Chapter 141

"Whatever you do, don't go near him!" Ryo warned Lynn when he noticed dark splotches forming on his skin when he got hit by one of the dark beams.

"Hold on, why would I even think of getting close to him in the first place-"

A dark beam struck the ground in front of Lynn. She almost took a step on that particular spot, luckily the pink-haired girl hadn't set her foot down.

In anger at Dark's actions, Ryo swung his blade at the entity when he was in close proximity, brushing against the atmosphere instead of his actual opponent.

Dark showed him his teeth threateningly before ascending higher to where Douma was. The blonde was getting his iridescent ray ready, about time he launched the attack so the entity would stop erratically flying about.

"Adamant Ray!" The bright iridescent ray struck Dark, sending the entity crashing to the ground with the remains of the collapsed parts of the building getting dragged to a corner against him.

Douma immediately flew down and got his fans ready to prevent Dark from getting away from his spot. "Kaleido Ascension Style: Searing Skies!" The golden fans approached the entity from above.

In a hustle, Dark stumbled when Douma landed in front of him. The fan on his left inflicting a slight cut on his shoulder that sent the entity into a momentary state of panic.

When Ryo and Lynn closed in on Dark with their weapons, the entity jumped away and threw the two of them towards a wall with a strange gravitational force that drained their energy the minute it was unleashed.

Meanwhile, Chachamaru had found himself in a different room but just like the previous ones, it was bright and empty. This strange maze of some sort was never-ending it was keeping the feline in a scorching loop. Chachamaru was slowly getting frustrated, he opened the door at the end of the room he just walked in and sighed when he was introduced to another similar room with the door at the end facing the opposite direction this time.

"No no no! This can't be! I hate this! Where's the exit just show up already!" In a fit of rage, Chachamaru ran towards one of the walls and started punching it over and over again.

His punches had no effect on the wall, it remained unscathed and clear from any damage. This drove Chachamaru to the brink of turmoil as he moved on to the next part of the room and started punching the wall on that side. He went on until he got out of the room and punched the wall that he rested his paw on momentarily. Desperate to free himself from this endless place.

Back at the city, Ryo inspected his blade that almost got broken into two by Dark when he grabbed a hold of it. Lynn was lying on the floor, recovering from the sprain on her ankle after skidding on the walkway when Dark unleashed one of his attacks towards her. Ryo convinced her to stay where she was while he fights Dark but after much thought he decided to stay with her since he too was being held back by his injuries.

"Light are you there? We've been waiting for this moment." Glancing at Light who began hovering towards him after throwing bright sparks at Ryo's direction, Dark turned to his three opponents with a wicked smile.

Douma knew these two entities were planning something and it didn't look good for the current state of the city and the remaining troops on the ground.

"It's time for an upgrade... Metamorphosis!" Both Dark and Light merged together, for a split second it appeared that Nevirius full form was making a return before the orbs of darkness and streaks of light became one.

The creature standing before them had two heads that were black and white, resembling plant buds with sharp teeth and bug eyes. This creature was also far taller and larger than Nevirius previous forms, with a tail that looked like an inverted umbrella and claws about to be unsheathed.

"What are you waiting for? I too have a mission to complete!" Stomping towards Douma and the other two, Nevirius sped up and bolted pass the pile of rubble in the form of a static light beam that blitzed through several obstructions in its path.

Douma who was now hovering a few meters above the ground instinctively spun around when Nevirius appeared behind him and snapped his jaws at the blonde who managed to get away before they bit down on him.

Nevirius chuckled at Douma and watched him unleash the very same clouds of frost that slowed him down before but now, they submerged into his skin and fired themselves back at Douma in the form of dark beams.

The dark beams landed on the ground, causing clouds of dust to rise up. Douma could see where the silhouette of Nevirius was going however Ryo and Lynn had a hard time figuring out where the entity went.

"I didn't mean to do that!" The entity appeared in front of Douma before his wings could even beat and circled around the spot beside the building that shook violently alongside the circuits that ignited from the intensity of the light energy that Nevirius was accumulating.

The blonde blocked the burst of light that shone upon the city for a few seconds before the surroundings returned to their normal dark state. Nevirius hopped on one of the cars at the side of the road and summoned a spiral of dark and light energy in between his palms.

"Rejuvenating Hector!" A large beam of dark and light mixed together headed towards Douma, lifting him off the ground when it struck him.

Both Ryo and Lynn widened their eyes when they saw the aftermath of the beam, Douma fell to the ground, clutching his side from the sharp pain he felt from the direct hit.

Nevirius let out a growl and bolted towards his opponent with his jaws wide open.

