Chapter 103: Falling Into Place

What happened next could only be called a nightmare for the demon lord.If Legion’s handling of Elizabeth was akin to an adult dealing with a child then compared to the new woman they were akin to a baby who wasn’t even able to crawl. As soon as the giant realised the woman appeared behind them they didn’t even care to question it since they were already well aware they were on the backfoot. To stand any chance they would need to act with no questions to ‘how’ something happened but instead ‘how’ they can react the most efficiently. Knowing this they didn’t even turn to look at the god though instead finally utilised their wings to try to hit the being behind her.Of course it was a bold thought that they really stood a chance even if they were a foot taller than the 7 foot lady. She simply replied by raising her hands in order to block the two blades hung off the ‘bone’ of the wings - her fingers clutching caused a *crunch* to echo out from the swords as the blades gave in as if it were putty to her power. Still the goddess didn’t seem satisfied with this punishment as an “ohoho” escaped along with a powerful kick to Legions back to send them hurgling forward. Only problem with that was she didn’t allow the giant puppet to take their wings with them causing a sickening *creak* to echo out along with the pained screams of the metallic menace yet they still had time to let out one smug line.“As envisioned… Solus end this!” <Legion>With that line the two wings which Mother clawed into began to be consumed by the hungry black flames that slowly grew in intensity. Seeing these black flames flickering near her made her tilt her head with curiosity yet ‘before she could react’ these flames seemed no longer interested in their host; leaping towards the lilac haired beauty. At first it was just a little spark or two yet soon Mother found those undying flames spreading up her arms.“Ara ara?” <Mother>Her face held the same warm smile as always as those black flames attempted to completely encase her which they soon actually managed to do. The owner of the black flames, Legion, turned to see the massive pyre produced from the apex being. Seeing that even the {True God} was unable to contend with them it was obvious that the demon lord became quite jubilant.Although they had suffered greatly in this fight, losing their wings in addition to having a deep wound that could only be bared with for now, this victory was far greater. If the mask on their face had the ability there was no doubt the pseudo demon would be grinding wildly as their haughty metallic laugh echoed out.“This one hast truly outdone thine-self; if killing a hero is what was required for my evolution to a demon lord then what should I achieve from this monumental event? Muhuhuhaha~!” <Legion>In the meantime Eel could only look on with a bitter smile at the ‘demon’ who truly seemed delighted at the prospect of having succeeded in their goal through this method.Something instinctually told her that what was happening was unbelievable and believed that even the joyus Legion probably understood that. If anything this moment of jubilation could best be described as a momentary escape from a horrifying reality; though that could be wrong as what has those undead flames been unable to devour before? Not to mention the energy radiating from inside of the Demon Lord only grew more and more powerful making it true that they were indeed burning something of great strength.In a matter of minutes the dark aura surrounding Legion increased to such a density that it was visible & intimidating blackish just like their flames with arcs of blue. The ground under them began to creak under the sheer pressure of that power that only seemed to increase in size as the seconds went by. Feeling the strength coursing through their gelatinous body, who would be able to resist letting out a long evil laugh while posing? Certainly not the giant as their hands dropped their swords, letting them float mid air, while reaching out in a manner that seemed to almost be enticing that power to come even faster than it was.“Who is {Cheshire the God Slayer}? Which fools call themselves the {Absolute Asura}? What do you mean when you say {The Heavens} have eyes? Why should I care about any of that with this power I have in my hands which even devours the {True God} whole; soon this realm and all others will bend their knee at my name muhuhuhahaha~!” <Legion><Who says that grumpy over there isn’t easy to please fufufu~!>Along with their laughter (as if joining their masters' revelry) Legions dark aura trembled causing the dirt below to whirl up encasing the entire mountain-top in a hurricane. The mighty peak soon, unable to sustain its form under the pressure of the apparent transformation, began to crumble at its base. Large cracks visible even to the town below wormed upwards as if a set of hungry maws attempting to swallow everything; they were even quite successful at that if the quickly disappearing mountain was anything to go off.Under the power of her own potent aura the demon managed to float, even without the aid of her now nonexistent wings, allowing her to silently gaze at the {Orrid Kingdom}.“Now all I need to do is end this despicable country to free my Bridgett…” <Legion>For a brief moment the metallic voice grew softer an feminine just like the voice of the little girl who had enjoyed her last few days so much. A little bit of child-like joy filled with none of the earlier intimidation yet another voice soon echoed out from below the armoured figure. This voice was not Elizabeth’s though.“Indeed that wouldn’t be very difficult for you should you use your new power to summon an army of those toys of yours ohohoho~.” <Mother>That voice was warm like that of a proud mother watching their child lively playing around freely without care nevertheless it felt more like a cold waterfall on the excitement of the dark entity. Slowly turning their head to look down on the black-bonfire, which was still burning darkly without any sign of going out, yet that voice spoke of a different story. The true power of that undead-flame almost made up for any weakness her mass-summoning had - it was able to convert anything into energy for her. In addition to this they had even created plenty of options for utilising their skills in addition to their ‘minions’ as any good demon lord should. With their original bodies biology as a slime more energy directly translated to more power which showed off just how terrifying Legion truly was… Yet if their flames were truly performing as they should then how did the encased Mother’s voice reach them?That was soon answered as the figure doused in flames lifted an arm before flicking it which resulted in those supposedly undying flames vanishing. Now that the flames were gone it was clear that not even the edges of Mother’s clothes were scolded, let alone managing to burn the goddess herself. She did cradle her cheek with a concerned brow however there was absolutely no sign of any injury despite the words she soon spoke.