Chapter Forty-Three
REPENT AND FORGIVE
Veritas jumped at it, the silhouette. It was rapidly taking the form of a human, the first step being it's bright white eyes and ears.
He decided that it would be the biggest threat thanks to it's odd colors and muscular form. It was in the shape of a human, but his brain didn't look at it as a human from the beginning.
DNSCHHH
A high-kick from the silhouette-like being that hit the right side of his head sent him flying.
'What is that?'
'I could see it coming and moved away, but it felt like I did not move at all. It was like it moved accordingly, as if it was trying to make it so that there would be no difference.'
Veritas thought of all of this right before he bounced off the ground and collided with a pillar. There wasn't enough force to send him flying through it or imbed him in it, as it stopped him from flying. He promptly slumped to the ground, all while coughing out blood.
'You . . . no, there's something wrong here.'
He caught on.
'Dionysus, he should be awakened. From everything I have seen so far, he has to be. He could have easily followed up that thing's attack from before.'
'The question is, why did he not?'
He looked at the golden-eyed man of interest, Dionysus, who was standing behind the silhouette, peeking over its shoulder. From what he saw through Negata, he could go into a separate place from this world, a place that nobody has access to unless he were to pull out the entrance to it.
'There is something wrong here, so I should scout it out and play the defensive side. But, I can not just let the two control the flow of battle.'
He decided quickly, as the rush of being in front of Dionysus was fast enough to not allow him any more time.
'Play defensively, but right in front of the enemy!'
He rose up to the occasion, rushing the silhouette. As he ran towards it, he chose his upcoming action.
'I will most likely take another hit like last time, but it is worth it to see what this abomination can do!'
He planned to bait out an attack from the silhouette by throwing a punch of his own. From there, he would see how it'd react to him.
"Huh?"
The moment arrived in a flash. Veritas ended up throwing the punch; as expected, the silhouette countered. It quickly dropped to the ground as quickly as a spider, and with the power of its legs . . .
WHA-PUNCH
. . . The edge of its foot connected with Veritas Jaw, sending him back to where he came from, but from a much higher angle. Veritas could sense that his Jaw was unhinged at this point, but that wasn't of concern right now.
'No, this thing is not anywhere close to realistic.'
"It is impossible." He muttered with a broken jaw.
He came to this thought train through multiple experiences. First off was the first attack of the battle. Even though he avoided it, or should have, it was as if he hadn't moved at all, as if it moved accordingly to him.
Second off, a counter-attack was put out before he even threw the punch. There was the chance that it had just been planning to attack, and that it didn't know he was attacking, but it perfectly avoided the punch and attacked from where the opening was. Just like the last time, it seemed to be accomodating for what was to come.
'I do not know how, but they can see my next move. The fact that Dionysus is still just standing there and doing nothing but looking on is also anxiety inducing.'
Suddenly, a light bulb turned on; the cog twisted.
'He is just standing there, doing nothing. It could be arrogance, it could be honor. But that is not Dionysus, not the slightest bit. He will do anything to have his way, he has no care for any of those.'
'He must be doing something that cannot be seen visually, at least not from here.'
Veritas was on the right track. He had yet to figure out what Dionysus' ability was, much less understand it.
--- SEQUENCE 2 ---
Meanwhile . . .
'He isn't keeping up.��
At the rate that Veritas was taking hits and deducing the truth, he'd be dead three times over before he figured out what was going on. Dionysus understood this perfectly; along with the fact that the chances of he and Silhouette winning were near a hundred percent.
'Unfortunately, we're going to have some interference soon.'
The reason that Dionysus was staying back right now was because Pactione was going to arrive in two minutes. He could see into all of Veritas' mental links effortlessly; He could easily make out all five of Veritas' partners, along with what they were all doing.
He was also staying back to choose the best plan of action for himself. He was considering leaving Ira to the end to finish off. At the same time, he was also considering the opposite, which was to finish her off right now.
The only similar thing between the two is that, no matter which he picked, there were many futures full of success and defeat.
'If I leave it for later, Pactione will be able to change the outcome.'
There were too many variables in leaving it up to the future. Right here, right now, Dionysus rushed at Ira. He could tell what state she was in. It was a form that would not be able to sense anything on the outside right now. Even if someone cleaved her in half, she wouldn't be able to sense it.
'Not that she'd sense it anyway, she'd most likely be dead the second the cleaver went through.'
'Oh, wait.'
Dionysus stopped in his tracks. One of the futures that he saw came to light, and Veritas was going to forsake his partners for power.
'His power allows all power to be distributed evenly throughout them all. However, he can't kill them off, or else he would be able to gain nothing from them.'
Veritas was planning on sucking them dry until they were right at the limit, and then to just leave them in that state. With all of their powers combined, Veritas planned to become a superhuman among superhumans.
'He might even be able to somehow rival me.'
It was unlikely, but a possibility nonetheless. Through pure power, Veritas would close in on Dionysus' limit, but wouldn't reach it. However, using his strategic genius, Veritas has two ways to finish off Dionysus.
'This is exactly how the Chained King felt in that moment. At the final moment, where he was about to get decapitated, he gained the power to refute reality.'
The amount of people who had raised their awakened ability to the third stage, even while including the past and the future, would be less than ten people, Dionysus included.
The prison dimension that he had been locked in for three decades played a part in him unlocking his potential at such a young age.
