Tides Of Protomis CXLIV

Vengeance

The effects of the combat happening around him did not go unknown for Jurugen Volker. Whether it be his contemporaries in battle, or the ones who lead the organization battling against the enemy’s head. This was by no means a clean operation. Not to mention the untimely death of one of his comrades… The fact that Mazurus had died was still almost unthinkable to him. Whether he’d managed to unlock this form, holy drive, or not, the man was always considered a contemporary, an equal in power, in his eyes. Some part of him almost wanted to break down, but he could not afford to do that, not in this situation, there were troops depending on his command, his continued leadership. There were threats they simply could not handle, as skilled as they were, and he had a duty, to eliminate those threats, so that they might make it home, with the least casualties possible. While having all of them survive was out of the question, that much was not.

“I sense a higher class demon in the center of the city, Saka you and the range units bombard him, soften him up for the rest! Goda, strike as soon as you can!” As the words came from Volker’s mouth, Saka drew the string of his bow back.

“Don’t remember hearing anything about that one… Must be one of those who came for their personal glory.”

Golden projectiles were let loose, flying across the sky and falling upon what resembled a ginormous stone carved terrapin in one of the city’s marketplaces… But Volker could not worry about this for very long. There was another source of demonic energy, A general class one, somewhere in the area…. His eyes scanned the area, and all of his senses were focused outward. Where would it come from, would it even show itself?

His query was answered in little time, as he found himself nearly charged by an eight-legged creature, with a humanoid torso. Before long, the creature turned mid-air, facing him, with a smirk on its visage.

“You must be the commander of this.. Holy Order or whatever they call it, aside from those ones fighting the emperor, that is…” With little hesitation, the slayer had already summoned his holy arm, Astharoth’s blades gleamed in the sunlight from above. The blonde brandished them, extending one toward his opponent.

“Indeed… And you shall respect that name, it is the name of the organization that will bring your empire crashing down….” This much only resulted in the creature letting out a hearty laugh, as he prepared to charge the slayer once more.

“MY Empire? No, you seem to have made a mistake, The Great Zagan fights only for himself…”

Zagan.

That name…

It repeated in his head, time, and time again. That much was enough for the normally calm and collected, perhaps disconnected demeanor the commander usually set forth, to disappear, his brows arched, as his previously stone-faced expression turned into a scowl.

“So YOU are the one responsible. You’ll pay for what was done to my father, Demon!” Any diolauge between the two that may have happened after that seemed to be off the table, but given the glee the target of his hate had on his visage, it made no difference to him, rather, it had excited him instead. The slayer began spinning the double edged polearm, swiping and jabbing wherever he could, verdant blood streamed from the wounds that were created as a result, and yet, the demon did little but launch a fist into the slayer

S stomach in response, forcing him away, and creating distance between them. Before long, what was once a single demon, had turned into five, as the masses split off from his body.

“You know what to do.” The original stated, and within little time, they’d began galloping across the sky, toward their marked target. Who had already recovered, and prepared to meet their charge.

“Switch!” Where Volker previously lay, was now one of the clones. The man launched his blade outward, as it spun through the air, it ran through the cloned demons, and returned to his hand in a few moments, and he’d already begun making his way back to the demon. Who went forth to meet his charge. The blade the slayer wielded slammed into the armored fist the demon sent forward, but it did not take long for the demon to step back, as a veritable wall of fists had formed between them, slamming into Volker’s body, and shaking his frame, before he had much time to react. Before long, he was knocked into the ground, a crater now scarring the landscape where he landed, and his opponent followed, landing on top of him.

“Is that all you have?!Pathetic!” the demon paused his bluster, as he took a closer look at the Slayer’s face.

“I recognize you… You were the brat with that human I killed, when I first went to Mvchk… So that's what you meant by father… So, you want vengeance then. If that’s the case, how about I send you to meet him in the afterlife?” He taunted. The slayer’s hand clenched into a fist as he heard this taunt. He would dare…. He would dare disrespect his father’s memory?

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“Shut.. The Hell… UP!”

A burst of holy energy launched the demon away, as a luminance began to grow from Volker’s body…. He ignored the groaning in his muscles, any pain he may have felt, as he forced himself to his feet, the halo and wings that identified holy drive appeared… The slayer wiped the blood off of his lip, as he tightened his grip on his armament. The holy arm Astaroth grew, until the length of its blades outgrew the height of its wielder, and yet, as he flashed forth to follow his opponent, it seemed to be but a feather in hi shands, especially with the flourish of slashes that was sent toward the demon, Zagan began to weave around these attempted strikes, firing off with those of his own, a left hook slammed into the slayer’s jaw, an uppercut came next. And Yet, he only steeled himself for more strikes, as he jabbed the blade into the demon’s armored shoulder causing the demon to pause, before Volker took the initiative, an upward slash which removed the limb from its socket.

