls could undo, but you don’t have to believe me if you don’t want to, and I won’t lie to you, young Abadis, because I don’t have to. Substance murdered you, and it is as simple as that; she instinctively saw your existence as a danger to her aim. But, in any case, you’re lucky because you’re an important part of him. So your death would be an issue, but enough of my rambling. Give me your hand, or I will take it by force! Your call!?"
Brunhilde spoke to Abadis as she extended her hands to the reluctant vampire. And, if Abadis had her way, she would have killed this lady right away for being such an annoyance, but given her restricted alternatives, she had no choice except to trust her.
"Agh, fine. Here."
Abadis extended her right hand to Brunhilde, who grabbed it and smiled.
"Good girl, this won’t hurt too bad, ok?"
With that remark, Brunhilde drew out a knife and stabbed Abadis in the hand without warning. Abadis didn’t react after taking a knife to the hand; it was as if the pain was only an itch to her.
But what occurred next astounded her; her wound began to heal as soon as it was removed. That in itself was normal; she is a fuckin vampire for Eos’s sake, but something else was off about her right hand. It had a strange mark on it that resembled a large tower with a giant demonic eye above it, shining like the sun. That tower was also covered in black thorns. Abadis glanced at it, and something about it reminded her of her mother’s natural aura.
It was only natural that she had questions about it. As such, she turned towards Brunhilde and asked.
"What the hell is this supposed to be? It feels a lot like my mother’s aur...
However, Abadis stopped talking the moment she realized that Brunhilde had suddenly disappeared, but at the spot where she was just randomly floating at, there was a giant horn, something that looked Norse in nature.
"The hell... where the fuck did she go... and what the hell is this?"
Abadis questioned as she reached out towards it, her mind completely moving from the mark to the weird horn that was so large she needed two of her hands just to grasp it. The horn had many ancient markings on it. It was blue in color, and it seems it was made from the bones of some kind of creature.
Many of which she could not comprehend, but at the very edge of the horn itself was a little note that Abadis used her telekinesis to bring to her face as she began to view the contents of it. And the message said as much, making her even more perplexed.
"This horn is known as the Gjallarhorn, and your ticket out of this place, all you need to do is blow it with all your might. But if you need context as to why you need to blow it, well, it is really simple. Substance basically sent your ass to an imaginary realm that transcends dreams, mathematics, physics, and thoughts alike; as such, the ruler of this realm is the only one who can get you out of here. Therefore, you have to wake him up using the horn since Lord Michelle has his consciousness in deep sleep. And what better way to wake him up than by using a horn that is so loud that all beings within the entire fruit will hear its call? Thankfully, this place is somewhere beyond the real world, but it should be loud enough to wake Father up."
"So, in the end, this mark had nothing to do with getting me out of here; what is that woman’s issue anyway? Ahhhhhhh... so dang irritating. Ugh, so be it. I have nothing more to lose at this point, so I might as well wake up this so-called ruler."
"Gjallarhorn.... egh; If I recall correctly, based on the stories my mother used to tell me and my brother when we were children, Lord Michelle, on Eos’ orders, blew this horn, bringing forth the end of all things and causing the first ever great Divine war to happen. It was a weapon beyond even the Divine arms in his possession, and the seven great weapons of grace as well. It was told that when Lord Michelle blew upon this monster, all of the realms above crashed down to the first, producing mayhem in the entire realm of realization, forcing the Gods whether they liked it or not, to descend from heaven, along with all other beings of the upper realm, down to the lower world. This thin essentially combines all worlds, all dimensions, all realms, all possible structures, and all things within existence into a single realm called Ragnarok, with the exception of the seeds and the fruit, of course, but it was so loud that it shook the fruit of life itself, or so the legend says."
"There is even a prophecy around this horn; it is said that the next time it is blown, it will be the end of all things; all gods, humans, dragons, kryptids, divine beasts, and vampires alike will perish, and creation will be left in the ashes of chaos. A pointless conflict with no winners, as both good and evil clash one final time for supremacy, but unlike the stories recorded throughout human history, there will be no winners since the next Ragnarock is very literally the manifestation of time and purpose reaching its end. Gjallarhorn represents the final finish."
"It’s the main reason why everyone truly fears Lord Michelle so much; he has the power to destroy all that is, was, and will ever be with a single breath; if Jörmungandr wasn’t enough, this horn is the king’s terror, nay!! All living beings have a communal dread of this thing. To blow this horn is to give birth to the greatest evil in existence, a sin so horrific in nature that once committed, it can never be forgiven, nor should it ever be forgiven, since this horn represents the end in physical form."
"Still, is this really the horn from the legends? Am I really holding the end of all things within my hands, or is this some sick joke? Well, sick joke or not, when you think about it, why did Lord Michelle even create this thing to begin with? Does he really plan to destroy all of creation one day?!"
Abadis began to doubt herself as to why Michelle ever built the Gjallarhorn to begin with: was it on the king’s instructions, was it just boredom, was it his or her method of expressing her deepest hatred for the king and the world he created, or was it a fuckup call for help of some sort? Honestly, Abadis had no idea; the reason for this thing’s existence was a mystery to her. just as it was a mystery to everyone else, and only Lord Michelle knew the true reason behind its creation.
But she just shook her head and told herself this.
"It is pointless to think about all of this; all I want is to get out of here, master and ruler of this space, ha? Well, if you need something like this to wake you awake, so be it."
As a result, Abadis took a deep breath and placed Gjallarhorn in her mouth, raising her head as the curving horn rose with her. Strangely, if anybody else was around, they would shiver at the sight of her beauty as well as the presence of the horn.
’Well, here goes everything, I guess, but I am really hoping and praying right now to anybody that this works since I am not looking forward to spending eternity in this voidless place.’
With those words spoken, Abadis began blowing Gjallarhorn with all her strength. And as a result, the mouth of Gjallarhorn began to glow a bright blue, the very blue that represented the warrior species of vampires that were the Michellians, while the sound of the horn itself was so monstrous but so esoterically beautiful to the point that it was like a slowly increasing melody that began to grow to the point where no words can explain the beauty of the end that was the horn’s cry.
It was as if the souls within her were sobbing and shaking at the mere sound of it; even Abadis herself was taken aback by how beautiful this thing was. She was not a fan of music, but if she had to pick a new favorite song, it would be the melody of the Gjallarhorn horn. But, aside from that, the horn’s call was powerful, loud, and appealing to the point that the entire void of nothingness that was Hector’s dream began to tremble furiously upon its call, as if dancing along with the tune in anticipation, as if to express its excitement for what was to come after the melody was finished.
However, when Abadis stopped blowing, the sound of the horn faded dramatically, and the once-shaking emptiness decreased its shaking movement in tandem with the horn. Until gradually silence fills the void once more.
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All that was left!!
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Was Abadis!!
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And the void yet again!!
"Hehehe, holy shit, that was a rush, my god. Was this how Michelle felt when he started the first Ragnarok!?"
Abadis exclaimed with excitement, but Gjallarhorn quickly turned to blue dust in her grasp. And what came next was fear. Earlier, she felt nothing but excitement; she had previously felt so alive when she blew upon that end-game item, but now all she felt was primitive horror beyond anything she had ever felt before. No!! This was a feeling she had previously experienced before.
As she recalled a moment that haunts her nightmares every night, she realized she had never been fearful of another person in her life. Yes, it was the day that the good doctor and her grandmother sent her, Albedo, together with three grand elders and 1,382 noble elder vampires; the youngest of them was 4,733 years old, and the oldest was about 20,585 years old. And despite this old age, before the likes of a Loviatar vampire’s grand elder, the youngest in their ranks was three times that age.
