*Bam!*

Numerous explosions were heard in Dragna City. The entire city was plunged into chaos. Miko wielded the Anti-Proxy Rifle Trident, and used it to destroy the enemies around him. The trident was incredibly powerful, Miko also found out that it was taxing.

Magic weapons use the user’s mana as a power source, especially guns. They suck the mana out of you, convert it into bullets, and fire it away at its targets. The Tridents are exceptionally powerful guns that were designed to combat Proxies; as such they use up a large amounts of mana.

Yet-

*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*

“Die!”

Miko, and the masked men in red and black, were continuously firing the rifles regardlessly. They were in a big shoot out in the middle of town. Large beams destroyed everything in the area, and set the city ablaze.

“Damn! How many Tridents do these guys have?! I can’t move freely like this!”

Miko flew through the air, evading shots from the Tridents while complaining. He turned the trident he had on a building, with countless enemies on the roof, and vaporized it.

On the ground, Ishma and Regis were clashing with the masked men and their weapons. But it seemed like even they had their limits. They were unable to directly confront the Tridents anymore. They had taken too many hits, and were looking worn out.

“The hell….These things are no joke.”

Ishma said while evading an attack and killing a few of the men.

“There’s too many of them too. It’s like they keep coming. There’s no end.”

Said Regis.

“Miko.”

Hina flew up beside Miko and shook her head.

“I can’t see where they’re coming from. I’ve checked everywhere, but there isn’t any sign of them traveling towards us. It’s like they just keep popping up out of thin air.”

She reported to him. When Miko realized that the enemy wasn’t decreasing no matter how many he killed, he asked Hina to do a recon and see how many had surrounded them.

“I expected for there to be an army surrounding us, but I really can’t see where such a large number of enemies are coming from.”

Miko scanned the area again, but it didn’t make a difference. He couldn’t see where the enemy was coming from. It was then that he remembered that when he came here, he had felt a strong presence. He thought it was the masked men, but when he fought them, he realized that they weren’t that strong.

“How can they continually use the Trident, when I can’t sense any powerful magic from them?”

The entire situation was weird.

“As it stands, we’ll just get burnout and get crushed by their numbers. What makes it worse is that I can tell that Nebulous is just watching this from a far and enjoying our struggles.”

*Boom!*

That’s when a deafening explosion echoed out and a building not too far away suddenly exploded without Miko or the mask men attacking it.

“What now?”

Miko looked and saw a figure rushed out of the dust cloud caused by the explosion. He then saw two more figures chasing after it. The three figures were fast, especially the two who were chasing the first one. They had quickly caught up and engaged in a melee with their target.

“Huh?”

While watching this, Miko realized that he didn’t fell like he was in danger anymore. He turned and saw that all of the masked men froze, like they were statues.

“Could it be…”

He quickly looked back at the three figures, and saw that they were moving towards where he was. He could soon see them clearly.

“Resound!”

Sarah tried to hit his target with a sound attack, but his opponent was swift and had avoided it. He then moved out of the way and also avoided Ace’s attack.

The two were battling a single person. This person was dressed like the masked men, the only difference was that his color scheme was inverted. He wore more black than red, and his mask was a bit different because it had a crown in the center of the forehead. The left side of the mask was red and the right was black. His body type was slim, and he was tall.

When Miko saw him, he smiled and pointed his trident at him.

“Ace! Sora!”

He shouted and immediately fired the trident. Ace and Sora were able to move back, but the man was slow to react.

*Boom!*

He was hit with the powerful laser and was devoured by it.

“You two finally caught up.”

Hina said to Ace and Sora, after she and Miko landed near them.

“We had arrived sooner, but we realized that the situation was a bit weird and decided to look for the cause.”

Sora explained.

“I figured that the enemies you were fighting were being sent by someone, and immediately searched for them.”

“You found them when we couldn’t….”

“Well, he had used a spell to hide himself. But I have a technique called Sonar, which uses sound to scan the area. I can pick up things others can’t with it.”

“What are you a bat? Or are you a dolphin?”

Miko joked. What Sora used was basically echolocation.

“Ahhh~. I was found out quicker than expected.”

They heard a calm voice and turned around. They looked at where Miko had fired his trident. There they saw a man laying in a trench that was red because of the melt rocks. It was the same masked man that Sora and Ace tracked.

“This isn’t good. Layla is going to get angry again.”

He sat up and said. Other than a few burns on his clothes and skin, he looked perfectly fine.

“The hell? How is he fine after getting hit?”

They watched as he slowly got to his feet and stretched his body.

“Well, since I’m discovered, I might as well make up for my mistake by killing all of you.”

The man said.

“The name’s NoFace. It’s nice to meet you, and it was nice knowing you.”

Miko immediately pointed his trident at NoFace, and was about to fire, however, he was stopped by Hina.

“Miko, leave him to us. You go on ahead and find Nebulous.”

“Are you sure? No matter how you look at it, this guy is bad news.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.”

She smiled at him.

“Handle Uncle Darry for me.”

“………”

Miko looked at Ace and Sora and saw them nodding.

“Alright. This works out best for me as well.”

