Heckin' Ascension

Unsure as I was in how all of this was going to function, I just focused on my breathing for a few moments before taking the Dungeon Key out of my inventory, holding it and trying to push my magical energy as I could feel it into it. That seemed to be enough to start things up, the world starting to shift around me even as my eyes were closed in preparation…

Suddenly, I felt something pull on my arms, spreading them wide to either side of me with such force I thought they would be dislocated, a heavy feeling appearing over my neck and on my shoulders, pushing me down to a kneeling position without much other warning, the entire experience more or less happening while I was mostly scared to even open my eyes less I see something that man was never supposed to lay eyes on.

When the momentum of it all shifted away, I opened my eyes and almost predictably found myself chained. A slab of metal, rather than just a collar, around my neck, connected by chains to the platform on which I was forced to kneel, my arms also chained up leading to the distant walls with truly impressive lengths of chain. The platform was reflective, hot, my body supposed to have been put on the heat of the sunlight but as I had only just arrived, it was less scotching just yet, only heating up my body so far.

This was… Not exactly how I imagined I would be going into this, but if it's like this then apparently I have no choice but to plan an escape somehow… Which should be sooner rather than later considering I was pretty sure I just saw something large moving in the corner of my vision. Something larger than the two bright green scarabs that suddenly showed up, each one probably as big as my head.

The memories were coming back to me just as the… Fury… Descended. This was how the game started, I had just forgotten to account for it and the whole game had a bit of an odd order of events which more or less should have meant that I would not necessarily have to have started here. Not that I had actually remembered that detail until being put here.

She was scarcely dressed, her skin somewhere between ageless perfection and worn complexion that spoke of her being older than even the agelessness her body was supposed to have. She had armored boots, a cloth over her crotch with her thighs, muscled, being bare. The cloth lead into a backless breastplate that left the top of her small chest bare, just barely covering her nipples. There were strange shallow holes on her chest however, so it was likely necessary for it to be like that.

Necessary like the fact that she had four massive insect-like legs on her back, closer to spider legs than anything else and yet not quite that either, preventing her from actually wearing anything over that part of her body, as well as a helmet on her head. The breastplate actually seemed to be a part of her body in some strange way considering it did not behave like a solid object, instead moving along with her body to the point it probably did rise and fall with her breaths but I was not capable of focusing on that part right now.

There was a helmet over face and protecting her head, one of those Greek ones, almost one that would not have been out of place on a gladiator, with a Mohawk since I wasn't sure what the proper word for it was. On top of that, she was also missing an arm while the one she did have ended in fingers that almost seemed to be clawed instead of having nails, a dull green color unlike the deep green of the insect legs. "What's wrong? You seem confused, Vortigern. Having trouble remembering our special time together?"

As she started to speak, I flipped the Yin and Yang just in case. I could already feel some fear and dread welling up in me at the situation, as well as a grand amount of anxiety and worry toward the things I was recalling that I would need to be facing and doing going forward. Yet with an action as simple as this, my nerves were not only calmed but steeled. There was an enemy in front of me and I couldn't lose myself. I probably shouldn't be able to look at her as confidently as I thought I was looking at her, but well, I did not remember our 'special time' together.

…I would ask her to give me a hand with remembering just what I did to get imprisoned here in this continuity as well, but it was probably for making bad jokes like this. The Furies imprison and torture oath breakers and I myself hadn't broken an oath with Ares, having never made one in the first place… Unless I did both by some line of logic used when entering here. The fact that she called me Vortigern only further served to confuse me. I would have expected 'Kratos' or Issei, but to be named Vortigern?

Before I could internally complain further, she slapped me, the hard 'scales' on the back of her hand making quite an impact before she further backhanded me. "But then again…" The visor of the helmet went up rather automatically as if by magic, revealing an unexpectedly scarred face with eyes that seemed like they should have belonged to a blind person. She was furious. "We were rudely interrupted by my sister. Alecto was never one for manners!"

The next strike was an upward swing that impacted my chin so hard I could have sworn my teeth broke from the strain. The collar around my neck certainly broke open however, nearly sending me off of the platform with the remaining force, only for the chains around my arms to prevent me from falling off. Surprisingly, I did not seem to lose any HP from the exchange even as I confirmed that yes, my teeth were quite chipped and one of them ended up on my tongue, apparently having fully been knocked out.

"Not to worry. I am quite skilled at teaching respect!" And I was pretty sure that the fact I hadn't lost any HP would not continue for the exchange to follow. The legs on her back spread as she prepared to attack, the tips glowing purple as I moved my body out of the way of her first telegraphed thrust of the legs. "For what you've taken, I owe you that." She growled.

More or less certain I would not get another chance to simply dodge, I spat the tooth out at her face. She avoided it, of course, but it also distracted her long enough for me to activate the Ray Horizon, covering me in armor, increasing my strength further and letting me pull the chains out of where they were embed into the wall, fully freeing myself. She had a moment of realization before I pushed my weight forward to try and punch her. She leapt back and down, one of her legs hooking me painfully as she did so.

[-172 HP

+26 HP]

There's the damage, even if I was not a fan of it. She managed to unhook me and fell first, after which I followed, taking no actual damage from the fall and recovering as quickly as I could. "I will not be ruined by a mortal!" If she was concerned about me breaking out, she did not show it beyond that shout.

