Prologue K
SURPASSING THE PAST
Through the past four years of training, one of the main things that had been uncovered was that Dionysus and Silhouette were telepathically linked to one another. It was a skill that allowed them to take their teamwork to the next level.
Dionysus had admitted it a long time ago, that he never would've gotten this far without Silhouette constantly there for him, and he never will be able to go that far without it. He has gotten here with Silhouette's support, and he'll continue to expand on their teamwork in the future.
With its expanded mental capabilities, Dionysus made sure to teach it nearly everything about the body. That was why there was currently a bloodied Silhouette standing over the body of what seemed to be the Succubus.
"T-There you have it ladies and gentleman, he has defeated the Succubus! Let's see how far this contender will get."
The announcer was clearly a bit shocked as to how violent that the battle that had unfolded was, so much so that it wasn't a battle. As soon as it had begun, the shadow-like creature had taken the Succubus by the sneak with one hand and used it's other to hit its chin, taking away its consciousness. After that, it beated it into the current position that it was currently in, curled up into a fetus position and bloodied.
Two ladies came in from the entrance of the arena with a stretcher and lifted the Succubus out of the arena on it. They were both wearing absolutely beautiful dresses, but that wasn't the important part to worry about. The important part was that someone was standing opposite from Silhouette, which was on the side that the entrance was at.
'A speedster . . .'
Dionysus, with his all-encompassing golden eyes, saw what happened. The person had come in so fast that it seemed as if they just appeared in that spot.
"Here we have someone that usually imparts death onto the contender! Ladies and gentleman, a round of applause for Mr. Cloudris!"
After the announcer said that name, realization dawned over him as he recognized the man in front of him as one of the fighters in the first fight he had seen here.
'According to what I remembered, the announcer screamed something about him slamming someone else . . .?'
Dionysus began to analyze every nook and cranny of the opponent, looking for even the slightest weakness to take advantage of.
'. . . I know what you're going to do.'
After analyzing the man's physique and his body, he had come to the conclusion that this was a hit and run fighter that didn't use weapons. If that was the case, Dionysus had a strategy in mind.
'Oi, Silhouette. He is most likely a hit and run type person. Don't be aggressive and chase after him, he'll come to you naturally. Once he does, find an opening and just one good hit in. After the first hit, he'll have taken enough damage to slow down with your damage, and then you can be aggressive.'
'Kaaaay.���
It seemed as if Silhouette really had not developed much mentally, as it usually replied with this singular word.
After inspecting them, the somewhat overweight male referee signalled for the battle to start.
WHOOSH
BAM
With both a speed and power that Dionysus didn't expect, Silhouette was on the ground and Cloudris was sitting on top of him and continuously punching.
'It simply isn't possible to be so fast and powerful. It must be his ability.'
Although Dionysus was already surprised by the opponent even though the battle had just begun, the strategy that he had brought up to Silhouette was still a viable one.
'I'll just focus on figuring out their ability.'
Meanwhile, Cloudris was currently wailing on Silhouette that was on the ground. It had its guard up, but a punch was breaking through every now and then and hitting Silhouette square in the face. Blood didn't spurt out from it, but it definitely was taking damage.
While all of this was happening, Cloudris stared down at Silhouette with a desperate look on his face. It resembled the face of a person that realized that this was their final chance and giving it their all.
"Please die, please die, please die . . ."
Of course, the words that came out of Cloudris didn't make the scenario any better.
After wailing on the Silhouette for a solid minute or two, Cloudris hopped off it and got as far as he could.
'Crap, did he realize?'
Dionysus had just instructed Silhouette to distract Cloudris with a punch while he kneed him from behind, but he had hopped off before they could execute the plan.
One of the best things about this arena was that Dionysus could see everything from the cube. It was basically perfect for him to analyze everything.
Silhouette stood up and put its guard up, but it seemed that Cloudris was content circling it at the edges of the arena.
'Is it a trap? Does he want Silhouette to rush him so that he can counter-attack?'
Dionysus' eyes were so concentrated that you'd think that the man had never once blinked before in his life.
However, thanks to his extreme concentration, he saw the clue that he needed to understand what was going on. Cloudris had his hands up while circling Silhouette, but Dionysus happened to get a peak at what was going on behind the arms.
Behind them, he saw that the man was breathing very roughly.
"I UNDERSTAND NOW!"
