Claudio grinned at my Dark Lord Form, lowering his arms as he noticed the golden gleam in my eyes. He got into his stance, immediately wanting to test out my Dark Messiah power, not knowing the heightened dangers as this form bore little to no mercy.
Claudio teleported toward me with a strike, but I caught him mid teleportation with a Fury Strike to his stomach, catching him off guard and sending him flying backwards. I launched one of my chains toward him, wrapping it around his leg and slamming in through the roof ground into the sixth floor of the Libra Department.
Claudio grunted as he hit the tile floors, quickly getting up onto his feet to avoid the falling debris then looks up, noticing me standing above on the ruined rooftop. "Ahh, so you are more dangerous in this form. You really take after Luca, your hair is still white...yet I can see a hint of red in those gold eyes."
I stared at Claudio, his Golden Tongue taking no effect upon me. "Kneel."
From my simple command, Claudio's body began to be forced onto one knee, a sudden pressure weighing over him like a hand pressing down upon him. He grit his teeth with resistance, letting out his Tribal Howl to break out of the hold, a pulse of War Energy flashing around his body.
"Such willpower from a False Messiah. Interesting how far Terminus has grown in wisdom. It seems that he has finally decided to take inspiration from The Source," I said, leaping down the hoke in the roof and gracefully levitated to the ground.
"Resisting a Divine Command, that anchors you as an Anti-Nexus figure. Thus, you have truly rejected the Grace of God, Genesis. So be it...I shall show you the power of the name you so casually invoke..." I said, assuming an ancient stance, a stance only known by the Annointed Royals of Eyica, the Emperor's Stance.
"This is the Stance of the Eyican Emperor, King Yesha, His Emperor's Stance! Only few have seen this stance, a stance made commonly known by Ryoma Miyazaki. You will know the power of 850 B.N.'s true Messianic Force, Yesha Eyica," I vowed, a pulse of Conquest Energy flashing around my body.
Claudio braced himself for my showcase of power, taking a deep breath then slowly exhaled, his dark pink energy shifting into dark blue. The Lust Sigil upon his gloves shifted into a dark blue Talent Sigil, giving him every skill known from each of his generations.
I shifted forward, my body becoming a dark blue silhouette and warping in front of Claudio with a feint attack, forcing him to guard high. I warped behind him and struck him with a Mojisola Superkick to his back, sending him flying forward.
I warped after him and grabbed his ankle, pulling him to the ground and striking him with a vicious shoulder strike, releasing a pulse of energy to send him backwards once again. "Yesha Eyica, the first true Ascea who was crucified because the people of other Regions thought He was taking away from Henosis."
Claudio landed on his feet, listening to the beginning of my next sermons then scoffed at me, spitting out a bit of blood from his mouth. He wiped his lips and rolled his eyes at me. "Here we go.."
I stared at Claudio with righteous judgement, holding my hand out toward him and placing a Charm Sigil upon his throat to prevent him from speaking. "He was a carpenter, similar backstory to me except our upbringings were mirrored. He was a perfect man without sin who was crucified, rose later in 3 days and took on a new mission as Ascea."
"I admit I am a griever...I still grieve over my lost families while Yesha overcame and never struggled, I do, and that's because I am still half man with feelings! I was never taught how to handle it because my teachers were killed, as you all planned, as it was written..." I continued, closing my eyes as I allowed Ragnarok to speak through me.
"But from this point on, I will no longer be filled with the Spirit of Grief, Lament no longer has control over me and you will be my witness!" I declared, my Rebirth Energy surging around my body with verdict.
I got into my stance, warping toward Claudio with a telegraphed punch, allowing Claudio to easy dodge it and throw out a counter. His fist struck an afterimage, the afterimage dissolving into butterflies and fluttering around him, each one becoming a Spirit Clone of myself.
Claudio awakened his Eye of Truth, trying to discern my real presence from my clones, however each of my clones shared my presence, each one exactly like me. Within his confusion, I struck him upon his jaw, sending him flying then warped after him.
Laneret watched the battle from the distance, sipping her energy drink and hummed as she watched my fight against Claudio. "So Leonidas has finally decided to play his main cards...I wonder what he's planning for."
Abylon yawned lightly and adjusted her robes, rubbing her eyes and blinking a few times, noticing the battle ahead of her. "Oh, the Mojisola you predicted...you went into the Future and didn't think of warning Nox of him? He's not omnipresent just yet y'know..."
