A plant tentacle of Promestein shot forward to Marco, his eyes widened and immediately put the sword in front of him, when the tentacle reached the sword, Marco was flung back, however the sword cleanly cut the tentacle in two.
This was the first fight where Marco will go beyond his limits, and it isn't about the "Semi-Berserk", now that Alice was with him, he couldn't look like a pussy… Fortunately his sword was still as sharp as hell, and the Light's Bane still work…
However, he could feel that Promestein was as strong as the 1st Gate, but her regeneration was still to-
Promestein: Why I can't regenerate?!
...Nevermind…
Marco looked at the tentacle he cut and saw that it was releasing a bit of smoke, as if it was burning. The angel hybrid looked at Marco's sword and her eyes narrowed.
Promestein: Now I understand… Tch…
Marco put the gun where he would be easily take it out, while he held the sword with both of his hands. He can't get distracted for a single second, he can't show weakness for a single instant, he need to go all out without a slight pause… And he can't kill her now because he needs to remove the collar…
Marco: What a pain in the ass…
He took a deep breath and calmed his mind and heart, he tried to remember the sensation he had with Undine…
*Ding*
*Serene Mind activated, duration: ∞*
*Congratulations for host to reach the Serene Mind without external help.*
*Reward: +30% Willpower*
Marco: 'Tch… Still not enough for temporarily opening the Bijuu Gate…'
Marco was sure that if he could reach the Bijuu Gate, he could surely destroy the collar, but now it was not the time to think about it…
Promestein: Is that… What is going on!?
Marco: ...The Serene Mind was always mine… I reached it only with Undine's help before, you think that creating new technology makes you smart, but it isn't true, what makes one smart is their wisdom, you only expand yourself in the ground without even looking at the sky, or beyond…
Promestein: Then… Come, Zylphe!
Her artificial spirit filled her with the power of wind, making her drastically faster, but…
Marco: If you wanted to win, you should have hold some Chimera monsters… You are an angel, and you are a monster too, making it possible to hit you… And you forgot about a factor. I know your weak spot.
Promestein: What…? Heh… Haha… Hahahahaha!
Promestein quickly attacked Marco with a fast hit, and thanks to Serene Mind, he placed Magnum between him and the tentacle before anchoring himself on the ground.
The tentacle was cleanly cut off.
Promestein: Wha-
Marco: Using your own force to damage you… Using the friction force and my own weight to increase my force, using the speed of your weak tentacle, and the sharpness of my own sword, which is stronger than you. I am able to win…
I admit, when I lost my powers, I was unable to think normally, but now that I have Serene Mind and Alice at my side, even if your knowledge greatly dwarves mine, I can still use it against you.
Promestein clicked her tongue in anger and continued to attack Marco, meanwhile he used Serene Mind and Ninefold Rakshasa to dodge and cut the incoming tentacles, which seemed to appear from nothing, and with the help of Alice, he came out undamaged.
Even though his angelic skills are weaker than they normally should be, they are enough to injure a weak angel. If she would go against any monster of the Colosseum that he fought, she would certainly lose.
Marco rushed to Promestein while she continued to send more tentacles, the adrenaline was completely invading Marco's mind, he ignored some cuts on his body and finally reached Promestein.
Marco held his sword with one hand and used the other to pull out his gun and point it at her face, Promestein got frightened immediately and covered her head with her hands while making small holes between her fingers to see what would happen.
Suddenly, Marco threw the pistol up and Promestein instinctively followed it with her eyes, not noticing Marco grabbing the sword with both of his hands and thrusted it forward with Flash Kill.
Marco: 'You are too concentrated on experiments and bodies and you never think about the psychology of the other party, this is the difference between us… I know the human mind more than you.'
*Clang*
His sword was stopped from Black Alice… Wait, come again?
Marco's eyes widened when he saw Black Alice appearing between Promestein and him through a magical formation and block his blade with a single hand, meanwhile the gun fell in the ground and Marco kicked it back, Alice picked it up and held it.
Promestein: Black Alice…
Black Alice: Heheh, that was an interesting fight…
Alice: Black… Alice!?
Black Alice ignored her and continued to talk to Promestein.
Black Alice: Goddess Ilias doesn't wish for you to be taken as a hostage.
The a magic seal appeared at Promestein's feet and teleported her away. Then Black Alice looked at Marco and Alice.
Alice: Who the hell are you!? Why did you assume the name of the 8th Monster Lord, "Black Alice"? Your appearance, too… You're even trying to look just like her!
