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Chapter 92: Beginning Of The End A few cautious steps through the debris of the subway's demolished entry gate was all it took to realize that something was terribly wrong. Terribly. The subway's usual narrow line was widened out by something that had left marks on the walls. Every dark corner was infested by the smaller demons that were too weak to go out to fight. Every now and then, a stronger demon popped up and abruptly got cut down. Vampire patrols were everywhere, but they didn't bother us much. They hated light, and Alexis's Kotetsu sword continually radiated an aura of golden light that banished any vampire that dared to come near. Death Angel statues hid in dark corners, waiting to ambush us along with their Gargoyle counterparts. Again, not a problem. Those 3 years of training had given Alexis better reflexes, and my bow was more than capable of taking four of those demons down in a single shot. "I feel sick......" Alexis moaned. Her face looked rather green. "We're getting closer to the Demon Gate." I said, staring ahead. This part of the subway was unusually cavernous, and I could see two tall silhouettes in the distance. "We're in for a big fight." I gritted my teeth. Suddenly, torches lit up all along the walls, revealing that we were indeed standing in a massive cavern. Not only that, but the cavern was also perfectly circular, and we were standing in the middle of a magic circle on the ground. "Sh*t!" I shrieked, quickly trying to pull Alexis off the circle's centre instinctively, a split second too late. Black vines burst out of the circle, holding our legs down and pulling us to the ground. They slid over our flailing arms and around our chests, pinning us to the ground. "Damn! Why didn't I sense this!?" I swore, tensing the muscles in both my arms, trying to break free. The vines were growing to cover our entire bodies. Soon, only our noses were exposed, and we couldn't see anything. Where the hell is it!? I kept twitching my hips, searching for the seal neutralization scroll in the back pocket of my shorts. I couldn't find it anyhow I twitched. Damn it! I couldn't die here...... No... I'll die, the vines are moving to cover my nose...... Have a little faith in yourself, Artemis! You still need to stop Saevio! Now where's that damn scroll!? "Found it!" I shrieked, bumping the scroll out of my back pocket with a little twitch. Luckily, my oversized hips had granted me enough space under my back for the scroll to roll out in. I settled back down and started sending my energy into the scroll. I felt the vines loosen up and continued sending energy into the scroll. "Yes!" I shouted, breaking free. Alexis's body was completely mummified by the vines now, and I quickly got up, placing the scroll on her convulsing body. The vines weakened again, and I pulled them apart. "Are you okay?" I asked. She nodded weakly, getting up. "Don't tell me the vines ate your shorts." She stared at me. I blushed and bent down to pick my discarded shorts up. They had slid off after I broke free due to my constant twitching. "Oh yeah." I slammed by fist into the ground at the very centre of the glowing magic circle. The pattern of the circle disintegrated. "We still have a demon to deal with though." I sighed as another magic circle appeared under the first one. This one, I knew, was one which was used to summon the more powerful demons. I dragged Alexis backwards as a giant centipede rose out of the centre of the circle. This giant centipede was different from the one in the "This demon just won't die!" I groaned, releasing another flurry of arrows. None of them had any effect on the demon's steel shell, and Alexis wasn't doing any better than I was. Her veins were starting to show on the surface of her skin, which meant that she was fighting at her strongest. A quick look at my own arms displayed the same result. My hands were pulling back and releasing the bowstring so fast, it seemed that it was invisible. The centipede didn't even seem to be breaking a sweat. "Alexis!" I shouted, and she appeared beside me, panting. "We won't be able to beat it at this rate!" She sighed. "We're not fighting at our best, and that's the problem." I gritted my teeth. "You mean...... the Inner Beasts?" Alexis asked. I nodded. "We'll need to save them up for the fight with Saevio." She shook her head. "We won't get there if we don't do it now!" I yelled, dodging a pincer. Suddenly, the tentacles came out of nowhere and wrapped themselves around me. "Crap!" I shouted. The tentacles pulled me towards the circular mouth they were arranged around even as the acid holes expanded. "Oh......" I stared into the fleshy insides of the mouth. ...... I heard Artemis scream as a cloud of acid burst out from the tentacle-covered mouth on the centipede's body. "Artemis!" I shrieked. I quickly jumped up, slicing the tentacles off just as another acid cloud burst out. "ARGH!" I screamed, falling to the ground. Artemis collapsed a few centimetres beside me. Her clothes had dissolved from exposure to the acid, but she was fine otherwise. Apparently, she hadn't been in the cloud long enough for the acid to dissolve her body. The front of my clothes had been dissolved too, and the remains fell off. Our weapons weren't affected. I quickly crawled over to her and pulled her up. Suddenly, I heard something break and Artemis let out a muffled scream as she reached her hand into her cleavage, poking out glass shards. Clear blue liquid was