Charity swung her scepter, striking down the final gargoyle then sighed deeply. She looked around, noticing Coral and Maliz looking around for an exit from the Dungeon Room they had entered. She walked toward them, holding her scepter close to her and looked around, feeling a certain chill that sent shivers down her spine.
"These monsters...Do you think The Fallen could have summoned them? I mean, I'm sure they can, but..." Charity said, a nervous grunt escaping her parted lips. She followed behind Coral and Maliz closely.
Maliz crossed her arms and looked at her Orb, noticing she couldn't warp reality within the dungeon as something was nullifying her ability to do so. "They 100% came from The Fallen, but these are rather weak monsters. Anyone with Dark Power can summon these weaklings. However to summon Monsters, you'd need the souls of a specific Monster Type so...there is an Altar nearby."
"You seem to know a lot about Dungeons. Where did you learn about them?" Coral asked, adjusting her choker on her neck.
Maliz looked back at Coral, a dark smirk curling on her lips. She chuckled softly and continued to search around. "It's an Underworld thing I suppose. I'm no stranger to wielding Souls of Monsters, and I know how Dungeons are set up. Trap Rooms, Battle Rooms, Facilities, even Shrines set up by heroes to give themselves breathing room. It's the very basics of being a Dark Lord."
"A Dark Lord can turn any environment and terrain into a Dungeon; Forests, Oceans, Mountains, even Cities can be their dungeon. They also have some of the strongest Domain Creations of all time. Their Domain Creations are literally their unique dungeons. Dark Lords are truly fascinating," Maliz continued, walking toward a gate and using her Dark Power to open it.
Coral nodded, a bit weirded out by Maliz's darkness but ultimately glad that she was on the side of the heroes even if she does seem a bit...unhinged. The three women walked ahead, exiting the Battle Room they were in and continued forward.
"Dungeons are very straightforward once you understand how they work. A Dark Lord's base dungeon can only contain nine Dungeon Rooms, however they can expand their dungeons if they'd like if the environment and conditions allows for it," Maliz began to explain, using her dark aura to create a visual of how a basic dungeon map looks.
"When fully expanded, they can increase their number of rooms up to 30 Dungeon Rooms. Each Dungeon is always equipped with one Altar where they can harvest the souls of their enemies or summon Monsters, and one Prison where they will capture Heroes and corrupt them, turning them into Fallen Heroes," Maliz continued, using her dark aura to visually show what a Fallen Hero looks like.
Coral and Charity looked at the visual image of a Fallen Hero, seeing they looked more corrupt and have a demonic feel to their image and presence. Their scleras were black and their eyes were blood red. They both gulped and looked at each other.
Maliz looked back at them with a dark smirk, her eyes faintly glowing. "Once a Hero is Corrupted...they can not be redeemed. They can only be Sanctified meaning the only way to save their souls is through Salvation, something only Holy Maidens like Lily or Shrine Maidens like Ashina can do. This process kills the mind and body, but saves the soul bringing them into Eternal Rest."
"S-So if Maiken is fully corrupted..." Charity began, her voice trailing off with uncertainty and absolute concern for Maiken's wellbeing.
"If Maiken becomes fully corrupted, there is no chance for redemption for her...but it seems like we won't have to come to that," Maliz said, looking ahead and noticing Maiken, Ashina, and Garnet in the distance.
Coral and Charity looked ahead, noticing Maiken, Ashina, and Garnet as well, their hearts finally relieved of the worry they felt. They smiled to see Maiken was back with us and sighed with relief.
"Maiken!" Coral called out, hurrying toward the Maiken and the others.
Maiken looked over and grunted softly as Coral hugged her, a soft blush settling on her cheeks. "Geez...what is with everyone hugging me..? Yes, I know I'm back.."
Coral let go of Maiken and smiled at her, slightly overjoyed to see Maiken was back on the good side. She took a moment to gather herself before speaking. "How did you escape? We...we saw you get abducted."
"This Dungeon has a very fatal flaw within its core design. It's not very...well watched I suppose, plus the prison down here is very old so I was able to escape," Maiken answered, placing her hand upon the hilt of her standard katana.
"Anyways, we need to find a place to rest. We've been fighting monsters for a while and they seem to respawn after a while. There is a facility not too far from where we are. A Lounge Area. Monster's can't enter Facilities like that so we can easily rest there," Maiken added, her tone sounding a bit drained and tired.