And the Grand Elders and the army of elders that followed the twins to retirve the fragement of God also ran into some members of H.A.D.E.S. and G.O.D., the Jenovah Tower, the Katholic Church, and four other smaller organizations that were not worth mentioning since they were all wiped out on that fateful night.
Of course, the Loviatar clan endured several casualties but emerged triumphant in the end. They couldn’t afford to lose the fragment, as it came from one of the most powerful beings in all fifteen realms. That fragment was, of course, the skin and scales of a juvenile Aether dragon that had grown to adulthood. Aether dragons were the strongest dragons among all other dragons, as Tiamat was the only Aether dragon known to exist. Tiamat was so powerful to the point that even some of the Gods above. were worshipping her in the same way as people would worship the gods. So the mere fact that an Aether dragon came to be was a signal that Tiamat, who was said to be asleep within the Garden of Aether, finally returned to the lesser world. Or one of her kind, at the very least, descends from the higher realms.
This was fifty years ago, and the sheer existence of an Aether dragon went unnoticed until that time. This speaks to how much control they have over their great power; a dragon only reaches adulthood at 10,000 years old. Their strength spirals out of control when they shed their skin for the first time, leading to larger organizations, clans, and family leaders receiving energy readings corresponding to their energy kind, with Aether being the most powerful among all other energies currently available.
When Dr. Zeno picked up the massive aether reading, he was determined to do everything to get his hands on that fragment. Even the clan head at the time was thinking like Dr. Zeno, but he wasn’t the only one who acted rapidly to obtain the fragment. Other organizations began sending their best agents to the battlefield. That one skin was what led to the demise of many organizations on that day; it was quite literally a giant world war that spanned across multiple galaxies in terms of overall destruction, however, as the Loviatar clan was ready to receive their trophy after a fierce struggle against the opposing Orinization. When he arrived on the battlefield after everyone killed each other, of course, no one knew who he was at the time.
But one thing was for sure: that one old man, clad in a coat of wind, floated in the sky and looked down on the Loviatar clan as if they were nothing more than ants in his eyes. And with a single snap of his fingers, all the elders, even the grand elder, were sliced to bits and chuncks. It happened so fast to the point that even Albedo, who was the fastest person there and travels so fast that time feels like it stops before him for weeks on end, in a mere second of real time, could not escape the sharp net of wind that he cast upon reality itself. Yes, reality itself, because the stars, the planets, and even the countless galaxies where the great fragment war happened were blown away in a feild of esoteric wind, as all who were caught up in its furious storm of wind blades of all sizes were erased from existence, as his wind cut the very souls of men, and along with the laws of the universe, as if it were a heated knife cutting a way from a stick of half-melted butter. In the end, she was indeed able to teleport both her brother and herself back to Hellmora safely.
But when she arrived in one of her gardens, the only thing she could bring back with her was Albedo’s head, and she had to leave the fragment behind to perish alongside her fellow clansmen, as half of her body was also erased from existence, unable to heal for some weird reason, and the majority of Albedo’s body was gone as a result of the wind blades he tanked to protect her.
Fortunately, her healing is conceptual in nature, so mending herself and Albedo back together was not a difficult task. However, when she returned to Hellmora after the actualization of both their concepts within one of her many miniature breeding gardens, where she normally kept her pet wenches for breeding new species of aliens, she was surprised to see that a monster in the form of an old man was waiting for her, almost as if he knew where she had gone.
To add salt to the wound and disrespect, by some weird and meta-impossible miracle, the old man somehow traveled faster than her meta-teleportation via actualization, which was instantaneous and absolute. But to put into perspective how fast this monster was. Earlier when Professor Zeno picked up the energy reading. It was at least 493,958,584,049 lightyears away from Hellmora on an uninhabitable ice planet. And that man arrived before Abadis, with the fragment floating beside him in a floating wind sphere, and looked down upon her with scorn. But it wasn’t only her either, no!! It was Albedo, her wenches, and infants, along with the very world she made. And at this very moment, it was the first and last time that this monster ever talked to her.
"You summoned this horrific eye sore into my world, and you had the audacity to think that shit was a sweet little girl, hah. Don’t make me laugh, nightwalker. As a matter of fact, tell me, can the dead experience the terror of death?"
That was the first time Abadis and Albedo encountered the Advocator of Wind Wilhem Breah; of course, she didn’t know who he was until ten years after the big struggle between her rescuer Rule-B, the very woman capable of fighting on equal terms with that wind monster. When she arrived to save them both at the last moment, she also discovered where that lady got her monstrous strength from, since Wilhem Breah is Rule-B’s father himself, who claims to fight on the side of humanity and humanity alone. He is also her biggest nemesis. In the end, Rule-B lost the fight miserably to the point she went into a come for ten years, but she was able to buy enough time for her and Albedo to escape that monstrosity that wears the skin of a human.
And just now, what Abadis felt rivaled that very primordial horror she had felt for the first time on that fateful night when she almost died.
In this very void, where Abadis currently was, she began to hear a huge roar coming from behind her, and as she turned around, she saw two eyes hundreds of times larger than the sun itself opening up slowly. Revealing the eyes of an enormous beast far off into the distance of this void, the eyes were familiar to her; nevertheless, these eyes shone in the blackness of this infinitely wide emptiness, as their brilliant yellow glow made the sun appear dull in comparison, but their shape and detail were not obscured by the brightness of the light itself.
’Hehehe... im so going to die here, arent I?’
Abadis questioned herself as tears of blood streamed from her eyes and the terror of the unknown gnawed at her sanity. The very presence of this entity was clearly driving her insane. However, she was quickly shaken out of her fright when she heard a familiar voice, albeit deeper and with an intriguing echoing quality to its tone.
"Young.... Abadis!?.... What are you doing here?"
"Haaa?!...
Abadis said to herself, as she soon began to question.
"Lord... Hec-tor?!... is that... is that really you?!"
Abadis asked in pure shock, as she was not expecting this beast to be Lord Hector himself.
"Yes, young Abadis, it is indeed me, albeit in my true form, but that aside, what are you even doing here? its not possible for you to be here."
Hector said to Abadis that he was indeed worried for her, as this is a place where none of his lord’s friends should even be. On the other hand, Abadis began to think to herself, as she said inside her mind.
’Man, just how many historical facts will prove themselves true today before my very eyes? So, it is as cousin Ella said, this Hector is the legendary Fenrir, son of Loki.’
"Honestly, Lord Hector, I don’t want to be here at all. Please listen to my story, and then you will understand how I ended up here."
With that said, Abadis began to explain to Hector the events that had taken place and how she ended up here to begin with.
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"After she marked me with this weird thing, she suddenly disappeared and left me with this horn, telling me to blow it so you would wake up from your sleep."
Abadis said to Hector, who began to listen intently to Abadis explanation.
"From there, I blew Gjallarhorn, one of the, if not greatest, moments of my life, if I had to be honest, but still, you began to wake up, and that is basically why I am here talking to you now."
"..."
"..."
Hector closed his eyes for a time, as if he were suffering from one of the worst migraines he’d ever had, as he began to express his thoughts.
"I swear that girl is going to be the death of me; her pranks are in good faith, but this is taking it a little too far this time around... agh!! Gjallarhorn really Brunhilde? Oh god, if she had that in her possession, doesn’t that mean she took it from Lord Michelle’s vault without his permission? Oh nooo, what would have happened if you blew that thing in the real world? As mentioned above, should I consider these events fortunate? Oh, Eos, I cannot leave my alpha alone with that woman anywhere but the bed; please, my lord, hurry up with my body already; our prince is in danger."
"Um, Lord Hector?!"
"Yes, young Abadis."
"Not to disturb you while you are thinking, but on a serious note, I really need to get back."