Marco: You dumb bitch, she IS Black Alice!
Black Alice: Oh? You already knew?
Marco: Woman, when you can feel a chill on your back just by looking at someone, there is something strange going on… And then I had some theories when I saw Heinrich's grave.
Alice: But how!? Black Alice was destroyed by the legendary Hero Heinrich!
Marco: ...Ilias saved her and asked for her collaboration. Chimeras… Seals… This shit is obviously thought for much more time than 1 day, and what is the best helper than something representing your nemesis who shares your same enemy?
Black Alice: Hoho… You are really smart…
Marco: Well, I may be an asshole, but it seems everyone forgets that I am smarter than it looks…
Black Alice: Oh, I remember something…
Marco: Yeah, yeah…. World War, you must be stupid if you think that Ilias would just stay in the Heaven and wait for me, why not targeting everyone?
Black Alice: ...You ruined everything…
Alice: *Sigh* Welcome to my world…
Alice said sympathetic, Black Alice just coughed awkwardly and said.
Black Alice: Well then, have a nice day. I do look forward to our next meeting…
In the next moment, she vanished from the spot, leaving Marco and Alice alone.
Alice: The tyranny of that "Goddess" is finally clear. It seems her hatred is no longer limited to monsters.
Marco: Well, it's still nice to see you again, albeit at 8 years old size…
Alice: This is only a temporary vessel, not my real body. Let's search around, maybe we can find something here.
Marco nodded and walked to the computers while Alice got to a nearby shelf, full of CDs that she couldn't recognize, she didn't even know what those were.
Alice: What are those…
Marco: They are CDs, used to contain many informations, by using a medium like this computer, you can read them.
Alice turned around, and her eyes widened when she saw Marco working on a giant screen with so much familiarity.
Alice: What's that…
Marco: This is the result of not creating any password and thinking that you are the only one to be able to use it. In short, a work made from an arrogant noob, one should always put a password no matter what…
She let down the disk on her hand and slithered next to Marco, she saw Marco's right hand on a strangely shaped brick connected to the screen with a black rope and his other hand over another brick full of buttons with letters.
Alice: You seem really familiar with this…
Marco: This shit looks like Windows XP, it's a fucking toy!
Alice: ...What…
Marco: Don't worry, I will explain in future… And here it is…
He opened the documents, but there weren't any trace of what they were looking for.
Marco: Tch… The things are in the disk…
Marco opened a random document and read it…
"Data: 10/3/XXX
Subject: Marco
Data: Has a strange reddish aura that takes the shape of a fox with a tail or more, the higher is the number of the tails, the stronger he gets, the highest number registered is 3 tails…"
There were more, but Marco ignored it.
Marco: So she was observing me too…
Marco closed the tab and opened another, before seeing the cameras, there were some chimeras walking around, then he looked in another camera, and saw… Tamamo holding a rope?
Tamamo: Oooooi! Mooooonster Loooord!
A loud voice echoed from above, Marco and Alice turned around and looked on the ceiling, where a huge hole suddenly appeared, and Tamamo peered from it.
Tamamo: Oooh, Marco's there too…. What's with the sciency room?
A rope dropped down from the hole and Tamamo quickly slided down on it, and then she looked around.
Alice: There seem to be a large quantity of… CD?
Marco: Yes, there are too many CDs to analyze with the computer, so I would like to ask you to analyze them while I try to do something at the Illias Village, bye!
Marco hurried up on the rope and got up, meanwhile Tamamo was shouting for the third time to stop. If Marco could somehow block the second access of the angels that was on the shrine of Ilias, then everything will be alright, however there is an Archangel waiting for him.
If he could evade the archangel and kill the normal angels with a swift hit, then he could reduce the damage done and wait for the reinforcements.
Marco came out from the hole and called Diane, who landed down with a powerful flap of her wings.
Marco jumped on Diane, while Alice hastily followed him from the hole.
Alice: Don't go alone, you idiot!
As soon as she was on Diane, she took off.
[SPECIAL QUESTS]
1st. Achieve coexistence between Monsters and Humans
2nd. Kill Illias
3rd. Return to Lucifina's grave
4th. Visit every places in Illias Continent, Sentora and Hellgondo
5th. Make Alice happy
6th. Tell the truth to Alice
[EVENT QUEST]
1st. Kill Illias
2nd. Save as many people as possible [Minimum: 100]: [0/???]
3rd. Defeat or Kill Promestein
4th. Defeat or Kill Black Alice
5th. [Optional] Kill as many angels as possible: [8/???]