The wind howled as Arthur soared towards the black dome pulsing in the distance.
His wings beat powerfully as he closed in, his eyes narrowed with focus.
Then, from the corner of his eye, he spotted a figure sprinting across the rocky path below, Connla, running full speed toward the chaos.
Arthur dipped low, flying alongside him.
"Hey, Connla! What the hell are you doing?! Thought I told you to get the villagers to the boat!"
Connla, huffing but determined, looked up at him with a fire in his eyes.
"I did! I got them to safety, but then I saw the explosion, I knew I couldn't just leave. I want to help!"
Arthur raised a brow mid-flight.
"You sure about that? This ain't gonna be a walk in the park. This is the kind of shit that'll make your nightmares have nightmares."
Connla nodded without hesitation.
"I'm done running away from everything. If I don't take a stand now, then I'll just go back to being nothing."
Inside Arthur's head, Ddraig's voice echoed calmly.
(Hmph. He's pretty stubborn. I like this one.)
Arthur sighed, shaking his head.
"Fine. If you're in, then don't hold back your punches. Stick close and follow my lead."
The two surged forward, reaching the black dome.
Arthur raised his gauntlet, the green gem of the Boosted Gear gleaming bright.
[PENETRATE!]
A crack of light split the dome, and they dove through as it shattered like glass, reforming behind them the moment they were in.
But as they went it, the inside was chaos.
The sky had turned a deep, pulsing red, the land was warped and blackened, corrupted by darkness, and shadowy figures twisted through the air, formed from living darkness, each resembling the rogue exorcists and priests, their eyes glowing red.
Towering cyclops stumbled across the battlefield, and thick, slithering tentacles oozed from cracks in the earth, writhing and grasping at whatever they could touch.
Arthur flinched.
(What the hell is with all the hentai tentacles? Is the universe trying to insinuate something to me?!)
Connla grimaced.
"This is... horrifying."
Arthur just shrugged.
"Welcome to the world behind the mirror, Connla. You'll get used to it."
They broke through the battlefield, shadows lunging at them from all sides.
Arthur swatted them aside with explosive punches while Connla slashed at the smaller ones with shadow weapons made from his Night Reflection.
Up ahead, the glowing circle of the ritual site was still glowing and in the center of it, Jeanne and Siegfried fought for their lives.
Jeanne had activated her Balance Breaker.
"Stake Victim Dragoon!"
She commanded, and her holy dragon rained down holy fire from the air, burning into the shadow warriors.
"Bring it on, you pussies! I'll take you all on!"
Siegfried, on the other hand, had activated his Balance Breaker, Chaos Edge Asura Ravage, to use his five Demon Swords, Gram, Balmung, Tyrfing, Dáinsleif, Nothung, and Excalibur Rapidly, his movements a blur of destruction as he rip and tear through his enemies.
"Jeanne! Sieg!"
Arthur called as he barrelled into a shadow cyclops and grabbed the creature by its leg and, with a roar, slammed it repeatedly into the cracked earth, each impact forming a crater.
Connla broke from his side and rushed to Jeanne's aid.
"I got your back!"
Jeanne looked up, surprised.
"Connla? What are-You know what, I don't care that much!"
Connla raised his hands, and from his shadow, multiple black lances erupted, darting forward like arrows and skewering incoming enemies with precise aim.
Siegfried glanced at Arthur mid-slash, ducking beneath a tentacle and cleaving it clean off.
"What the fuck is going on?! I thought we ended the ritual!"
Arthur crushed a shadow's skull beneath his boot.
"It's Balor! These idiots were trying to use a kid wielding the Forbidden Balor View as their weapon to cause all this mess! But now since he's dead and theres nobody to handle the controls, he's basically bak from the dead!"
Siegfried hurled Excalibur Rapidly toward Arthur, the blade spiraling through the air.
"Here! If we're really dealing with an Evil God, then we'll need everything we've got!"
Arthur caught the sword mid-air, and he spun it once and grinned.
"Thanks. Alright team, lets clear these bastards and then-"
Suddenly, the ground began to shake violently.
The magic circle flared, brighter than ever.
Then, something massive pushed its way out from the burning center.
A colossal entity began to rise, shrouded in shadows, and then a single, enormous red eye cracked open within the mass.
It gazed across the battlefield, glowing with unbearable malevolence.
"FINALLY... AFTER SO LONG I HAVE WAITED... AND NOW I, BALOR, HAVE RETURNED!"
His voice echoed, shaking the earth below.
Arthur's eyes narrowed as the massive red eye locked onto him.
He muttered lowly.
"…And here I thought this day couldn't get any more complicated."
The air cracked with an unnatural heaviness, a pressure so suffocating it felt like the island itself was groaning under the weight of Balor's emergence.
Jeanne, Siegfried, and Connla stood frozen, not from fear, but from the unbearable gravity pressing down on them.
It was divine, primal, ancient, striking their very souls, pinning them in place.
Arthur, however, barely held his ground.
His eyes narrowed as he stared at the entity with a cold, calculating glare.
"So… this is a god…"
He muttered, and then, without realizing it, a faint, eager smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.
"Heh… why am I getting excited?"
The eye turned slowly, its stare now fixated on Connla.
"You... How interesting."
Balor spoke, his voice was calm and deep.
Without warning, a flurry of massive black tentacles launched toward Connla.
Arthur reacted in a flash.
His wings fluttered as he zipped across the field and tackled Connla out of the way.
As they crashed and tumbled to the ground, Arthur twisted, catching the tentacles mid-air and slicing them apart with a swing of Excalibur Rapidly.
"Hey, you two! Snap out of it! Quit standing there like lovestruck puppies and start killing something!"
