I opened my eyes and immediately saw a familiar Japanese castle. It is a flatland castle where the buildings are arranged in a crescent layout surrounding a huge altar disc. The Outer wall sports a white exterior, with the altar being dark in color. I like to dub it 'New Moon Castle'
I didn't look at it for long and turned my attention to the surroundings. It still the same, a world with no visible end and in perpetual high noon, although there are more clouds now. The ground is submerged under 3 inches deep water, which surprisingly shows the reflection of a night sky with a Dark Moon hanging between grey clouds instead of the azure noon sky above. There are no other features aside from the castle and the altar.
I sighed "My inner world is stable at least"
I walked to the altar and found numerous cracks on its platform which chaotic spiritual energy leaking through, I could still sense that shingetsu was still there but I couldn't call her out.
I hurriedly lied down in the middle of the platform and tried my best suppress the leaking energies and restore the balance. I can only hope that the situation outside is under control.
-- General POV --
The moment Raiden lost consciousness his aura exploded outward in a chaotic fashion disturbing the barrier rimuru erected around him.
Rimuru who saw Raiden's current condition behind the barrier was shocked. Raiden began howling to the air with his arms wide open, but this isn't what shocked Rimuru, it's the white matter that slowly enveloping his whole face and is forming a bone-like mask. Raiden's eyes also turned strange as his sclera turned pitch black and his pupils turned it a glowing golden color. But what worries him the most is the big hole in the middle of his chest where another batch of white matter comes from and slowly consuming the body.
"What the hell is this?!" exclaimed rimuru who is feeling overwhelmed by the current situation 'Is he turning into a monster? Raiden said that I will have to restrain him. But is he in pain? He started banging the floor now.'
Rimuru hurriedly controlled more sticky steel thread to try to tie him up. but with little success. Having no other options Rimuru enters the barrier to try to directly tie deal with him as if he left him as he is the cavern is bound to be destroyed with all the smashing he's been doing.
Rimuru managed to successfully divert his attention to himself so he won't continue damaging the underground cavern.
-Mimic Black Serpant
Transforming into a huge serpent rimuru bound Raiden with his body restricting his movement for a while. It didn't last however and the raiden managed to break free dispersing rimuru transformation and returning him to slime form.
Raiden's appearance is already mostly covered by the white matter which doubled his size and made him look like a bodybuilder. A lizard-like tail appeared behind him along with spikes protruding from various parts of his body. Dark tattoos also started appearing all over his body originating from the hole in his chest. His overall appearance would instantly think that he's a monster. The only way to distinguish him is his long black hair and the attire I made for the clone whis is mostly destroyed.
Rimuru was quite taken by Raiden's appearance. Although his physical appearance isn't the stuff of the nightmares, the very aura he is exuding right now is terrifying.
Transforming into human form for extra mobility rimuru started trading blows shaking the barrier along with the whole underground.
Rimuru is maneuvering around Raiden and sending attacks on his body but the most it can do is leave some cracks on his ivory body which instantly regenerates, 'This won't do. His body is too sturdy that I can't leave any long-lasting damage, His aura is also on the rise which increases his defense even further Although I'm doing a good job buying time, if I can't stop his momentum, he would sooner or later overpower me. I have to somehow disable him.'
At first Rimuru wanted to transform into Ifrit to use flame transformation more effectively however with Raiden current speed, the reduction in reaction time due to the transformation could possibly put him in danger. Rimuru started to think 'If the skill transforms a magical body into flames what if I apply it to my magic energy itself : Received. It is possible to combine the Mimic aspect of your Predator unique skill, Flame Transform, the extra skill Control Flame, and the unique skill Deviant. Execute?
Yes
No
Hee-hee-heeeee. Just like I thought. "Yes" it is, then.'
'Report. Flame Transform and the extra skills Control Flame and Control Water will disappear following the combination. In its place, you will have earned Dark Flame and the extra skill Control Particles. Resist Temperature will also evolve into Cancel Temperature. This will eliminate the extra skill Cancel Flame Attack.'
Rimuru gave the order, and the Sage did the rest. Now having stronger means of attack, he gathers his internal magic force transforming it into fire and releasing it, firing several shots at raiden burning his ivory body. There is noticeable damage this time around with the flames slowing down Raiden's regeneration effectively suppressing him.
Rimuru figured he'd use other skills in order to avoid destroying the body completely. Deciding to use Lightning to paralyze his movement in conjunction with the new skill Control Particles, it became easier to generate lighting shooting it at Raiden stopping his movements.
Finally stopping the rampage, he examined Raiden's condition discovering that he is gathering a huge amount of energy, with a red energy sphere forming in front of his opened mouth.
"This doesn't look good!, I don't know if I can dodge that" exclaimed rimuru after seeing the expansion of the energy sphere. He decided not to risk it and erected a barrier in the path of the attack 'I wonder if I can use the unique skill Deviant to improve the barrier : Received. Ranged Barrier is now linked with your resistances. Relaunch as Multilayer Barrier?
Yes
No
As it turned out, I couldn't create a single Barrier with lots of different effects applied to it, but I was free to create multiple Barriers with one resistance effect each. So "yes" it was, once again, and the moment I thought it, I could feel a thin, colorless, invisible coating come over me. It was a Multilayer Barrier, consisting of several layers but still so thin that my Magic Sense skill could only barely spot'
Raiden finished charging the Cero and fired it at his target however, The Multilayer Barrier blocked the shot resulting in a huge collision. The Cero kept trying to penetrate the barrier but to no avail, 'The hell what is this attack? the rate of consumption of magic energy is huge' although successful in blocking the attack he began to feel exhausted.
Raiden regained mobility and stood up preparing to pounce on the tired Rinuru again, 'Maybe I should just swallow him with predator and release him when he comes back to his senses' thought rimuru and as if fearing this outcome some clarity began returning to Raiden's eyes.
Seeing the devastated surroundings and the exhausted rimuru opposite him, he understood what happened and began reining in his chaotic energies.
The oppressive aura that's coming from him has completely disappeared, and the ivory-like material that's covering his entire body is slowly disintegrating, The hole in his chest closed with his bulky body slowly dropping to the ground and reducing to ashes. Rimuru finally saw his whole face filled with complicated emotions.
"I'm sorry." are Raiden's first words addressed to rimuru after he regained his sanity. Seeing him in a exhausted state.
"It's okay… Welcome back." rimuru's voice, contains relief that the ordeal is finally over.
"Ah… I'm back." Raiden closed his eyes and fell asleep.