Bright green spiritual threads danced in the air, illuminating the dark room above the flashes of light the four evoked in their fight. The twenty stone figures had the movements of a veteran, their bodies locked into ceaselessly changing formations as they dodged and weaved under countless blows.
Bie had already pulled out as many as ten weapons from his duffel bag, though his nose wrinkled in frustration when he thought about the fact that all of his attacks hit empty air. Even when using the Suppressive Force, the threads in the sky rebelled against his control in such a way that he would lose much more energy than he was prepared to if he forcefully won the bout.
Instead, Bie glanced up at the sky whilst back-stepping several blows aimed at his frame. He acknowledged that currently, he couldn't do much, so he decided to act as a distraction to shake up the enemy's formation.
He ran, using Demon Expedition as well as Mountain's Step to move as fast as possible. His image became blurry in the lens of most onlookers, only completely clear to Schalieze, who watched behind the darkness covering the throne.
'…How interesting. That boy makes me uneasy…? Let's see how he fares against this.'
An index finger was outstretched, four other fingers hanging limply behind it. Two of the oblong green seeds burst, and there were five spider like monstrosities that crawled out from the splattered eggshell.
With that, Schalieze imprinted some of her scrawl upon the ten other eggs. Judging by how this would transpire, she would be using them for something else entirely…
The spiders crawled along the wall, hiding and waiting for their chance.
Balir flexed his shoulders, unleashing a mighty swing with his great axe half a second later. Black feathers fluttered before his eyes, the darting appearance of Lah moving faster than his strike as she wielded her blackened claws to rip a demon puppet into pieces. The thread faltered before dissipating, causing Lah to be even more pissed off since she couldn't track the origin now.
Mottled specks flashed as she ruthlessly swept past the horde, sometimes missing, and sometimes hitting the target with staring ferocity. Balir followed after her with wide swings, amber threads jutting forth as he slung his shoulders forward valiantly.
Hugo's eyes glowed red as he set up the red domain, the fingers of one palm dancing around the octahedron acting as his focus. Four miniature doors lined his shoulders, two on each side, and a darker red kaleidoscope undulated within the crimson blares.
Tendrils shot for the feet of the demon puppets, catching the ones that were distracted by the rapidly moving Bie. Chains shot out of the doors, attempting to wrap around the necks of the puppets, when suddenly!
A massive noise was emitted from the horn of a trumpet, carrying a light green shockwave that beat against the confines of Hugo's domain. Instead of being able to take out the puppets he had already grasped, he instead had to divert most of his focus to guarding against the attacks that descended from the sky.
Twelve demon puppets were remaining, two more swiftly dispatched after Bie got a solid kick in. The impact forced it to collide against another puppet, and Balir lopped off both of their heads as Lah's fists carrying spirit blades ripped their bodies apart.
The ten remaining were controlled to circle them in a loose array, their backs hunched towards the sky. To the surprise of the unoccupied fighters, a groove was formed and filled as ten decently sized spidery demons entered the puppets.
Two more sets of arms emerged on each puppet, and their moves became jittery and erratic. Unlike the well trained bearing the puppets previously had, they were instead unpredictable and chaotic. Bie smiled at this change, however…
A long blade found itself piercing through stony flesh as it shattered into pieces. A stomp buried the puppet's frame into the ground below as a pair of light baby blue hands twisted the head off of its shoulders. Two indents of footprints were engraved on the shoulders, digging down and stopping midway into its chest.
A thin whitish yellow aura cloaked his form, white flames flickering around his feet as auric feathers fell and dissipated into nothingness. Fists flew without much refinement, their strikes untamed and lacking technique. But they made up for it in speed and power, so much so that they didn't lose out to the sweeping blows Balir unleashed now that the puppets weren't as mobile as before.
Lah's red haze teeming with mottled amber wisps raged as it leaked out murderous intent. A few moments later, all the puppets were scraps on the ground, and the threads were all gone.
"Good, good. You've done well…" A thick, feminine voice rang from the end of the chamber room. The tapping of an armrest rang out as Von Friede reappeared in front of the four, freeing Hugo's efforts as he shot the chains of the red doors forward.
Two of the chains were deflected by the flickering afterimages of Friede's trumpet bell. Another two were flicked away by the cobalt blue hands within the darkness.
"Impatient~ are we? There's no need to hurry, you know. You'll be staying here."
Her lips upended, as the eggs began to pulsate a dense, blackish lump of light. Text shimmered as they gave off a corrupt energy, and it was as if ten sets of eyes were watching the four in the center as they warily glanced towards the oblong shapes.
"Enjoy. Oh and Von Friede, keep those three busy."
"Three?! What the fuck are you on about-"
Before Balir could finish his query, a light green aurora illuminated the whole room. Blinding light flashed in their eyes and the dark lumpy film encasing the demon eggs met and combined with one another, forming a large outline that was eight meters tall. Writhing Gantrian demons filled the black outline, squirming within the confines of the vaguely humanoid shape.
If that wasn't all, Bie and Schalieze disappeared under the light, unable to be seen by all within the chamber room.
Von Friede stood atop the head of the creature, wildly playing as it began to move forwards. The light surged and surrounded him, forming a ghastly disc behind his back.
Balir regained his vision first, scowling as the horn insignia shone with a dark green radiance. Eye darting about the completely lit room, he looked up to Von Friede and asked.
"Where is Bie?! Where's your master!"
Von Friede flipped the enraged man off with his free hand, before using both of his hands to play the trumpet. A massive, two meter hand long composed out of squirming demons scudded forth, the hand's path contested by two blackened claws.
The red beams of light fought against eh surging light green aura, and the doors formed a square array. Three squares within rotated expediently as the effigy of a praying figure composed of runes and the dark red lines of Hugo's kaleidoscope loomed behind it, standing at seven meters tall.
Tears ran down its face, hitting the ground and transforming into arms. Twenty arms composed of red light floated to the sides of the figure, while its own hands were joined at the palms in a prayer.
"Hmph. Calm yourself, Balir. We will dispose of this…thing…first." Hugo's eyes were a deep red as they balefully glowed, his whole form dyed in hazy rouge waves.