Bringing in a calming breath through his lips, as he exhaled, he expelled that calmness away, instead embracing the rage that had settled into him. He stoked that flame of anger, not suppressing it and locking those emotions away, but instead allowing them to run wild.
In his mind, that dreadful night played over-and-over: the attack of the mysterious figures, the destruction of his hometown, and the loss of his mother. That look of shock on her face, the dismay he felt, and the final words she gave him.
Endlessly, the regret he clung to, the anger he attached himself to, the blame he stuck onto himself, and the undying vengeance he swore upon his enemies–these thoughts were transmuted into the flame that burned within his stomach.
BA-DUMP. BA-DUMP. BA-DUMP.
Even as that fresh rage boiled his blood enough to begin reddening his complexion, causing steam to begin emitting from his body, he remained unperturbed, unmoving and controlling it.
'Give it to me. That monster dwelling inside of me–it's time to come out,' he thought.
Excelsior watched curiously, all while the Primordial aspect was rebuilding itself in the process, ushering in a new wave of black mist that spread out through the sealed domain.
The blackened scales stretched over his body, tightly clinging to his skin and taking on a bestial, rough appearance as a spiked tail protruded from behind and a hot breath of fire left between his jaws.
[??/!Dragonheart System///Alternate Path Activated?/7!]
[Current Stage: 7/??? | Draconis Monster | CONDENSED]
'That's certainly a change. This feeling though–it almost feels…"primal"--does he have this under control?' Excelsior wondered.
"Emilio," Excelsior said his name.
For a moment, the man stood there with his shoulders slumped and his arms hanging, breathing heavily as a draconic heat gathered around him with the swaying of his scaled tail. There was a natural force that left the body of the transformed figure like hushes of a dormant inferno; a heated wind that made the air one breathed around the man taste like flames.
"--" Excelsior watched carefully.
"...I've got it," Emilio finally said, lifting his head.
Something was different about the entity of darkness this time; rather than a dark mist completely enveloping the domain, a total blackness stretched over the territory like an abyssal night.
The low, bellowing call of a whale resonated through the shades of the void; a symphony of darkness surrounded them as in the distance amidst the abyss, all that could be seen was the robed, skeletal figure.
"It's coming," Excelsior quietly said.
Emilio nodded, readying himself as the scales on his body sharpened and hardened by the moment, reacting like a bestial instinct to the danger around him. Every brush of the wind felt like a curse in itself; a promise of death; an intertwining with an empty eternity.
As Darkness approached, it shuddered unnaturally as its bones jingled; the convulsions of its upper body, swaying and almost "glitching" out in the eyes of Emilio were jarring to witness as it moved normally in its steps.
"Fenrir," Excelsior invoked.
[Fenrir Augmentation Activated]
["Claws of Distortion"] | ["Fangs of Separation"]
The woman's hands became altered into silver claws, shrouded in fur as the helm covering her face shifted, parting its jaws to reveal the bestial teeth she had manifested.
Excelsior was the first to engage the enemy, swiping the mystical claws she wielded as they tore through the fabric of darkness with their own ability; the slashes defied the concept of range, surpassing their own size as they cut towards the aspect.
"--"
Imperceivable sounds left the dark figure as it pointed a finger forward before the claws could reach it, causing the slashes to cut through the ground around it, but fail to reach its form.
"Tch," Excelsior growled before rushing forward.
Dashing in as well, the Dragonheart leapt up, gathering a mass of flames from within that began seeping through the cracks on his armor.
Without being seen taking a step, Darkness appeared beside Excelsior, looming over the woman with an appearance that altered itself upon its rebirth: the skeletal form now bore flesh, possessing a body made of human heads with stitched eyes and mouths. A plethora of arms moved like fingers, pointing towards Excelsior before–
"Nnagh–!"
Opening her mouth then slamming her jaws shut, the silver-haired woman used her augmented fangs to bite down on space itself, tearing it as the distance between herself and the Primordial aspect was increased.
Though in that split-second it took to activate the effect of the ["Fangs of Separation"], the multiple points from the entity had drilled small holes through her body.
"Pyueh…!" Excelsior spit out blood.
Slamming down from above, the Dragonheart engulfed his fist in an eruption of searing, azure fire, landing down atop Darkness with a pillar of flames following.
