Chapter 40: One Dimensional Challenge Before The Declaration Of War
Haiiro stared back at the three who caused them to unite for this single moment. Cass tried to say something but Haiiro puts her finger on her lips and shakes her head, with the flick of a hand the Dark Matter appear from beyond and out all three of them on a stretcher. She waves at them knowing that they would be much safer in that dimension that their current location, with that out of the way Haiiro looks forward breathing a sigh as she leaps upwards. With a blood scythe in her hands she crashes through the stained glass where the knights of the palace hadn't anticipated her to enter from. She decapitates the head of the first knight she meets, slamming his body to the ground before she sends it flying into the air where she shoots it with a gun made of blood that explodes into crystallized blood that pierces everyone within the vicinity.
Crushed heads, torn limbs and gasps of air are heard as this incident proved very fatal for the knights in the room, she did not have mercy as she now targets the knights who are standing outside of the room. Haiiro kicks up the head statue of a goddess to the door which creates holes in the bodies of those are caught inside of it, using the blood inside of this church like room as a way to move Haiiro surfs on it crashing on the door with the blood hardening and creating spears that instantly impales the ones who are in her way. Magic knights fire holy spells at her but she easily dodges these and parries them with her blood scythe. With a lifted arm the scythe transforms into a battle hammer that she sends crashing down on the floor, the eruption of blood that explodes from their bodies was so unexpected that the knights and soldiers never noticed what even took place.
"Break"
She commands the blood to shatter the ceiling as it does so in a manner that makes those who watch it reach for the top scream in terror. A constant flow of blood that breaks out of the roof of the palace. Haiiro walks inside of the blood and is transported to the throne room, here lay hundreds of vampiric knights and soldiers who growl in anger.
"Writhe in suffering"
These three words were enough to completely turn these warriors into whimpering children as the blood within their bodies started to rapture every single organ that it flowed through, their screams could be heard throughout the palace with Haiiro walking towards her destination. She kicks the door open and finds Edmund sitting on the throne with an expression of shock on his face.
"But...how?"
"Do you ask this in seriousness? Were you not hearing the screams of the soldiers and knights below?"
Edmund's silence was testimony enough that his fear began as soon as he knew that Haiiro broke Wesley's soul, this being who was once his Master had surpassed his expectations and for that the threat he felt back then became even more present with her actions. Her mastery of blood as a weapon was so dangerous that Edmund felt the power of the Blood God Rivanis stir in unknown ways.
"You are not worthy of the throne. Stand aside I wish to speak with Rivanis"
"I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU!"
Edmund takes his sword and stabs himself with it transforming into the form that Rivanis would bless upon his greatest warriors: he transformed into a bat with massive wings and arms. A bloody crown sits on his head, he laughs maniacally with a crimson tinged eyes. The madness within those eyes can be seen clearly by Haiiro who merely smiles at him beckoning him to come and get her.
"DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!!"
Haiiro moves to the side whilst parrying his lengthened sword like claws which causes him to slightly move backward from the impact. She walks towards him firing blood swords at him which he attempts to ignore by moving out of the way but they explode each time he does so. One lands on the tip of his tail and carpets his body in fiery explosion, he rolls and douses himself in water staring at where Haiiro is. She had vanished causing him a great deal of anxiety.
"COME OUT YOU STUPID BITCH! I WILL FORCE YOU OU-?!"
A hand made out of blood grabs his tail and whacks him from side to side before throwing him to the wall where he finally sees Haiiro emerging from the blood. The arm she controls creates another of the same kind, guns are created just to point at Edmund who screams as he is pelted by a mass of blood bullets. He falls to the ground with a splat, he was supposed to be stronger than this. He was supposed to be stronger than her and yet here she was putting him in his place with sheer strength. But Haiiro wasn't done yet, the arms create a sword that almost runs through him. He only dodged that stab and the following swing by relying on his almost god like reflexes.