"Agh! Yes! Yes! You are completely correct, and please accept my apologies for Substance’s disobedience; she is somewhat unpredictable owing to her being born mindless; please do not blame her, and I will certainly reimburse you for your tragedy. Substance’s obligation is solely mine; as her father, it is my role to rectify her faults and guarantee she does not cause problems for others in the future; such irrational thinking is not suited for a maid of the heir."
"Wait, that slime bitch is your daughter?!"
"Its kind of complicated to explain our relationship, but yes, I am her father, as she came from me."
"But you are Dire Wolf, and she is weird ass slime; how is that possible?"
"Again, a very complicated relationship, young Abadis."
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"Ok, fine, very complicated relationship; we will go with that, but that aside, how can you get me out of here?"
Abadis asked Hector once more, to which Hector replied.
"Sending you back is an easy task for me; the trouble lies in the fact that Substance will just return you here again if I send you back. So I need to create something to address that issue."
"Ohhh yeah, you are right; so what is the game plan to avoid that?"
Abadis inquired since she did not want to return here only to be confined forever the next time around.
"Give me a moment, Young Abadis."
"Agh... ok, Lord Hector."
With that stated, Hector began to create something using his powers over imaginary boundaries, infusing the item with energy that could give the item a valid existence in the real world. In his true form, this was easier, as the limit of five times was removed, and he could make something 50 times stronger than him in all aspects while still having absolute control over it regardless of the power difference. And while his power is sealed in his base, it would be exhausting for him, but in his true form, he could do this indefinitely if he wanted to.
Overall, a speck of rainbow-colored light began to sparkle brightly as it moved towards Abadis, who grasped the tangible light. And inquired Hector, peering at the light with uncertainty and fascination.
"What am I supposed to do with this?"
"It’s a spirit, however; imagine a form you would like it to take and make into the image you desire. Be warned, though, that you can only do this once."
"A form ha well then, lets see... hmmm... that would be useful."
With that stated, Abadis began to envision what she wanted, and after a few seconds, the light began to wrap around Ababis. If you looked at her now, what appeared around her was a long yellow cloak with tentacle-like appendages that resembled phantom-like appendages, making it ghost-like.
Hector looked at this and commented.
"Well, that was quite an esoteric choice!"
"I have a strange habit of wearing anyone I kill; it makes me feel superior to my enemies at all times; it is my way of demonstrating and stating that I am better than you. It’s a strange way of life, but it’s my pastime. What exactly does this spirit even do?
"That spirit has the power to bind you to negate to block conceptual attacks; although only one at a time, it can grow alongside the user as well, but this should help you with your Substance problem."
"Thanks a lot, Lord Hector; however, should I call you Fenrir in this form?!"
"Call me whatever you like; names and titles are all meaningless in my eyes; I live only to serve the alpha; like my father, I also wish to ascend to an overlord of the young prince, or his version of it."
Hector said this to Abadis, who just nodded her head. On the other hand, Hector looked at Abadis and said.
"Well, anyway, young Abadis, I will be sending you back now."
"Yes, please do, Lord Fenrir."
"Mhm!!"
With that stated, a portal opened beside Abadis, and she watched what could only be described as a one-sided conflict. Zalana, the fox bitch, and the Anastasia lady were presently floating in Substance’s jelly-like mucus. While Alucard, Jordan, and Albedo tried desperately to avoid Substance by keeping their distance.
When Hector saw this, he sighed as he spoke to Abadis.
"You should hurry; you brother needs you, young Abadis."
"Yeah, I can see that I am gone; later, Lord Fenrir."
And without further delay, Abadis returned to the battlefield once more, this time fully equipped to stop Substance, or at the very least try.
Abadis departs from his realm, where he rules as God almighty, leaving just Hector alone in his fictional world. At this time, his eyes began to slowly close, as even trying to stay somewhat awake was difficult since his will was too weak to resist his Lord Michelle for too long. Even so, this was stepping beyond the boundaries. As a result, he began to fall back into his eternal slumber, and these were his final words.
"Brun, you godamned troublemaker, I truly hope you know what you’re doing with that mark on that child’s hand. Why did you even give her one of the key’s to Valhalla? *sigh* If she enters that realm and dies, I hope you can live with the consequences of your actions. Either way, if she does enter, I pray to my great Father above, that Lady Freya and Lord Gilgamesh don’t harm her too badly... that space is a heaven for the Michellian race and their followers akin to Aine dream, for the consciousness of the greatest Michellian heroes and warriors who have had the pleasure of fighting beside our great lord Michelle, and fell in battle, in the Great Divine War in the Epoch of the Gods."
Those were the last words Hector spoke before closing his eyes and falling back into his deep slumber.
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"So... is she okay!?"
Jordan questioned Albedo, who was at this time testing to see if he could sense Abadis’ presence through their blood bond. Of course, Albedo began to respond to Jordan as he spoke to him.
"It’s faint, but I do feel her presence still strongly tied to mine, but I’m not sure where she is; the connection is too weak for me to send a message or get a trace of her location."
Jordan began to place her hands on his chin as he pondered to himself while replying to Albedo.
"That is indeed weird, but the good news is that we know she is at the very least still alive somewhere, but where that somewhere is, I do not know."
"Oh well, we just have to ask Lord Miche...
"Oiiii... oi... oi!! Is that normal, Jordan? Your ichor ability doesn’t have a timer, right?"
Alucard abruptly inquired aloud as they began to glance in the direction of Substance, and what they saw surprised them all, especially Jordan. Substance was beginning to move again as reality cracked around her as if she were forcibly breaking free from whatever the heck was keeping her down.
"How? That shouldn’t be possible!!"
Zalan said this out aloud, to which Albedo quickly said to Jordan.
"I don’t know, but I think you should do whatever you did to her to stop her earlier again so she doesn’t escape from that spot."
"Yeah, you’re right. *Sigh* Fine, you want to play slime girl? Let’s play."
"Command stop, halt, remain, and stay in one spot!!"
A succession of conceptual laws began to pile up on Substance’s very essence, locking her in place once more. Or so everyone thought, for her whole bulk erupts in an instant, enfolding her pace of growth and sweeping away everything in her path. As a massive wave of crimson proceeded to bring down everything in sight—trees and rocks—it made no difference; they were all swept away within Substance’s own existence.
The persons who were unlucky enough to be carried away by this were an unconscious Anastatsia and, unfortunately, Ophelia as well, who was attempting to flee from Substance but was captured, as she stated with a panicked grimace.
"Noooooooo!! I don’t want to be vored by a slimmmmmme...
But, unfortunately, she ended up being vored by a slime anyway, as Substance began to aim for Jordan’s direction right after, but her tendrils were abruptly cut to pieces as if an invisible blade sliced her down the instant she reached Jordan.
But that didn’t stop Substance: as one tendril was struck down, hundreds more appeared, but even these were cut down as various pieces of her slimy body fell to the ground like shaved ice glued down to the floor.
Substance didn’t give up, thus the sequence of assaulting and being sliced down continued for about two minutes as everyone sought refuge behind Jordan.
Zalana began to comment on the situation, as she said.
"Who would have thought that those swords of yours, darling, would come in handy so early on, and the exam has not even started as of yet!!"
"Still, let us not let our guard down just yet. You see how she suddenly found a way around my commands; who is to say she can’t find a way around this as well?"
Zalana just looked at Jordan, nodded in agreement with his comments, and said.
"Yeah, your right, but I highly dou...
*Stabbbb!!!*
"Haaa....
Those were Zalana’s final words before she realized what had just happened: one of Substance’s tendrils had stabbed Jordan in the chest for some unknown reason, causing blood to splatter over it. And while everyone looked, a ring about twelve inches distant from Jordan’s chest gradually became visible as Substance used Ophelia’s abilities to conceal Anastasia’s rings from existence. As a result, the necessary cut did not sever the rings until the very last minute, when they became visible to existence once more and protected Jordan once again.
