Chapter 104: What Is A Hero

The figure hiding in the underworld took a solid second to catch their breath as they continued to heave in rage.Though the reaction was mostly a posturing one since beings their strength hardly required the use of oxygen to function… Their long, forked, black tongue flickered still in and out of their metallic ‘lips’ for a stint before they soon turned towards another direction within the many mirror-filled hallways. Without acknowledging the tense situation going on within the always chaotic {Mortal Realm} anymore, they began to walk through the winding path.Sure enough there were only more ‘windows’ into various past lives as the serpent walked down them yet they showed no confusion as to where they were going. Few even knew the existence of the maze due to the seal on the inside - plus there were many additional traps laying throughout in order to catch the unsuspecting wanders - however not a trap revealed itself as they beguilingly walked through with no dithering. This only made sense though as they were the one who built this place; that included gathering each and every ‘life’ used in order to build that castle of glass. It took awhile but eventually the snake arrived upon a setting which was quite different from anything seen so far. A set of four large glass vats contained what seemed like two separate pairs of ‘arms’ that were made from some kind of stone; both pairs appearing more similar to stone claws than actual human arms/hands. One pair was large and white while the second had a golden hue as well as far slimmer thus dexterous than their more monstrous sister. In a glass case in front of the four claws was another set of arms yet those were fully petrified with no sign of life in them except for the golden aura radiating off them.This aura was sharp like a knife and as the snake could feel their silver skin being sliced in its mere presence yet relied on their regeneration to power through to approach. Yet that very aura was being pumped through the four claws although, unlike with the silver serpent, those claws showed no sign of any damage at all. The sight brought a sultry grin upon their face as they put their hand upon the glass.“As expected; if thou need make arms for two of the heads of the Asura thou art to make use of the biomass of the last head in order to succeed… With these arms we merely need to wait for that child to grow up. We imagine that it should take less than fifty years for our imperial self to succeed with our own part of the deal which will bring us all we need ohohoho~!” <?>A laugh exiting their mouth though this made their gaze fall up to the ‘sky above’; though they knew that there was no real ‘sky’ but instead a brimstone ceiling. Though what they were looking at was beyond even that towards the hands of the giant they took shelter under. “We suppose that however approaches {Valhalla} next will be in for a surprise~...” <?>With that a malicious grin grew on their face as they knew it was most likely going to be a very certain little black cat.<The moment Cheshire fails to achieve godhood and gets swallowed whole by the Strongest will be the moment we will forever cherish… Well should she fail, which would actually ruin some of our imperial selves own plans, so that would be quite disastrous. Then again we would rather replan due to Absolute Wrath destroying Cheshire than have her continued existence!>Nodding to themselves as they continued to ensure their work was up to standards; the last thing they would want was two angry oni’s asking for a refund...

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Meanwhile, within the {Mortal Realm}, things were going about as well as one could imagine they were going for Legion.“H-how art thou still alive…” <Legion>Clearly not expecting {The Infinite Mother} to still be standing there as they could only slowly move their right (remaining) hand out to reach for the pair or swords. Before they could succeed in doing that the goddess moved her own hands down to hold her sheathe & sword to reveal the slight silverish gleam of her [Mercy]’s blade. “Ara~ I don’t think you need to worry about me, dear, ohoho~.” <Mother>With an ever slight *clink* she resheathed her blade with the same warm smile as always as she moved her arms behind her back. Legion initially looked confused so gave pause to purview the situation yet after a second nothing happened. Yet when they went to reach for the blade once more reality seemed to have finally caught up to the action of the {True God}. “W-what?” <Legion>A flash of naturally filled green energy resulted in not only their arm falling to the ground in addition to the mountain range behind them gaining a new vast revive. The demon lord could only silently float there while trying to wrap their head around how the situation certainly reversed in a moment - just a few seconds ago they were about to succeed in their greatest desire since birth. They even managed to obtain a new power by defeating Mother that made them feel like they could even defeat the Demon God Empress herself… Yet that proved itself to be a foolish thought.Compared to their foolish dream the cruel god just silently floated midair without so much as disturbing the surrounding air which in turn could show just how great she was. In contrast the presence of Legion had reduced the mountain to rubble that floated unnaturally due to the distortion of gravity occurring. Both of them are surrounded by the fantastical scene, cracks and sparks of rogue energy appearing between the floating minerals, yet their appearance couldn’t be more different.Legion had only their left hand, head and feet left to fight against the completely untouched appearance of Mother. Even despite wearing that large, baggy, white coat that should be easy to stain there wasn’t so much as a mark of dirt upon it. Instead she just looked down on the spawn of Munzumira with that same warm smile she always had no matter what.Soon she let out another laugh while tilting her head in a casual manner as if she were taking the precious sight of a dirty child who had just come back from playing.It was also at that moment where she vanished from Legion's sight only to reappear above to deliver a casual ‘tap’ with the bottom of her foot. Such a move caused the metallic menace to fly head first into the ground below which caused the earth to finally give in causing an eruption of magma which swallowed the titan whole. Still that wasn’t enough to keep the pseudo-demon down as they exploded out with their last remaining hand holding a sword forward to cut down their foe.