"He's not? He made it seem like he is, but I guess that's what Divine Wisdom looks like huh?" Laneret chuckled, taking another sip of her energy drink.
Claudio and I continued to clash as equals, each clash gradually rising his Battle Spirit and enhancing his strength, just as Fury Boost did for me. He was my exact replica, a literal Anti-Nexus figure built by Terminus himself, from his abilities to his style.
I began parrying each of Claudio's attacks then switched into Phasing into a Blink, leaving behind a Spirit Clone to launch him backwards with a Spatial Palm. The area around us began to slightly warp, the windows and walls crumbling under the collapsing force of my clone's strike.
Claudio groaned as he was blown away, his body crashing through multiple walls and classrooms, his body rolling backwards along the ground until slamming into metal doors. He groaned with deep discomfort and placed his hand on the back of his head. "Damn...what the heck was that..?"
Claudio stood up on his feet slowly, looking behind him and noticing two large silver doors in front of him with a sign reading "Secret Laboratory" on top. He noticed a keypad at the side of the doors, walking toward it and placing his left hand upon the device.
His left hand pulsed with a golden gleam, a golden four leaf sigil appearing upon his hand and granting him god-tier luck. By a miracle, he guessed the code, the silver doors opening with smoke escaping from the ground.
"Ahh, Claudio... you lucky dog. You hit the jackpot," Claudio chuckled, walking inside the Secret Laboratory while whistling a light tune.
Naju slithered her way out of the Secret Laboratory with only one Special Grade Egg in her arms, handing the egg over to Hagu and signalled for Clive to hurry along. Clive and his group of Orcs began to march down the halls, Naju leading them out of the Libra Department and toward the Main Department.
Inside the Secret Laboratory, everything was destroyed and ruined, none of the equipment salvageable with wires and other electrical equipment handing from the walls. Claudio looked around the lab, kicking aside loose rubble and turned his attention toward the incubators.
"What the hell..?" Claudio exclaimed with slight shock, noticing the Special Grade Egg left behind had hatched, its shell empty.
Behind Claudio stood a tall woman, her skin gray as a statue, her hair an ancient white, and divine lightning crackling around her figure. Tribal tattoos along her body resembled streams of lightning, each one glowing an electrifying blue color, and behind her rested a lightning halo.
Claudio slowly turned around, coming face to face with the Lightning Special Grade, his body physically jumping back due to her insane power level. He looked her up and down, noticing she was the epitome of a Monster, his Golden Tongue nor Lust would not have favorable effects upon her.
〘Monster: Titan〙
〘Index No.: ???〙
〘Ranking: 24 Stars〙
〘Ability: Wrath of Heaven〙
〘Ability Desc.: This ability allows Titan to generate lightning that storms in Heaven! Allies AP is highly boosted while Enemies are left in Static if struck even once! Beware of Titan's various attacks, or else you will suffer.〙
"Hmph, Tengoku, it seems that the Messiah is a lot more...slick than we thought," Claudio said, looking Titan up and down then took a few steps back with a smirk on his face. "Come on."
Titan charged toward Claudio like a bolt of lightning, thrusting her hand toward him, but his body automatically dodged the attack for him, allowing him to throw a counter strike. His fist struck Titan's stomach, dealing minimum damage upon her, only boosting her strength via Fury Boost.
Threads of lightning began to crackle around Claudio, each one charging up with the threat of leaving him paralyzed. Large orbs of lightning began to form, each one colliding inward toward one another and releasing an electrifying explosion within the lab.
"Hey!" Claudio called out from behind Titan, sitting atop of a metal table with one leg crossed over the other.
Titan turned around to look at Claudio, her mind unable to wrap around how Claudio miraculously dodged her attack. She shook her head and let out a grunt, summoning multiple arrows of lightning behind herself and began firing each one at him at dangerous velocities.
Each arrow that threatened to pierce him missed him by random strokes of miracles, each one curving and bending in ways that'll guarantee Claudio's safety. Titan blinked at Claudio with disbelief, taking a step back as she noticed his aura shifting in hues of pink, blue, gold, and orange.
"What? Surprised that you couldn't hit me? That's because... I'm the Savior. Your Savior that's gonna save you from the destroyer named Nox," Claudio lied with a platinum touch, his voice sweet to the ears and his words flowing like a soft leaf in an autumn breeze.
"Look around you...he destroyed your home. Your place of stay, the place you were supposed to grow up in," Claudio said, watching Titan glance around the Secret Laboratory with a small, yet wicked smirk.
