Chapter 174 Part 1: The Miserable Chimera
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Henrietta was the first to receive the hits, using her enormous golden shield to generate a huge barrier of celestial light. This shield’s powers could even tank S-Rank monster blows, but the moment she was hit by the barrage of punches from Heisenberg’s "mother,” the barrier of light was swiftly “corrupted” by infectious darkness and crimson energy, slowly generating cracks until it shattered.
Crack, crack…!
CRAAASH!
Not only did the barrier of light that the shield generated shatter into pieces with ease, but the shield itself was heavily dented once it took two hits before Henrietta was thrown several meters away as if she were nothing but a ragdoll.
“Careful, that thing’s fists are heavier than S-Rank Monster’s blows!”
Henrietta warned everyone, as the crimson maiden’s ruby-colored eyes glared at everyone with a cold stare. Her arms were divided into six this time, as her arms extended up to three times their original size, reaching as far as fifteen meters. Her barrage of fists never ended, constantly covering her surroundings, as if generating a barrier made out of her own punches.
“She’s really playing defensively.” Scarlet noticed, conjuring her blood magic. “How about some long-range attacks then? {Blood Sword Rain}”
Her magical aura erupted from her body, covering the surroundings with a cloud made of crimson blood, which quickly materialized hundreds of metallic, ruby-colored swords, rushing down at lightning speed toward Heisenberg’s "mother.”.
However, the entity simply reacted by punching all the swords away, only triggering the blades to explode into scarlet bursts that attempted to break through her defenses or at least hurt her somehow. Her crimson arms exploded, temporarily leaving her without protection.
“Now!”
With Scarlet’s prompt, Jack immediately attempted to attack the monster with his corrupted Gram’s powers, swinging his sword vertically and horizontally. A slashing wave of shadows and crimson energy cut through Heisenberg’s mother.
SLAAASH!
However, her eyes flashed brightly the moment Jack was close enough, and her arms grew back in a split second. And now that she had Jack at point blank, he was punched three times. His left arm was twisted and broken, and one of his legs was torn off his body. His eyes widened in shock, and a fourth attack reached his face before he could react in time. The Demonic Pressure makes it hard for him to move.
CLASH!
However, a pair of giant swords stopped the punch. Anna appeared like a flash of golden light, her movements followed by both of her swords harnessing her Celestial and Demonic Energies, alongside Lightning.
“{Thousand Blades}: {Demonic Blade Thunderstorm}”
A single slash turned into dozens of slashes, cutting through Heisenberg’s "mother,” an endlessly regenerating arm, and then blowing it all up into ashes due to the explosions provoked by her electricity.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
What’s worse, the electricity spread across the rest of her body, burning through her blood mass, which Scarlet was unable to control no matter how hard she tried. This created an opening, Anna called Jack, as he had already generated his wounds, his body swiftly transforming. His appearance changes and shifts into that of a giant, muscular, and powerful black werewolf.
With all his strength, Jack kicked the empty air and reached Heisenberg before his “mother” could properly regenerate her wounds, his claws harnessing his Shadows and combining them with the elements of flames and lightning together.
“RAAAH!”
Roaring mightily, Jack slashed through the unsuspecting mummified Heisenberg. Three slashes pierced his weakened body, an explosion of black flames and lightning engulfing him completely.
“Gryyaaagh!”
BOOOMMM!!
The explosion was so strong that a powerful shockwave was unleashed, and everyone was pushed back several meters, black smoke covering the skies. Anna noticed that the Hell Gate had become twice as small, but it had yet to be fully destroyed.
“He’s not dead yet; be careful!” Anna cried.
“Not yet?!” Jack asked. “I imbued almost everything I had in that single attack! He looked so thin; how is he so damn tough?!”
“Big brother?”
Annabelle called for him as everyone suddenly heard the muffled voice of Heisenberg echoing across the black smoke. As it dissipated, it revealed his skeleton, without any flesh over. Groaning, with empty eyes and blue flames glowing in his empty eye sockets.
“A-Ahhh.. Ahhh… It… hurts… IT HURTS…!”
As the failed Demon King screamed in agony, his “mother” surged once more, this time made of the darkness flooding out of his open skeletal jaws and the blue flames coming from his eyes. Anna felt a tremendous, vile demonic presence, akin, if not even bigger, than the Death Apostles coming from him.
“I stopped his transformation into a Demon King, but those powers remain within him; they’re now coming one after another.” Anna noticed. “I see how this is! We have to kill every “power” he was gifted with, like extra lives?! This is fucking bullshit.”
“Then what was the previous power?!” Scarlet asked her as Heisenberg’s “mother” started to move, her arms made of shadows and phantasmal blue flames rushing towards them, extending her giant fingers into bony spears.
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
Her precise and fast attacks were quickly evaded by everyone. They set off into the skies while charging their strongest spells or techniques, focusing on evading more than anything.
“I can tell it was that pressure; it is completely gone now... And also his tears and blood.” Anna muttered. “Wasn’t he the “Selfish Chimera” or something? Then maybe what brother killed was his “ego,” and what we’re fighting now is his “Pain”…” Anna simply gave them random names to classify them.
But right now, Heisenberg is in incredible pain. Having lost all his skin and muscles, he was now just a suffering skeleton. His own Soul and Powers were divided into the Emotions that generated his “selfishness," which was so powerful that it was deemed part of his Demon King Title.