"RIVANIS! BESTOW UPON YOUR SERVANT MORE POWER!"
A ring of darkness appears below him as he is being filled up with power, he is regenerating the wounds he was suffering from and is about to reach the strength that he had lost from that singular attack. Just as he is about to feel the descent of the Blood God a blasphemous event occurs, still in spirit form the blood that had created an elevator for Haiiro stops and now rushes towards Rivanis. Forming the jaws of a beast and just like that it snaps him in two, forming 3 more jaws that then devour his body. The evil god of blood, Rivanis couldn't descend properly and had his spirit torn to shreds. His soul is now floating in Haiiro's hands, Edmund seeing this is sunk into a sea of despair. The deal was if he was ever backed into a corner he would descend from his realm, take over his body and overwhelm Haiiro. The twisted screaming of a god echoed throughout the city as his soul was crushed under Haiiro's hand, the soul particles that floated in the air were easily absorbed by her as she stares at him with a crown of bloody horns growing from her temples.
This alone was enough to show him how powerful she had grown within this short amount of time. The devastation was so great that he felt like his death was any moment from this point forward. The souls she had crushed granted her instantaneous power and levels, the extent of this Edmund couldn't imagine.
"Do you still wish to oppose me? I have taken Rivanis' divinity as Evil God of Blood. Your contract lies with me now. You already know what is going to happen from this point on right?"
He ran. Those words were far too much to hear for Edmund, the power that left his body had transferred itself to Haiiro who laughed at his despair. He kept on running, on the chaos filled street, on the plains, in the wilderness. He kept on running, the blood moon was still high in the sky never changing and very much present in his life. Edmund stopped running for a brief moment to see how far he was from that heresy filled palace.
"Hmm?"
A drop of blood fell from his cheek, the certainty he had on the fact he never ran through somewhere that could cut him was another fact. And then another cut appeared, and another. Soon his body was slowly but surely getting covered in cuts.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"
The cuts continued to dig deeper, his body was destroying itself and it made him fall down to his knees.
"Blood is the essence of life. We gain power from it, you are still a coward Edmund. It is a pleasure seeing you suffer endlessly like this"
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Bones were breaking from the inside, his brain was shrinking by the minute, his eyes raptured out of his head as he slumped forward. Even with a broken spine he could feel his bones grinding into dust, death had come to him and it was going to be as painful.
"That does that, I'll use him an example later on."
Haiiro returned to become the three once more after emerging from the pool of blood that was once Edmund's. The trio stand over his corpse with a singular thought, they had come even closer to their mother in a way. They had achieved divinity and this was in line with what was going to happen in the next couple of days from now. Liz, Beth and Cass had to become insanely strong in order to survive. The gears of fate were turning and now the preparation for that had to take place within the Dark Matter universe for a while.
👁🗨
In that single moment a loud roar was heard from a far distance, it was a powerful roar. The roar of a dragon, but not just any dragon. It was The Roar Of The Dragon Emperor, otherwise known to the dragons as the Call Of The Throne. This only ever happened a few centuries ago, the question was why now? But that was easily answered by one single fact: The Dragon Emperor who observed the world from his throne had found an heir amongst dragonkind. Shen stood up from her seat and smiled viciously as she heard this, she looked at Yukiyo with a gaze that was full of excitement.
"The time has come for me to put my father in his place. Yukiyo I am going to leave for some time"
"I understand, also I was told that you should have this by some random elder god"
"Some elder god she says, I merely gave you the tools to complete your run in this world"
A rather harsh static filled voice replies to Yukiyo's offhanded comment. It turns into a feminine voice at the end of the sentence, Nyarlathotep enters the balcony area where the two were located at. The expression on her face is a childish pout, Yukiyo sighs at the level of intrusion that this outer god has in her home but she knows there is nothing she can do about it.
"That is the seed of Nidhogg, a great dragon of great power. A macguffin that a wayward cast of heroes have set out on a quest to get."