But Substance had already achieved what she wanted, so Jordan was no longer important to her. All that remained were Alucard, Zalana, and that Lucy lady, but when Jordan was struck by Substance, however minimal in lethality the damage may be, Zalana reacted negatively to this, as her eyes turned from purple to crimson, and she created a spear composed of pure, highly concentrated Miasma, and in a blind passion of rage, she began to fly upwards into the sky in an attempt to kill Substance.
"Zalana stopped that thing is....
"YOUUUU BITTTCCHHHHHH... I WILLL BURN YOU TO ASHES!!!!
But Zalana didn’t listen because she was enraged and hurled her Miasma spear at Substance, intending to burn her to ashes. But, as thoughtless as Substance may seem, she has the combined fighting experiences of Jordan, Anastasia, Albedo, Abadis, Merciless, Hector, and now even Ophelia. Her intellect was zero to none, but her muscle memory came in for the clutch since everything she does is highly instinctual.
Because the Miasma spear that was powerful enough to vaporize her to nothing came her way, or so it would have been because in that moment a large blue ring appeared in front of her as the spear passed through it... and...
*STABBBB!!!*, GAHHHHHAAA!!....
Zalana’s screams could be heard clearly across the area since, at this point, an Aether ring suddenly appeared behind her, given that Substance redirected her attack by connecting the portals to one another and hitting Zalana with her own attack. Zalana’s body was instantly engulfed in pure Misama flames as she was scorched alive in a veil of black flames.
But Substance was a very kind slime, so kind in fact that she began to cool Zalana down as a massive twenty-meter Aether ring opened above Zalana’s flaming body, causing the weight of the deepest sections of Hellmora’s sea itself to fall down onto her like a big pillar of water. A giant water jet, similar to the one Anatasia used against Merciless during their spar, knocked Zalana to the ground; the water jet itself dug a fifteen-meter hole deep in the planet’s ground, and inside that hole was an unconscious Zalana who had been severely injured.
Substance didn’t waste any time as her slime-like body filled the entire hole, engulfing the comatose Zalana and Ophelia, who were straining to move inside Substance’s body.
Claiming even more genetic traits for her beloved master, on the other hand, her concentration was now on the males. The ladies were no longer cared for or exploited, but if they ganged up on her, Substance instinctively knew it would be a problem. The greatest threat to her was Jordan; although she had no real business with him anymore as she stole his Ichor for herself, the Nosferatu, on the other hand, had the best trait that her master truly desired, so she began to approach Alucard.
As a result, numerous Aether rings emerged around Alucard, and her stronger, more flexible, and equally pure and powerful slime-like tendrils began to emerge from the rings faster than the speed of sound, attempting to pierce Alucard by any means necessary. However, Alucard simply smiles as a purple electric barrier surrounds his entire body, vampirizing the Substance tendrils and even vaporizing the air, earth, and, miraculously, the Anastasia Aether rings as if they were nothing.
Albedo’s horn naturally began to absorb the energy around him, and as it did, his regulator horn began to evaporate into nothingness, exploding on his head and catching his entire head on fire. As even his head was vampirized into nothingness shortly after, Jordan, of course, saw this and jumped away from Alucard’s lighting in genuine fear; this was him acting on his instincts, of course, and as soon as he saw this, he began to comment.
"That purple lightning of his is extremely dangerous; I could feel it; it has the power to bypass even my Prometheus swords passive conceptual cut; what kind of Ichor is that? No! No! Let us not jump to any sudden conclusions here. I’m not even sure if that power is even an Ichor to begin with, but one thing is for sure: Nos has the most lethal and destructive offensive powers here."
Albedo, on the other hand, began to regenerate his missing head, although his regeneration process appeared to be slower than normal, and as a result, he had to utilize twenty-eighth souls to balance out the lighting effects because most of the cells were damaged beyond repair and his immortal cells had died the moment they came in contact with his lightning. And given the nature of Albedo’s Ichor, this says much about Alucard’s power.
But that one fatal error came at a cost; his regulator horns were destroyed, limiting how much energy he could use in this exam. Thankfully, he had enough energy to replace the sun seventeen times over, but given how powerful vampires are by nature, Albedo was confident that he would need his usual level of destructive power on the battlefield.
Still, like Jordan, he flees from Alucard for fear of being fully vaporized. Alucard, unlike the others, did not retaliate against Substance as he began to study her closely, and like Albedo, he fled farther back in the forest, saying to himself.
"That thing, its adaptable as fuck; it makes no sense to figth that thing without the intentions of truly killing it in one go. I could do that easily right now, but I would rather play this annoying game of dodge than to pissed off the heir of the 7th progenitor; it makes no sense to engage otherwise it is just a loosing game at that point."
Alucard said to himself; after all, he was the sort of man who always used common sense in any ventures of his daily life, and in this situation, fleeing seemed to be the smart choice.
Substance, of course, proceeded to follow after Alucard, but before she could advance any further she suddenly stop dead in her tracks, the reason was that she heard another voice and felt a great quantity of killing intent being focused directly at her.
"And where do you think you are going you slime bitch?!"
Substance turned around to meet the most dangerous individual in the group, who had unexpectedly returned. She was easily the hardest to deal with since she was the monarch of this planet, it was only natural for her to eliminate the most powerful first before focusing on everyone else.
Albedo glanced up, glad that his sister had returned safely, but perplexed as to where she had gotten that strange, yellow phantom-like robe from. Of course, Substance repeated the process and attempted to actualize Abadis back into that fictional world. However, she was surprised, well not like Substance was able to express it, but surprised that she was not able to send her back to that space; it was almost as if the actualization was neutralized the instant the attack reached her, rendering it useless before Abadis.
And before Substance could say anything further, Abadis lifted her hand to her and smiled wickedly.
"Enjoy your time out in the middle of the ocean, but without the fox bitch and the purple-haired sex demon of course. Now, begone from my sight, you slimy bitch, you’re lucky your father requested of me to take it easy on you."
Without saying else, both Zalana and Ophelia along with Anastasia were teleported out from Substance’s body, while Substance suddenly disappeared from everyone else sight.
"*cough!*cough!*, Oh god, I have never felt so wrong in my entire life, vored by a snake on the last mission now a slime this time around, how shitty is my luck."
Ophelia stated while shaking in the corner since both memories were horrible in her eyes. Jordan, on the other hand, rushes towards Zalana, noticing a massive hole in the center of her chest caused by her own attack being redirected at her, as well as severe burn marks all over her body, fractured bones, and most likely multiple splintered organs.
Thankfully, she was still breathing, but barley.
"Shit, woman, this is why I warned you to calm the fuck down; that thing can take the ability of others. There is absolutely no way you can fight something like that... sigh, dumb woman, do not make me worry like this."
Jordan healed Zalana instantly by sacrificing ten high-grade souls, causing the wound in her chest to close and her skin to regenerate. Her injuries, including the severe brain damage that Jordan knew nothing about, were also healed. And in a matter of seconds, all injuries were healed, and Zalan transformed from a scorched crisp of flesh and blood to a beautiful succubus once more.
A second later, Zalana opened her eyes, and the first person she saw was her most adored. Memories of what happened before she was body slammed into the ground with the weight of the ocean itself began to return to her.
"How embarrassing, I the great Zalana of Ethimus Garda, slayer of thousand frost giants, conquer of the hevilot zone in the underworld, was defeated so easily, Hehehe.... to think I would get my ass handed to me by a slime of all things, and the sad part is; she only used those weird ass rings of hers to deal with me."