The first one was his Ego, his lack of empathy, and also how he saw his traumas and suffering above everyone else. The materialization of his mother must be because he thinks he’s the only one who has gone through this. Even when countless people lost their parents and loved ones in the first awakening,.
And now, it was his “pain,” the agony and pain he went through, that shaped who he is right now. The experiences of endless agony and suffering shaped his personality and took away the last remnants of humanity within him.
“Demon Kings are made out of their emotions. They’re chosen based on their experiences, traumas, and the life they have gone through. And they’re reborn as the embodiment of their own traumas, to an extent.” Anna said. Everyone decided to question her about how she knew so much later. They were too busy evading to ask her.
“So how many do we have to fight?” Jack asked her while evading a giant skeletal claw before he charged all the strength he had and swung his black blade against it.
CRAAASH!
The skeletal claw didn’t shatter but gained many cracks, and a few pieces of bone flew away. It was exceptionally tough. Everyone else had already given it a try, but the bones were so tough that it took several hits for pieces of them to fly off. And Anna speculated that this was a recurring pattern.
“I think this is the last, actually. Keep evading! We have to find an opening. Maybe a core? A heart?” She wondered. “For now, try to evade and distract the mother! We have to harm Heisenberg, not his summons!”
“Right, the mother before was simply invincible; she kept regenerating! Is this bone lady the same?” Scarlet nodded. “If that’s it, leave it to me then!”
Scarlet swiftly enhanced her bat-like wings made out of blood, making them large and therefore helping her fly through the skies at even larger speeds than before. She started circling the gigantic skeletal “mother” while firing dozens of spheres of explosive blood, covering the monster’s body with crimson flames.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Heisenberg’s mother was furious but didn’t give all her attention to Scarlet. While she distracted her a bit, Anna and Jack sneaked towards her with Annabelle right behind them, only for the “mother” to swing her second pair of arms, twisting them around and then stretching them to reach the trio.
“{Celestial Blade}!”
However, a flash of golden light descended from above. Henrietta clashed against the arm directed towards them, pushing it down and spreading a few cracks over it, before she fired a powerful beam of light, pushing the arms even further away.
“GO!”
With a mighty roar, she clashed against Heisenberg’s protector. Anna, Jack, and Annabelle rushed down to catch Heisenberg. The man was constantly weeping shadows and phantom flames, his jaws cracking, and his voice was dry and almost intelligible.
“Why… Why am I so miserable?”
He continued weeping without even looking at anyone else, covering his face with his skeletal hands. Annabelle couldn’t help but pity him. Thinking that these were the emotions her brother had been bottling inside of him all this time made her feel frustrated.
Anna and Jack ignored his weeping, though, swiftly rushing down like a flash of bright light and shadows and clashing against him with their blades. Anna unleashed a double cross-shaped attack, releasing an explosive burst of golden, crimson, and purple lightning in the shape of countless snakes coiling around his body. Jack, meanwhile, was a much cleaner and less messy attack, a single slice into the air, releasing a tremendous wave of shadows that could cut through all.
CRAAASH!
“Wha…?!”
“Huh?!”
However, both quickly realized their attacks were stopped by Heisenberg’s skeletal hands, tightly grasping the blades of their swords! Their eyes widened the moment they saw the weeping demon slowly lift his skull, glaring into their very souls.
“Why… Why don’t you pity me?”
As his words were said, a wave of Curses swarmed both siblings, their souls being quickly attacked with dozens of Curses at once. Petrification, Magic Sealing, Body Paralysis, Coldness, Fever, Confusion, and Madness. Although they possessed great resistance against status effects, the sheer amount of Curses conjured with the power of a Pseudo Demon King was strong enough to make them bleed from their eyes, noses, ears, and mouth.
“NO! Stop it!”
Annabelle cried with all her sorrow, rushing towards Heisenberg as her Aura erupted into hundreds of black spiders, swarming Heisenberg and trying to cut through his bones. Which were not frail at all, almost as tough as his "mother.”.
“Annabelle…?”
Suddenly, his sister was full of shock as he heard Heisenberg’s voice echoing into her mind through the skull’s glance. She saw visions. All the moments she spent with her brother passed through her mind all at once. And then, slowly, darkness started to shroud and cloud her judgment.
“Please, Annabelle… Would you hurt your big brother?”
“N-No…! Stop! Get out of my mind!”
As Annabelle struggled, Heisenberg’s “mother” fists were rushing down towards her! Anna and Jack’s eyes suddenly regained their light, a split second before Annabelle was to be crushed, and swiftly combined their strengths.
“RAAAAH!”
With furious roars, their swords slashed through the failure of a Demon King’s summons, cutting their arm into pieces with all their strength. Their emotions fuel their Mana reserves to explode and enchant their skills, at the cost of quickly emptying them.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
“AAAAGH!”
The “mother” gave an ear-piercing scream of agony. Heisenberg’s gaze shifted towards her as he screamed for his mother. The second they gained was not wasted; a spear of blood reached Heisenberg, conjured by Scarlet. It was fired at lightning speed towards his neck.
CRASH!
However, it did little to no damage; only for Scarlet to smile, the blood melted and infiltrated Heisenberg’s bones and ribs before beginning to shine brightly. Putting almost all her Mana into action, she activated a powerful technique.
“{Blood Burst}!”
BOOOMMM!!!
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