'There's no way he could have activated this spell without a steep cost.' Kisuke tried to look around but he could only see a bit of his body due to the faint glow of his Shunko, 'Then again, the simplicity of this spell would make it hard to break. If only Benihime was with me, I could easily tunnel my way out of here.'
Feeling the threat from his left flank, Kisuke immediately leaped away and looked back. Although he couldn't see anything, he was sure that something just tried to pierce him, "Good senses. But how long can you keep this up?" Erebus' voice resounded once again.
Kisuke kept dodging but due to the sheer density of attacks that he couldn't see, he couldn't avoid all of them and had to rely on his defenses. But even with his boosted defenses thanks to Hierro, the darkness still managed to dig a few holes in his body, and each of these wounds healed slowly, 'It feels like I'm in an enormous Iron Maiden. Is that the image he used?' Kisuke thought casually while trying out a few Magic Spells that could maybe work against this space.
Watching from afar, Erebus clenched his teeth and sweated nervously as he saw what was happening, 'What's with his ridiculous defense!? The most I can do is pierce the skin and a bit of his flesh!? And how can he still regenerate with those wounds tainted with my Divinity here in my 'Night' of all places!? No wonder Ares wasn't able to kill him! This guy is beyond abnormal!'
Even then, Erebus feigned calmness and said with a tone filled with arrogance, "Why don't you just give up? You're just prolonging your own suffering. That's pretty stupid, to be honest. And here I thought you were smarter than this."
But Erebus' nervousness only got worse, and deep within him, fear also began sprouting as Kisuke laughed at his remark, "My, my~ Erebus-san. What's wrong? I can feel a hint of panic in your voice. With that said, the real question is how long can you keep this up? I can't imagine what would happen to you once this domain of yours expires and I'm still alive..."
This was supposed to be his world and he wasn't supposed to feel his existence, yet Erebus was wondering what was this dread that he's feeling, 'I have to kill him now!'
Pouring everything into his 'Night', the darkness hugged Kisuke, trapping him in place. Erebus then immediately shaped the darkness into countless spears that pierced through Kisuke, leaving only a small area of his body unharmed.
"..." Erebus, panting heavily and about to collapse from the fatigue, watched as Kisuke's Shunko came undone and his blood flowed uncontrollably on the surface of the spear. As he took special care to target his heart and brain, Kisuke should be dead. Not just him, but anyone subjected to something like this should have no business of being alive. Still, the bad feeling and premonition wouldn't go away, so he didn't dare dismiss his domain even though it's already eating away at his own life.
"..." For a few more minutes, Erebus watched Kisuke's corpse drain out of blood without blinking, trying to find any signs of life in him. Soon after, he finally heaved a huge sigh of relief when he saw that even his strange transformation was undone, 'Whew... So he was still alive at that point? Good thing I didn't let up. But why did I fear him so much?'
Fortunately... Or unfortunately, his question was answered when he saw Kisuke's mouth that was pierced by a spear suddenly smile widely when he was just about to let go of his domain, "So that's how it is~!"
"?!?!?" Kisuke's twisted and horrific smile sent chills and alarm throughout Erebus' existence, "HOW!?!?"
But Kisuke didn't answer him. Instead, the blood that had dropped beyond the darkness began to climb up and crawl along the surface of the spears before extending itself into the surrounding darkness like blood vessels. With Kisuke as the epicenter, his own blood started taking over Erebus' 'Night'.
Erebus was shocked at this sight and clenched his teeth before attempting to dismiss his domain. However, it was already too late as more than half of it was already covered in horror-inducing pulsing blood vessels, "This is ridiculous!!!!!"
While trying to take back control, Erebus saw the spears piercing through Kisuke slowly retracting, revealing a grotesque image of a mangled and smiling 'corpse'. With his neck snapping towards his direction, Kisuke's empty eye sockets widened along with his smile, "Found you~!"
Before he knew it, Kisuke had already disappeared and reappeared in front of his face, "AAAHHHHHH!!!!!" The cloak of darkness had already left Erebus.
Thanks to taking over Erebus' ability and figuring out how its corrosion worked since it was relatively easy, Kisuke was able to marginally disable its effects and even take advantage of the controlled darkness to aid his regeneration. Seeing human eyes bubbling up into existence from his eye sockets is nothing short of terrifying.
"You're damn noisy." Kisuke's regenerated arm carelessly grabbed Erebus' face once again and threw him towards the ground. As the veil of darkness retreated, Erebus once again crashed and created another crater. But this time, he was too exhausted to extend any defenses, so his body took a devastating amount of blunt force trauma, forcing him to cough up blood with his broken ribs stabbing his lungs.
The world returned to normal and the dome of 'Night' swirled until it gathered on Kisuke's fingertip.
With his pride broken, the fear Erebus had been hiding broke loose. And without a shred of grace, he started crawling on the ground in an attempt to escape. If this was a normal battle, he wouldn't have been broken like this, but in addition to his ace in the hole being utterly ineffective, he also couldn't see the possibility of winning even if he sacrificed his life.
"Haah... Seriously?" Kisuke sighed in disappointment at his action, "At least let me try something I devised just now. It's actually something very similar to your move just now."
Pointing his finger upwards, the ball of darkness that he stole shot towards its former owner and expanded into a small jet black box that covered him, "Kurohitsugi: Moonless Night"
Before stabbing its victim with countless needles, the upper half of the box of death twisted a full 180-degrees first. Instead of going further, however, Kisuke immediately deactivated the technique and muttered, "Hmmm... This could be useful if I make something like a Rubik's cube in addition to that corroding effect."
But when he returned his sight to Erebus, who had already lost consciousness from the countless wounds and twisted spine, Kisuke became nervous, "...Crap... I didn't kill him, did I?"
.
.
.
In a wide and well-lit room, a man with a buzz-cut hairstyle with greenish-brown hair color and lavender eyes was enjoying a glass of cold rum while watching numerous matches of the Azazel Cup through the screen in front of him when he suddenly received a file from one of his intelligence squad.
The God of War, Storms, and Rainfall of Mount Meru curiously opened the file and it depicted Erebus' arrival at Belial's territory.
A few minutes later, a smirk grew on his face as he finished his cup, "Interesting... Compared to the two baby Dragons, it looks like I'll have more fun with him. I should look for an opportunity to finally meet him."