[Blades of Chaos

Type: Twin Swords

Quality: B

Durability: Infinite/Infinite

A divine construct forged in the depths of Hades by Ares himself. A powerful pair of blades capable of great acts of slaughter, accompanied by chains which can stretch to certain lengths to allow for attacks at close and mid ranges, by some definition even long ranges

Base Damage equals STR x 1.25

This is an Evolving Weapon that can grow along with the user, becoming stronger as the user grows, even gaining additional abilities after the defeat of certain enemies or reaching certain accomplishments

Additional Powers:

None]

As the Fury scurried away deeper into this strange construction, I was faced with the notification. Well this was… Hm. I sent the Blades into my inventory, the chains vanishing as well, so they were not properly bound to my wrists which was one of the features, being seared into Kratos's flesh, of the original setting. So… What exactly was going on? Whatever. I had to chase after my supposed torturer and worrying about it right now would be needless.

I considered trying to absorb the blades into Ray Horizon, but decided to try to do so later. There were some… Theories I had to confirm. In the second game, Kratos had a different set of blades, which themselves were then changed by Athena's ghost in the third one. In theory, I could do everything with the same set but all things considered, it would probably be better to wait than to rush into it.

All things considered, the area around me was very well designed and made. The sort of place that could become a pretty neat tourist attraction… Were it not for the various cages and spikes around, but that could probably be another charm point if it actually was to become a destination. Constructions of stone and whatnot that are not really found in modern day construction yet they look so nice… Even as the Fury knocked down some pillars to try and stop me, only for me to simply climb over them, not in as much of a rush to catch her as she seemed to be in a rush to get away from me, or lead me somewhere.

More of the scarabs showed up and without pause or consideration tried to hit themselves against me, though they failed to do any damage… And for some reason, one slash with the Blades was not enough to kill them either. Well, they had lower damage and speed over all compared to Dimension Slicer, but even so… Very durable bugs.

[+5 EXP

+45 Red Orbs]

[Red Orbs – A strange sort of enhancing 'material' which can be used to upgrade magic and weaponry. In theory, it would only function on things 'of this world', however due to circumstances it is also possible to upgrade other things]

…oh. Oh this is going to be… Very useful if it can be used to upgrade the things I want. Not like I needed more reason to kill the bugs though. No, they were parasites. Just remembering what was up ahead made me all the more willing to just get them away from myself as well as others as soon as possible. The blades were slower than I was used to when attacking, but they were not bad weapons in spite of that.

When the battles were done, I… Proceeded to absolutely embarrass myself. In game logic, it was normal to be able to jump seven feet into the air and almost as much in distance very easily. I… Did not have the same sort of physical capability as far as I was aware, aside for Mana Bursts but even those took practice. So when faced with high ledges and a considerable distance I first tried to just climb it, which failed, after which it became a matter of mastering powerful enough Mana Bursts from my legs to lift myself up and get to where I needed to be.

{Or you could… Fly.} Melusine pointed out like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Well, it probably was, but I did not actually know know how, which was a bit of a problem for the current situation.

"…You'll have to teach me that when we are in a calm enough situation…" Right now, I was probably supposed to be chasing the Fury with more spirit than I was putting into it… Who, for some reason, was actually waiting for me in spite of the amount of time it had taken me to actually get to her.

She waited for me at the entrance to a hallway of sorts and continued scurrying away, mostly supported by her insect legs instead of her 'human' ones as I followed into the hallway, ignoring the flesh and bone motifs that it had in its construction… I did not however ignore the chest with a glowing omega symbol with a crystal on top of the chest, yet no way to actually open it. No, I expected it to be a chest but it was probably some kind of weird stone altar…

I searched my memories and came to the conclusion that I was supposed to smash the crystal instead. Enhanced by Mana Bursts, I brought down the butts of the Blades of Chaos, the crystal breaking and releasing a considerable amount of Red Orbs yet not enough for me to be certain in being able to upgrade anything of importance. It was too early into the journey, so to say. A bit of curiosity further led me to trying to store the stone… Thing… Best just to call it a chest. The crystal had dimmed, broken, and so had the symbol, but it was still nice looking and it worked!

…it was in that moment that I also realized that my teeth were back and perfectly repaired… Huh. I hadn't expected them to repair themselves this easily. I wonder how far my regeneration actually went… And of course, the Fury was still waiting for me in what was obviously a trap. Stepping forward, I considered trying to improvise a long range weapon to try and get her for underestimating me as she was pretty much a sitting duck over there! But the chains probably wouldn't get far enough…

"Die, mortal!" Ah, she broke expectations and got tired of waiting, yelling a suggestion at me and slamming down those insect legs and breaking the floor under me. As a result, I was thrown down into the hallway below, cells with other prisoners, oath breakers, on either side along with strangely well-made statues lining the walls, somehow not affected in any way by the fires under them. I should probably focus less on the architecture… A few of the scarabs had appeared as well as the Fury watched from above, the parasites entering the cells.

The prisoners screamed as I tried not to actually watch the helpless prisoners being violated, ultimately forced to see the result as it broke out of the door, the body mostly human yet having been somewhat twisted around, giving it an uncanny appearance, bent limbs that seemed more like those of some grasshopper or a different insect, the back of their head having about half of the scarab sticking out of it.

"…Melusine, do we have fire?" There was only one logical next step.