Right after he came to his conclusion, Silhouette immediately rushed at Cloudris. Cloudris, who didn't expect such a sudden rush, could only keep his guard up as he was shoved against the cage and constantly kicked, punched, and so much more by Silhouette. All traces of the speed and strength that he had shown before was gone.
'Though it doesn't let me know what his ability is, it's safe to assume that it's an energy burst type deal that exerts stress that the body can only handle for so long. If that's the case, then Cloudris is currently on what would be considered a cooldown . . .'
The only issue is that he didn't know how long the cooldown was. It was because of that fact that Dionysus ordered Silhouette to stop attacking Cloudris, even though it clearly had the advantage.
'If he were to regain his power in the middle of Silhouette's attack, he could easily counter-attack Silhouette and make it a worst case scenario.'
As of right now, Dionysus had determined that it was too risky to continue the onslaught. The plan was now to allow Cloudris to activate his ability again and let him wail on Silhouette until it ran out again. Once that happened, he was intending on fully utilizing Silhouette's arsenal to end the fight.
WHOOSH
As expected, Cloudris seemed to activate some overdrive ability and rushed at Silhouette. However, instead of knocking it down this time, he fully revealed his abilities as a hit and run type fighter. Even Dionysus, who was watching everything from up close and paying very centered attention, could barely see the man. Most of the time, he was actually looking at afterimages and didn't realize it.
'As expected, we can't execute a counter-attack with our current capabilities on this man. He truly is a powerhouse when he activates his ability.'
When Cloudris didn't have his ability active, he was as fit as Dionysus, and that was at best. However, when he did have it on, even Silhouette couldn't keep up, and Dionysus' eyes were lost trying to track him.
BOOM
Something so unexpected that even Dionysus didn't expect it occurred. There was a loud sound reminiscent of that of an explosion in the middle of the arena, and at that point Cloudris quite literally seemed to have disappeared from the arena. Dionysus' ears were ringing, but he was more worried about Silhouette, but he saw that it was still standing firmly.
However, that didn't last for much longer, considering that it was essentially a massacre at this point. Silhouette quite literally got sent flying out of the arena, leaving a gaping hole on one side of the cage.
"I-I-It seems that even this fully capable cage can't hold those two monsters! No, more specifically, it couldn't hold Cloudris!"
While Dionysus was slightly pissed off at the announcer for making Silhouette sound like it was nothing, she was simply telling the truth. After all, it was cloudris that went ahead and broke the sound of speed while sending Silhouette flying.
BANG
BANG
BANG
BANG
BANG
BANG
At this point, Cloudris was punching Silhouette so fast that it felt like that sound was constantly ringing out. At this point, Dionysus simply couldn't make out what was going on with Cloudris, but he could most definitely see that Silhouette was getting absolutely devastated. Against Cloudris' onslaught, it truly was painful to watch the scene unfold.
'. . . There is nothing we can do in this situation. All we can do is hope that it runs out before Silhouette is done . . .'
Dionysus had considered interfering with the battle himself, but with the speed that Cloudris was going at, he was more likely to accidentally hit Silhouette instead of his target.
'Actually . . .'
Dionysus thought of something, and he realized that it might actually make for a viable plan. The only issue with the plan was that Silhouette and Cloudris were outside of the arena, which was his full range.
'I'm sorry to put you on the spot, but make it back here somehow and I'll be able to help.'
While it wasn't the smartest thing in the world, Silhouette understood Dionysus' sincerity and that he truly did have a plan. However, it continued to stare in front of it, where it could see nothing, but it could feel everything.
'How . . .?'
It truly had no idea as to how it would be able to return to the arena.
'Actually, you'll be better off if you wait for Cloudris' ability to run out before coming back.��
After hearing this, Silhouette continued to resist the onslaught. Finally, after losing an arm and half of it's torso . . .
"Haaaahhh, haaaaahhhhhhh . . ."
Cloudris was finally beginning to lose steam. It had slowed down to a point where even Silhouette could finally see him for the first time in a long while.
"Ba. . ."
"Huh?"
Cloudris stared at Silhouette with amazement as he heard it say something, or at least make a sound.
'It's . . . alive?'
Cloudris thought that no matter who he fought, that it would be the end of their life if he fully exhausted his ability. To reach the strength and speed he had just demonstrated, he had to be prepared to fall asleep for two weeks straight. Even after he woke up, he would be out of commission for another month or so.