“NOT YET!” <Legion>In direct contrast to that a certain little dragoness seemed to be in even rougher shape as her hybrid form had fided, leaving only her bruised flesh. Any sign of her armour or gear was long gone as she had no idea if her throwing knives even still existed. Even if they did they would be impossible to find since she laid out flat on what was on one of the many floating rocks. From this position she could see all of the action going on first hand yet there was no joy at seeing Legion being beaten down… No, there was only a cold dissatisfaction with herself for thinking that she had really gotten anywhere since that day she ran. She wished to stop this and give Legion a fair fight instead but there was not an ounce of energy left in her body so she could only bite her lip.Watching the person she considered her rival, there was no hatred for the one who was about to kill her as it was a fair fight which both parties fully accepted, being treated like nothing more than a dummy for the god to hit around? It pissed her off yet she was so pathetic she couldn’t even charge in bravely like she always had as her body simply didn’t listen. There was no blood in her system while the crystals she had stored were nowhere to be seen due to the chaos.As such she could only lie there motionlessly with her bruised & burnt body hoping that Legion could somehow pull through the situation.She knew that the one beating down was her family yet compared to her Fuka, Lyada, Promicarus and of course Emily felt way more like family. At points she even wished for it to end as the strong chassis slowly was broken apart by the attacks of Mother  to reveal the goopy black innards of Legion… Also known as Promicarus in her truest form. To say it was a fight was a lie; it was more akin to an adult bullying mercilessly with no signs of remorse till the child gave up crying,Yet Legion, no, Promicarus never gave up.That dumb black mage knew what she was fighting for so despite likely being in no better shape than Eel continued to recklessly charge forward against the unbeatable opponent. It felt like Eel could no longer recognise her as the gloomy girl she was always at odds with and wanted to be there with her… But she couldn't.So, for the first time that she can remember, tears began to fall from the sides of her face while the taste of iron filled her mouth.<I’m no different from back then… Just a weak little pup trying to act all adult by charging in recklessly yet not able to do anything actually heroic. I guess Promicarus was right that I have no idea what a hero was or whatever she said.>Soon she found herself unable to even look upon the brutal scene of her rival being mercilessly beaten up as the {True God} refused to even draw a sword anymore. Her occasional warm laughter seemed more mocking than as relieving as it should be - guiding Elizabeth to look away from the sight with blurry eyes. It was only then that her eyes caught something standing proudly despite all the chaos going on as if a flag of safety; a single bone spear wedged into the ground platform. ‘What is a hero?’A faint memory of a voice of a person she didn’t know which had been relegated to the back of her mind as just a random line suddenly rang out. When that question was asked… She honestly had no memory despite apparently being able to remember anything. All she knew was she certainly didn’t answer it seriously and likely gave some smart-ass answer yet for some reason that tiny little line came to her now.With new found strength - if small in amount - she reached out with her left hand to clasp at the earth to try to pull herself toward it. This task was harder than imagined as the dirt just came loose resulting in her instead just splashing its grains upon itself. Yet she didn’t give up as she continued to claw at the ground with all the power she had left within her body.She wasn’t fast by any means and sometimes the resounding power from the clash above even caused her to throw up blood due to using any energy that could have protected her inners on this simple task. This time she didn’t give up though as she bit her lips as if forcing her usual smug smirk upon her cracked lips. No worries about using that energy to preserve her life or regenerate anymore as she eventually found her hand touching the cold smooth surface of that spear she held so dear.It had not been with her long nor was it made out of very special materials if one was to consider the wider world. Yet there was one thing that made this spear special…Emily put all of her energy into making it for her.Grasping at that spear seemed to fill her with more energy as she slowly pulled herself up to her knees by using it. Upon doing that she brought her other limp arm - still mangled from the purple flames she had tried to control earlier - to hold onto the spear. Her forehead falling forward to hit the hard surface while making it so she was almost in a praying posture yet she prayed to no god.With her whole body shaking she closed her eyes, with that smug smirk she could hardly keep in her state, she finally answered that question truthfully.<A hero is one who gives their all for what they believe in… So give me strength Emily since I’m about to do something heroic fufufu~!>