{…why is it always insects?}

[[Divine Dividing: Ray Horizon] has been updated with [Calamity of Flame]]

[Calamity of Flame Lv.1/?] – Flames that Burn the World. The ultimate flames which can incinerate anything. Once ignited, they might even never go out. Even Gods will be burnt to ashes within these flames eventually. A youthful expression of the flames once possessed by the Transcended Dragon. Though they have a bright future in front of them, they are still not on a level capable of incinerating the Gods

[Mana Burst – Calamity of Flame] – A composite skill and evolved version of both. Due to natural efficiency and the same origin point, the effect of the flames is immensely increased further by use of [Mana Burst], the power increasing exponentially as the two skills increase separately]

It was a strange sort of feeling, but tugging it out, soft flames, barely more than candlelight appeared at my fingertips, closer to wisps or embers. Yet the monstrous fusion of parasite and human leapt at me, I activated the Mana Burst in addition, causing a considerable burst of fire that engulfed them, resulting in further wails of flame as he began to thrash around until finally stopping, Red Orbs flowing toward me.

It was… Not a pleasant sight or idea, but I did have enough LP to get something that could help. If Masochistic Constitution was there, then obviously there is also…

[[Sadistic Constitution Lv.1/10] – The user's aggression in battle is augmented. Once activated, the longer you are in a fight, the more you will naturally become more aggressive. At the same time, the more you attack the stronger your attacks become but the damage you take also increases. 0.2% more Damage is dealt for every attack made, but the amount of damage taken is increased by 0.1% at the same time, all changes disappearing if no enemy is in front of you for five seconds. Increases bonuses to Eros and LP by 10% resulting from pleasure gained from dealing pain. Bonuses increase with skill level]

A strange feeling in my mind appeared. The flames had been a natural thing, a feeling, deep in my body that felt surprisingly natural and easy to call on, being part of me, like preparing to spit since that was probably the most natural process that can be done at will. Meanwhile, Intersection and this new Sadistic skill felt like… Getting into character. I hadn't done much acting myself, but I imagined it was like when an actual actor prepares to play a role and does it so well they make the audience believe that they were that character rather than just an actor.

The Sadism and Intersection however were different sorts of feelings, yet ones I was unable to focus on. They were useful in this situation as more of the abominations started appearing and with a swing, letting out a bit of a length of the chains the Blades had, I started actually experimenting.

The blades seemed to follow something between my will and the most optimal option. They had an edge, a tip and a flat part yet they should not have been able to normally stay where they should have gone, instead likely just turning somewhere in the air and failing to actually cut or pierce, instead doing blunt damage. They turned, however, where I wanted them to, as long as it was achievable. If I wanted them to cut at an angle, they would cut at the angle, but if I wanted them to cut their neck while aiming for the torso, it was impossible due to geometry and distance in spite of the clearly magical nature.

I felt my aggression increase more and more, more or less even my blood begin to, thankfully metaphorically, boil… As well as what I was pretty sure was excitement from Melusine. Well, I was actually starting to fight properly and willingly so to say. Maybe it was the further result of growing aggression, but I felt like I could take the enemies on even on my own. The Intersection was flipped while I was still pretty sure I could do so and the thoughts came to a grinding halt.

If I let Melusine out, then I would lose a considerable amount of stats and the enemies were already resisting the blows and not dying as quickly as they should have. My mind became more clear as the usual apprehension I wanted to avoid mixed with the strange feeling of wanting to do harm. I could fight like this, but I was no longer as confident in the blows, pulling the chains back and focusing further on the enemies.

"You fight like an Athenian!" Thank you!? I think she meant to offend me like that, but I didn't get the insult. What I did get was that I was a lot less aggressive.

My enemies were still unarmed yet dangerous, moving with surprising fury and efficiency, what was likely instinctual movement now that they had become more animalistic. While before, I was almost keeping them at range, swinging the chained blades around, now I let them closer, risking taking quite a lot of damage but doing my best to lead them into my attacks, swinging the blades like short swords and getting quite a few hits off, following what seemed to be the most… Natural.

The previous way of combat was a very aggressive one, careless of the actual enemies and simply with a lack of discrimination to the force being used while this one was more akin to self-defense. The flipped side was a predator hunting prey and this one was one of prey defending themselves against the predator trying to strike them down. Or so some part of my mind that was trying to sound cool told me to shift the focus away from the illogical between point of fear and the desire to tear them limb from limb.

Eventually, I had fought them back and killed them until the very last one swung its gross limb at me, making me dodge out of the way before I got in close and pierced through him with both blades to ensure death. For a moment, it was just me… Only for new enemies to effectively appear out of the ground, from strange 'shadows', black spots that had a soft white glow from which they jumped out of, wielding swords.

In a resulting panic, I crossed the Insurrection again and was flooded with immense aggression, letting the chains flow out until the blades were some distance behind me before stepping forward, arms raised up, elbows almost at my head, swinging down and resulting in the blades slamming down at the cluster of enemies who were trying to find an opening to attack from. The attack, while mostly missing them, had caused a strange burst of energy of its own that broke their stances.

As if teleporting, the blades appeared back in my wrists, a quick and careless Mana Burst letting me cross the distance and throw my body right at one of them, headbutting their chest while swinging to my sides, hitting another two. My foot slammed down on the ground, the blades let go as I grabbed the one directly in front of me, incinerating him with the [Calamity of Flame], a horrid odor appearing from doing so.

