A/N: Sorry for the delays everyone. I really wanted to finish this novel last weekend but just didn't have the motivation to. Unlike some of my other breaks, this time I just didn't have the motivation to write and slept and watched anime the entire weekend in bed.
I think my chronic depression is flaring up but I NEED to finish this for all the fans of mine who somehow still care about this inconsistently uploaded series.
Sorry if the quality drops slightly due to this.
.~.~.~.
Feldway-Michael laughed. "Fael!?! Fine then. My name is Fael, you fool!"
I felt a huge amount of magic power leave my body and enter Fael. His body began to glow brightly as his wings converged and covered his body in a chrysalis of white feathers. I looked up, seeing the remaining thousands of angels in the sky which I didn't obliterate with my earlier attack all cry out in agony as their bodies began to dissolve into particles of energy that raced towards the evolving creature.
Interestingly enough, Gracia, Pico, and Dino didn't get absorbed into the mass, but I assumed it was because the three were 'Fallen' and so weren't subject to Fael's domination via the [Michael] Ultimate Skill.
Guy grits his teeth and glared at me. "Damn it, Alaster! You just made him stronger and yourself weaker! How do you expect us to defeat him now?" He yelled.
I looked at him with a puzzled look. "Um... with the power of friendship?" I replied to which Guy stared back at me completely dumbfounded and at a loss for words.
<
<
<...>
I felt like something else was looking at Velzard with half-closed eyes just now but we both decided to ignore the strange feeling. Thankfully, the evolution was complete and now the newly created enemy 'Fael' had emerged.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't impressed. Fael was beautiful and radiated power only surpassed by Veldanava in his True Dragon form. Is EV was close to 200 Million and I felt space-time itself quake under the pressure just his aura was giving off. If he wanted to, he could destroy p[lanets with just a wave of his hand, though the Cardinal World itself would survive due to it's special properties Veldanava gave it when he created it.
Fael began to laugh, lowly, but as it went on, his laugh became much more sinister and evil. "HahahahahAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHEHEHEHEHEHEHAHAHEAHEAHAHEAHAH!!!!! I AM FAEL!!! THE HEAVENLY CHIMERA!!! WITNESS ME NOW, VELDANAVA!!! IF YOU DON'T APPEAR NOW TO STOP ME PERSONALLY, I'LL DESTROY THIS WORLD YOU LOVE SO MUCH WITH JUST A FLICK OF MY FINGERS!!!" Fael boasted loudly.
"I mean it's certainly impressive," I said with genuine surprise. I didn't expect him to have gained so much power so quickly. His body had taken in Velgrynd's Dragon Factor, the power of the Angels, and numerous other Ultimate Skills creating a completely new race that was entirely unique to him alone and would and could never be replicated again.
Fael stopped laughing and looked at me and Guy with a dissatisfied look on his face now. "I tire of this conflict. Begone." He said, waving his hand and shooting a beam of light toward us. Guy held his arms out and cast a barrier skill on par with [Castle Guard] to defend himself, even if it did seem to completely consume his energy reserves to do so.
It was probably the correct choice, considering the attack Fael launched had spatial attributes and would have auto-targetted him even if he teleported or dodged out of the way. Still, I was a bit miffed that he had clearly excused me from the barrier despite us being right next to one another and his ability to protect me, not that I needed it.
The attack struck Guy's barrier and was stalled for only a moment before exploding and sending Guy flying into the ground at supersonic speeds. If not for the fact he'd been refining his body with magical energy for millennia at this point, he'd have been completely destroyed just then, even his soul would have been shattered had he failed to endure.
Guy was down and out, he'd seemingly lost consciousness from the amount of exertion he'd had to deal with, between Fael's attack and having to repair his previously imploded body from Feldway's earlier sneak attack. As for myself, the blast just dissipated after hitting my [Absolute Defense] ability.
To be honest, the only thing that could get through my defenses would probably be Null Energy due to the fact I never had the chance to analyze it and defend against it as well as its inherent property of 'Nonexistence' which destroyed everything, even at a conceptual level.
<> Velzard chimed in.
'Think Rimuru will get it in this world?' I asked, ignoring the world around me as I talked casually with my wife.
<
'Oh? Didn't realize you were interested' I responded.
<
'Would that beat us?' I asked.
<
'I see! The Skills my wife had made and managed are too strong huh.' I praised
<> Velzard blushed.
<
It seems he was talking to himself and flexing his mighty aura while testing his newfound strength, completely ignoring the world around him. That frustrated me, as he clearly thought he'd defeated me before even checking the result of his attack earlier, so I decided to blow off some steam with him.
I got into position mid-air and dashed towards him at lightning speed. "Hey, Fael!" I called out to him. The Heavenly Chimera turned to look at me just in time for me to strike.
"{|Nova Lariat|}!!!" I called out as Fael's face was crushed under the power of my pro-wrestling move powered by Divine Haki and an Ultimate Skill of the Lovecraftian Series.
