Chapter 99: Strange Underwater Temple (8)

[Third Person's PoV] 

As Stephen's wounds closed, he stood back up with a sigh.

"Are you alright now?" Vanessa asked, not taking her eyes off Vetto.

"'Tis but a scratch," Stephen replied, carefully eyeing Vetto, especially his third eye, with suspicion.

Vetto turned towards Noelle with a crazed expression. "It's payback time, little girly."

Extending his arms towards her, he declared, "Vanish."

[Mythical Beast Magic: Head of the Dragon]

A magic circle appeared in front of Vetto's hand. From it, the massive head of a dragon materialized, unleashing a torrent of ominous fire toward Noelle.

Before the flames could reach her, Stephen appeared in front of Noelle, his hands moving rapidly. Extending his arms, he summoned a massive Eldritch Shield, blocking the inferno.

Noelle stared wide-eyed at Stephen as the shield trembled under the force of the flames. His feet dug into the ground as he braced against the attack.

Asta appeared at his side, joined by Captain Yami.

[Dark Magic: Lightless Slash]

Multiple slash marks appeared on Vetto's body as Yami and Asta combined their attacks. Asta's anti-magic slash disrupted Vetto's spell, causing the dragon head and flames to vanish.

Despite their assault, Vetto endured using sheer physical strength. He dodged Asta's sword and struck both Asta and Yami simultaneously in the gut. They coughed violently but managed to dig their feet into the ground, sliding back several steps instead of being sent flying.

Seeing an opening, the rest of the team rushed toward Vetto, intending to overwhelm him. However, Vetto only grinned as a massive magic circle appeared behind him.

"Mythical Beast Magic!" he snarled confidently.

A sphere of magical energy enveloped him, and sharp projectiles erupted in all directions, aimed to impale anyone in their path.

The projectiles raced toward the attackers, threatening to pierce through them. Those struck wouldn't survive, as they lacked Vetto's regenerative abilities.

Before they could be hit, velvet threads wrapped around their waists. With a swift pull, Vanessa yanked everyone out of harm's way.

The projectiles embedded themselves into the ground, while Vanessa's threads surged forward, attempting to ensnare Vetto like Stephen's mystical whips.

Vetto chuckled darkly. "One way or another, I'll drag you all into despair."

"THAT WON'T HAPPEN!" Asta shouted furiously, gripping his sword tightly with both hands.

"AS LONG AS WE DON'T GIVE UP, THERE WILL NEVER BE A REASON TO DESPAIR! YOU'LL NEVER WIN!"

Vetto scoffed disdainfully. "And you think these cobwebs can stop me?!"

Flexing his muscles, Vetto snapped the threads effortlessly. He raised his hand and invoked another spell.

[Mythical Beast Magic: Head of the Dragon]

Another dragon head appeared. Before it could launch its attack, a green portal materialized in front of it, redirecting the blast to another portal above Vetto. His own attack came hurtling back at him, but Vetto swatted it away effortlessly.

They turned to see Finral, standing awkwardly with trembling legs. He sighed in exasperation. "My juniors and captain are working so hard… I'd be ashamed if I didn't contribute at least a little."

'What the hell am I doing?!' Finral inwardly panicked. 'They were handling everything just fine!'

Yami smirked faintly as he rested his katana on his shoulder. "Now this is starting to feel like a proper Black Bulls party."

He took a drag from his cigarette and exhaled, addressing his team. "Alright, Black Bulls, listen up!"

Everyone focused on Yami as Vetto exuded an unsettling aura.

"This weirdo's up to no good, which means it's our job to stop him. Careful, though—he might actually kill you. So, here's your one command: surpass your limits! Shatter them if you have to, and take him down!"

Stephen and Wanda floated in the air, glowing with their respective auras. Magna's hands ignited with flames, Luck crackled with electricity, and Asta drew his second sword as his devil mark grew slightly larger. Noelle, Vanessa, and Finral stood with their glowing grimoires, determination etched on their faces. Even Kaito and Kohono, though not Black Bulls, looked ready for battle.

Yami exhaled a puff of smoke and asked coldly, "Do I make myself clear?"

"AYE, CAPTAIN!" they all shouted, grinning as they charged toward Vetto.

"KEHEHEHEHE!!" Vetto cackled, muttering, "Mythical Beast Magic."

[Mythical Beast Magic: Qilin's Hooves]

Vetto's legs became shrouded in an aura resembling hooves, charged with crackling electricity.

The ground shattered as Vetto launched himself at Stephen, electricity trailing behind him.

But Stephen had anticipated this. His hands sparked with mystical lightning.

[Arcane Magic: Bolts of Balthakk]

Massive orbs of crackling lightning erupted from Stephen's hands, racing toward Vetto.

Vetto dodged and weaved through the attacks, running atop the air before dropping back down. However, green portals redirected the bolts, surrounding him.

Finral's portals guided Stephen's spells perfectly, converging the attacks on Vetto. The resulting explosion engulfed the area, sending rubble flying everywhere.

Vetto jumped out from the explosion with charged skin and fur. The rocks all suddenly had a red glow as Wanda sent them surging towards Vetto who was in the air, however she wasn't the only one hurling projectiles. 

[Fire Magic: Explosive Fireballs] 

[Lightning Magic: Thunderclap Crumbling Orb] 

A wave of projectiles of rocks, fireballs, and lightning surged towards Vetto. Vetto let out a small growl as he made a counter attack, 

[Beast Magic: Bear Claw!] 