Even the enemies seemed surprised at what I had done, further resulting in a chance for me to will the blades, spinning around myself and slashing just about all of them in the spin. Likely due to the same conceptual situation as in the Moon Cell, the attacks clearly go through the enemies yet they end up with only cuts and bruises rather than outright dying immediately unless the attack was the lethal one in which their body ends up with the sort of wound that would have come from the lethal attack. It mattered little, a cacophony of screams of pain surrounding me and filling me with a strange joy.

Unsatisfied with the results thus far, I sheathed the Blades of Chaos, putting them on my back where they stayed unsupported as if by magnets, arming myself instead with Dimension Slicer, the blade moving much faster and doing over double damage due to the fact my Magic stat was higher than my Strength stat. Some of them managed to recover in the time it took me to do that, jumping up, like grasshoppers, to try and slam-cut me down. I backpedaled away and out of range, swinging Slicer overhead and cutting through one of their heads vertically.

The rest lost their care for any sort of synchronization and just tried to attack me wildly. Realizing, among my anger, that this was not the focus of defense, I flipped back and immediately regretted it and felt like punching myself in the face. Okay, so the other me is a serious sadist who enjoys messing with even me. Good to know! But for now, I focused on actually dealing with the enemies around me, throwing myself against a wall to try and get into a position where they couldn't attack me from behind.

Apparently lacking survival instincts to stay back, they started going after me as Slicer's immense length was used to block their attacks and I made small movements of my body to adjust for the additional attacks. "…[Divide]?" It was not quite as certain as previous ones had since I wasn't really sure if any of the attacks had actually counted toward being 'marks' through which the ability could activate.

As it turned out, apparently all of them were valid targets even if I hadn't physically touched them with my hands, my power spiking even further while theirs decreased, halved for each and the difference added to me. It was not quite as terrifying to swing Slicer after that, cutting them one by one until all of them were on the ground, dead. A click of the Fury's tongue also told me that she was done with this place as she continued in her escape after having just watched me fight here.

When the Sadistic skill ran out, I had to catch my breath. I had fought before, but Tamamo, who was not here with me, and Melusine, whose power I needed as a Sacred Gear right now, were by my side and keeping me safe. This time, it was just me and the feeling was… Quite different. Was this what the battle maniacs like Vali were so attracted to? …well, I would be lying if I said I completely didn't see what they were on about…

[Draconic Total Concentration Breath: 3 -> 5

Dragon Heart: 2 -> 3

Mana Burst: 5 -> 7

Sword Combat Proficiency: 4 -> 8

Intersect of Yin-Yang: 1 -> 2

Sadistic Constitution: 1 -> 2]

Some part of me did not want to use the Slicer at first, not when I had these blades, but the results could not be argued with. Even if I did want to argue with them. After picking up and storing the leftover swords just in case, I cleaned myself off with the skills, removing the various blood, dirt and whatnot that clung to me before jumping back up and going after the runaway Fury.

About half way along, there was another intricate chest, this one an actual chest with a green glow. It probably did not take meta knowledge to know that it would restore HP, but mine was still full so I put my hand on it and stored it away in my inventory, which was followed by a sudden mental image of just dropping the chest on an enemy, opening it in front of them and healing everything back. Preferably in DxD as it doesn't really seem to spark as much confusion around here…

There was another red orb chest not long after, which was broken and stored like the one before. It was right next to a very heavy door that would have probably put my lifting strength to the test, but that was a lot higher than my jumping capability, the door easily opened as such and putting me back outside, the Fury within visible range. "You will see how we treat oath breakers here!" By killing them!? You just killed a whole room of prisoners! I saw already!

As I followed her past a metal gate, more of the insect bastards showed up and while a part of me told me not to rely on the Sadism skill as it might cause me to get lost in all of it and end up hurting someone who actually matters in DxD. Some other part of me reminded me that we were pretty much on a bridge, nothing to either side but a building in front and the gate behind. Putting Slicer away for now, I activated the skill just in case before going at the nearest enemy physically, grabbing him and tossing him toward the edge.

[+60 LP]

I was not sure what exactly it was about it, but seeing the enemy fall over the edge, down the unknown distance to the ground, was strangely satisfying. The other enemies that showed up got the same treatment and I took Slicer back, satisfied with the results so far.

"It is time for you to meet your death!" Saying that, The Fury jumped over to a… Hand. This entire place was made out of the still living body of the first to break an oath as far as I recall, a being of titanic proportions whose name I could not pronounce casually and who had… Was it a hundred arms? The one on which the Fury jumped on had six fingers wider than either one of us and there were various other hands of varied sizes, most of them even larger than this one.

Which had probably meant that the hallway before really was made out of flesh and bone. In the distance was also the head of the oath breaker, a sort of fortress having been built into him. I was pretty sure that he was supposed to still be alive. The sort of 'death was too kind for him' thing, but how was he supposed to have survived everything that had happened to him!? Either way, more enemies were showing up and I had to get rid of them.

"We will see how you fare against the Hecatonchires!" She did not even wait for me to be rid of the previous waves of scarabs before new, smaller, ones emerged from the 'holes' in her chest and burrowed themselves into the arm of the prisoner-made-prison before I could even do anything about it. The Fury left in such a situation, further scurrying away to an unknown location.