"If this goes on we're gonna be stuck here!" Taking out his blade, Ryo ran to the area and halted Nevirius to the back with his large weapon.

Snarling, the entity shoved Ryo to the side and leaned down to where he was lying on the floor.

Lynn was about to let out a scream when Ryo realized someone had stopped Nevirius from chomping down on his victims.

Glancing to the side, Ryo saw Nevirius being held up by Douma's knee that impaled his chin. Nevirius slowly slithered back and rubbed his chin in irritation. He wasn't expecting Douma to still be standing strong after that attack.

"Atlas is calling reinforcements. We'll take care of it from here-"

"It's alright I can handle him." Douma interrupted Ryo who refused to listen to the angel's reasoning he was clearly in no shape to continue fighting Nevirius.

The wounds on Douma's side began to heal but at a slower pace. "My regeneration is a little slow this time but if-"

"Leave it to Atlas." Ryo pressed.

Back at headquarters, Mr Oshiro and his colleagues were discussing about the weapon they had prepared for this battle. They watched every moment of the fight on the large screen.

"Deploy the cannon with our troops." Mr Oshiro instructed, those in charge of the cannon proceeded to transport it to the area where the vehicles were.

The walls of the strange dimension where Chachamaru was held captive remained, making him frustrated as the bits of motivation he had in him to get out were starting to dissipate. Every time he glanced at the wall the feline felt demoralized to the point where he began questioning his training and progress with Atlas.

"I WILL get out of here!" Chachamaru threw several rounds of punches at the same wall that he had been trying to break down for quite sometime.

Gazing at the clear surface, Chachamaru backed away knowing that his punches didn't do a thing to the wall. He was hoping for a miracle to happen but it seems that the fate of this wall right in front of him had already been decided. It won't tear down to Chachamaru's dedication.

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me!" Chachamaru's head swayed back from the exhaustion and then began leaning towards the wall. "Just breakthrough-"

When Chachamaru's forehead knocked against the wall, it's center which was the very same spot that the feline's headbutt landed on, had formed a large crack revealing the light and sounds from the atmosphere beyond the walls.

"Huh?! AHHHHHH!" The feline fell from the night sky through the crack in the wall and landed in the city with a loud thud.

Lynn spun around and saw Chachamaru laying on the floor giddily. "Wha- Chachamaru where did you come from?!" She blinked in confusion.

"Disassociated Slicers!" Nevirius' claws emitted a dark purple glow as he stomped towards Douma and Ryo thrashing his hands around until he could successfully claw one of them to shreds with his new laser-like weaponry.

Ryo's senses heightened when he realized Nevirius' footsteps were barely audible. His heart pounded when he turned around and saw the large figure of Nevirius lunging at him from the dark alleyway behind him.

Gasping, the dark-haired man rolled away and slammed his large blade at the head of Dark that slithered around it like a snake and growled at him fiercely.

"This fight will go on until someone's the last one standing and that will be me!" Nevirius clawed at Ryo several times that the man tripped and fell to the ground with aching limbs.

Regaining his composure, Douma dashed towards Nevirius and swung his fan at the entity's claws. Nevirius sneered and swatted Douma away with the flick of his hand, sending Douma crashing into a pile of rubble.

Nevirius focused his attention on Ryo, eager to turn this opponent of his into another wreck that could barely get up from his attack, "Disassociated Slicers!" Unsheathing his claws, Nevirius took a few steps forward towards Ryo who was lying helplessly on the floor.

"You're open." Taking one last step, Nevirius bolted towards Ryo who couldn't move away from the entity on time.

The vehicles that just got there stopped at the side of the road as more troops hopped out and dragged the cannon to the place where the battle was occurring.

"This cannon will unleash a blast resembling a gamma ray. We've taught the machine to launch such blasts similar to an accurate gamma burst that occurs in the cosmos through computerized trials and practical solutions for it to adhere to." Mr Oshiro said to his colleagues who were also watching the situation intently.

Holding his chin, Mr Oshiro observed the entity on the screen. "Now we just have to make sure our target is locked on."

Before Nevirius could impale Ryo with his claws, the dark-haired man threw himself to the side with the last bit of strength he had which led to the entity barging through the building beside them.

Ryo watched Nevirius taking his time to free his claws from the concrete he rammed into unintentionally. It ticked him off since he was close to finishing off Ryo who didn't have anny defenses.

Douma took the opportunity to spread his wings and dive down to where Nevirius was with another incoming attack as seen in the spiral of colors radiating in between his glowing kaleidoscopic orbs.

"Adamant Ray!" The blonde fired his ray at Nevirius who panicked knowing that he wouldn't be able to get away from his spot in time. In addition to that, the colors were too overwhelming to watch that he couldn't focus on his escape route. How the entity despised the sudden turn of events that gave his enemies the advantage in this fight.