In a short time, the two were caught in a high speed dance in the air, constantly changing their positions, clashing, and being forced away, time and time again. Their injuries build, time and time again, but even so, it seemed that the slayer was taking the brunt of the damage, even with Holy Drive activated. Made worse by Zagan repeatedly splitting off spheres of biomass from himself, and continuing to create those accursed clones. To no surprise, the slayer began to weave between them, bisecting one, and letting one slam into another, while the original simply watched from afar, and sent more to replace them. This was beginning to become an issue, But what was he to do now…. Then the idea came to him, one attack, extremely focused, using the power you held within yourself to a high extent, yet, in a controlled manner… Like Councillor Gilga’s Holy Cleaver… But to create such a technique on short notice. As the slayer began to make his way toward the demon once more, his mind drifted back to the past.

“You worry too much… It is as you said, our troops have grown stronger. As have we, and You as well. You managed to make use of Holy Drive, that much says something.”

As the words of his now deceased friend came to him, it only served to reinforce his will more… Mazurus was right, if he could achieve what it took the council so much to achieve in that short a time, then it was clear, this was not some insurmountable challenge, But something he would have to work toward…. But his opponent would likely not let that happen, not without attacking him, unless…

Volker seemed to lose all his altitude within moments, landing on his feet, and huffing heavily, driving the edge of his blade into the earth below to keep himself standing. Something which resulted in the Confident expression returning to Zagan’s face.

“Done already, then… To travel all this way to meet your end here. What a pity… Alas, I’ll put you out of your misery.” Any more bluster which was said, did not make it to the slayer’s ears. For as far as he was concerned, the demon could make as many arrogant comments as he’d liked, it wouldn’t change what the result would be, especially if he’d fallen for his ruse. And it seemed that as the demon dashed at him once more, not a worry in his eyes, he had…. The distance between them was closing quickly, but quicker then, was the further drawing from his internal reserves, enough that it seemed the wings and halo formerly behind him had disappeared… The demon took this in stride, this simply meant that he was on his last legs, did it not? Outside of his view, however, the slayer’s power began to manifest in the shape of a crescent moon above them, a darkened sky appearing around it… Something that was only noted by the time it was too late, when the distance had already been closed, and volker’s holy arm had already been removed from the ground below, and raised above his head…

“This is your end!”

“Holy Drive: Divine Lunar Severance!” He shouted. A crescent of golden light, not unlike the manifested object above them, flew toward the demon, who’s armored hands extended, as he was cloaked in demonic energy… Pushing his own influence outward, try as he might to keep the attack from cutting into him, his defense was faltering, and quickly…. In a short time, a deep gulf stretched from just the walls of Zylsis, too far into the surrounding landscape, demons, and buildings unlucky enough to be in the path of the attack. The intended target, to no surprise, shared the fate of that which stated of the back. As the demonic energy which bound a demon’s body together unfurled, and he disappeared into crimson particles of light…

At this, a smirk came to Volker’s face, he’d done it. Achieved the destruction of the one responsible for his father’s death… That which he’d hoped for since the event took place. Perhaps now, it was time to return, and tell that one he called his mother just what had happened. If she was as ignorant as she’d always been, then so be it. He only wished that he could have got the demon responsible for Mazurus’ death too. If there was some solace to that situation, it was that Mazurus did not go down without a fight, allowing them to reach victory. However, his line of thought was interrupted, as he found that a much worse threat had appeared. A downright oppressive source of demonic energy, much larger than Zagan, or any demon he’d fought. The very same one that remained in the background up until when the Council went in. His eyes widened, as he looked to see an unfamiliar creature, but he knew quite well who it must have been… The demonic emperor himself, Maleggan. He had not even the time to react, before he felt the bones in his torso demolished by a kick which sent him flying off… But he did not stop there, following the human, and appearing directly behind him, driving him into the ground, with an elbow slammed onto the top of his head.

“I’ve grown bored. It’s time to see just how strong these humans who killed my generals are, try not to disappoint me…”

To Be Continued

つづく

A/N: Sorry if this seems a bit short, but I was at a loss on how to further extend tis chapter, and I didn’t want to drag it on too long. On another note

6 Left before the end, and now, we see the emperor himself in action!