After what felt like an eternity of impatient waiting had passed, finally...

"Alright, I'm done!" Declared Diablo triumphantly, "You can finally use your body again!"

​​

It's about fucking time...I mentally prepared myself as I shifted my consciousness out of my subconscious, and...opened my eyes, for the first time in about three months. I'm...awake. I raised my hand above my face and opened and closed my fist a couple of times...I can move and feel again.

Looks like I'm on my bed, wearing black trousers. I sat up and looked around, before standing up, grabbing a black hooded coat that was on a chair beside the bed, as well as my short-sword and dagger, strapping them onto me, and then walked out of my room.

As I stepped out, I could hear the faint echo of screams outside...that can't be anything good. As I entered the living room and saw Pero sleeping on the couch, I quietly headed for a window and cracked it open, and as the outside came into view, I used Teleport to get to the ground in an instant.

The smell of blood was heavy in the air, and there were corpses and body parts everywhere...what the hell happened here? I then felt bloodlust being directed at me from multiple directions...

"Another heathen, let us slay him!" Declared one of them.

Heathen? Huh, so then these people are from either Platinberg or Silvland...most likely the latter, considering the state Platinberg had been in the last time I was there. There's eleven of them...my body feels fine, since Diablo and my Healing Factor kept it from weakening while I was unconscious, but I guess that I could still use a quick warm up.

As they began to aim Elemental Magic attack at me, I pointed my hands at two of them and used Beckon to pull them towards me, before grabbing their throats as they closed in and breaking their necks with a swift twist of my hands, before using the two corpses as meatshields to block the incoming Elemental Magic attacks.

I then used Teleport to appear behind one of them and slashed off his head, before flying up and firing down a barrage of lightning bolts down at the rest, killing all but one of them. I then swooped towards the survivor and grabbed the top of his head. Hm, those Elemental attacks, they were pretty strong...at least B-Rank, but the vast majority of Silvland Adventurers should be dead. They don't seem like they have any monster power boosts though.

"Alright, you're gonna answer my questions, got that?" I remarked in an icy, threatening tone.

"Hah, I have nothing to say to a heathen!" He scoffed disdainfully, "I would gladly die for the sake of this holy crusade!"

Fucking religious fanatics, I don't have the patience to deal with this crap...hey, Diablo, you know what to do.

"Right, got it."

I entered Diablo Mode and as my third eye opened, Diablo activated one of the new Chaos Magic spells we'd made...it put the target in a trance that compelled them to answer any and all questions I asked. It was a lot harder to break free from than the Eyes of Compulsion, but the main reason I used this instead was because, well...I wanted to test it out.

"Now, then...let's try this again..."

.

.

.

.

.

I broke his neck and tossed him away as I finished interrogating him. So, the entire population of Silvland were now Belia Lasmodeus's pawns. I have to admit, I could appreciate her idea to use their religion like that. Alright, it's time...

Diablo, is she still in the Rustlands?

"Yup, and not far from here. I'll direct you."

I receded down to Lazarus Mode and flew in the direction that Diablo directed me as fast as I could...there were several corpses all over the place, and it's no surprise...from what that guy I interrogated said, five thousand of them were teleported to the middle of the Rustlands at the same time, and then spread out from there.

"Kuro, she's just up ahead!" Alerted Diablo, as I shot through the air.

Got it.

I entered Diablo Mode and zipped forward, as she came into sight...no doubt about it, she matched the description Lazarus had previously given me...she was on the ground...standing above Persia with her fist raised...that's a good way to piss me off right after I wake up after three months in a coma.

I swiftly used Teleport to appear next to her and grabbed her forearm before she could drive her fist down. She froze the instant before I used Teleport...did she sense my bloodlust? Huh, I thought no one else in this world could do that. Well, whatever, it doesn't really matter...

"Wha-...oh, wow, I didn't think you'd wake up for a while yet," She remarked in surprise, before a gleam of both excitement and fear appeared in her eyes.

"Kuro...," Whispered Persia, tears forming in her eyes.

Her arm's broken...

"We'll talk later," I replied, forming a clone and having it whisk her away while healing her, as rage and fury surged inside me.

"Are you sure you should have done that, you just halved your pow-...ow!" She began, before letting out a yell of pain as I snapped her forearm in half, and then smirking widely, "You really are strong!"

