A.N. I'm back! Yeah, I've been caught up in some family affairs which is why I was away. I've also got a holiday coming up in a week with my cousin and my nephews. So I've been really busy. Sorry for keeping you hanging.
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Soltra reeled back in terror as a familiar miniature sun appeared in Lyze's hand. The small scale celestial imitation swirled on its axis as miniature little solar flares illuminated the surroundings, and dispelled the extreme fog. And needless to say, the heat was unbearable as the Stone Charmer found herself scooting back as far as she could.
Other monsters that were present on that floor looked in the direction of where the strange light was coming from. They would have been tempted to move towards it if they did not instinctively feel a terrifying sensation of danger emanating from the source.
Lyze stalked forward, grinning as he got the chance to use one of his favourite attacks in his arsenal. Soltra was visibly on edge as she snapped her whip threateningly even as she moved further back from him. The rays of the Cruel Suns reflected off of the magnificent Golden Breastplate she was wearing.
"How!...What magic is this?" She screamed in total fear as she began to feel her skin burn, a sensation of her natural biology beginning to betray her.
"The kind that none in this world shall ever know. They will never be able to experience the pride of possessing this kind of magic." Lyze grinned as the sun began to swell to greater size in his palm as the heat intensified. The golden chainmail appeared to glow in the light the same as the breastplate. Lyze kept his eye on the other artifact. He did not want to risk losing the breastplate which was arguably the most powerful piece of the Golden Armour.
"This just can't be!" Soltra shrieked as her fear intensified in proportion to the spike in temperature. "This just doesn't make sense!"
"Because it's Chaos." Lyze said. "And I am sovereign over Chaos, it's one and only King." He lifted the Cruel Sun over his head as his face took on a hateful expression. He'd just had about enough of this Beast. Although this battle had been shorter than his last on with Claw, she'd hurt him far more than the monkey had done and she humiliated him...Aki would never let him live it down if she found out he'd been walloped by a female monster with a whip.
"DIE!" The boy snarled with as much venom he could muster as he hurled the massive attack in her direction. The stone charmer dropped her whip and began fleeing as fast as she could in futility with the sun closing in behind her. She tried to sneak a peak back at it, but as the attack drew closer, the rays of light it emitted began to enter her singular eye, her biggest weakspot and parts of her body began to turn to dust.
Lyze, not wanting to risk any possible damage to the breastplate directed the attack to the ground right behind where her heels would be (if she had any). Soltra suddenly felt searing heat across her back as the small sun exploded right behind her and a shockwave of pure fire carried her across the 12th floor, dispelling all the mist and turning the stone floor to char and molten rock as she screamed in pain, her agonised shriek carrying it's way across the floor and down to the next, spooking any adventurers that were there at the time.
Silence reigned over the area for a few moments before small footsteps could be heard, and Lyze emerged from the ash cloud. He fixated on the glimmer of gold underneath a charred heap and strode right up to pile of cooked flesh.
Putting his foot on her side, he rolled her over to find that pretty much only the part of her body covered by the breastplate and her head had survived. But her scalp was cover in angry red burns that were cindered black in some area. The giant green eye looked at him in fear as the hypnotic effects and it's petrifying gaze seemed inactive at this point. He raised Excalibur over the giant organ. And with no arm or limbs she could use to defend herself, the charmer was forced to accept her fate.
"It doesn't matter how powerful a monster is..." He said. "...if I can use your biology against you, then you're already dead. Die with pride Soltra, that instead of dying at the hands of a normal human boy, you die at the hands of a being far greater and more powerful."
He drove Excalibur's tip deep into the eye and she screamed out one last cry of pain before what remained of her body turned to dust, and the golden breastplate clattered to the ground. Lyze sighed in relief that it was over and stared in satisfaction and triumph at his prize.
His fingers brushed over the breastplate, and sure enough just like the chainmail, it disappeared before rematerializing on his body. The beautiful piece of armour reappeared on his body over the chainmail and resized itself to fit his frame. He felt the effect instantaneously as he felt his strength boost itself to unprecedented levels. He felt like the corresponding stat had immediately maxed itself out. Even when he willed the pieces of the golden armour disappear, he felt no different.
Two down, four pieces to go.
Lyze then went around trying to see if he could find Cupid. As little as he came around to using the Moonlight dagger, it was still his weapon, a special one and it had a bit of sentimental value as his true first step into the dedicated arts of blacksmithing. He soon found it lodged into a crack in the ground. It looked like it had actually been stepped on enough that it was forcefully driven deep into the stone floor as it was. Perhaps Soltra did have feet after all. It was hard to tell with that billowing cloak of hers.
When he found it, he dismantled the earth wall he'd created and began ascending the stairs. He'd told the girls to head to the ninth floor so he hoped they'd listened to him and were waiting there. If there was a chance they'd caught up to the Astraea Familia, then hopefully the band of justice driven women found it in themselves to safeguard the two until he made his way to them. They were one of the law enforcing Familias, perhaps not as powerful or influential as the Ganesha Familia but were just as passionate about kindness to civilians and justice for all. They were the children of Astraea after all and Ganesha was...well...Ganesha.
As he came closer to the ninth floor however, a sickening feeling came over him. Something felt wrong. Horribly wrong. Obeying and trusting his instincts and his intuition, he immediately picked up the pace and sped through the ninth floor, hoping that his gut was wrong. As he rounded a rocky corner, he came upon a sight that made him cold to the marrow.
What looked like a human sized toad, and a perhaps relatable friend of Umbitch from you-know-which universe if ever that became possible, was standing in the middle of the hallway with an axe in her lowered hand. In her other hand which was held aloft by the giant freak's arm was Ais, bruised and battered and bleeding from her head as the fingers crushed her cheeks in.