"You almost died, and that’s what you’re worried about, the defeat. *sigh!!* Your anger issues will be the death of me, you know that right? Honestly, babe, you need to work on your temper; vampires are not simple beings, and that slime came from the House of Elderblood, the greatest home when it comes to producing strange stuff among the regal seven. Don’t rely on sight alone. Your assumptions just on appearances were your own undoing. That slime had the Michellian in her for sure, pure hands, and considerable fighting experience; you saw what we were awarded with, by the seventh right? Those weapons are powerful as fuck, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was responsible for that thing’s development."
"Haaa... I’m sorry, sweetheart; it’s only that when that beast of a woman attacks you and draws your precious blood, I crack, at first sight. I couldn’t let that shit slide so easily; you get where I’m coming from, but anyway, that thing is dangerous; my own flames shouldn’t affect me like that; she did something to it when she redirected my attack right back at me; for a moment, I sensed a devil miasma, but then and again it may have just been my imagination."
"Devil... are you sure!?"
"Like I said... it could just be my imagination... but you also mentioned something about that thing taking other people’s abilities for itself."
Zalana asked Jordan, who began to help her up. Albedo, on the other hand, began walking toward Jordan with Ophelia and Abadis at his side.
As he began to looked at Jordan and spoke.
"Is your girl ok?"
"Well, if I had been a few seconds late, she would have perished, but otherwise from that, she is as good as a new blue one. Still, are you okay? But enough of me, Alucard destroyed your horns; what are you going to do now?"
"Oh this, well it is a kind of inconvenient on my part, since I have to absorb energy manually now and three at a time, till I get back home, and ask the good doctor to do another transplant surgery for me."
"Hmmm that is...
*BOOOOOOOM*
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...
...
Everyone was taking a break from the previous battle when a gigantic ring appeared in the sky above them. As a specific blond-haired maid emerged from it, she looked down and noticed that everyone had relaxed their guard, but her main goal was Alucard, who was not far from the group speaking. However, if she attacks now, they would just group up on her, preventing her from achieving her goal.
However, what made this worse was the fact that she soon began to hear Merciless voice in her head.
"Substance, I need you now, please, I won’t be able to hold him off much longer."
"Master... needs... me!!"
With those words spoken, she became perplexed; she had two orders: go and take all DNA at whatever cost, and go to help master; how could she accomplish both at the same time? No! She instinctively did not question it. If her master said to do both, then do both.
That Nosferatu’s abilities will be hers at any cost until her master says otherwise of course. But how can Substance accomplish this and that at the same time? It was a simple solution really. Because in that very instant to suit her master’s needs, Substance began to adapt at that moment, as she suddenly began to split herself in two.
One Substance will stay behind to deal with the rest, notably the Noseratu, while the other will proceed to assist her master.
When it was completed, the first Substance switched the gate to her master’s location, while the other Substance began to build a massive Miasma fireball, masking the attack behind Ophelia’s ultimate veil to ensure that the element of surprise was maintained until the very end.
While the other Substance traveled towards Merciless. And this was basically how Substance was able to gather all of the present DNA and meet Merciless on the battlefield.
...
...
...
...
...
The girl, on the other hand, did something unexpected; she began to transform into a chimera-like state of various monsters, or maybe people in this case: a pair of giant demonic succubus wings sprang from her back, together with a large white dire wolf tail. From there, a pair of extra hands grew, giving her a total of four arms, and finally, a pair of long fox ears sprouted above her head, as one eye became identical to Jordan’s, the other to Albedo, and the final eye appeared on her forehead at the center, and if you look closely, it looked a lot like Abadis eye.
At that time, the beautiful blond woman flew towards her master like a dog, answering their owner’s call. And the instant the chimera-like maid approached Merciless, he grabbed her by the waist, pulled her close to him, and spoke to her.
"Good girl, you managed to get almost all of them, heheheh... I know creating you with the goal of being my genetic archive was not a mistake; now, my adorable little library of wonders, devour this clone now, and let’s win this battle."
Merciless muttered this as he began to smile gleefully at his pet slime, giving her commands to replicate and seize control of the Zane clone’s powers for herself. Substance, of course, was going to approach the body, but Zane would not allow her to.
"As if I did let you, stop them now, my brothers."
Zane announced as he ordered his clones to prevent Merciless from approaching his dead clone, which had been cut off from the synchronized existence they all shared due to the transfer magical nature; however, as the Zane clones began to fly towards Merciless and Substance at Mach speeds, with the intentions of manhandling both Merciless and Substance, Merciless smiled gleefully and said.
"You just don’t learn, do you?" Your clones and their power are meaningless before my antiblood."
*SPLLLLASHHH!!*
Substance body began to explode into its original shape, accompanied by the sound of water splashing as a result of this. Zane and his others selves were taken aback when the once-beautiful drill hair maid transformed from physical form to pure abstraction of red mire. Flooding and engulfing the deceased Zane clone, as well as all other clones summoned on the battlefield, in a sea of red blood. The moment Zane realized this, he began to fly downwards to avoid the floating sea of blood that was Substance.
Fortunately, her rate of growth was slower than Zane’s current speed, which was proven rightfully so as he was rushing away from Subtance at a speed of Mach-8 as he flies through the thick, poisonous clouds of Abadis fucked-up world.
Of course, Substace’s growth rate could be faster, but that was not the goal of this approach to the art of war. Merciless is someone who, by all means, lacks fighting experience. But there was at least one thing he was confident in, and that was the fact that he was always at the top of the game in terms of inventiveness. He specializes in thinking outside the box when faced with complex challenges.
Mercy was a tremendously creative human being, and now that he is Merciless, that part of him still lives on, as deformed and as far gone in terms of personality as he is; his creativity had moved over to his current personality.
When you combine that natural creativity with the innate savagery of a Michellian vampire, you create a fiercely unpredictable opponent.
And that’s precisely what Merciless was doing right now, because what Merciless was attempting was something not even the likes of Zane couldn’t have expected in the slightest.
Because, in the midst of the floating red sea of an abstract shape, Merciless was floating in place within the slimy mucus-like blood that was Substance’s body. The floating sea of blood itself spans eight kilometers in total. Looking down from above, it seems as if Merciless had established a domain of blood over which he reigned as king.
Merciless lay there calmly as he began to glance around; all of the Zane clones were being absorbed by him and Substance simultaneously. Their bodies are unable to move since Substance Blood induces the stasis effect of ionize purple on everyone who submerges in it, with the exception of herself and Merciless, of course.
Of course, Substance didn’t have this capacity at first because the power of "Stasis" was limited to the Tagamar’s unique and esoteric plasma, but with Black Tail’s assistance, copying one genetic characteristic and pasting it into another was simple. However, even if that wasn’t the case, when her master touched her, the archive was also immediately updated.
Merciless’ existing powers were now a part of Substance’s own nature. Just as Substance had accumulated a great deal of power by taking it from Jordan, Albedo, Ophelia, Zalana, Ana, Hector, Abadis, and now Zane as well, all their powers had also become Merciless own power. In summary, when they connected in this way, they became one entity, one essence, one person, one body, and one mind.
However, there was a drawback that Merciless failed to anticipate. Sure, Black Tail and his Ichor were overpowered beyond the definition of normality, but as Michelle pointed out, there is always a flaw in any power, including omnipotence.
And as of right now, Merciless was seeing this flaw for himself as all the genetic information flooded his being.
"I see, I stole the clan traits of Clan Solomon and Clan Jahad; it’s a shame I couldn’t get my hands on the Alucard clan trait. But you know, there is always a next time, I suppose, but nonetheless, this is the end of my present Darwinism capabilities ha? Sigh!! I really need to find out what my acquire is so I can become stronger by drinking blood. I honestly thought I could start cloning myself, like Zane, but it isn’t as simple as that. What a dreg, to be honest. But anything is better than nothing, and I’m confident that with my unique Ichor, these new abilities will blossom into something distinctive in their own right."