"--"
That distorted voice speaking words too quiet, too loud, too fast, too slow, fell upon his ears as he found a single finger pointing through the wall of flames. Then came another, and another, and another–a dozen index fingers pointed at him through the swarm of heat that should've burned away the entity.
Craaaaack
Within a moment, his left wrist snapped and his right shoulder popped out of place; his stomach was contorted again as his organs were squeezed; the tongue inside of his mouth was wrung like a rag, crushed and spilled of blood.
The fresh, red-hot liquid that flooded his mouth instantly evaporated from his internal temperature, leaving his mouth as steam as he breathed out.
Though he leapt up to move out of the way of the entity's unseen authority, it managed to twist one of his ankles around in a brutal snap.
In order to buy some amount of time, no matter how little, he waved his usable hand to summon a fortress of smooth, stone walls infused with fire to imprison the entity. There were three sets of these colossal walls to keep it kept enclosed, each maintaining a boiling heat: "Fortress of The Volcano".
As he landed back down, his bones mended themselves through his Undying Blood, though it didn't help to ease the unsettling feeling of the being's power he was facing.
'...Even in Draconis Monster, it can twist me up with a simple gesture. Excelsior is right; this one might be even more dangerous than Dread,' he thought.
"Emilio," Excelsior regrouped with him.
He looked over, "The walls won't hold it long. We need to figure out a proper method of attack."
"Darkness is definitely a tough one. I've encountered my fair share of aspects–all of which were a pain in the ass, I might add. This guy is definitely something else though–this one might just be the closest to its actual "Primordial" true self," Excelsior said, "I might have to go all out."
"You've been holding out?" Emilio asked.
Excelsior chuckled briefly, "I can't play my hand right away, can I? It's not like you can talk. I know you're not using everything up your sleeve."
"--" He didn't respond.
There were reasons for withholding certain abilities from the current battlefield, most notably with the environment underground they fought in–bringing it crumbling down was not an optimal strategy.
However, as he continued being injured throughout the fight, he knew well enough that his Undying Blood had its own limits and constantly using healing magecraft would burn through his mana.
'Maybe I need to stop playing cautiously–it might be time to use it all,' he thought.
"Excelsior," he said.
"Yeah?"
"Let me go in alone this time–I'm going to let loose," Emilio insisted, breathing in as he readied himself.
Excelsior looked at him for a moment before lowering her guard, nodding, "Don't die, Emilio-boy. I'm sure Ash-boy wouldn't want to see you again so soon."
"I don't plan on it."
In his mind, fueled by the rage-filled flames of the monstrous form he wielded for himself, there was a thought that followed his words: "--Not until I wipe out the scum that stole from me."
Amidst the abyssal veil as Darkness approached slowly, Emilio met it halfway as he began walking through the shallow water, manipulating it around him as dozens of formations of aqua rose around him.
Around him, translucent, aquatic doppelgangers of the man were created, mimicking the scaled armor he wore before rushing towards Darkness: "Sea God's Lonesome Battalion".
He stayed behind these doppelgangers of water as they each sprinted and leapt towards the aspect, using them to mitigate the unseen attacks of the being.
Shadows contorted and twisted around into spirals at the movement of the stitched-eyed entity's limbs, squeezing the water-formed clones into nothing but splashes of aqua. The invisible attacks ushered into the domain by the entity manifested through slashes, crushings, and sometimes complete implosions.
Emilio managed to rush in all the same, using the doppelgangers as shields for himself as he closed in on Darkness. It was already pointing towards his direction, lifting its bony, elongated finger that carried with it eons of malice.
BA-DUMP. BA-DUMP. BA-DUMP.
Through the invigoration of Draconis Monster, his magecraft was ascended during the period of supreme heat, allowing him to slap his palms together with a thunderclap as a new spell was invoked as he got close to the entity.
It was a classification of magic that laid higher in the hierarchy of the four, basic elements; a unison of fire and wind that required a supreme mastery of both to invoke.
Zzzt…Zzzt…
Crafted and learned under the inspiration of the adventurer that ignited his hope to become one himself–the "Red-Haired" adventurer–he dedicated the
Around his arms, azure electricity coiled his limbs as he held both hands towards the entity in front of him, unleashing the Emperor-class lightning magic out: "Dogma of The Ironclad Heavens."
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