'Phryne Jamil.' He thought. 'Now that I remember, didn't I read somewhere that Ais had a confrontation with her shortly after levelling up to level 2? I knew she lost...but I didn't think the gap was this big.'
There was no visible injury on the large woman, a stark contrast to the state of the girl that had come to hold a special place in Lyze's heart...a fact he only now realised as the sight of Ais in that state made him feel completely empty. A rage filled his body that was so venomous, his body became cold.
Ais caught sight of him from her half lowered eyes as Desperate slipped form her fingertips. "Lyze." She croaked as she held her palm out towards him.
"Hm?" Phryne followed the direction of where Ais was pointing. She observed the boy head to toe before a cruel smile came over her vile face. "Oh, look who it is~" She drawled in her scratchy voice. "Just where have you been little man? I was beginning to get bored of your little friend here. Perhaps you might provide me more...entertainment." She said as she licked her lips while turning her body to him fully.
Lyze gripped Excalibur tightly before he blurred out of existence so fast that Phryne didn't even register he had left his spot. She only noticed something was wrong when her left arm, the arm that was holding Ais, suddenly felt unnaturally cold. She looked in that direction to see Lyze's back turned towards her, having somehow moved past her without her seeing him.
But what was strange was that a familiar blonde haired girl, the same girl she'd just been holding was comfortably and protectively nestled in his arm as he held her up with his right one. Excalibur was in his left arm, which he was actually pointing to the ceiling for some reason.
None of it explained why her own left arm felt so deathly cold all of a sudden. Just as she was about to look at that particular part of her body, something came flying into her vision, something that was oddly familiar. It appeared to be a severed forearm hand and all, dark skinned and extremely plump with blood flying out of the severed end. The thing plopped on the ground in front of her with a wet squelch as blood began pooling on the ground around it.
A fraction of the second later she realized why it was familiar...she looked at where her left arm had previously been only to find nothing beyond the elbow, rivers of blood pouring from the now revealed stump. At once she realized what had happened. Somehow, Lyze had in a single moment, at speed so ballistic that she could not see him, rushed past her and sliced off her arm before she could even feel it and at the same time had caught Ais in a one handed princess carry.
The reason why she could not understand why was that Lyze had momentarily given his body to the spirits inside Excalibur. They had been the ones to use the holy sword to slice off the brute's arm at speeds Lyze was not yet capable of. However, Lyze firmly maintained control of his other arm with which he caught the girl he was now holding. Lyze had a dislike for letting the spirits of the heroes guide his body in a battle, but he was not willing to risk Ais's life one second further.
As the pain kicked in for the Amazoness, Phryne let out a guttural scream that was so unnatural and inhuman like, you could never spell it. The brute dramatically fell on her rump as she howled in pain while dropping the axe in her hand and clutching at her step, her frog eyes filling with pain and hatred all directed towards the blindfolded buy that had blitzed her.
"I knew you'd come for us." Ais weakly said as she gazed up at him. Phryne had badly damaged her body as the woman took a sadistic glee in torturing her victims. Ais had been hoping that her speed would help her but the woman was a standing fortress with seemingly all her stat points packed into strength and endurance.
She was an immovable object to someone like the Sword Princess who was not yet strong enough to overpower her. The same could not be said for Skelmir'Of, who was about to show this disgusting toad just how cruel and sadistic he could be.
"Where's Lili?" He asked her gently, momentarily putting his fury aside in effort to show his care for the girl he was holding.
"She went ahead to find the Astraea Familia. But I don't know how long she's been gone for. Phryne took us by surprise."
"You're safe now. I'm going to deal with the bitch, and then we'll go find Lili together. Just you wait here."
Ais's eyes widened to their full proportions as he pressed his lips to her forehead. She opened her mouth in complete shock at his boldness and a furious blush overtook her face. Not even her father had just kissed her like that out of the blue. But she soon understood as his body lit up with a holy white glow which then seemed to pass onto her body and filled her with a warm sensation. Within moments, all her cuts, bruises and internal injuries faded away like they'd never existed. The scuff marks and her torn apparels remained the same though.
"Rest and sleep for now." Lyze said as the hand he was using to cradle her head cast a sleeping spell on her. "Let me finish this first piece of work before we do anything."
Ais could do nothing as her eyes drooped uncontrollably and she fell into immediate slumber, her breathing becoming peaceful and regulated. Satisfied, Lyze's gentle expression faded into an emotionless yet cold mask as his demon form suddenly took over him.
"BASTARD!" Phryne yelled at him. "How did you do that?"
He turned around to face her, not answering at all. There was something different about him this time and he was feeling it. Incredible, poisonous hatred welled up inside him and he fixed her with a face promising death. The Lesser Demon Mark fluctuated on his temple, like it was threatening to break. A cold feeling of dread filled the toad woman's spine as her heart began beating faster, inadvertently pushing more blood out of her stump.
"Aren't you even going to speak?" She screeched at him.
"There's no use speaking to you. You'll be dead soon enough." He replied coldly as the Darkness covering his body shifted uncontrollably. "I'm going to dissect you like the frog you are...nice and slowly. You'll be begging me to kill you long before I'm satisfied." He clenched his fist tightly as he lifted up Excalibur threateningly. "You hurt someone precious to me...now, I'm going to make you pay!"
The Lesser Demon Mark finally shattered into fragments of Darkness, which then reformed itself anew into something else entirely on the middle of his forehead. The cold, sickly feeling that had filled the cavern intensified as for the first time ever, Lyze accessed something even darker.
The Greater Demon Form.
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