Our contact only lasted for a moment, but in that time, I was able to see that Fael's eyes had whited over during impact, meaning I'd temporarily knocked him unconscious with my move, as he hadn't prepared for it and was defenseless. Fael's body flew through the air at a fraction of the speed of light, traveling so far in just a split second that his body left the Magic Continent entirely and was thrown into the vast Oceans of the planet where it bounced across the water like a skipping stone before finally landing on a volcanic Island far to the south.
I teleported next to him the next instant after he came to a halt, seeing how he was face-down in the mud of a swamp on the island. His pristine wings were broken and angled weirdly with over half of his feathers missing while his formally spotless clothes were now stained with water, mud, and blood from the many fish and other creatures he'd run into on his travel. I bent down next to him and grabbed his hair, pulling his face out of the mud, to reveal a beaten-up and pathetic-looking image of a handsome face twisted and contorted from the blow of my invincible forearms. He seemed dazed.
"You know Fael, you never really changed at all, did you?" I said as I looked at him with sad eyes. "In the end, you're still that same overconfident angel left abandoned in the mud by Veldanava after picking a fight with me."
Fael looked up at me, actual tears in his eyes as he heard what I'd said to him. "Why!?!" He cried.
"Why is it always you!?!" He yelled. "I was the one who loved him the most, yet you were the one who Veldanava preferred! A weak human like you! He intrusted you with the world, not me, then when he abandoned us, you were able to live happily while I was stuck waiting for a master that would never return!!! Why can you still be happy while I have to suffer!?! It's not fair damn it!" Fael screamed in agony, not from the wound I gave him, but from the scar on his soul.
I sighed at that. "Its because I had Velzard that I was able to endure," I said after a few moments.
"Huh?"
My face blushed slightly, embarrassed that I was talking all the sappy stuff with him after the two of us were trying to kill each other just moments before. "I was a weak person too, you know."
Fael rolled his eyes when I said that but I continued. "Even after I was granted opportunities no one else had, the ability to train with god himself, I was weak, not just in body, but in the heart too. I was afraid, just like you were..."
"I was never afraid!?!" Fael yelled, swatting my arm away and falling back into the mud before turning over weakly, trying to defiantly get up, but could barely manage to sit against a tree stump nearby. He glared hatefully at me.
I gave another sigh. "Yes, you are. You are afraid of the same thing I was."
"I was-"
"You were afraid of being alone." I interrupted Fael's rebuttal which shut him up.
"When Veldanava left, you isolated yourself in the Heavenly Star Palace, festering in your loneliness. Despite being surrounded by people, you were alone. You had no one." I said.
Fael's head hung low at my words. "But I became so strong. So strong that I could bring him back. So strong that I would never lose him again." He spoke softly.
I smiled and decided to quote my best friend. "Your body grew, but your heart stated the same."
Fael looked up at me with a strange expression I'd never seen before, but I ignored it and continued. "You were afraid of losing the ones you loved and closed off your heart to anyone else. I get that. I was you... but then I met Velzard... god this is getting cheesy." I explained, blushing a bit more.
"Fael losing someone close to you sucks. It's the worst pain imaginable. Unlike physical pain that you can acclimate to over time, losing someone you love is like gouging a hole in your soul, and being so truly alone is an indescribable hell worse than any torment a daemon can inflict. I understand, I was there too.
As a matter of fact, it was my fear of going back to that loneliness that caused me to live my life the way I did. Its what caused me to get into fights with the woman I loved more than the universe and to obsessively protect the ones-" I started to speak.
"[Azathoth]!!!" I heard a voice call out from behind me before Fael blinked away in the next moment, consumed by the Ultimate Skill of a particular Slime.
I turned around to see Rimuru and Velzard standing several feet behind me, Rimuru's harm outstretched towards Fael's location.
"Oy! I was in the middle of something here!" I complained with a red face.
Rimuru looked back at me with a red face too. "I know and it was too cringy!"
"I didn't realize how bad Talk-no-Jutsu was in real life" Velzard commented, also redfaced. "It's one thing on a screen with emotional music playing, but in real life-" Velzard shivered.
It took us all a moment to calm down from that awkward scene, but once we did, I asked Rimuru when he got here.
"Oh that? I got here as soon as you guys started fighting, but decided to deal with Dino first." Rimuru explained.
"Dino?" I asked.
"Yeah, I had to fight him for a minute but eventually, during the battle his skill evolved and he could break free from Michael's domination," Rimuru explained.
"i see. So Ciel edited his Skills then." I concluded.
Rimuru was startled by what he heard. "Huh!?! You know about Ciel!?!"
I smiled before pointing to myself. "Clairvoyant Hero, remember."
Rimuru took a step back from me after hearing that, clearly shocked by what I'd said. '*He's messing with you, master. I've talked to him before, which was how I was able to gain data on [Metatron] and [Gabriel].*' Ciel commented.
"Yeah listen to Ciel there, we have a great relationship," I said, interrupting Rimuru and Ciel's private discussion.
"Ehhhh!?!?!?!?! You can hear our internal conversations!?!?!" Rimuru said in a slight panic.
"Of course. 'How will I protect my privacy now!?!' is what your thinking right?" I asked him to which Rimuru looked even more shocked.
