C143: Reflection in the Abyss P3
Overall Word count = 1628 on 9/12/2024.
Author message here: Hey yall. The next chapter will not be in 2 days. I plan to really wrap up the danmachi world within the next 1 or 2 chapters. But that means it needs to be Word heavy[might break my own record if it goes well]. But I will give a preview of what I have available on Sunday on my discord if yall want to join up. It's just the week is Hella busy with work, my family planned bd party or me just trying to set some things up like updating the character list page/make new one that's updated. Finally update the nen page with Axels abilities and how they work or maybe even create an aux page for what the status is currently for Axel-might contain spoilers for whatever the next chapter holds but if we get some proper stones in these here book then I'll post it earlier for yall. Let's set a limit of 180 stones. This would be the requirement for the following Sunday, not this one that I post the preview
Alt Title teaser: Circe
"Murasaki-sama is mine!!" The woman says with a near hysterical shriek.
Axel should have seen the signs but he was still a bit in shock over his dungeon revelation as well as the unknown situation of the city that he and his group stumbled into. The most obvious being about the woman somehow being resistant to the sleeping gas. She admitted herself that she reached level 2 as a magic housewife and only ever killed a single monster, meaning her endurance was no different than a normal civilian if not a bit better from the few points she gathered.
They couldn't focus on her story as the robot threat arrived soon enough to distract them. She had also stuck too close to Axel that a real civilian would have stuck to either Haruhime, Cassandra or Chigusa as they were in the center of the group and properly out of harm's way.
The last piece of the puzzle is that she was able to run away from the first robot. A robot that had outmaneuvered Ouka with ease. A Pure level 2 magic with not a single or many points in strength, dexterity, endurance and agility would not have lasted a single second against this type of golem.
It was also bad luck that Ouka was the one to approach first as he is sure that he, Mikoto and Chigusa are freaking out the most since only their god, Takemikazuchi, are the most defenseless (with the exception of being a hot stud of a martial arts master). Welf might also be panicking a bit but it's the Hephaestus familia, they have a lot of admiration for their goddess and would ensure she stays safe, especially her high level captain.
Of course Axel has a few other things on his mind, such as the needle that was jammed into his back. Whatever was in the needle released a cloud of spores that infected his mana stream and this set of pockets of poison throughout his body.
Now he had already noticed these pockets but could never find how they came to be as he inspected everything he touched and ate when he noticed these pockets. Granted the only reason he isn't panicking is because of his wife, Hassan of Serenity. His time with her had granted him a powerful poison resistance skill that according to his falna had reached A-rank.
That skill mellowed out whatever effect these pockets had, so when they exploded, he only felt some pain but it's far less than ripping out his own divinity core during his fight against Tiona.
He is still maintaining the reflective barrier against the robots while the unknown woman proclaiming Murasaki is hers.
"Kaoruko…" His words are interrupted by the mad woman as she shrieks out, "Do not utter her precious name with your vile lips." The toolbelt containing various knives and needles floats by itself as the tools themselves slink out of their slots to then accelerate and stab into him.
Or at least that would be the case if he didn't redirect the beam to blast them away. Only one or two stabbed into his body but he already activated his asuran armor. While they went quite deep, it was not enough to pierce all the way through the stone skin.
Axel suddenly dismisses his esper ability, allowing the incoming beams to come in contact with his body while it grows and expands, the stone skin expanding with it, protecting him while he turns around and infuses his shades on himself as his fist moves towards the poisonous woman's face. His appearance resembles his previous demi god physique but that is not enough as he misses his punch for two reasons.
The first is that a second volley from the previously hiding second set of robots comes out to shoot at him. This momentarily breaks through his stone skin and makes his lurch forward. The second is that the woman seems to possess a magic item that drags her away into the sky.
A weak person would have immediately received whiplash from such a quick force of action, but the result of his punch after using spatial magic to send it elsewhere is that the southern group of robots that Bell and Welf were facing are all demolished.
"Who?" Axel grunts out as he looks to the sky where the woman is standing upon a thin thread. The woman who stabbed him with the poison now rips off the remains of her melting face mask. Revealing that she sports proper green hair. Her clothes also seem to change shape into a black uniform and white with sleek black shoulder guards. She has a haute expression as she vindictively questions, "Why did you pull me back? I had him on the ropes" (circe pic here)
"Arara Circe, you were not even close. I had a glimpse of his status in the past, you are nowhere close to taking him down. His body is likely neutralizing your petty poison as we speak. Afterall, he is many levels higher than he was when we last met" An erotic voice is heard in the area, it's mocking tone and every syllable irritates Axel as the only woman he nearly gave his heart to but rejected after learning that she was simply using him.
Said woman materializes seemingly out of thin air but he recognizes it as a magic item that focuses on Illusions. So she was already here and watching for some time, Tamamo Vitch Koyanskaya. Wearing her signature black latex outfit, she walks upon the thin rope towards the other woman. She licks her lips as she observes Axel.
A cruel and zealous woman who desires nothing more than to exterminate all humans and other races and pave the way for natural animals to take control of the world. To do this, she sought to 'complete' herself by absorbing talented humans and gaining their power until she reached 9 tails and gained enough power to initiate her plans. The dungeon was also another obstruction to her plans which is why she tolerated humans for so long.
Yet Axel threw a wrench in that as she grew addicted to him and his energies. To her, Axel is worthy enough to send her straight from her current 5 tails to the full 9 tailed form and even have enough power for surplus destruction of the world. Allowing her to remake it in her image.
Yet her own greedy nature could not stop herself from immediately trying to steal his energy which he quickly recognized thanks to his gluttony (back then) and had outright kicked her out of his home. Never to see her again…until now.
"Bitch" he simply states as he now redirects his attention back to the robots and reflects their beams back at them. His own back heals rapidly with it no longer being blasted by the lasers. Vitch doesnt bother to correct Axel as she is one and once she is done, he will be hers.
Axel has no other words to say to her as he knows that they will fight. He activates Godspeed from the killua minor fragment and then blitzes around, taking down all the robots in a second.
"Go, help the city, take down any others you find and then regroup at the immortal sector or my home. I'll take care of these two." Axel tells his group which nods and runs off.
"Oh my, it's cute you think that you can handle either of us." Circe says, her expression going more crazy, as if the thought of being all well antithetical to her entire being.
"I've handled her plenty well enough, shame I was young and moronic back then. I did not take proper action to end your threat as your very fate put you against me."
Axel dispels the godspeed to not waste energy as he releases a quick shockwave around his feet to propel him upward. He brings back his fist to accumulate power and then strikes out but before he gets a chance, Koyanskaya takes out a remote with a big red button that she pushes. The area around them shifts as a goliath of a machine extends a tube towards his face.
Axel can see hundreds of small mana stones inside the tube before they start to evaporate and tons of energy from other sources accumulates at the tube's end.
Axel tries to gather more power into his fist but the charge ends faster and he is directly blasted.
*****************************
Alt Title: Circe, That Bitch, Big Bang