The hand started jerking, twitching, the fingers audibly breaking as something pressured them from within until… It broke out. The previously dead and desaturated flesh had gained color, a horrible bulge showing up until it burst out from between the third and fourth fingers, right along the center of the hand, splashing some dead, ancient, blood. The arm moved with the monster as it roared out a scream, leaning back and out of sight.

The ground below me moved, forcing me to stab Slicer into the floor as not to lose ground before the creature came back with an odd sway as if trying to get a handle of keeping itself upright along the almost tentacle-like lower body. Two of the fingers were probably along its back, two at each side apparently changing into four additional legs even if it would not need them, simply seeming like powerful instruments of crushing.

The arm itself had changed as if assimilated to fit the thing, a smooth, scaled, body blending in with the flesh around it in a way that left no obvious line where the parasite started and the hand ended. The monster was scaled, possessing what seemed to be a powerful chestplate and even shoulder armor, its own arms ending in massive blades, its head smooth as if having a helmet with two protrusions like tusks between which was a mouth that unhinged once more as it approached.

For a moment, I thought it was going to try and swallow me whole, only for the natural blades to stab into the stone near me, the tusks moving just barely past me, mouth opened unnaturally wide before it screamed a roar of challenge, monstrous spit flying past while its roar assaulted me with the absolute horrid smell of flesh having been torn, of old blood and decaying flesh as was proper of the sort of entrance that the thing had.

I still could not pronounce its name so calling it the Heckin'-Chonker did remove some of the sheer fear and dread that I felt having to actually face a monster so far beyond normal human comprehension which may as well have risen up from the depths of hell itself to strike fear into all those who would witness it.

With its challenge having been made, it pulled back, somehow appearing even larger while doing so, an absolute unit of intimidation against which the Dimension Slicer was a toothpick and the Blades of Chaos barely even that. I was supposed to fight that thing. I was supposed to kill that thing. Neither side of the Intersection felt confident in being able to kill it and not even [Sadistic Constitution] made me feel better about things.

{We can do it.} Melusine assured even as I wanted to just drop to my knees in surrender and it raised its massive blade up to bring down with a force that should have been meteoric. I moved out of the way, not wanting to die, but nothing came to mind— {…you do remember you can Divide, right?}

…oh right, I had an absolute cheat… Before the Chonker could pull its blade back, I just barely managed to touch it with Slicer, followed by a yell of "[Divide]!" The amount of power that flowed into me was surprisingly small. It was considerable, but it also made me realize that this thing was not powerful in the supernatural sense. It was massive and intimidating, but most of its power came from its sheer size and the weight of force it can put into its attacks as a result.

Losing half of that pretty much caused it to start falling, not able to support itself in the same way as it had before, though as it was attached to the arm which was attached to the rest of the being, it could not really fall far. It broke quite a few apparent delusions about how powerful it actually was and while making sure I was in the more fearless state, I ran forward and over the edge after it while it screamed.

[Skill Purchased!

[Furthest Earth Lv.1/10] – The technique of the ultimate way of walking, which allows complete movement in all forms of space, though the capability of doing so is greatly reduced at lower levels, simply making parkour easier.]

At six hundred LP it was pretty much a steal. Slicer pulled back slightly so that my elbow was at my hip and the tip past my head, falling as straight down as I could, I further used a Mana Burst to speed up my fall, pretty sure that it was too large a target to excessively miss as I managed to follow the monster down until the point where it seemed to be recovering, at which point I was also in range. Utilizing Eros for the first actual time in my life, I combined it with a Mana Burst, causing my hand to thrust forward with such speed I thought everything below my elbow would just get launched off.

The sheer force of the attack however had caused Slicer to reach all the way down to the hilt, stabbing itself into the chest of the monster but apparently missing the important vitals as it simply screamed again in rage, my feet making contact with the chest and my new skill letting me actually balance myself until it started to right and lift itself. It could not attack me while we were in this position.

Reaching to my back, I armed myself with the Blades of Chaos once more, swinging them down as they mostly dinged against the hardened exoskeleton but caused the Constitution to stack up higher with every blow. It was approaching a point where it probably could have dropped me back on the previous floor where the fight began. At this point, I was nearing closer and closer to an angle only mountain goats and Skyrim horses should have been capable of traversing, the skill slipping.

"[Divide]" Spitefully, I took away even more of its power. It was not as effective as the first time, reducing it to a third of its original strength, but it was enough to leave me in a position where I was able to continue striking against it. Scratches were starting to show and it lost most of its patience, leaning its head back before one of the blades started to sweep up along the body, trying to mow me down.

For a moment, I wondered if it was even capable of doing such a thing at a third of its power and while I was already strengthened with the other two thirds plus the bonuses from the Constitution, but I had a different idea rather than directly challenging the sweep. Throwing the blades forward, I managed to stab them into hopefully distant enough parts of the blade before leaping back, assisted by Mana Bursts, sailing past the head of the beast and apparently just falling down toward the distant ground below.

It was either not smart enough to stop the sweep or not strong enough and when I saw it start to turn with the end of it, reaching close to its neck, I gathered an Eros Mana Burst while breathing in for the Concentration boost, pulling on the chains with enough force the armor on my arms shattered. In turn, the blade was pulled down and slashed into the monster's neck, causing further exclamations of pain from it.