He barked, turning toward Jeanne and Siegfried.
Jeanne's eyes lit up again with fury as she shook herself free.
"R-Right!"
Sieg cracked his neck, a grin curling at his lips.
"Finally. Back to business."
They charged into the oncoming shadows once more, blades flashing and slashing, explosions of holy and demonic attacks lighting the battlefield.
Arthur glanced at Connla.
"You good?"
Connla stood and drew his shadow blades.
"Been through worse."
Arthur nodded, turning back to the towering god above them.
"Alright, Peeping Tom. Care to explain what that little 'you' moment was about?"
Balor's voice rumbled again.
"A hybrid has no right to speak to a god."
Arthur raised a brow and scoffed.
"Well, I didn't vote for your crusty ass, so forgive me if I missed the worship memo."
There was a long silence.
Then, without another word, Balor resumed his assault.
Tentacles and shadows surged forth like a wave.
Arthur and Connla fought back-to-back, cutting through the swarm with practiced fury, though Connla was a bit overwhelmed.
As they battled, Balor's voice returned.
"I still require a vessel to properly return to this world. How fortunate of me to be graced with such an opportunity."
Arthur growled, parrying another strike.
"You're doing just fine screwing thing s up without you touching my friend here."
"But only this one is worthy. This one holds what I need. The other half of my soul… lies dormant within him."
Arthur froze for a split second as the others were surprised by Balor's words.
Connla blinked in shock.
"W-What?"
Arthur's eye twitch in annoyance.
"So… Night Reflection has the other half of your soul? Of fucking course it had to be!"
He spat the words, annoyed and surprised all at once.
(Seriously?! What a fucking cliche coincidence! What's next?! I'm Big G's replacement or something?!)
With a growl, Arthur blasted into the sky, wings blazing as he aimed his holy sword directly at Balor's eye.
"Say hello to my pointy little friend!"
[BOOST!]
But then, Balor's eye pulsed bright red, and a blinding flash enveloped everything.
Arthur's attack stopped midway.
Color vanished.
Sound vanished.
Time stopped.
Everything was black and white.
"Fall."
Balor's voice commanded.
Arthur's body hit the ground hard.
Jeanne collapsed.
Siegfried groaned as he crumpled.
Connla dropped to one knee, then face-first to the earth.
The only thing that moved… was Balor.
The god hovered forward, slow and unstoppable, his massive eye eclipsing the sky.
"How pathetic. To think such creatures dare to stand against me."
Balor muttered.
His floating eye drifted above Connla's frozen body.
It shimmered for a moment, then lifted Connla into the air, dragging him through the blackened winds and into the ritual circle's center.
"No matter how powerful you are, no matter what Sacred Gear you possess… You can never kill a god."
And then, from the very center of the circle, an enormous black tower erupted from the earth.
It coiled and climbed into the air like a pillar, twisted and ancient, built with darkness and ruins.
The world was silent.
Until...
[PENETRATE!][BOOST!][TRANSFER!]
Arthur's Boosted Gears flared red.
A crimson aura surged through his body.
First, his eyes moved, and then his whole body became unfrozen.
He gasped sharply and fell to one knee, panting.
"Holy shit… that actually worked…"
(Well, that's the first time I've seen that. Using an enhanced Penetrate and shrouding yourself with it using Transfer to bypass frozen time. I'm impressed.)
Ddraig admitted that this is the first time that his abilities have been used in such a manner.
Arthur looked around and saw the shadows were approaching.
They weren't frozen, and they were still moving towards them.
Arthur gritted his teeth and sprinted over to Jeanne and Siegfried.
He dropped to a knee and placed his gauntlets on Jeanne and Siegfried.
[PENETRATE!][BOOST!][TRANSFER!]
Both of them blinked and stirred, color returning to their vision.
Jeanne stood, shaking off the shock.
"What just happened? And why do I feel so much stronger?"
Arthur pointed toward the tower.
"Long story short, Balor froze time, he's trying to merge with Connla, took him right into the tower, and unfroze us while also giving you both a Boost... you're welcome."
Sieg's grin returned full force as he flexed his fingers.
"Oh hell yeah! I feel like I can lift a mountain with my dick!"
Jeanne glared at him, disgusted, and Arthur just rolled his eyes.
"Don't get too excited, that's only a temporary powerup. So get your unfrozen boots ready, because we're about to go kicking ass and taking names!"
Without missing a beat, Arthur summoned a [Double] of himself.
The clone appeared in a flash of red, ready for orders.
Arthur tossed Excalibur rapidly to it.
"Get to the boats and check on the townsfolk and the others. Make sure the whole town is actually clear and cut down anything that's not friendly."
The clone caught the sword and saluted.
"Yes, sir!"
It dashed off into the battlefield, carving through enemies with brutal precision.
Jeanne turned toward her frozen dragon.
"Arthur! Can you-"
But before she could finish, a monstrous shadow cyclops stomped down from above.
With a sickening crunch, the dragon was crushed beneath its massive weight, vanishing in a puff of magical smoke.
Jeanne stared in stunned silence.
"…Never mind."
Arthur blinked at the squashed remains, then looked at his team.
"Alright. Change of plans. You two take care of the small fries and hentai…"
He turned slowly toward the cyclops, wings unfurling, eyes burning green.
"…I'll take care of ugly over here."
Jeanne readied her Holy Swords.
"Very well. Prepare yourselves."
Sieg lifted his Demon Swords and grinned savagely.
"Sounds good to me! Let's rock this joint!"
The three of them stepped forward as they charged toward the shadows like a tidal wave.
DxD
Hello readers!
Writer's block is making me crazy, I need Power Stones to cure it.
Thank you everyone and see you later!