"Alright, lead the way," Coral nodded, smiling at Maiken.
Maiken nodded and began to lead the group to the Lounge Area of the dungeon. Everyone followed close behind, ready to rest their feet and regroup, to take a much needed rest from exploration.
Once they reached the Lounge Area, they noticed the minimalistic design of the room. There was one campfire in the middle of the room with multiple stones for someone to sit upon and rest their feet. Everyone gathered around the campfire and took a seat upon a stone seat.
"Finally, a chance to rest and relax for a moment..." Ashina sighed softly, closing her eyes and crossing one leg over the other.
"This room is fascinating," Maliz began, looking around and seeing a few contraptions within the wall spreading dark energy across the multiple rooms. "The Longue Area isn't harmful to heroes so it allows us to relax inside, but it is a common distributor of power for the dungeon."
"What do you mean?" Coral asked, glancing at Maliz.
Maliz pointed at the contraptions within the wall, gesturing at the dark essence flowing into the contraptions due to the Dark Goddess Statue. "Longue Areas in Dungeons tend to have a Dark Goddess Statue inside it which is used to equally spread extra power to monsters throughout the entire Dungeon. If one purifies the Dark Goddess Statue, it'll weaken the entire Dungeon, turning this Area into a Mini Shrine to heal us and boost our own power."
Ashina looked at the Dark Goddess Statue, noticing it looked like Persephone. She stood up and walked toward the Dark Goddess Statue, summoning a Talisman then began to chant. "O' Priestess of Light, allow thy Oracle to grant us her Eternal Blessing. Purify the evil spirits within and bestow upon us with your grace and healing."
The talisman began to shine brightly in Ashina's hand, purifying the Dark Goddess Statue into a Light Goddess Statue and light aura began to spread around the entire Dungeon and caused light particles to form around the Lounge Area. Once the Statue was purified, the image of the statue changed to resemble Sephora.
"Isn't that...the Serpent Bearer?" Coral asked, raising an eyebrow at the image of the statue.
"Sephora right? I remember seeing her with August when we were coming back from my Kingdom," Charity said, her eyes widening in realization as a memory played in her head. "Wait...that Crest shining on her hand. The Crest of Pleroma, the Crest that is the opposite to Darkness's Crest. I remember seeing it because she helped Lady Aria's mother fight off The Fallen from St. Goken four years ago."
"What is the Crest of Pleroma?" Ashina asked, turning to look at Charity.
"It's the Crest of Completeness. It allows the user the advanced powers of Creation. What Darkness can take away with his Crest of Oblivion, Sephora can bring back or create anew with her Crest of Completeness. I've only read about her once but she's known as the Goddess of Restoration, Creation, and Completeness," Charity answered.
"Which contrasts with Darkness being the God of Negation, Destruction, and Nothingness. Pure reincarnations to the Sovereigns of Omnificence and Ragnarok, Absolute Creation and Absolute Destruction," Maliz added, closing her eyes and crossing her arms.
With this new information, there was some shimmer of hope restoring within each of them. Knowing all wasn't truly lost since they knew Sephora was with me, they knew whatever was lost or destroyed due to The Fallen, Sephora and I could bring it back with her power.
------------------------------
I walked forward toward the cathedral, sensing powerful dark energy ahead. I noticed explosions in the distance, a fierce battle happening in the distance behind the cathedral. I looked at Leona and Sephora, the two of them giving me a nod. I nodded back then ran forward.
"April! Look out!" Nina called out, pushing April out of the way and blocked Archer's attack, grunting as his arrow went through her arm.
Archer laughed as he summoned another arrow made from blue flames, aiming it at Nina. "Heh, you all had a good run with trying to stop us but in the end, it really didn't matter. You all got so close, yet so far.."
Nina took the arrow out of her arm, crushing it in her hand then let go of the energy particles. She got into her stance, her scales tipping to awaken her Dark Chi. "This isn't over just yet. In fact, we all are only getting started!"
Nina launched herself forward, launching a swift sweep kick to knock Archer off his feet. Archer jumped over her sweep kick, aiming his bow at Nina for a headshot but a twister formed beneath him, knocking him higher in the air. Nina waited for Archer to come down, landing a powerful spinning kick to his torso and knocking him away.