“Ara those flames were quite dangerous; I expect that you would have inherited those from that nasty Navy rather than Munzumira since they are able to destroy even a god's soul.” <Mother>-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-Silently the entity watched over the scene with seemingly no reaction on its metallic face as the faint lights from a gallery of crystals caused its silverish body to gleam.Inside each of these crystals were the memories of some creatures' entire life flashing by in short clips before moving onto another; seemingly no relation between them. There was everything from tiny snakes, humans to even gigantic plants that could sit comfortably on a planet all by themselves. There was a link that all these entities - each one had the marking of an ankh upon their bodies and usually it was the abdominal area in the case of animals. In addition the beings all seemed to be darker in tone; the humans having beautiful toffee like skin which sometimes led to rather unsavoury ends for the being inside the memories.Still none of the beings recorded showed fear at their eventual ends even though each and everyone eventually reached death. Some of them were somewhat exciting like being caught in the death of the universe or fighting in some grand final duel yet more often than not their deaths seemed deliberately pathetic or tragic. The entity showed no interest in these interesting scenes as it continued gazing into the pool of green which reflected the scene.Even the occasional scream from directly behind it never drew away its attention for more than a second as countless souls seemed to be processed behind its back. Afterall such a scene was common under the shadow of the titanic skeleton in the {Demon Realm} where these souls were being recycled let along within this {Hall of Memories} located within the bowls of both the skeleton & the {Underworld} the titan skeleton represented. Strangely the entity sitting inside the most important part of the {Underworld} showed no signs of either demonic or undead energy but instead was far closer to that of {The Heavens}; in other an entity which should have no business being located so far down in the home of demons.Nothing bothered the entity as it’s black hands cradled it’s chin in a bored fashion while it’s long silver tail slapped the ground thus making the purple ‘blade’ on the end slash the ground.“Oh my it does appear that little Alice is intent on pushing her luck this time as if she believes we dost not exist ohohoho~!” <?>It’s voice was a collection of different genders as well as different ages yet not a single one of them appeared nearly as jovial as the laugh may have led one to believe. Instead they seemed quite domnearing to the point of tyranny as their aqua-blue eyes, containing countless rippling rings within, narrowed dangerously. Every slight movement they made joined along with the domineering sound of metal creaking. After speaking, though, they finally turned away from swirling energy towards a seemingly random corner in front of them.“Dost thou not agree with we or do thou just wish to allow we to laud in the beautiful irony of the tallest titan becoming the tallest imp ohoho~?” <?>For a moment nothing happened as the metallic bipedal-serpent rose to their (opposable) black feet while leisurely lifting one of their black fingers up to point towards said corner. At the tip of their finger a green energy began to coalesce into a little ball of concentrated energy that caused cracks to slowly appear in space. This was despite the fact that the demon realm was far more stable in nature than that of the {Mortal Realm} as it possessed god-like entities at numbers far greater than the entirety of humankind.Seeing this powerful [Death Beam] being charged by the primordial serpent a familiar sigh escaped as a certain masked imp appeared with their hands raised. Sticky fingers, as they were commonly called, didn’t show much fear at the entity in front of them yet at the same time knew fine well they had no issues firing the beam just to prove a point. Fortunately that energy was expertly dissipated by the entity causing no harm while also showing just how terrifying the being was.“As should be expected from the exalted teacher-” <Zandman>“Please dost cut the unpleasantries as we know both of us are naught but sinners who failed to create a world for those of the next generation… May we know why thou art here? We certainly hope thou holds no intention of larceny as we will hold back naught should thou truly try thine luck in such foolish endeavours~.” <?>It’s voice now held a bit of amusement as it’s tone became somewhat sultry though certainly held the same tyrannical presence behind each line. Though upon seeing that the serpent had at least calmed down Zandman intended not to indulge in the beings idle thoughts. After all they knew perfectly well that there was no way the snake truly had no idea why they were here considering everything so far was more than likely a part of their sly scheme.“I merely beseech you to advise this little monk when you shall…” <Zandman>Their gaze turned away from the snake to seemingly purview the {Hall of Memories} yet truly gazed beyond even that to the massive complex seal. Most assume that it was simply built to protect the function of the cycle of reincarnation yet the truth was that it was to keep the entity here with the memories from one particular soul gathered. As for who sealed it here…“Remove yourself from your own self made seal.” <Zandman>That was itself.“We should be asking how thy broke in however we suppose thou must have used the fabled tribulation of time hence why the bounty hunter is there as we requested ohohoho~.” <?>“Indeed though this little monk can hardly understand why… But that does not answer our own question, if you wouldn’t mind.” <Zandman>Clearly the snake was in no hurry to speak as they turned around to gaze into the mass of souls being cleansed of their memories then stored till the time to be reborn. They crossed their arms leisurely around their back while their tail slivered out to reach into a portal that opened beside their tail only to come out with a cigarette that it placed in the beings mouth. A golden flame lit at the end of the tail over the cigarette to alight.“Quite the curious mortal invention which we have tried in many realms… As horrid inventions go none usually beat it in vileness yet still the profoliate due to the greed of those seeking cheap power hence we quite like them. As for when we shall unseal ourselves? We need to uphold our side of the bargain which means reuniting the Asura hence we shan’t be roaming till that child grows up at least.” <?>Its tail effortlessly points towards the shocked face of Eel on the screen.“Now, thou broke in so, break thineself out Imp~!” <?>“You really are a Tyrant…” <Zandman>With that the imp stepped back once more only to vanish while the entity turned around to gaze at the military cap of the bounty hunter; not missing the moment that a familiar little hand grabbed it from the shadows resulting in the mood of the being instantly dropping. The energy it once dissipated appeared on it’s finger once more. Flicking said finger over it’s shoulder to point to the screen of energy resulting in a devastating green beam firing through the screen with a rather large bang that shook the skeleton they took cover under.“Dastardly cat…” <?>