Titan glanced back over at Claudio then smirked at him, closing her eyes and began generating electricity from around the destroyed lab. "I wasn't just hatched today, you understand..."
Claudio sat up straight as he heard a monster, a Special Grade Monster, speak perfect English, his eyes opening slightly more with bewilderment. "What..? Did you...did you just..?"
"What? You were here since Total War happened and you're now surprised about Monsters speaking? And here I thought you were a Savior...after all, we know all about you," Titan replied with a monstrous grin, blasting Claudio with a burst of holy lightning.
Claudio groaned in pain as the Holy Aspect of Titan's lightning began searing his body, the force of the lightning causing his body to shut down due to Static. He growled loudly as he began to resist, his hair becoming more wild and shifting into a deep red color.
"Kaua!!" Claudio roared, letting out his Tribal Howl and awakening his Jigoku Form, his jacket flying off his body from the high winds to expose his tribal tattoos flashing a crimson hue.
Titan ended her attack and stood strong in the face of the Island of Duality's current Savior, her head tilting upward with an amused smirk. "Jigoku? Ahh, it means War in your language. A form stolen from Ascea's Dark Lord Form, it suits the Beast aesthetic you all promote.."
Claudio scoffed at Titan with an unamused smirk, getting down into his Beast Stance, his eyes flashing crimson red. "Beast? Ahh like The False Prophet, The Beast, and The Anti-Nexus aka Terminus huh? Don't worry your mind...I'm not The Beast of The Old Covenant.."
Claudio dashed toward Titan with a wild slash with his sharpened nails, but Titan blocked his claw strike then struck his stomach with a direct punch, sending him flying out of the lab. She dashed after him with a thunderous roar, but Claudio clashed with her, grappling both her hand for a test of strength.
The two repelled one another from each other then began clashing repeatedly, both combatants going blow for blow with one another until Claudio miraculously dodged her next strike, sending her flying backwards with a Critical Strike. Titan recovered in the air then grunted as a rush of demonic energy began to flood the halls.
"Titan!" A young voice called out from behind, catching the Special Grade's attention.
"Oh, Scarlet..! Get back here, it's too dangerous!" Luciel cried out as she chased after our youngest daughter, looking up and gasping, letting out a surprised yelp as she noticed Claudio in the distance.
Claudio tilted his head, peeking behind Titan's large body to see Luciel and Scarlet behind her, his lustful gaze locking upon Luciel. "Whoa there...now she's beautiful. Hey, beautiful in the white dress! Who are you?"
Luciel gasped and quickly picked up Scarlet, turning her gaze away from Claudio then began running off in pure terror. Scarlet looked back at Titan, holding tightly onto Luciel and clenched the fabrics of her mother's dress.
Claudio smirked at Luciel's reaction, his eyes glowing faintly and the Lust Sigil fading away from his pupils. "I suppose she knows exactly who I am...now I'm more curious about her."
"You will have to get past me!" Titan challenged, turning around to face Claudio then noticed he was missing, only his afterimage remaining. "What..?"
Quickly, she turned into a bolt of lightning and split off into smaller bolts, each one flying off in different directions to find Claudio to stop him from reaching Luciel. Each bolt materialized into a clone of herself, each clone urgently searching for the Mojisola Savior.
Luciel hurried down the ruined halls, looking back to see if she had lost Claudio, but ended up tripping upon some rubble upon the ground. She gasped and quickly pivoted around to fall on her back to protect Scarlet, but landed in the arms of a protector.
"Are you okay?" The figure asked, looking down at Luciel with a concerned expression.
Luciel opened her eyes slowly, glancing up at the figure holding her, her eyes widening as she immediately recognized it was Claudio. She gasped and quickly shut her eyes, using her hand to shield Scarlet's as well. "No!!!"
Claudio smirked at Luciel and dropped her on the ground, feeling his phone buzzing then took it from his pocket. He looked down at Luciel then back at his screen, seeing Luciel's information had appeared on it. "Ahh...there it is. Now I know who you are.."
{Name: Luciel Genessi}
{Age: 20}
{Birthday: September 10th}
{MPR: 8,941/B Tier}
{Status: Nox's Spiritual Wife}
{Bond: 0%}
{Most Desirable Trait(s): Passion, Charisma, Empathy}
{Least Desirable Trait(s): Lust, Flirtation, Luck}
{Libido: Very Conservative}
{Favorite Gifts: Flowers (Hibiscus), Books, Nox}
"Nox's pretty little nun huh? For someone you value a lot, he speaks little about you. He's your Spiritual Husband, and yet he's sending you down into damnation with the rest. With a child, nonetheless," Claudio said, lowering his phone and staring down at Luciel once more.