Archer grunted as he rolled backwards along the ground, recovering onto one knee and aiming his bow at Nina, firing three arrows at Nina. Nina thrusted her palm forward, launching a powerful gust of wind forward to deflect the arrows, causing them to set off and explode.
Nina began to fully concentrate, her gaze fully focused and lightning crackling around her body. 'Focus your energy...enhance your physical condition with Chi. Focus only on the target... Equalize your power through out your entire body.'
Archer watched Nina, noticing her stance had changed and saw yellow lightning crackling around her body. 'Yellow..? First Black...then Red...now Yellow. What does Yellow Lightning even do and how can she even manifest it..?'
Nina began to concentrate so much, a bit of drool began dripping from her bottom lip. She took one step forward, her body flickering and she appeared in front of Archer within seconds, landing a powerful strike to his cheek, staggering him. 'Flash Strike...'
Nina landed another insanely swift strike to Archer's torso, yellow lightning flashing upon impact and sent him flying. 'Flash Strike...'
Archer's back crashed against a wall and he fell upon one knee, his hand placed on his midsection and panting softly. 'What the hell..? Dark Chi Boosted Flash Strikes...not only is she using Liao Ru's Qijinmak Style, but Flash Strikes too..? She's aiming for vital areas...she's trying to kill me..'
Archer stood up and felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and noticed the Zodiac Killer walking forward. "What are you doing here? This is my fight!"
"A fight that you are losing. You should retreat and allow me to handle these Zodiac Knights, unless you wish to join them. You are still technically...a Zodiac Knight," The Zodiac Killer said, looking back at Archer, dark aura emitting from his armor and helm.
Archer grit his teeth then scoffed at him, stepping backwards and summoning a dark portal. He retreated into the portal then it closed behind him, leaving the Zodiac Killer to deal with Nina and the others alone.
"Nina, it's the Zodiac Killer! I thought Liao Ru killed him when we were in that Gestalt Domain.." Lily warned, grunting as she knocked a Mummy away with a powerful heavenly strike to its face.
"These monsters are starting to get on my damn nerves, and we have to deal with these bastard members of The Fallen as well?! That one month break was simply not enough," Heifer groaned, driving her foot against the chest of a Mummy, launching them away.
April huffed lightly, feeling the fatigue from battle and noticed her Crest of War flashing on her hand, signalling she was at the limit of duration for the power. She deactivated the Crest and reverted to her normal form. "I don't know how much longer we can keep this up. We just gotta hope that Dr. Noxius, Liao Ru, and Miko Misao all find Darkness and Scarlett fast enough before they can unseal the Dark Lord."
Nina dodged the attacks of the Zodiac Killer, launching him in the air with a Bicycle Kick then palmed his chest, slightly knocking him away. The Zodiac Killer chuckled as he landed on his feet, rushing forward and landing a swift slash to Nina's midsection, knocking her away. Nina grunted as she slammed into Lily, the two of them crashing into the ground.
The Zodiac Killer readied his sword then sensed a powerful presence nearby. He paused for a moment, looking around then turned around, grunting at the pressure my aura was releasing.
I stood behind the Zodiac Killer, the eyes of my mask emitting aura matching my red eyes and my slightly darker aura flowed around my body. "The time for games...are over.."
April noticed me, gasping happily and looked more alive. "Cipher!~"
The others turned their heads at April's exclamation and noticed me, extremely relieved to see me and smiled happily. Pendela watched from the roof of the cathedral, crossing her arms and tilting her head, watching me carefully and became more curious about me.
The Zodiac Killer faced me, readying his sword. "Cipher huh..? The Unknown Vigilante...This is very interesting that you show yourself in my presence. That said, you're another target for me to eliminate.."
I stared at the Zodiac Killer, adjusting my mask then scoffed softly. "I didn't come here unprepared. I have one form that I haven't revealed yet...and I've been dying to test out its power. I've been saving it for an important event, but this seems important enough. You will be the first victim...to this power."
Everyone watched as my dark aura shifted into demonic energy. Red lightning crackled powerfully around my body then I let out a roar, my aura surging powerfully around my body. A single black wing manifested on my back from my aura, my aura began cracking the ground and my mere presence caused everyone in the area to shudder.