He called back Regis and Ishma and immediately took flight. NoFace watched as he flew away. It was like he was too lazy to make chase.

“Now then, it’s just you and us.”

The trio all glared at him, and was ready to fight.

“That’s where you’re wrong.”

NoFace snapped his fingers and all of masked men who were lifelessly suddenly came back to life. They all spoke in unison.

“It’s just you and us.”

“Well, shit.”

Ace cursed.

Meanwhile, an intense battle was occurring between Momo and the Elder of the Dragna Clan, Hector.

*Bam!*

Hector slammed his fist heavily on a magic circle, that Momo conjured in front of her to block his attack. Momo formed another magic circle in her left palm and thrust it towards hector.

*Bam!*

A powerful blast of lightning rushed out and struck Hector. His figure was devoured in the blast, leaving a smoke cloud in front of Momo.

“?!”

Momo desperately moved her body to the right and avoided a burly hand that almost grabbed her neck. She moved further to the side and formed another magic circle in front of her.

“Too slow.”

But before she could fire her attack, Hector rushed out of the smoke and stood directly in front of her.

*Bam!*

He slammed his fist on the magic circle and shattered it. The impact threw off Momo’s footing and caused her to stumble back. Hector took a step forward slammed his palm on Momo’s small chest.

“Destruction Wave.”

*Bam!*

A devastating shock hit Momo and propelled her backwards.

“Cough?!”

Her insides felt like they were crushed under a car tire, and blood rushed out of her mouth. Even so, she somehow held her ground and didn’t fall.

“Ah!”

She pounced at Hector with small magic circles on her limbs. She threw a punch at Hector’s face, which he blocked with her arm.

“Ugh…”

Hector groaned because the fist was heavier than he expected. He thrust his knee at her midsection, but she moved like leaf caught in the wind and circled around him.

*Bam!*

She hit him with a kick to the side of his head, which made him take a step back to the side.

“Ahh!”

She then followed up with another punch. Hector ducked under it and hit her with an uppercut. He then grabbed her small leg, while she was being forced away by his attack, and slammed her mercilessly on the ground.

“Ugh!”

Hector lifted her off the ground and slammed her on the ground again.

“You put up more resistance than I expected.”

Hector said and lifted her overhead. That’s when Momo slammed her palm on his head. He got irritated and slammed her on the ground again.

“Cough! Cough! Don’t talk as if you’ve already won.”

Momo grinned and clasped her hands together. A small magic seal appeared on Hector’s forehead.

*Bam!*

Hector’s head and upper body was devoured by a huge explosion, causing him to let go of Momo’s leg. Momo immediately got to her feet and distanced herself.

“Tsk.”

She clicked her tongue when she saw Hector walking towards her like nothing happened. His body was surrounded by a golden hue.

“Surely you didn’t think that something like that was enough to kill me. If you did, then not only are you looking down on me, you’re looking down on this clan.”

Hector looked at Momo with an angry glare.

“Don’t underestimate our clan, Brat!”

He rushed forward like a mad beast and quickly appeared in front of Momo. She formed several magical circles stocked together in front of her.

“What is this?!”

Hector roared and slammed his fist on the front circle.

*Bam!*

His punch didn’t halt for long, it shattered the circles one after the other like they were glass. His fist grazed Momo’s body, after she leaped back just in time. Or that’s what she thought.

*Bam!*

Hector appeared in front of her and slammed his heel on the top of her head and forced her into the ground. He flicked her off the ground with his foot like a ball, and then spun around and swung his leg like a whip.

*Bam!*

Momo was kicked to the side, with her body spinning out of control. She thrust her hands behind her and slammed into a magic circle to stop herself. She jumped to avoid a flying kick from Hector. She formed another circle at her feet, which propelled her into the air like a rocket.

“?!”

She looked down, but couldn’t see Hector anywhere.

“Up here!”

She looked up and saw a heel swinging down towards her head. She tried to move out of the way, but the heel caught her shoulder and caused her to hear the sounds of her shoulder breaking.

“Ahh!”

She screamed out in pain, and immediately formed a circle behind her. From the circle, countless weapons were fired at Hector, who was falling towards the ground.

Seeing the weapons, Hector thrust his palms overhead and the golden hue around him was fired in waves, which caused the weapons to distort and shatter. He landed on the ground, kicked off it, and shot towards in sky like an arrow.

“Dammit!”

Seeing him rushing towards her, Momo thrust her hands to the side and countless magic circles appeared behind her.

“Catastrophic Assault!”

At that moment, lightning, flames, giant boulders, swords, spears, arrows, spikes, and streams of water descended towards the ground. It was like a scene from the apocalypse.

“Interesting.”

Hector saw this and readied himself to attack. Momo saw that and grinned. A circle appeared beside her, and she thrust her hand into it. At that moment, a circle appeared at Hector’s ear. A small hand came out of the circle.

“Hm?”

Hector noticed it, but it was too late. The hand snapped its fingers.

*Bam!*

A deafening sound exploded in Hector’s ears, which caused even the air to tremble.

“?!”

An intense pain spread through his body, starting from his ear. He vision became blurry and his body stiffened up.