"And you stole it from them"
Shen replies with curious eyes, learning about dragons of other worlds made her greatly excited at the concept of fighting all of them. Nyarlathotep now seeing that her knowledge is being appreciated puffs up her chest and stares at Shen proudly.
"That world is going to die whether they do or don't get this anyway. It randomly fell into their world and it didn't belong and caused a lot of nations to fall. A dragon's power should be in the possession of a dragon"
Shen now focused her attention to the apple sized seed that was in her hands, she stared back at Yukiyo who nodded that she should eat it.
"I best suggest that you do it when you are near your dad's mountains"
"Yukiyo….."
"Go beat his ass, I am cheering for you my love."
Hearing that strengthened Shen's resolve as she stretched her wings and flew out of their home, the old man was going to cry tears from her newly acquired strength. Yukiyo watched her fly with renewed vigor and hope that she smiled as she watched her do that. Nyarlathotep sits down on Shen's chair refilling her cup of tea.
"Why did you come here? I am pretty sure you are already done with us and the like"
"Well I am"
"Then why?"
Nyarlathotep stirred the sugar in her tea before laying her evil gaze on Yukiyo who was not disturbed by it.
"A request from Lythalia, it is a reward for your unity efforts"
"And that is ?"
Lythalia hadn't checked up on Yukiyo in a very long time and yet she knew that the things were done in this world, that was an Elder God for you. Just what was this request anyway and why did Nyarlathotep even listen to her.
"You get the chance to return to your world for a brief moment."
"What?"
"You heard me"
Yukiyo was baffled by this she couldn't even respond properly. That was how much of an impact hearing the words "her world" had hit her. Everyone was busy in their own little training arc and here was Yukiyo, the true trump card of them relaxing for the moment she opens up the heavens themselves to kill the gods.
"What's the catch?"
"You get your things and have a little fun."
"That doesn't sound like a double edged sword to me"
"Because it doesn't always have to be like that, I may be a god who loves deception and chaos but I love to make sure I pay my due respect."
Now it made sense why Nyarlathotep accepted Lythalia's request. Yukiyo thought of the things she needed and knew that they were probably sold off anyway.
"Worry not I bought your house and I have left one of my many forms in charge of it. You can go take your things"
"How long ago were you fucking watching?"
"I time travelled a bit and watched your mundane life up to the point you died"
"You fucking bitch"
Yukiyo spat out as Nyarlathotep opened up a different tear, this one was fashioned to be more like a door. After downing the tea like it was nothing Nyarlathotep entered with Yukiyo following behind right after.
For the first time in what seemed to be forever Yukiyo seemed to shed tears, this was her home. All of it had remained exactly the way it was as if she never left in the first place. Her photos of her time spent in this world were still there, her favorite video game consoles, her energy drinks, manga, anime, everything was exactly where she put it. She had lived a life where only she existed, her world was so small. This house and everything in it was her everything before she died. She wiped off the dust from the DVR headset she once wore all those years ago. How was everyone doing? How did they cope with her death? Did they forget about her? These thoughts ended up leaving her mouth.
"You know I can make it such that you appear without having to cut your senses right?"
"I am pretty sure you can. But I would be an anomaly in the game wouldn't I?"
"As you already are in any world"
Nyarlathotep says with a matter of fact tone to her voice, Yukiyo responds with a genuine smile on her face as she walks around putting everything that was once hers inside of her inventory. The things that were her parents she leaves behind as a respect to them for raising her.
"I am going to leave one Dark Matter to live inside of this house to protect it is that okay?"
"What are you asking me for? It is your house, I merely bought it out of the self interest"
"You're right. So how are you going to put me into Sword Fantasy as I am?"
"That is simple. As data. I am sure you can still see your status in this world"
"Nop- Wow it really is there"
That assumption was proven wrong the instant she wanted to reject it, it was fair to say that her soul was influenced by Sophia who watched over more than just a couple of worlds. She would easily control this world through sheer physical strength alone if she wanted to but that wasn't her goal and neither was it fun.