More or less confident in my next move, I pulled once more with another Concentration Eros Mana Burst, accompanied by one from the soles of my feet, pushing my body up at the same time as launching it. The continued pull caused the monster to sever deeper into its own neck while the launch just about sent me high into the air… Really high.

High enough that I felt the power gained from Divide fade away and Sadism expire, leaving me more or less fully conscious of the fact I was now falling down from a considerable enough height and that the chance of sticking the landing without pain or breaking myself further was very low.

{What a great time to learn how to fly~!} …I felt like Melusine was mocking me.

[Dimension Slicer (NEXT) Returned to Inventory]

[Level Up!

HP, MP and Fatigue restored

+100 HP and 10,000 MP

+1 to All Stats]

And I am now level thirteen, red orbs starting to flow up from the dead monster and only further distracting me. The absence of fatigue was nice though.

Don't some birds throw their children out of the nest and force them to start flying or die? Was that real? Well it was real for me right now! All I could do was try to ignore the ground, focusing on my wings and the wind around me. They each felt like an additional limb I didn't actually know how to use, but as I felt myself slowing down, I realized I had managed to tense them enough to catch the wind and start gliding instead of actually flying.

I figured it was good enough and landed as steadily as I could… Only for the floor to tilt and more arms start to rise, without the monsters coming out of them, in the distance. The tilt was enough to start sliding down, so I more or less willed the skill keeping me upright to go away and started picking up considerable speed, sliding down the strange slide even if the stone was not supposed to be this slippery!

The structures around me started to collapse, everything turning chaotic as I just focused on avoiding all of the sudden falling obstacles, the skill no longer being able to be turned on properly but apparently being sufficient to allow me some additional control over the trajectory of my sliding. This would probably be fun if it wasn't so terrifying…

After sliding for a short while, I ended up in a strange… Water… Room… Place… It was wet and all that, but I still sat myself down to actually, as peacefully as I could, process what the hell just happened.

...After several minutes of doing just that, I decided to just continue on my way, climbing back up in search of the nearest exit… Which was not all that hard to be located, though it did put me at the edge of everything, overlooking the great drop below in such a way I was surprised I was even able to see the ground with how distant it was… If that was even the ground and not just more of this tortured handsy individual.

It also forced me to hug the wall and move along the edge to get further as there was no safe path, at which point I promised myself that I would learn how to fly as to avoid these sorts of situations in the future. Sadism was not helpful in combatting fear of falling, obviously.

At the end, when I climbed a wall, very, very, carefully, I was rewarded with… An HP Chest. I put it in my inventory as well as I acknowledged that for all the fear and terror I felt at the monster, even just remembering it, I hadn't actually taken any damage from it… Which was good, of course, but it somehow made me feel worse and like my fears were unfounded in spite of the fact that they were very much founded and I was probably going to have nightmares about the encounter for some time.

Not that far away, there were two more Red Chests that got the now standard treatment, though when I had done so, more enemies, parasitic human abominations, showed up and prevented me from trying to figure out how to actually utilize the Orbs, though they made up for it by being thrown over the edge.

After that, I tried the usual, being focusing on the blades and simply willing it to happen, feeling the Orbs drain away into them, but even after that they hadn't actually changed in any way. I probably still didn't have enough so I simply continued what was probably my jail escape, even if I was not really being sneaky about it.

Then again, they were not exactly subtle as a massive hand impacted the side of the hallway I was walking through after going into the building nearby, the path so far rather linear. It tore a chunk of the building off, the one I was in, and with another impact from above, the parasitic abominations dropped around me, faster to be ready for combat than I was and forcing me to quickly move around and dodge until I was in a better position to attack them back, Slicer taken back into my arms.

The structure shifted and swayed around me, an occasional aged massive finger showing up on either empty side. It probably could get pretty close to killing me just by dropping it down, but it didn't, the floor eventually moving as they were turned about ninety degrees, my footing absolutely certain to have been destroyed if I hadn't bought the skill. I hadn't even thought this far ahead when I had done so.

More enemies showed up and turns were made, all the while leaving me in too much fear and worry to actually go into Sadism to make sure I find a way to escape the situation. It was a series of slashes and swings, the enemies not actually intelligent enough to counter or force me to improve the skill with the sword beyond the barest and direct method of combat. It worked, but it probably wouldn't work as well on Heroic Spirits. Thankfully, I was not fighting those just yet.

The structure was moved again. Eros, as far as I recalled, was technically safe to use, the problem was that it had a strange dislike for clothes, including armor. Generally, states that are not nudity. As such it usually destroyed the clothes of the ones who used it, leaving them naked with the exception of some strange… Suits? Body armor. That could manage to resist the backlash but was stripperific on its own.

Thus, gathering enough Eros in my legs, along with a concentrating breath and a Mana Burst to the point that the armored boosts of Ray Horizon started to shake, ready to break, was probably a very bad thing that proved just how much power I was actually gathering. This, however, did not stop me from leaping forward anyway. The gap was hundreds of meters between my current position and the nearest bit of ground that wasn't currently being held by massive hands and I was not taking any chances.