"Rimuru, he's messing with you. He can't actually read your thoughts, he just knows what you're going to think." Velzard said, putting her hand on Rimuru's shoulder, calming him down.
"Boo~ Party pooper." I complained.
Rimuru laughed awkwardly at that while Velzard giggled softly, covering her mouth with her hand.
Rimuru gave a tired sigh and slumped over a bit. "I just hope after this everything will be peaceful from now on."
"I think so, It would be odd for someone like Yuuki or Velda to show up now, so I think Fael was the final boss," I told him.
"There are more!?!" Rimuru asked in shock.
"Don't worry. Yuuki is gone already." Velzard said.
"Really?" I asked.
"Yeah, I asked Velgrynd if she ever went to Japan to kill him and destroy his soul specifically to prevent any secret bosses," Velzard explained.
"Why are you too talking about this like its a game you've already beaten?" Rimuru asked, more to himself than us, but I answered it to troll.
"No reason. Don't worry about it, besides, I doubt Angra Maiynu will manifest anyway," I said.
"That sounds ominous!" Rimuru tsukkomi'ed back.
Velzard and I laughed it off leaving Rimuru to stew for a bit.
"Oh yeah, why did you name him anyway? His EV was about 200 Million wasn't it? Isn't that alot, even for you?" He asked.
"Well maybe if it was a year or so ago, but feel was kinda weak when compared to me now," I explained.
"Why is that." He asked.
"Can't you read my EV?" I asked him.
"No, you have some sort of barrier that blocks analysis up don't you?" He asked, looking at me like I was being suspicious.
"Oh, that's right. I added that feature to [Absolute Defense]" Velzard mentioned.
"Oh, well then I guess that's also why Guy was panicking then, he just didn't realize the difference between us and why I was never worried," I stated.
"So what's your EV?" Rimuru asked.
"1.3 Billion and rising," I said, giving him a thumbs up and a bright smile.
Rimuru_Tempest.exe crashed
Rimuru took a few moments to come back into reality and began massaging his headache while groaning to himself. I could practically hear Ciel's panicked voice as she ran around in his soul creating contingencies to contain me if the need arose. Even Veldanava only had an EV of 1 Billion in his True Dragon form, though that was because he'd manually capped himself and had even given up most of it before he even met Lucia and she gave birth to Milim.
"If you were so much stronger than him anyway, why bother naming him? It wasn't like he'd ever grow strong enough to even come close to fighting you equally right!?!" Rimuru asked, annoyed.
"Well Michael-Feldway was hard to write- I mean say, so I thought giving him an easier name to say would be easier to everyone."
Velzard smirked. "You're breaking it."
I ignored my wife's strange comment and continued talking. "Besides, Fael sounds a bit like Fail right? Isn't it funny how he's so strong but still a failure?" I asked.
Rimuru covered both of his eyes by hiding them in his hands and lowered his head, seemingly unable to process what I had just said.
'*Alaster, I am the greatest computational force the multiverse has ever seen. Given enough time and energy, I could perfectly recreate the entire universe including the memories and circumstances of any moment in time, and even 'I' cannot process the logic that is your brain.*' Ciel said, breaking her silence.
'*Aww! That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me... other than Velzard's 'I do'".
'''***It wasn't a compliment***''' Velzard, Ciel, and Rimuru all said simultaneously.
"Don't sweat the details," I replied.
If I don't admit to it, then I'm not defeated.
.~.~.~.
A/N: I was originally going to have this chapter mostly be a conversation between Fael (mostly Feldway's ego) and Alaster about the nature of their dynamic.
Both cared for Veldanava deeply and were afraid of being alone, but Alaster was able to grow as a person and heal that thanks to Velzard's love for him whereas Feldway didn't care about anyone other than Veldanava and only used the people around him like tools rather than connecting with them as Alaster did.
This was kinda demonstrated by the fact that, just like when they first met, Alaster sent Feldway flying with a Lariat that only hit him because Feldway (Fael) didn't take Alaster seriously, believing himself to be much more powerful than Alaster and therefore not needing to bother with defending himself, which is the exact reason Alaster sent him flying the first time too.
He even ended up face-down in the mud.
Alaster would explain that even Veldanava wasn't immune to loneliness, as he created the multiverse specifically so he wouldn't be alone anymore and this was also why he let go of most of his power, so he could relate better to people and gain more true friends (not followers).
Unfortunately, I'm not a very good writer with the sappy stuff, so the whole thing turned out cringe. Originally Fael would be convinced to allow Rimuru to devour him after Alaster reveals that he was Veldanava's reincarnation to atone for his crimes, but I thought it might be funny for Rimuru to just eat him whole while the two were talking, so that's what happened.
A/N2: Rimuru also evolved Evelyn's Ultimate Skill [Sariel] into [Dhanvantari, Lord of Healing] off panel (when he was fighting Dino) so that he could gain access to [Sariel] for Ciel, who asked for the data on it and also remove Michael's domination. I couldn't really figure out a way to organically incorporate this information into the dialogue, but it happened.