"With these stats I am pretty sure I would end up being a boss of some kind. Is that your plan? To make me into a boss inside of Sword Fantasy?"
"Precisely, you'll be different of course but at least it is something. I could always just say you are a player but that would violate the rules and regulations of being overpowered as you currently are and humans will be angered instead of joyed that you have returned."
"That's true"
It wasn't as simple as saying "Hey, guys I am alive again!" there were complications to that and they probably moved on judging from the way time worked in different worlds. Yukiyo nodded as Nyarlathotep grabbed the DVR headset with her right hand slightly phasing inside as she took Yukiyo's hand and dived the same way that she was used to when she was playing this game. Within minutes she was inside of the world of Sword Fantasy.
"There's a difference between knowing it is a game and actually living inside of it. Damn."
She took in the beauty of the work and effort the developers put inside of this game. She smiled as she could play this game now with her current stats. Just how much destruction would she bring before she eventually stopped. She was still inside of rather casual clothes.
"I'll be in the system just watching, have fun and notify me when you want to exit this place and go back home."
Yukiyo decided to head her personal home, initially that would be deleted but players who have died had their homes and equipment kept in tact for keep's sake. A lot of people had left flowers and candles for her, they actually cared for her. She had to pay them back by giving them one of the most exciting event that would be ever recorded in this game. Grabbing all of her high leveled equipment and items replacing them with replicas that had the same appearance and effects Yukiyo had gotten even stronger by visiting this game. She was ready to even make a god fall.
"I am ready to give them an event so dastardly fun those devs will have to make the game just like the world that I have come to love."
💀
『Death Is Approaching. Either Fight or Flee』
At first no one understood what these words meant, in Sword Fantasy a plethora of boss monsters had called themselves the servants of Death or Death itself but this was different. This had a certain level of pure danger to it, those who stayed behind with intentions to observe or fight began to understand that statement. What they saw could only be described as an eldritch goddess, she was beautiful but behind her was a darkness that could swallow the entire world. The sky was filled with eyes that stared down onto them, she stopped to look at her victims and pointed her finger at them.
"Debilitating Flies"
One of the eyes disintegrated into a mass of flies covering their bodies for a brief moment and returning to her. The effect was immediate, it didn't last long but it was enough to make the killing blow that she needed. If you were a high leveled player then all of your stats would go back to 1, but to make things worse your skills were stolen for a brief time and your strength, agility, defense , and magic were all punched into the negatives. Yes, true fear had set in once you realized that you could do nothing against this boss. Instant death and the feeling of powerlessness that one could not remove was enough to make some players want to quit but not the majority of them. This wandering boss destroyed everything that in its way, it didn't matter whether it was a boss, a monster or even a city. Everything was destroyed, the Sword Fantasy devs had to call this anomaly [The Grand Demon God King α-Ω ]and acted like they had it under control, like it was an event. Based on appearance it seemed they thought of the player who died and decided to use her appearance for this boss, it was rather fitting that α-Ω would become a Memorial Boss. Memorial Bosses existed to honor the life of the player that they were based on who had unfortunately died, of course the players who registered their information and consent for the devs to do this were given the most spectacular of boss design.
After destroying and killing each world boss, one thing was made very clear if they didn't stop her then Sword Fantasy would surely end and for that a special stage called The Void was made just for her. A massive Giant Star sized world that existed in between the worlds, it was a barren wasteland that had only three things: insanely overleveled monsters, the Grand Demon God King herself α-Ω and her servants the Dark Matter Legion. A event to unite all 9 worlds in an effort to save Sword Fantasy. This was popular with people who didn't play the game, as such new players registered to fight α-Ω in her world The Void. The raid stayed the same, no one could entirely win against her in the last battle all of the top ranking guilds banded together in an effort of killing her but they were carpeted by World Devouring Flame followed by Debilitating Flies, the remnants of those who survived had to face the Dark Matter Legion who were all as strong as World Bosses. This event was not only unfair but exciting as the premise behind it had stakes, if they failed to defeat α-Ω then Sword Fantasy would end and so will their daily lives inside of this game.