“You can thank Sora for inspiring that move just now.”

Momo laughed when she saw that hector was immobilized.

“Go to hell, Hector!”

The first thing that hit him was a bolt of lightning, after that it was a pillar of flame, boulder, swords, arrows, spears…..Everything that Momo summoned, struck him one after the other without mercy.

*Bam!*

He was immediately forced out of the air and crashed into the ground, where he fell victim to Momo’s attacks.

*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*

The attacks rained down on hector and the area, causing mass destruction. Homes were leveled, roads were destroyed, the world was set ablaze. This continued for a while, until Momo was completely tired. When she looked, she saw Hector laying on the ground, covered in weapons and burnt all over.

She slowly descended to the ground. Her arm was dangling after being broken, she could no longer ignore the pain and forcibly use it. Her dressed was in tatters, her hair was a mess, and she had wounds like over her body.

She fell to her knees and sighed in relief.

“Relaxing already?”

“?!”

Suddenly a hand grabbed her by her face and slammed her head on the ground. She looked and saw Hector with several weapons stabbed into him and with his body burnt. He was holding her down, with an angry smile on his face.

“H-How?”

“Like I said, don’t underestimate this clan.”

He strengthened his grip.

“Ahh!”

Momo screamed out when she felt her head being crushed.

“Your plan was impressive, but it wasn’t enough to kill me.”

Momo saw the weapons lodged in Hector, fall out one after the other. His burnt skin then started to visibly heal before her eyes. His entire body was covered with a golden hue.

“Did you forget that I excel in Vita? Or that my Vita belongs to the Heavenly attribute?”

His skin quickly returned to normal.

“Those with Heavenly Vita can heal faster than the average person. Not even healing magic can compare. Did you forget because you don’t use Vita yourself? Or is it because Miko uses Demonic Vita?”

He moved his hand from her head to her throat.

“If I remember correctly, you’re part demon right?”

When Momo heard what he said, she started to panic. She knew what he was about to do.

He placed his hand on her chest, and concentrated the golden hue around it. He smiled and then injected the golden hue, his Heavenly Vita, into her body.

“Ahhhhhhh!”

Momo started screaming out in agony. Her limbs were flung all about, and bulging veins appeared on her face.

“Another attribute of Heavenly Vita is that its lethal against Demonic beings like yourself.”

Hector said.

“I could also use it to drain the god essence inside you and replenish my strength. Since Tiamat’s blood is strong inside you, I should gain a lot of benefits after absorbing your essence.”

He grinned.

“But I’ll be sure to make you taste hell first.”

“Ahhhhhh!”

Momo’s screams got even louder, as Hector poured more Vita inside her. The veins in her face darkened and started wiggling like they were worms under her skin. Some of them even started bursting, covering her with blood.

Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, while tears flowed from her eyes, and drool mixed with blood drained from her mouth.

“Hahahaha! This is a great sight! To think I get make the daughter of that bastard, who killed my father, suffer like this!”

Hector brought his face closer to Momo’s.

“I’ll be honest, the only reason I joined Krow was so that I could get my revenge against your father and brother. You see, when they killed the previous emperor, they killed all of his retainers, including my father.”

He started choking Momo.

“And what did your grandfather do when we retaliate and try to avenge the emperor and all else who died? He and your uncles slaughtered half the clan! Why? Just because we wanted to kill you, your twin brother, who were babies at the time, and your whore of a mother!”

He stopped started slamming Momo’s head on the ground repeatedly as he screamed.

“If your mother hadn’t married that bastard and gave birth to your brother, my father wouldn’t have died! And I’m just to let it go because your mother was banished and you were stripped of your rights to the throne?! Fuck that!”

He saddled Momo and started pressing his knee on her chest.

“The others were afraid of Nero and compromise with him, but not me! I want you all dead! Especially you!”

Momo couldn’t scream any longer. All she could do was cry in silence.

“Why don’t you lose this childish form and fight me in your real one? Is it because you look just like your mother? If so, I don’t mind. In fact, it would make me happy to see what that bitch would look like if she was in your place.”

He started slapping her.

“Come on! Turn into her! Show me that bitch’s face! Come on!”

Momo’s vision became blurry and her consciousness was fading in and out. She couldn’t even hear half of what Hector said. She felt like she could breathe her last breath any minute now.

“Come on! Show me your true self!”

“What makes you think you’re worthy to see my niece’s true appearance?”

“?!”

A cold voice reached Hector’s ears, which made his body froze. When that happened Momo vision started to clear up. She saw a hand touch Hector’s shoulder. But she was unable to see who it belong to. Even so, she knew who it was.

“Y-You’re back…Uncle Nova.”

She said with a smile before passing out.

As for hector, the hand on his shoulder, despite being light and a bit feminine, felt like it was heavier than the world itself. His body started to tremble, and his heart started to race. He wanted to run, he wanted to beg, but his body couldn’t move and his voice couldn’t come out.

Only one word repeatedly screamed in his mind.

DEATH.

The voice, which to him felt like it came from the personification of death, once again reached his ear.

“So, Hector….How do you wanna die?”