He extended his magical aura forwards and caught all of the projectiles before they detonated or caused him any harm and held them inside before they threw them back towards everyone in retaliation. 

Asta, Yami, and Kaito were rapidly swinging their swords, while Vanessa was rapidly moving people around with her thread as a puppeteer. 

She was in deep concentration as she moved her fingers and thread around, 'I can't make a single mistake, a single mistake would mean one of them could die… I only control their fate with nothing but a string.' Vanessa thought, making everyone dodge. 'I'll control these strings and lead them towards victory!' 

Noelle and Wanda shared a brief look and nodded towards one another and nodded. 

Noelle's grimoire flared as she aimed her wand forwards towards Vetto as her body was being controlled and explosions were happening all around her. 

[Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Legion!] 

Sea creatures were being created entirely out of water and were sent flying forwards towards Vetto. 

However Wanda intercepted them, they gained an ominous scarlet glow and changed the very nature of Noelle's spells.

[Combination Magic: Monsters of the Trenches] 

Wanda had used her chaos magic to transmute them and turn them into Underwater monsters. They all let out guttural screeches as they were flying through the air towards. 

Vetto was completely baffled by their appearance and let his guard down. They all clung to his body and began gnawing at his flesh, they were released acidic saliva which only made the wounds they inflicted even more painful. 

[Beast Magic: Bear Claw!] 

Vetto let out an enraged roar as he started to claw towards the creatures. Which let him wide open…

Kohono suddenly began to sing and Kaito seemed to be powered up. Seeing them Finral opened a portal directly towards Vetto and Vanessa sent them inside with a twitch of her fingers. 

Kohono and Kaito then unleashed a synchronized spell. 

[Union Magic: Sea God's Dance] 

Kaito was unleashing a large amount of slashes towards Vetto which tainted his body red with his blood. And just when Vetto was about to retaliate Vanessa asked, "Asta you ready?" 

"Need one more second!" Asta said with a strained voice. 

"You got it!" Stephen said, causing Vanessa to pull Kaito away before he could be injured. "MAGNA! LET'S PLAY BALL!!" Stephen shouted to give Magna the hint of an idea of their own combination spell. 

"HAHA! YOU GOT IT!!" Magna shouted, conjuring a baseball bat with his flame magic. 

Stephen rapidly made a chant and moved his hands in synchronization. 

[Arcane: Seven Suns of Cinnibus] 

Stephen summoned a sun in his hands and poised as if he was a pitcher, with a leg raised and sun in between his hands, "BATTER UP!" Stephen shouted as he swung his arm down towards Magna, sending the sun flying through the air. 

Magna pressed his foot down and swung his bat with all his might, "AND PLAY BALL!" 

The sun was being dented by Magna's bat as he striked, doubling the sun's power. He gritted his teeth as he felt his palms burning as he added power to the already blistering sun. He then shouted once he doubled the sun's power, 

"[Combination Magic: Supernova Grand Slam!!]"

The sun was a shooting star as it streaked through the air, the ground was turning into liquid magma as it rapidly flew. 

All of Vetto's instincts went haywire causing him to ignore the gnawing monsters as they absorbed his blood. He stuck up his hands and used his spell to try and block the magic attack since he couldn't dodge it. 

[Beast Magic: Bear Claw] 

Two giant bear paws caught the sun but it was still pushing against him, no matter how much Vetto tried to push the sun just kept spinning closer and closer. 

His feet dug at the ground but he was pushed back and before he could keep it he was standing behind a wall where his aura was being burnt away. 

BOOOOOM!!!

Vetto was engulfed in a fiery explosion which burnt away all of the sea monsters into nothing but ash. Vetto was sent flying, flying through multiple walls as he was engulfed in the sun's smoldering heat. 

Everyone else had to block their faces as it was even too much for some of them to handle. 

When the explosion cleared Vetto was revealed to be slouched by a wall, arms missing with just two scorched stubbs barely responsive, all of his fur was burnt away, his entire body appeared to be scorched. 

A few quiet seconds passed when everyone thought it was over. Vetto pushed himself up with nothing but his willpower surprised everyone, he let out a horrifying bloodlust and a surge of magic energy. 

"I'm ready!" Asta said in a strained voice. 

Vanessa turned towards him and saw Asta in his semi winged form, not to mention he was supplying two swords with anti-magic and that it hasn't even been an hour since he used his attack, so Asts was really pushing past his limits. 

"I can't move…could barely speak, if I lose concentration I'll lose it, you have to send me flying to him" Asta strained himself to say. 

Vanessa nodded as Finral extended his hand creating a portal towards the towering vetto who seems to now be running towards them like a wild, deranged beast. 

Vanessa curled her fingers, lifted Asta upwards and hurled him towards the portal, sending him flying through. Asta thrusted his swords forwards and pierced Vetto right through the stomach. 

[Anti-Magic: Black Bulls Horn!] 

Asta immediately dispelled Vetto's magic magic and went to his knees and vomited blood. As Asta pulled out his sword, he stood still and looked down toward Vetto as fell backwards. 

"..." 

"..." 

"..." 

"Guys…" Asta called out, shedding tears, "I can't move my body~ I think it's broken, help me please!!!"

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