The Demon Seal on the left side of my chest shined brightly then shattered, awakening another form regarding to my true power. I finished powering up, looking at The Zodiac Killer and a low, intimidating hum escaping my lips. I summoned my Demon Gauntlets, the crimson markings on the gauntlets flashing like a beating heart and humming with power.
April and my allies looked surprised to see my Demon Form, my training with Maliz during our month break coming to fruition. Their expressions were a mix of admiration, awe, and a bit of uncertainty as they marvelled at my form.
Pendela got into a thinking stance, her gaze never leaving my form. 'So August was holding back on me huh..? Why would he hold back this power when I'm stronger than the Zodiac Killer..? I have to see what this form can do..'
I looked at my hands and noticed my demonic aura was a mix of red, black, and white, my body feeling as it were vibrating with power. "This form is interesting...I've never felt such dark power before. I don't necessarily hate it, but I don't like it either...however this power is enough for you. I don't need any Zodiac Abilities. Burst Skills are just enough for you.."
The Zodiac Killer scoffed at my declaration, readying his sword. "You talk big...but let's see if you can back it up. Come at me, Masked Knight."
The Zodiac Killer tensed his body and launched himself toward me at high speed with a wide slash. I dodged his slash effortlessly, powerful black lightning crackling around my fist. I looked at the Zodiac Killer, my eyes flashing with unrestrained power.
"Burst Skill: Black Demon Fist.." I said, my tone cold and intimidating.
I landed a devastating blow to the Zodiac Killer's chest, powerful black lightning flashing upon impact and knocking him back despite his endurance. I rushed forward and knocking him in the air with a rising tornado kick, grabbing his ankle then slammed him down. With my hold still upon his leg, I spin him around then threw him with a powerful force.
The Zodiac Killer recovered in the air, landing on his feet then slid backwards. He rushed forward toward me and let out a roar, slashing upward to knock me in the air. I dodged his slash, landing another Black Demon Fist, pushing him back. I struck him with a knee to his chin, following it with an uppercut to launch him in the air.
"Burst Skill.." I said, rushing forward as he descended to the ground, grabbing his face and leaping into the air with a flap of my black wing. "Heaven's Descent."
I crashed down onto the ground and slammed him down, releasing a powerful blast of demonic energy, rapidly damaging the Zodiac Knight. I jumped backwards and let out a low hum, watching as the Zodiac Killer rose to his feet. The Zodiac Killer grunted softly as he stood up, looking ahead and noticed me rushing toward him.
I knocked him away with a powerful kick to his face, shattering his mask then held my hand out, a portal opening beneath the Zodiac Killer and chains emerged from the portal, trapping him. The Zodiac Killer grunted as he tried to escape the chains.
"Super Burst Skill..." I said, forming an orb of demonic energy, red lightning flashing around the orb. I held it up and the orb began to grow in size. "Heavenless Eclipse.."
I launched the orb at the Zodiac Killer at high speeds, the orb crashing into the Zodiac Killer and breaking him off his chains. The orb rose to the sky, shining brightly then a massive explosion happened in the air. I lowered my arm, watching the pieces of the Zodiac Killer's armor falling to the ground.
April, Nina, Heifer, and Lily were in awe of my power, their expressions in complete shock with how I handled the Zodiac Killer with relative ease. Pendela smirked and closed her eyes, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger.
'Hm...That Demon Form is powerful. You just never cease to surprise me, August...' Pendela thought, walking backwards into a portal and disappearing inside, the portal closing.
I reverted back to my normal form, looking at my hand, balling it into my fist. 'Even with this Dark Power...I couldn't hear Darkness's voice. You truly found a way to silence his influence huh..?'
Sephora chuckled softly, nodding her head. "That Demon Form is more prone to corruption due to its Dark Influence and Impulse. With my power, you don't have to worry about succumbing to such Impulses."
I nodded then looked at April and the others. "Let's go find the others. They must be waiting for us to show up by now.."
April was still stunned by my display of power then snapped out of her trance, noticing me walk away. "W-Wait up!"
April, Nina, Lily, and Heifer rushed after me, following closely behind as we entered the dungeon. Once we entered the dungeon, I noticed a trail along the ground, seemingly leading to the main area of the dungeon. With quick steps, I led my team deeper into the Dungeon in hopes of finding Maiken and the others.