Yes, Merciless realized it the minute he fused with Substance; he could simply take the clan or genetic traits of any species; duplicating these traits for him was like breathing oxygen for a human; that was how easy stealing innate traits was. But stealing another unique gift was not as straightforward; while he now possessed Ophelia and his friend’s powers, he was unable to take the essence of their effectiveness, implying that he obtained everyone’s strength at their weakest point in time.
Meaning he must nurture each and every one of these new abilities he has stolen, the time it will take for them to reach the other level of effectiveness would be years, just like everyone else has done to make them so strong in the first place. In layman’s words, he possessed quantity but not quality; this was the extent of his Darwinism. To make it even simpler, he possessed the default version of Ophelia’s ultimate veil.
"Hehehe, who cares about quality?" I will defeat Zane with quantity over quality if necessary; I do not want to lose this fight. But ironically, he has better quantities than I have. But to think that Zane at E-rank, his weakest self, was still able to generate 10,000 clones, given the fact that that is my current maximum.
"Sigh, because as things stand right now, Ophelia’s ability is useless; I can’t conceal timelines or memories, much less concepts or laws; for now, I can only hide things that are literally part of the world that I am in. For example, I can hide all oxygen from Hellmora, which would kill everyone on the planet that needs it to survive. As things stand, I need to cultivate all of these new powers to greater heights if they could even be useful against stronger enemies.
"But one thing is for certain: Ophelia’s strength could still be utilized for other purposes. I have a plan to take down Zane; however, for that to work, I will need to time it just right. I got the feeling that taking him by surprise is only something I could do once, and when that time comes, I will put everything into that one attack. After all, as things stand right now, I can feel it; Zane is holding back against me."
Merciless murmured this to himself as he looked up at the floating Zane, who was staring at him with a serious and bewildered expression. Merciless, on the other hand, began to reflect, and what he did next surprised Zane, despite the fact that he knew it was too late to reclaim his deceased clones’ bodies.
And this was the outcome of that one major blunder; it was a nasty sight for Zane to see. His own power, the very thing that made him special to begin with, was now being utilized by someone else. Because one Merciless abruptly divided into two Merciless.
"Not fair Merciless, you stole my entire flow, bar to bar, dude!"
Zane cried fiercely from high above the sky, while Merciless glanced at his newly made clone, who returned his gaze. He immediately realized the difference between Zane’s clones and his; currently speaking, he can’t remember half of his childhood as Mercy, and one or two things from his most recent memory as a vampire have also vanished, but strangely speaking, he still remembers everything, but not in this body; no, his other remaining set of memories came from the clone he created; he was connected to it, but it appears that his memories have been divided in two as a result.
"Shit!"
"Shit!"
The two Merciless shouted this one word at the same time, realizing how deadly this power was for both of them. For one, if he continued to split himself in order to clone more Merciless on the battlefield, it would be pointless because his memories are also split in two, and if his memories were broken into 10,000 fragments, it may result in memory loss quite literally. And if someone kills one of his clones, the memories die with them; in layman’s words, this power was a double-edged sword.
But at the same moment, both Merciless the clone and the original appear to have reached an agreement at that very moment, as they nod at each other. Currently, the clone has begun to manifest two aether rings; this was, of course, Anatasia’s power via her ichor. And from those two rings, hot, boiling molten lava erupted from each of them, as they were linked to the Jikida volcano near Lavatos. Merciless, on the other hand, began to stare at his clone and proceeded to question it as such.
"More or less, how long till you finish it? As things stand now, I’m 99% certain that we’ll only get one chance at this. As much as I hate to say it, that human is considerably stronger than the two of us together; if we are to win this, we must play it carefully."
"It will take about two minutes to construct the shape and another three minutes to produce the poison the way you want it; Black Tail has already put down the formula; all I need to do is build it and apply the effect to it. But, as you mentioned, the timing must be perfect; once I finish this, not even that human transfer magical nature will be able to protect him; keep in mind, however, that the 4,389,481 souls we obtained as a result of casualties caused by Stasis Ionize Purple will be lost as a result of creating this via soul manipulation, but it is worth the sacrifice."
Clone Merciless addressed the real Merciless, prompting the latter to query Clone Merciless once again.
"I see, and are the souls enough?"
However, the answer provided by clone Merciless was not good news, as it made this strategy much more difficult.
"I’m sorry to tell you this, but what you’re doing violates the basic laws that his magical nature functions under. He has the ability to transfer effects to his clones, which we were able to disrupt via our anti-blood. But, as he mentioned, he has clones in worlds other than our own universe. As such, his range should not be underestimated. In terms of this power, anti-blood allows us to dissolve the ties between one clone at a time as we disseminate our blood like a virus. However, if we attack Zane directly, it will not work; he will just transmit and split the concepts of our impacts quicker than we can separate the vast number of ties he has."
"As a result, this is an attack that can only be used once; the familiar that we are developing to defeat him has a lifespan of four minutes after we utilize it. That’s condition one; for condition two, we need to hit him in the kidney. Yes, I created this subjective situation to reduce the number of souls required to produce this insane creature in the first place. Of course, the third criterion would make things more difficult for us, and if we didn’t have Ana’s power, but this creature can travel only in a straight line, so we won’t be able to influence it naturally; we’ll have to utilize the rings to regulate its movement. But considering that we only have four rings for each of us, plus Zane’s wild reaction speed, this is easier said than done."
Clone Merciless said:
"I see!! How annoying, but I see your point. Either way, is there anything else I should worry about? Any other conditions?"
Real Merciless questioned clone Merciless once more.
"Aside from the material, I opted to create the conceptual effects in a vessel made of many materials, including my own flesh and some of Black Tail’s cells. Overall, it is sturdy and sure to withstand any attacks with the assistance of Michellian DNA, among the numerous mineral and flesh-based components. But our initial goal to strike Zane with what we wanted first would have cost far more if we were to embed that many abilities in a single structure."
"So I had to adapt; ultimately, this was the only way I could budget the souls and spend them wisely. Look, I get it’s a one-time attack and all, but we don’t have any other alternatives now, do we?"
"I understand, but for the time being, just stay inside Substance body. Zane isn’t foolish; he’s already learned that this little red world of ours is a prohibited zone into which he is not permitted to penetrate without consequence."
Real Merciless directed clone Merciless, who just nodded his head and began working on the manufacture of a new familiar.
On the other side, True Merciless began to emerge from the crimson world as he prepared to meet Zane one last time.
This time, it was clear that they were about to duke it out one last time. Merciless appeared moments later in front of Zane, who looked at him with crossed arms and an angered expression on his face as he spoke to Merciless.
"So you finally decided to come out of your safe zone, ha?"
"Hehe!! I mean, you were welcome to join me at any time."
"I think I will pass on that offer, you sassy asshole."
Zane responded with veins sticking out of his head and a scary smile on display.
"Ohhh, my well, too bad then, hehehe."
Merciless spoke loudly and couldn’t help but chuckle at Zane.
Zane, on the other hand, had just gotten into a fighting position, clenching his fist tightly and making his aura spike up with every fiber of his natural chi. His gaze shifted to that of Merciless, who was also looking at him. Merciless also adopted a fighting posture. Surprisingly, it was the same fighting stance as Zane, which surprised him when he began to comment.
"First my power, now my figthing sytle too; your basically a mirror reflection at this point, How bothersome."
"Well, I can’t help the fact that my gift is to steal other people’s gifts; it is what it is, comrade."
Merciless complimented; after all, he has an imperfect version of Zane’s current fighting technique, which is a hybrid of numerous martial arts modified to fit his body type. These martial arts combine Karate, Taekwondo, Wing Chun, Krav Maga, Muay Thai, and other disciplines from various fazes of reality.