"You won't live long enough to find out exactly how strong...now die," I remarked coldly, using Corruption Magic on her arm and spreading it as fast as I could while sinking my claws into her skin.

She swiftly tore her arm off from below her shoulder before I could consume her life force and flew back, and as I glowed red and rejoined with my clone, regaining my full power, before firing an Obliteration Magic at her. She didn't try to dodge though, instead staying still, as the air in front of her shimmered and my attack disappeared through it...what was that?

Hey, guys, any idea what she just did?

"Yeah, that's her Dimensional Magic, she's using it as a defense," Replied Diablo, "But I don't really know what the limits of using that magic are."

I see...I guess I should avoid close-range attacks then, huh?

"Not necessarily," Chimed in Lazarus, "She cannot store or trap living things inside her dimension, though she can transport them away."

Can she fire out an attack she absorbed? Like the Obliteration Magic blast I just fired, can she send it back out?

"Hm...probably yes, but I have never seen her do so...though the last time I saw her fight properly was over a thousand years ago, so she may fight differently now."

Well, either way, I'm not taking any chances. I'll keep my distance as much as possible, but that doesn't mean I'll completely avoid getting in close-range.

"You've had your fun, now it's time for you to die...I'm gonna destroy you," I remarked, as red lightning crackled around me.

"Oh, on the contrary...my fun is just getting started," She replied with a cold, calm smirk, as she flew up and stopped the bleeding of her right shoulder...does she really think she stands a chance against me without restoring her arm?

I don't care how strong she is, anyone who underestimates me won't live to regret it. I swiftly drew out my short-sword and used Teleport to instantly close the gap, swinging my blade at her neck as fast as I could. Right as the blade was about a millimeter from reaching her skin, she vanished, teleporting away.

The instant she reappeared, I sensed her with my heat sense and fired out a rapid Obliteration Magic blast at her, which burst through the middle of her chest before she could react, a look of surprise on her face which quickly turned into one of pain as she coughed out blood.

"Wow, that was some reaction speed...," She remarked with a pained yet excited grin, blood pouring out from the sides of her mouth, "...but killing me isn't going to be that easy!"

"I can see that...but I can also see that despite the fact that there are no fatal injuries to your body...it definitely feels all the pain inflicted by the damage. I wonder just how much pain you can withstand before losing you mind," I responded blankly.

"Heh...you're pretty scary, this is the fucking best!"

She can teleport instantly, and unlike me, she isn't limited to teleporting only within her sight...Diablo, will Chaos Magic work on her?

"Hm...the new spells we made might work, or at least, she'll take a while to unravel them since she'll be unfamiliar with them...from what I know, if she's hit with a spell that she's familiar with, she can unravel and nullify the effects almost instantly."

That's more than good enough for me...I guess there's no point in using the simple spells we made...alright, Diablo, when I give you the signal, use THAT spell, got it?

"Uh...you sure about that?" He replied skeptically, "The toll that spell takes is gonna be immense."

Yeah, I'm sure, I can tolerate just about any degree of pain...but first, let's see if I can inflict some significant damage on her before that...after all, I've still got plenty of tricks up my sleeve.

I then used Teleport to get within twenty meters of her and swiftly pointed my right palm at her and began to use Beckon, and right as I began to pull her towards me, she teleported away...just as I expected, and I'd been charging up Obliteration Magic in my left hand this whole time...the instant I sensed her reappear, I fired it out in a powerful, long continuous blast.

A look of alarm appeared on her face, and right as the blast began to reach her...it disappeared into the air as the area in front of her shimmered and grew slightly dark. I then expanded the width of my blast by sacrificing a bit of intensity...making sure that it was wide enough that she couldn't see me. I can only keep up this blast for a few more seconds, but...that's more than plenty.

It looks like she can't use the regular teleportation spell immediately after using it once, that's why she's using her Dimensional Magic to defend herself against my Obliteration Magic blast instead of teleporting away before the blast reached her...what's more, it looks like she can't cast any other spells while her Dimensional Magic is active.

I swiftly formed two clones using Quintuple, my blast weakening as I did...this should make her think that I'm starting to run out of steam and lower her guard a bit. Alright then, enough messing around...it's time to finish this...

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