He had never had to take things to such a level before, at least in the arena. The reason for that would be because most people barely got past the succubus, and the ones who did would usually be exhausted and fall from a single overdrive from his ability, Beyond the Limits.
Yet, the being that stood before him didn't only take down succubus, it took it down so easily that he was staring for around half a minute before he realized he was up next. Even then, he believed that a single overdrive was enough, but it clearly wasn't.
He had realized by the end of the first overdrive that he would only continue to exhaust himself if he continued to fight against the monster in front of him without going all out, leading to him losing in the end. That was when he decided to take it to a level that he had only shown once before in his life.
BLEH
Cloudris had finally lost all his steam, and was currently on the ground vomiting blood. Him and Silhouette were where fighters lined up to fight in the arena. For that reason, it was somewhat hard to see what was going on back there, but the spectators, announcer, and Dionysus could very clearly hear what had happened back there.
CLUTCH
Even though Cloudris was clearly the loser of the battle, it seemed that the monster standing in front of him had no intention of letting the battle end yet. It dragged him by the head back to the arena, and then threw him into the center of it.
"I- um, an unexpected twist has come out of all this! The black beast seems to have triumphed against Cloudris, who has never before been beaten in this arena! Can it be that we will finally see the third fighter, or will Cloudris somehow make a comeback?!"
The announcer clearly wasn't expecting any of this, as she was clearly at a loss of words at first.
To be quite honest, nobody could blame her. The second that everyone heard the extremely loud boom, all they could see was the monster getting beaten viciously. Once it got sent flying out of the arena, they all expected for it to be a done deal.
"W-What are you doing?"
Cloudris was currently watching as Silhouette held its foot above him in the air. To be more specific, it was holding it above his leg.
However, what came next was something that shocked everyone, with Dionysus being the most shocked.
". . . L-L-L-L-Los-os-er?"
For the first time in all the years that he had been with the silhouette, it actively tried to communicate with someone with something instead of fits of rage and screaming. Besides Dionysus, it almost never talked.
"Y-Yes! Loser, me!"
Cloudris began to admit he was a loser with the social skills of an awkward toddler. He thought that the silhouette would understand better if he were to talk in such a tone.
"kaaaaaaayyyyy"
After saying this, the silhouette began wandering around the arena. Everyone continued to stare for a bit until they all realized that Cloudris had just lost.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE SIX YEARS OF THIS DUNGEON'S HISTORY, CLOUDRIS HAS BEEN BEATEN!"
Even after the announcer lady announced it, all of the spectators were still staring for a hard moment before . . .
CLAP CLAP
CLAP CLAP
CLAP CLAP
First began the clapping, and then the cheering set in as well. After a while, almost every single person in the arena was either clapping or cheering with a passion that could rival that of a fighter that loved to fight.
'Hmm . . . I guess the people here aren't so fucked in the mind that they can't acknowledge a worth-while achievement.'
Even Dionysus, who hadn't even taken any physical damage, felt pretty tired. Even if he wasn't fighting on the front lines, the psychological and analytical battles of trying to understand the opponent and forming the strategies weren't anything to scoff at either.
WOOSH
A figure that everyone forgot about walked out from a curtain floating in the air and approached the black monster. This figure was Dionysus, and he was holding the medicinal goblet in his hand. He threw it at Silhouette.
"You're going to need it, the battles only get harder."
Dionysus threw it at Silhouette, and the monster caught it very easily. Though it had not used the goblet iself, it had seen Cerberus and Dionysus use it so many times that it understood what to do.
"Ah, m-mouth no open."
Silhouette pointed out that it couldn't open its mouth.
'Pour it into the gaping hole in your torso.'
It promptly did that, and after a bit its torso and arm had fully regenerated. In reality, it could have been left alone and it would regenerate, as it wasn't actually possible to kill it. However, it would take some time for it to fully regenerate from such a tough battle. The closest thing that even approached this battle difficulty-wise was the training with Cerberus, but it was at least given enough time to regenerate its parts. Here, it had to use the goblet or else it would start a battle with disadvantage.
After chugging the goblet, it threw it through the curtain that Dionysus was standing in front of. Dionysus smirked and also went through the curtain, which disappeared after he did. Silhouette then proceeded to stand up.
Standing in front of it was the third opponent. At this point, Dionysus acknowledged that he and Silhouette were now entering uncharted territory. Just to make sure that they were ready for the last two battles . . .
'You ready for the next battle?'
"Kaaaaaaaay"