Zane was a guy who dedicated his entire life to mastering these skills, whereas Merciless was a creature that stole techniques by taking other people’s muscle memories and natural memories via their cells. Whenever Zane splits himself up, he transfers the memories into the clone by copying them from himself and pasting them into the clones. From there, it is up to the clone to use what has been given to it in order for it to fulfill its goal.
That was just the degree of influence Zane wields over his clones when compared to Merciless’ imperfect version.
At that point, the world surrounding the two fell silent, and someone unavoidably made the first move. The attacker was none other than Merciless, wielding his hand like a spear with great speed, strength, and agility. He targeted Zane’s neck with a lethal jab, but Zane redirected the attack by sidestepping to the side, grabbing his right hand, repositioning himself forward while grabbing his left arm, and tossing Merciless over his shoulder. With great strength, Zane was capable of tossing Merciless many meters downward.
As Merciless spiraled into the air, he was astonished to see Zane conjure a clone into existence and materialize it right beside him. The clone then launched an aerial front kick, arresting his descent with devastating power. The heel of his foot struck his spine, and a loud crack could be heard.
"*Crack!*, Ugh... Aghaa... fuck!"
Merciless’s body arched backward like the letter C, and as if that wasn’t enough, another clone materialized in actuality, coming down from the sky at hypersonic speed and drop-kick Merciless from above, his enormous feet plunging their heels into his chest and stomach. As a result, Merciless could feel the bones in his body cracking and splintering in the air, as well as his organs collapsing and exploding under the strain of the attack.
To compound the injury, Zane altered his body in an unorthodox fashion, one that should have been impossible for someone his stature to pull off so effortlessly. Because in a moment, his entire leg shot straight in the hair and came back down straight into his face, the speed of his kick seeming whip-like as he slammed Merciless with an omnidirectional kick, attacking his face and head in all directions, almost as if his legs had no bones at all.
*Thud!*Thud!*Thud!*...
Each attack was more powerful and devastating than the previous one. Zane continues to do this while Merciless descends; at the same time, due to the impact of the previous blow, all of his eyeballs at this point had either been punched out of his skull or crushed under the pressure of his blows. His brain was a liquified gooey mess due to the vibration and shock waves collapsing his skull into a single point. His face and nose sank into his skull, and his head had already taken on an abstract shape.
Normally, you’d expect Merciless to infect him with his anti-blood by now, but Zane was being quite cautious with Merciless this time around. Previously, he was just toying with him, and as a consequence, his powers and martial arts were taken. However, Zane saw that Merciless was still inferior to him in terms of physical characteristics, particularly speed and strength.
His strikes were much more deadly than normal because there was a thin coating of Chi’s skin covering Zane and his other clones’ eyes and ears, as well as all other openings in their bodies. It was a basic method to fight oneself against the anti-blood infection.
But Zane overlooked an essential component of a Michellian: all physical attacks were rendered worthless before their regeneration. Because in a nanosecond, all of Merciless’ life-threatening wounds were healed perfectly. And when the Zane clone saw Merciless smiling, its initial inclination was to flee since it could feel that something unexpected was about to happen.
Merciless, however, would not enable it to go because the Chi barrier that was shielding Zane from one with blood suddenly broke like glass being hit with a speeding stone, and all of the physical strength that Zane was siphoning from the world ceased to exist, almost as if Chi did not exist at all. This surprised Zane because his major source of energy, which allows him to dramatically boost his strength, had suddenly been cut off completely. Even the actual Zane was stunned, as he had abruptly lost the ability to fly as a result of Chi suddenly disappearing.
Clone Zane was taken aback by this surprise, and he had no time to respond, for before he could do anything, a giant black tail pierced his head, as Black Tail took advantage of Zane’s loss of defensive powers, allowing him to battle a Michellian on an equal playing field. And in a relentless show of utter savagery, Merciless relentlessly stabbed Black Tail in the face, piercing the clone’s brains, and absorbed the entire body of the clone into Black Tail as if it were nothing, as the clone’s biological component was devoured into himself.
Merciless, on the other hand, began to convert his hair into a forest of whips with hook-like edges as he used his Neverlanders Hair Whip technique. And after injecting Miasma’s into each of his hair cells, his hair resembled a sequence of prehensile tendrils made of augmented flesh. And by using Albedo ichor, Merciless can take energy from himself and into his cells. Even if he was doing it alone, he soon adapted, and a pair of black horns began to emerge from his head.
Absorbing all of the natural energy from himself and the environment, the energy was absorbed by his newly acquired horns, which duplicated Anatasia’s physiology of absorbing and converting different energy into another energy, turning whatever was stolen from the environment into whatever energy Merciless had access to. His horns transmute all natural energy into pure 100% true miasma, so much so that it is purer than what even intermediate-rank demons could muster, and by using emotions to heighten the strength of his flames, the miasma is then supercharged as a result and bursts forth from each cell in Merciless hair.
Merciless set his flesh-like hair ablaze in a coat of pure black fire, and without further ado, he began whipping his hair in various directions, causing a serious number of flaming curves of black miasma flame blades to travel through the sky at unbelievable speeds faster than the human eyes can even process.
And, as a result of losing the capacity to fly, the Zane clone was severed into hundreds of smaller pieces, and his flesh was inseminated in an instant as the Miasma corroded and destroyed his physical structure, burning it down to nothing. The intensities of the miasma increased as Merciless added the Tagamars properties to his miasma. Merciless, on the other hand, then began to stare down at the original Zane from a distance as he fell into the large gap in the planet that Ionize Purple had created upon impact with the exo world.
Merciless then pointed a finger at Zane, who had a troubled expression on his face, as a large amount of Miasma was gathered and increased into a single point, and with his new horns now in the mix, what was normally thirty seconds to a minute to charge a pull power, Statis: Ionize purple, was reduced to three seconds. The reason was the fact that the energy had already been prepared and controlled into a single point.
It was now just a matter of process and release, and once again, the superhuman was hit with that crippling purple light. With no Chi to shield him this time around, as a result, he would need to chip away at the lives of a large number of his clones in other fazes in order to tank this attack and emerge unscathed.
Merciless fingertips emit enormous waves of esoteric plasma, sending a tremendous wave of plasmic energy at Zane. As a result, Merciless destroyed everything in his path, including the ground, the sky, and the whole northern hemisphere of the exoplanet they were now on.
Merciless fingertips emit enormous waves of esoteric plasma, sending a tremendous wave of plasmic energy at Zane. As a result, Merciless destroyed everything in his path, including the ground, the sky, and the whole northern hemisphere of the exoplanet they were now on.
Even now, Zane was flying owing to the powerful shockwaves, but what surprised him was that reality began to twist, and what was once a large mountain range where he was sent flying towards due to (SIP) suddenly switched to the same location where the big hole in the planet was created. Of course, unbeknownst to Zane, Anastasia, or Merciless Aether Rings in this case, opened a rift in space behind him, returning him to Merciless place.
And, using the vast amount of momentum that Zane had built up, Merciless began to use his plasma gauntlets, infused with his anti-blood, and punch Zane in the back with great force, so much so that his punch went right through his chest, showing little to no resistance at all due to the intense heat that bends even the likes of space itself.
Zane’s blood began to stream as Merciless burned his heart, vaporizing it from within his chest. And heating up his blood at the same time, using the blood boil technique, to spread further damage to Zane’s body, chipping away at his extra lives that were his clones, and making it impossible for him to transfer damage with the clones he can naturally summon into this reality.
At the same time, Merciless began to speak to Zane, as he said.
"Not so tough now, aren’t you, Zane? you know, based on the little amount of memories that I have gotten from your clones, I know this much won’t kill you; the only way to kill a superhuman is to destroy their brains; that is their weak point."
"Tsk. Don’t get too enthusiastic now, vampire; this is just a scratch. Also, how the heck did you severe my link with Chi?"