Thankfully, the Ray Horizon recovered itself naturally, though it could be fast or gradual, the two causing a different amount of fatigue, consuming my stamina instead for some reason. As a result, having it suddenly break off of my body due to excessive force being used was a momentary inconvenience instead of a true problem. Even so, I really should have learned how to fly before coming here…

Even when the distance was crossed, I was immediately attacked by a sudden Cyclops several times my size wielding a metal club with malicious intent. Thankfully, he was alone and even as he brought it down to try and crush me, I was fast enough to put Slicer between us, the sheer weight and force of the club against the edge causing it to be cut in half by the attack while leaving my weapon unharmed, the momentum of the severed part somehow vanishing and causing it to simply roll over the back of my armor and the still 'regrowing' boots.

The Cyclops was surprised and I quickly repositioned myself, spinning my body around with Slicer held to sweep, lifting it to slice across the neck of the Cyclops. If the neck hadn't been so thick, it probably would have died instantly. Instead, it kicked me into a nearby wall before collapsing. In spite of losing no HP, a lack of notification at least that would have told me I had lost any, it still hurt like a bitch and since it was dead now, I could barely even pay it back… Even if I did kill it…

With a groan, I continued. One way lead toward the further prison and the other just to some strange overlooking… Platform. One side would probably lead back to the Fury to have my revenge and the other was just a dead end, so with that illusion of choice, I moved toward vengeance.

Somehow, in spite of everything, I did not expect another massive blade to come in through the roof when I entered the nearest building. It missed me by a considerable amount, but when it was removed, I was met with another of the Chonker staring me down and making me feel very unsafe. This one however… Split off the other two hand remnants, giving it two additional three fingered limbs to control apparently.

What in the actual fuck are these things!? Whatever it was, it used one of its new limbs to sweep, breaking through the wall next to me as I braced for impact, the sweeping motion launching rocks at me before dragging me along with it to the other end of the building, trying to crush me against the wall. The wall however gave out first, to even the monster's surprise as the pressure let out and a Mana Burst focused completely around me, making an actual and considerable dent in my MP for the first time in a while, let me get rid of the debrief, leaving me free to face the massive monster again… On a convenient almost crescent platform.

I had no plan on actually using the platform however, instead jumping right into action, Slicer replaced with the Blades as I aimed for the flesh part of the arm from which it grew instead of the scales. That part I could actually penetrate for certain. It did not like that but had the intelligence still to know that I was in a spot where it would certainly harm itself if it tried to attack me. It especially did not like when I pulled the right Blade out and started stabbing repeatedly, stacking up Sadism and gradually painting the armor red.

Gradually, I lost myself in the stabbing until I no longer truly cared about if it would work or not, stabbing up the scales of the monster to climb further, chasing not blood but death itself. The monster announced itself with a roar, one of its arms moving to try and squish me against its body now that I was actually in a position for it to do so. One Blade burrowed in the body, I turned and pointed the other one, the hand slamming right into it, a further Mana Burst killing some of the momentum.

[-873 HP

+131 HP]

My full HP amounted to twelve hundred. I nearly died in that attack, the intersection flipped as I growled. "[Divide]" The thirst for death having been lessened with the less confident personality allowed me to actually think things through better. The sudden loss of strength forced it to start falling back as well. The left blade was pulled out, the right one kept in the arm as I ran along the body, taking the hand with me, forcing the beast to arch further and further down.

When it became too much of an angle to run on even with the skill to do just that, the blade took itself out of the arm and put its grip into my hand, a small jump letting me drop down with both blades at the ready… Only to miss and have to throw them instead, right into the thing's neck which was too large to miss at this distance anyway. It thrashed as a result, its neck pierced into and its blood flowing out while being unable to actually reach me.

In a bit of a twist I hadn't expected of myself in this state, the chains started pulling me toward the head and the neck rather than go out of the neck, putting me body to head with the bastard and letting me start kicking at its eyes, its massive mouth not even able to reach me with anything but horrible breath. Another "[Divide]" only further ensured its powerlessness, but a massive hand, even larger than this monster, came before it was even dead.

It pushed me even closer against the beast, into the mouth at that, but in there I was safe as I further felt the monster be slammed into something or another, moments later leaving me sliding out of its mouth. I noted that, somehow, it did not actually look any uglier dead than it did alive.

With that thought however, noting that there were no immediate enemies, I felt myself falling backwards and my vision going dark.

o.O.o.O.o

I came to myself with heavy breath. I did not actually know how long I had been out of it for, aside for the fact my HP had managed to fully recover already. Holy fucking shit that was too dangerous. {That was awesome!} Melusine apparently disagreed… Maybe? I was not fully sure. Maybe it was both awesome and dangerous. Probably. Fuck.

I rolled on the floor from my laying position to lay on my stomach instead, pushing myself up with a grunt of effort. My whole body was in pain again, but if I stay in one place for too long, they will probably find me. I focused on the Blades again to try and give me a little more time to recover. I had enough Red Orbs now, the Blades changing to a more… Savage looking appearance. While until now they were rather featureless and more like undecorated slabs of metal, now they had spikes. I was not sure if the spikes actually did anything, but they were there.

And the next enemy I got to meet was… A trio of dogs that were infested the same way as the human abomination variation. I did not have the sarcasm to portray how 'Fun' that is. After that I at least got to take an elevator of sorts which gave me a bit of time to sit down and recover further. Unfortunately I doubted that the HP Chest at the end of it would help in my current situation and I did not want to waste it.