"I am glad that they are having fun but I guess I have to be the one who plays with favoritism here. I know who didn't join the high rank guild collab. Like the idiots they are, they decided heroes come last and for that I have to reward them with a win"
None of the high ranking parties and guilds who fought against Yukiyo survived, of course not she was the strongest god they had ever come to face. The only one left was the party she was involved in and at the moment one person was approaching her location, defeating horde after horde. Yukiyo teleported to his exact point on the map.
"Ethan..."
He walked alone towards her and paused as he stared at her.
"Alpha, I guess they really did gave you the final boss treatment that you've always wanted to get in this game. This old man hasn't been that excited for a long time, I'll serve as a distraction for at least when the others arrive."
"How is everyone doing? Are they holding up well?"
"?!"
Ethan was shocked to hear her actually speak, it was her exact voice and Yukiyo transformed back to when she was still α-Ω. She smiled softly as she approached him and stopped.
"If you think this is still a game then you might be wrong motherfucker"
"It really is you, but how? I don't think you uploaded your personality to AI or something we do not have the technology"
"Because I didn't. This is the real me, I guess all of those other world stories do hold some merit"
"But how did you appear here then?"
"An eldritch god helped me, I guess it was smart of the devs to make something out of me having fun with everyone"
"I...…..I am speechless"
"I never got to say farewell, to you and everyone in Snow's Feather. This is me doing just that, giving the time we spent together resolution. Also you can't kill me cause my HP is literally in the millions but you can get it to half."
Ethan stared at the ground, it was obvious that if this was the real world he would be shedding tears. Giving the motions of wiping his tears Ethan looks at Yukiyo once more.
"One last good bye huh? Well I guess you heard her guys. Let's give our comrade the best fight she's ever had to have."
Ethan was supposed to be the bait whilst everyone gave it their all to avenge him but it seemed the plans had changed. Now they were all focused on at least bringing Yukiyo's HP to a million at most. Multiple swords, spears, daggers and axes came from all angles to stab Yukiyo but she blocked this as she reverted to her dark elf form. She was going to fight them as the new form of herself, the 11 members of Snow's Feather were ready to pull off a strategy they hadn't employed in a long time.
"Oh they are doing that"
Yukiyo was hit by a mass of spells that would destroy a normal non-boss dungeon which reduced her HP by 100,000. It wasn't surprising that the three Great Sages would pull it off but in came the 2 tanks who roared as they swung their axes at her she dodged the first and stabbed the second with a tentacle.
""'"SHINING LIGHT"""
"GOD'S ARROW OF JUDGEMENT"
Two different swordsmen and an archer of classes she had forgotten swung at her but she simply devoured this wave based attack coupled with a massive arrow using her Belphegor skill and used the swords laying around her to send them flying at a rapid speed that they were like bullets all around her. 8 members down for the count, they fought bravely against an enemy who was way stronger than they were.
""WE SUMMON THEE TO THE BATTLEFIELD, THYMIS!""
"World's Zero"
Two words were enough to put it out for the count, they had used their HP as a betting piece on the line so they could win. Their last big battle with Yukiyo was fun and for that she would reward the 10 who fought so bravely against her. But the process was already done, this technique could only be used by the guild master. Each death of the members of one's guild would increase one's stats and strength as well as access to the skill that was the hardest to use because of how rare one used it: Hero's Call. Ethan had become a Hero but not just any ordinary hero like the ones she had faced before, no, he became this world's Hero. This skill gave you skills depending on what world you were in and the title provided in that moment would stick with you for a very long time.