"Let’s just say I’m employing a stealthy fox expertise to conceal the existence of Chi from the world itself. That implies that neither I, you, nor anyone else will be able to use that energy for as long as I will it to be absent from the world."
"That’s not fair, dude; I swear you vampires and your Ichor are pure bullshit!!"
Zane commented with frustration, to which Merciless replied.
"Hate the game, not the one playing it."
With those words said, Merciless began to pull his hand from Zane’s chest, and the moment he did, the wound healed instantly as the effect was transferred, but seeing that his transfer process was slowing down was a sign that this magical nature actually has a limit, to how much damage Zane can transfer over at a time, meaning yes, he can transfer damage, but he can only transfer so much damage all at once before he becomes vulnerable again, as his magical nature is still sharing prior damage across other clones.
And, with Zane now affected by the anti-blood, he couldn’t create more clones in this reality to share the harm, as the link would be destroyed owing to the anti-blood to begin with. Of course, Merciless possesses the antidote and will most likely have to heal Zane of his blood after the battle is over, but for the time being, Zane will have to suffer the infliction of his ichor.
But Merciless anticipated Zane to fall again, at which point he would exploit his ability to fly and attack him, utilizing the air and his wings to his advantage in this fight. What Merciless did not anticipate, however, was when he yanked his hand out of Zane’s chest, and Zane did not begin to descend as he expected! Like previously, he began to soar, and a malicious smile came on his face.
As a familiar crimson glow eventually enveloped Zanes’ entire body once more, Merciless, of course, became perplexed by the absurdity of the scene unfolding in front of his eyes, which by all means should be impossible.
"Howw!?...
Merciless asked, to which Zane began to wipe the blood from his mouth and stated as such.
"Why are you so astonished, vampire? My magical nature has to do with transferring things; certainly, you can remove chi from the world, making it impossible for a chi user to manipulate as a result, so you are an ideal counter for any chi user. However, I’m not a typical chi user, so your powers to take away chi don’t apply to me. Using my magical abilities, it is evident that I can siphon chi from my clones, who drain chi from the numerous worlds in which they exist, and right back into myself."
Announced Zane.
To which Merciless replied.
"Eos above, and you accused me of cheating; your basically a walking cheat code yourself, you know."
"Heheh... well, I guess it takes one to know one... but you know, Merciless, this has been really fun. All things considered, it’s been a while since someone pushed me this far in battle. Heheh... maybe you can handle that. The only people I’ve fought using this technique are people who are a league above me in power. Even Alucard himself needs to use his third form to defeat me when I use this power."
"Haaa?!"
The minute Zane stated that, a primitive horror flooded over Merciless’ own essence, telling him to run away, and the entire world around him began to shake in fear of Zane’s new unsettling and equally distinct presence. The chi around him changed from crimson to bright scarlet, and reality changed from dark to red, as the entire world was covered by Zane chi emanating from his body.
"Lady Rusa, please do forgive me, but for a moment I will borrow your technique, as imperfect as it may be."
...
...
...
Merciless did not register those words; nay, he could not comprehend them because he was overcome by the most basic and straightforward forewarning feeling. And that was fear; his body sensed the threat first, but his mind had yet to acknowledge it.
’What is this feeling?’
...
’No!... I know this feeling...
...
...
’I felt it before.’
At that moment, Merciless began to remember when he felt this before—this feeling of hopelessness—as memories of that night began to replay in his mind.
...
...
...
...
...
...
’I’m nearly there!’
Mercy smirked inwardly as his hands touched the knob, twisting it fast, but as soon as he opened the door, he leaped back with great force as he swept off both his feet. It’s almost as if someone kicked him back into the kitchen.
*BBBBOOOOOMMMM!!!*
He crashed through the walls of his living room and right back into his kitchen, breaking his table and destroying his cupboard full of plates and cups in the process.
"... Aghrrr!!!... Fuck!"
"I see....
Merciless said while looking up at the scarlet Zane, finally realizing what this feeling was. It has only been two days, and bless with new powers, he completley forgotten what this arcane terror was.
Mercy World turned bright red at that time. He expected to feel pain after such a blow, but he couldn’t feel anything; everything below his neck felt numb.
After all, he didn’t see what threw him and hit him so hard that it felt like he was hit by a truck.
"W-w-what... h...happened?"
The query was delivered in the form of a light, weak, but discernible whisper... However, the stream of questions he had in his head was typical of a situation like this.
’I don’t want to die... Will I die... ’Am I going to die?’
’No! No! Noooo! I can’t die here, I refuse to die here, I won’t let death take me, I... w-w-wont... die here!’
His eyesight grew clouded because the only thing he could see was the television’s bouncing lights. even the channels themselves changing.
’I need assistance, the neighbors must have heard the noise, right?’
He questioned himself, still clinging to a ray of optimism, even if it was a fabricated one.
’I’m scared...
’I’m scared...
’I’m scared...
"Its just like that time."
That was all he could think about at the time.
But as he got closer to death, a voice from his living room appeared—actually, two voices.
"Ah. This place is in shambles; how can anyone reside in such conditions?"
It was the voice of a young woman.
In the meantime, another male voice came through.
"You should see this guy’s room; it’s like I was transported to a planet filled with pure filth; his walls are 70% mold, and the floors are littered with tissues packed with god knows what... I’m sorry for comparing humanity to this uncivilized animal."
The man expressed his displeasure.
But even now, Mercy’s life was swiftly vanishing, and thinking too hard about things at this juncture would only hasten the inevitable; still, he didn’t appreciate being labeled an animal.
However, when he listened more intently, the female said.
"Did you find it, whether it’s a man or a pig?" To be honest, we are seriously trailing on the scoreboard. We can’t let the Bloodshine clan win this time, there’s too much at risk... It’s much worse because we’re in the domain of the seventh."
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’What does she mean by the scoreboard, and who is the seventh?’
"Yeah, I found a flag worth 70 points."
"... What the hell hahaha... Maybe coming to this dump wasn’t for nothing. With this, we’re definitely back on top. I wonder how team (B) is doing, Egh. Enough of that, let’s go to the next house."
The woman exclaims eagerly, but the man quickly responds.
"What should we do with the pig?"
"Eh. Leave it; we’re in a serious game right now. Even the clan head stated that they would deal with all the clean-up when the game was over; and besides, no sane vampire would sink their teeth into that thing... If you want to, go ahead; I’m not going to."
Mercy was at a loss for words at the time.
’Game.’
’Vampire.’
’Points.’
’Pig!!!’
’Are you sure this isn’t real? Was my life truly viewed as a game? Was I a joke to these two, and do vampires actually exist?’
However, Mercy did not survive long enough to ponder the matter more because his consciousness soon began to collapse on itself, till there was nothing but darkness.
And I died that night.
"The night when I died, hehe, I see, so this is death!!"
Those were Merciless’s last words before Zane raised his right hands up, and with a swift and unforgiving motion, he began to display his true power and dominance over Chi. As a large scarlet hand the size of a continent manifested into the air, it was clear it was a construct of Chi migrating into this reality from his body to the point it engulfed the entire planet.
Zane gave Merciless one last look before he smiled and said.
"They say you Michellians are the most durable species of vampires out there; lets test that, shall we?"
Right after saying those words, the Chi construct knuckled itself, with Zane’s hands coming down as if it were the hammer of God itself. The large hand came down heavily upon Merciless’s very being.
And what happened next?
Was the end of it all!!
High above in space, the black world produced by Abadis could be seen splitting apart into numerous pieces like a hatching egg that serves its life purpose. As flames engulfed everything, the entire world was destroyed as gigantic explosions of unprecedented scale consumed the entire exoplanet, forcing everything to be shattered and burned to nothing, leaving nothing behind.
From the essence of his own life, that hand was created, and from the essence of his own life, all that was this very planet came to an end.