leaking out from her cleavage too. "You kept the liquid mana there?" I asked, surprised. She nodded. I reached a hand down to sweep the liquid off her body, but I found my hand stuck on her right breast. "Huh?" I stared at my stuck hand and tried to pull. Artemis shrieked and clamped both her hands around my arm, holding on. "What the hell?" I gasped as there was a sudden sucking noise, and my entire body flew into hers. ...... My body suddenly began throbbing right after Alexis was absorbed into my body. A blue handprint was on the spot where her hand previously had been. I stared at it for a few seconds. The handprint dripped off. "The mana......" I realized. "Where am I?" Alexis's voice rang out in my head. "You're inside me." I thought. "But how?" She gasped. "Must be something to do with the liquid mana that leaked out. Anyway, looks like I'm in control." I said, quickly utilizing Alexis's powers. I grew half a metre, and I nocked her sword to my bow. Again, a niche had mysteriously appeared in the hilt for the string. I took careful aim at the giant centipede's head. "You're dead, buster." I whispered, letting the sword fly. It pierced right through the head, coming out at the other side. "YES!" I whooped. However, the punctured head fell off, revealing another head with even bigger pincers inside. "Oh my god..." I gasped. "It's gonna take a lot more than a headshot to take that thing out." Alexis remarked. I clamped my bow in between my breasts since there was nothing else that could hold it to my body. Reaching a hand out, I visualized a long red lance forked halfway down the shaft. Instantly, it appeared in my hand. I quickly jumped up, using the Longinus Lance as a vaulting pole and leapt up to Alexis's Kotetsu sword, stuck in the ceiling. I pulled it out and clasped both the Lance and the Kotetsu together. "Come forth, Harbinger." I whispered. The Lance's forked ends turned into long golden blades as the Kotetsu was assimilated into it. I quickly grabbed my bow and nocked the lance-sword to the string as the giant centipede reached for me with it's head. "You're mine." I whispered, letting the projectile fly. The blades turned sideways, causing the Harbinger to spin in mid-air for greater penetration. Along with the spinning action, I had added a gravity distortion field to it. The Harbinger pierced right through the head's center, continuing down along the centipede's spine. Halfway through, it came out of the part of the body that was on a different plane than the lower area, and finally stopped when it hit the tail. "Bullseye." I smiled, holding out a hand. The Harbinger flew out of the ground and returned to my hand. "It ain't over yet." Alexis said grimly. I noticed the body's sections sliding apart. The section breaking off was the one with the mouth and tentacles, which, fortunately for it, had survived my previous shot. It was now scuttling across the ground on it's tentacles, way too fast for me to take a potshot at. Also, it was moving towards me. I hopped backwards as the thing scuttled towards me and clamped my bow between my breasts again. It was way too close to shoot. Brandishing the Harbinger like a pole arm, I took a few swipes at the thing. Every single swipe at it missed, either merely brushing the metal shell or failing to hit at all. Suddenly, it leapt on my chest, it's remaining tentacles lashing around my torso. "What the hell!?" I tried shaking it off, to no effect. Even banging on it with my fist had no visible effects, and I didn't dare to use the Harbinger. It didn't seem capable of releasing acid clouds anymore, so what could it be doing? My bow had slid out from the temporary clamp and onto the floor just before it grabbed me, so it was fine. When the thing started ticking, that REALLY got me worried. "Don't tell me......" I gasped. I latched my fingers on whatever I could grab onto on the creature's shell and tried to pull it off. It didn't flinch. Banging it on the ground did nothing to help, and I recoiled in shock when I felt something licking my chest. "Perverted bastard......" I muttered, grabbing the Harbinger and trying to pierce through the creature with it. At the position it was in, I couldn't exert enough pressure to pierce through the shell. "Okay...... Relax..." I took a deep breath, concentrating hard. The fact that the thing was licking my chest really wasn't helping. Finally, I managed to get through. I opened my eyes and saw what my body's eyes were seeing, complete with a mental spell incantation. All feelings disappeared. I quickly read the incantation through quickly, then opened my mouth, emitting one single musical note. AN: Watched RahXephon? If you did, you'll have an idea of what this should look like. A shockwave of solid sound burst out, completely blowing the creature off my torso just before it exploded, buffeting me in the counter-shockwave. Of course, the tentacles hadn't left my back willingly. A few strips of skin had been scraped off, and the wounds were bleeding. "Bastard..." I moaned, sinking to my knees. Something rose out of my back, and I assumed it was Alexis's body. I felt my own body shrinking slightly as Alexis came out. "Man, that was weird." Her voice rang out, and I felt her hand on the wound. The pain stopped and I got back up, eyeing where the wound used to be. "Thanks." I smiled at her. "No prob. Anyway, we'd better go on. Time's running out." She replied, staring at the door at the far end of the cavern. |
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