[Wandering Hero of The Void]
"This got interesting really quickly"
Yukiyo smiled as she watched Ethan slowly walk towards her. Immediately without warning he struck Yukiyo's sword but she had already anticipated this attack, pushing him back before sending forward several swords to simultaneously hit his sword but Ethan blocks such by shooting them all down with the bow that he creates from nothing. Ethan closes the distance between them wielding ten weapons each held by a warrior's arm and swings them at the same time. Yukiyo dances around him for a back stab but a shield erects up from there. With this he can actually put a dent into Yukiyo's large HP pool, the ten weapons all slash Yukiyo who uses Dark Matter to protect her from their barrage but this doesn't last for long as a sword appears from beneath Ethan causing him to jump out of the way.
"Wha-?!"
"Behold the strength I accumulated in another world"
The Dark Matter is manipulated into several shadow afterimages that indicate where Yukiyo is going to attack next, Ethan tries to dodge that but he is easily caught up in Yukiyo's attacks due to her high agility.
"WARRIOR'S SOUL!!"
This spell selects a weapon from the arsenal he is wielding and puts an extraordinary amount of power inside of it, this is in the form of a short sword with mana coating the blade to become the size of a great sword which he swings waves of dark energy at Yukiyo who is sprinting towards him. She jumps over the first, slides beneath the second and teleports behind the third all whilst not losing the momentum she had all this time.
"Aegis Breaker"
First order of business is shattering that shield that protects him to open up a spot where she can damage him leaping afterwards within the next moment. She swings her sword at him with the Dark Matter firing off magic spells at Ethan who has to bear it for a while longer before reflecting the damage back to Yukiyo who is surprised by that.
"That's like 2 million, what the fuck? I may need to steal that skill buddy"
"Sure if you can"
"Marchosias Activate, Belphegor Activate"
Her Deadly Sin skills are activated as a result making things way harder for Ethan as Yukiyo is now faster and hits harder than before whilst making sure that she doesn't get her attacks reflected back at her. Dark Matter Pseudo-Clones are created for that purpose alone as she relentlessly attacks him without pause. She pulls out Lucky Discord's gun firing at him before transforming it into the EEGun which fires dark energy beams that dance around the battlefield creating a bullet hell like sequence that Ethan somehow manages too dodge.
"All of those shots and not one has landed on me"
"That was intentional"
A shadowy hand appears behind Ethan grabbing something from him and going back.
"I've got it, thanks buddy"
"I never took you to be a strategist"
"I was the one who organized our raids remember?"
"Ah. Now I do, man those were fun"
"How about we end this?"
"Aye. Let us head to the final performance! HERO'S SPIRIT!"
Ethan shouts as he is covered in an aura of light becoming younger as a result. Yukiyo transforms into an eldritch goddess form where she directs all of the Dark Matter and her own skills at him. He screams as he flies towards her. Yukiyo does the same as they aim for each other's chests, the Void is lighted up in a clash between light and darkness. Memories are exchanged as everything that had happened prior to them meeting is revealed between the both of them, the comrades who died so they could push Ethan to this point all share senses for this single moment. Yukiyo is standing unconquered with a smile on her.
"Alpha....I didn't know the other world seemed so fucking fun"
"It is. I do not regret the time I had here, I am sure the devs have a clear idea of what I want to happen. You will enjoy even better quests and have bigger memories. Thank you for being the light of my world, I thank all of you. You are my cherished friends. I will come back one day and let us all meet IRL. I am sure you would like to see Shen and the others"
Yukiyo's HP was halved to 3,500,000 through sheer effort alone, she allowed them to win because she wanted to. With this Yukiyo then vanished from the game ending the event, Ethan watches her particles disappear from the world of Sword Fantasy and smiles. Their lowly guild saved the worlds and now it would rise to the top with the equipment Yukiyo left for them.
"No, thank you for being our guild master Alpha. And until we meet again"
Those words are carried by the silent wind as Ethan turns around to walk back to the portal.