'It's starting. Get out of there, Silhouette.'
The mental link between him and Silhouette was reestablished the second that the two came in contact with one another again. From that point on, Dionysus and Silhouette were bound to each other once more.
'Let me show you what forsaking everything means.'
"Let me show you what forsaking everything means!"
As expected, Veritas yelled out those very words. Dionysus could feel four out of the five mental links that Veritas had established nearly collapse on one another. However, just as Dionysus had foreseen, the four people who had their power absorbed were brought to the very limit of life, but were still on the living side of the border.
'The only one he left out was Pactione, as to be expected.'
Pactione would stumble through the door in half a minute now. Due to his mental link with Veritas, he already knew the situation fully, and would most likely rush Dionysus the second he burst through.
'Strong, irrational, insane. That'd be what defines the character called Pactione.'
Thanks to Veritas stopping Ira of his own accord, Dionysus was able to use his ability, Behind the Curtain, to evacuate the area. Leaving Silhouette behind, Dionysus returned to his most comfortable position in combat.
'They have no way of accessing this dimension without going through one of my curtains.'
The plan was to get the drop on Pactione the second he entered the room. Dionysus had narrowed down the actions that the man would take.
'Now that I'm gone, he'll try to somehow make contact with Silhouette and steal it's ability.'
The issue that came with that plan was the fact that there was nothing to steal in the first place. According to the information that Dionysus had on hand, Silhouette was one of the very, very few people who had achieved the third stage on the true ability of a person.
Though, due to many circumstances, it couldn't access either its granted or awakened ability, it still had the physical strength that came with them. In fact, not only had it lost its abilities, it had lost most traces of sentience in the process, being left with very little. Now, due to how much it has been through, Silhouette was starting to resemble the human it once was.
'There will never be a day where it regains its powers, but its physical strength is the true deal. There is no competing with that.'
--- SEQUENCE 3 ---
Veritas had just absorbed all the power that his allies had within each and every one of themselves. His body became a bloody mess, as it couldn't contain them all at the same time.
At this point, how long he could maintain this form was on a time limit.
'The intellect of five people, the strength of five, the wisdom of five, everything . . . I have only felt this once before.'
His mind flickered to an old memory of his, one where he was fifteen and had just gained this ability. He shared the news about his ability with his friends, who were jealous of him. Three of them volunteered to sign a contract with him, just so they could see what it would feel like to have a mental link.
Things began to happen, and Veritas had no control over it all. He accidentally absorbed their life through his ability. He gained their lifeforce, allowing him to live for centuries due to their age being added onto his, but at the cost of dear friends.
Of course, the form that he was in now was much, much more powerful than before, but Veritas could remember himself at the time.
The silhouette was rushing him. Veritas easily subdued it by utilizing Negata's control of metal, piercing it with six metal rods for each part of the body. It was now stuck to the ground, visibly struggling to get out of its situation.
SQUISH
He stomped its head out with what he concluded to be a foot. He was at least four meters tall in this form. He could tell that he still had a humanoid figure, but he couldn't make out what he truly looked like. The only thing he could go off of was his voice when he spoke, which echoed a lot.
"Now then . . ."
BHFF
Veritas' mental link with Pactione allowed him to see, long before Pactione burst through the door, that he would do it.
"Yoooooooooooo, Veritas! Tha-"
SQUISH
Sadly, his mental link didn't allow him to see that his partner's head would also be squished out, but by a different person than himself.
"Stop messing around, Dionysus. You just killed one of Humanity's saviors."
A provocation of sorts. Dionysus didn't fall for it even the least bit, and as the golden eyes stared at Veritas with contempt, the man under the gaze got angry once again.
"Not like it matters, anyhow."
Veritas was void of most emotions in this form. At this point in time, the only thing carrying him forward was his will to save humanity from inevitable destruction.
"I must erase this city from the grid. I am sure you understand that, yes?"
Dionysus stared at him for a bit longer before disappearing from Veritas' sight.
'What?'
He was nowhere in front of him now. Veritas quickly whirled around to witness Dionysus grabbing the silhouette by the hand and pulling it up to its feet.
"Yeah, I understand that real well. The issue is, I don't give a damn."
Once again, the eyes of contempt flashed.
"Selfish, beyond all reason. As a fellow human, I am disappointed."
Veritas was frustrated, frustrated enough to run directly at Dionysus.
"I require that you drop dead."
He was definitely going fast, faster than the human eye could ever see. Dionysus, though, had eyes beyond that of a normal human's.
As for the Silhouette . . .
BVHAM
It had strength beyond that of a normal human.
From that one kick to the liver, Veritas recoiled slightly, but not enough. He quickly whipped right back at the Silhouette and grabbed its leg.
"Don't disturb us!"
He threw it as hard as he could, which resulted in the Silhouette getting thrown out of the castle and into the far, ever reaching sky.
"Oi, that's a bit rude."
Dionysus slid in a remark, but Veritas disregarded it.
"Now, it is on-"
"You should stop now."
'The insolence of this man.'
Dionysus was now staring at Veritas with not eyes of contempt, but pity instead. It was like he was looking at a broken doll.
"You've lost all your rationality. Your thoughts don't make sense. You don't make sense. You're running on fumes here. There's nothing complicated about it all, drop this now."
Dionysus took a quick breath before saying the next line.
"If you really want to save humanity, then retaliate against the heavens."