Annoyingly, after that was a ladder, but I braved through it. I was pretty close to the head of the prison-prisoner, the ladder leaving me next to a sort of bridge leading up to a small building, almost a strange hut of sorts. With no other way to go but in, I continued the rather linear path… And was almost immediately confused. The first thought was 'Purple' because holy hell this place was purple but easy to look at, a sort of lilac?

"Is that Vortigern?" …for a moment, I put my thoughts aside and acknowledged that a topless women began to approach me with a sway to her hips, even wearing rather… Fetish like metal? Underwear leading to cloth that covered the sides of her legs and went down to the floor. "The Gods have rewarded us. Glory to Eros. He had given us a champion." She touched me, running her hand along the side of my face and my armor. "Come, champion. Show me your strength."

Another woman approached from my side, a tanned complexion and a little more clothes that somehow left her body more lewder by accenting it. Both of them had hair tied up as not to get in the way and to… Well, jump right into things. "No, me." She too seemed to check out my body in spite of the fact it was still covered in armor.

Both of them sounded so… Desperate, running their hands along the armor as if trying to find the best, or any really, way to remove it from my body and have their way with me, or let me have my way with them, either or. Even just by looking around, the various other women, and they were all women, were either playing with each other with inviting dispositions or running their hands seductively along their own bodies to try and invite me that way.

Yet another one, barely all that different from the others aside for an even greater confidence in her step though lacking the sexy sway of the first one, approached. "They are nothing. Come with me and experience the greatest of pleasures." I raised my hand toward her and an Arondight shot out.

That wasn't an euphemism. The Blades of Chaos were on my back, so out of the arm sheathe I sent out the blade of Arondight. The whole place was way too large to fit into the space that the building should have had with what it looked like from the outside. And even if I really, really, really, really, really wanted to fall for it, I could see the trap for what it probably was and swore actual vengeance against the Furies who wronged me like this.

The scenery shifted, the illusion broken and a hooded woman floating by my side though even that might have been an illusion. I was not able to be upset about that for long however before someone jumped on my back. "He is mine!" The first one returned as such, not even using the surprise attack to try and stab me through. "I will take care of this!" Without offering time for a counterargument, she launched both of us through a wall by using her legs to spring forward, throwing us down on a nearby platform for the next stage of the battle.

Or so I expected, but she scurried away and as I noted we were directly in front of the head, a bad feeling starting to appear, more enemies popped out of the ground to challenge me. They did not last as long against the upgraded blades, but they were still not as powerful as the Slicer. Only half a dozen of the human abominations showed up anyway, along with two dozen scarabs, the battle taking time due to the sheer number rather than true difficulty of the enemies.

Long enough apparently for the Fury to climb up to the head, the eye, of the head. "You have caused me pain for the last time!" Her voice carried really well in spite of the distance… And I realized what the bad feeling from before was, just as more of her parasites appeared and began to dig themselves into the eye and the surrounding area. It was made worse by the fact the eye began to move, further proving that he was, in fact, alive in spite of his situation and what must have been absolutely torturous existence.

As if stone, his skin began to crack more and more until the area around his mouth broke, bursting into chunks of dried up and seemingly petrified flesh, crab leg-like limbs showing up around the mouth, which had become circular, opened way to wide for the human appearance of the head, the entire thing even more nightmare inducing than being faced with the first of the arm monsters especially as the mouth came right at me and bit down on the platform, tearing a chunk out of it with the super oversized bite.

Not five minutes ago, I was in an illusionary brothel. What the actual fuck!? This was not the kind of head I wanted to be getting right now!

The head was absolutely massive and intimidating… However, the Fury was still standing over the eye in a bit of a scene that was eye horror of its own with how spider-like she was. it was too dangerous to keep up Sadism, especially at this point, so I simply gave my best battle roar and charged forward with the Blades at the ready. The head also had rather limited range of movement while the legs protruding from the mouth were rough in texture.

A combination of Mana Burst and Furthest Earth let me run up one of the legs, in reasonable range of reaching the skin and flesh of the head, if it even had proper organic matter over it. The Fury probably realized my plan and seemed to be further commanding the head to try and impede my progress, in which she was already failing, one of the blades embed in the side of the cheek, letting me jump off the leg and pull myself along the chain, out of the attack range.

Realizing the failure of her plan, the Fury tried to run away. Concentration, Eros, Mana Burst. The rhythm of the three skills was replicated once more, Furthest Earth letting me properly make the second step as well which let me close the distance between us completely, tackling her. "[Divide]!" Thus, her fate was sealed.

The blades reeled themselves to my back as Slicer practically manifested in my hands while she tried to escape, the length of the blade combined with the certain gap in our speed now causing the sword to slash along her back, going through her without actually bisecting her in that same eternal game logic as always. It was enough however that she lost her footing and started to fall, a journey in which I followed her.

Once more, Slicer was pulled back, handle to hip. For a few moments, I could have sworn I saw fear in her eyes before a cry of "[Divide]" preceding the final thrust managed to let me truly pierce into her chest, another platform under us through which the blade moved and the hilt further came closer and closer until it caved in her ribs above the breastplate. Her insect legs twitched a few times as the life seemed to fade from her body.

As her life faded, I felt something strange start to flow into my body, as well as noticed a glow at her hip, a gem of sorts with a golden lining. As I took it however, the world began to shift again and a greater amount of exhaustion than after the limbed Chonker started to take over me, making me slowly faint again beyond my ability to stop it.