When the iridescent ray struck, Nevirius crawled on the floor, desperate to get away and cling onto something so he wouldn't have to face the bright flashes that decimated everything in its path.

Ryo watched Nevirius get up from the ground and emerge from the clouds of smoke. The entity's skin was peeling off now. The ray had completely burned him.

"Unforgiveable, this was all an act." Nevirius spoke, his voice wavering. "These kinds of people can't win." Stretching out his arms, Nevirius began regenerating, the scorching patches on his skin simmered like boiled water.

"Kaleido Ascension Style: Searing Skies!" Douma's golden fans lit up a radiating golden glow as the blonde rose to the sky and came landing down with a slash on Nevirius' abdomen from the back which resulted in a gaping wound.

The same sharp radiating pain that Nevirius felt when the ray hit him left the entity frozen in his tracks. Nevirius scooped up the purple liquid oozing from his torso and gasped.

No I have to get away from these two. My power is not sufficient for this! From there, Nevirius began running in the opposite direction, indicating to his two opponent that he had indirectly admitted defeat by retreating.

Nevirius carried on running until he reached the main road of the city. "How did I end up being so foolish? They have splendid tactics to keep me off guard when I least expected it. So fools fight other fools." The entity came to a stop when he got to a quieter place where Douma and Ryo wouldn't find him.

"Oh really?" A voice said from behind him.

Stumped by this other presence, Nevirius slowly turned around and saw another large figure standing in the narrow dark space between the walls of the two buildings.

Chachamaru rushed towards Nevirius and bit down on the head of Light, ripping a chunk of his flesh apart as purple liquid splashed onto his face and the ground.

Nevirius cried and scurried away from the same feline he swore he held captive, one of his heads now unrecognizable as he struggled to get his regeneration to act on time. The feline stood there watching Nevirius foolishly land himself right into Atlas' scheme by running to the middle of the area where his comrades waited.

The troops activated the cannon that resulted in a loud click, catching Nevirius attention.

When Nevirius was about to cry out again, the cannon fired a blast at the entity sending him flying to the ground. His appearance, now a crippled mess that even his regeneration couldn't keep up with the immense burns and snaps of his senses.

Chachamaru approached the burnt creature on the ground who still had the guts to spite the feline even though he was in such a helpless state.

"Listen here. You know after all that's happened tonight, I really want Embargo LTD to suffer." Nevirius sneered. "Creating another company that will serve as a major competitor would have certainly benefited Ryukushu since putting a stop to Atlas and their little whims is our agenda."

The entity paused to look at Chachamaru before speaking again. Glad to see a serious expression forming on the feline's face.

"To play it fair, I really don't mind sending people to Embargo if we really do end up establishing our own company in the autonomous market. This sabotage would bring us far into our game even if we have to resort to plucking a few screws from the machinery or inflicting injuries as a means to hold them off."

Chuckling, Nevirius grinned when he saw Chachamaru's tail flicking around. The feline was listening to everything he said, "I never cared about humans, but after this experience, I want to make the ideas I have in mind a reality because watching them suffer is really entertaining and I relish their struggles because they're pleasing to my eyes. If it weren't for Ryukushu's plans I never would have thought about all this. The aspiration I've obtained has given me a new purpose."

Nevirius narrowed his eyes at Chachamaru, "I vow to make these intentions of mine a reality and there's no stopping me when I do it, for a portion of me is still out there. This is just the quarter of the phase. And you still have to go through the rest of us Sagi-shi-tachi. Those three weapons will be in our possession. You and the rest of your worthless friends can only watch the events unfold at the colosseum from afar. It's certainly not over yet."

"We'll never let that happen!" Chachamaru growled, he stepped closer, his fingers curling into fists before his stomach began gurgling, causing him to stop in his tracks and let out a fiery bile that was rising up his throat.

"Plasma Disintegrator!" A blast of molten fire came out of Chachamaru's mouth, burning Nevirius to crisp as he incinerated into ashes from the ignition.

Once the flow of magma from the pit of his stomach stopped, Chachamaru wiped his mouth and looked around feeling slightly embarrassed by what happened. "Sorry guys that was the hot sauce." He said casually.

Douma and Ryo caught up with everyone else at the area, including Lynn who was tired from all the running but forced herself to remain calm.

"Guess we've got a lot of discussing to do." Chachamaru remarked, the others nodded including Douma who could tell from the remains of ashes on the ground that Nevirius had been defeated. There was a lot of preparation and strategic planning to do given the situation in Rome with the Sachi-shi-tachi's hidden plans.