'How...He has a System as well? I thought only Nox had one...System Wielders are still a thing..? No... he's...' Luciel discerned mentally, turning her gaze slowly to Claudio with a stern expression.
"You're a Mojisola...it only explains the tattoos, the aura, your magnetic pull. Nothing you can do or say can pull me away from Nox! He doesn't speak about me because he was protecting more than me! What do you know about protection, being a husband, or a savior, you damned swindler!" Luciel retorted, clutching Scarlet tightly in her arms with maternal protection.
Claudio smirked at her question then reverted to his normal form, closing his eyes and slid his hands into his pockets. "I know all about it because I've played all the roles while your husband was spiritually absent for years. It is written in the books...that the Mojisola would be given time to catch up in the Book of Hisumi."
'Hisumi...Kevin also loves that book. The Mojisola and the Valkyrias do have a history. Is he the secret weapon Nox predicted..?' Luciel thought to herself, scooting away from Claudio with Scarlet.
Claudio summoned a Lust Sigil Bomb, planning to force Lust inside Luciel's body to get her upon his ranks. With a devilish smirk, he launched the orb of fornication at Luciel, but a quick figure intercepted the bomb, taking the direct impact of the explosion.
Luciel gasped as she watched as the figure flew past her, her eyes widening as she noticed it was Rozalin. "Rozalin! What are you doing here?!"
"Auntie Fleur and Big Sis Effie said you and Scarlet had ran off somewhere..!" Rozalin grunted softly, rising back to her feet and absorbing the pink mist lingering from the explosion, the Lust Energy subtly empowering her. "Mama! Go with the others to safety! Eden is leading the charge!"
"And leave you here with him?! No! I—"
"Mama!" Rozalin argued, stomping her foot down and spreading her wings. She looked over at Luciel with a smile, nodding at her and rubbing under her nose, secretly pointing down the hall. "I got this!"
Luciel stood up on her feet and glanced down the hall, noticing a cloaked figure in the distance. She turned back to Rozalin and let out a soft sigh, nodding then running off with Scarler in her arms. Scarlet looked at her older sister, reaching her hand out toward her, wanting to be with her.
Claudio chuckled softly and crossed his arms as he looked Rozalin up and down, whistling with impress at her figure. "Ahh, you really remind me of one of my Love Demons..~ You sure are a beauty, though you don't necessarily take after your mother."
Rozalin giggled softly at Claudio's flattery, accepting it with open arms, his energy feeding her own without him noticing. "Well, I am half monster so that would explain my...unique features. However, I am nonetheless open for anything you want."
Claudio laughed at Rozalin's boldness, watching her saunter over to him in a sultry manner. "You are surely a bold one aren't you. You called that beautiful nun your mother, and you act like this? You're Nox's daughter as well. I'm intrigued..."
"Eldest..~ And I am legal, don't worry your mind. I guess to explain it easily for you, hybrids like me are different in aging. My little sister is five years old, one year old in human years, and four years in monster," Rozalin began, wrapping her arms around Claudio from behind and placed her hands upon his chest.
"I'm older than Appa..~ I'm 36 years old...18 in Monster and Human. So you can use your powers on me all you want..." Rozalin whispered softly in Claudio's ear, letting out a soft sigh in it and feeling his body tingle. "But it would not have favorable effects upon me... because I am a Special Grade Monster because of my loving Papa..~"
Claudio's body froze as he felt chills course down his spine, grunting heavily as he felt a Charmed Sigil manifest around his neck. He glanced back at Rozalin with slight struggle, barely able to move his body due to being under Rozalin's command.
"Let's get one thing straight here, honey. You and Papa are not equals and never will be with his allies by his side. There's a glaring different between you and he and you know it," Rozalin clarified, licking her lips with glee at Claudio's glare.
"You...bitch..!" Claudio grunted heavily, striking Rozalin's stomach his his elbow, knocking her off him.
Rozalin groaned as she stumbled backwards, clutching her stomach then fell onto one knee. She looked up quickly, watching as Claudio approached her then gasped loudly. "Papa!"
Just as Claudio launched his strike, a hand caught his wrist as if appearing to Rozalin's call like a guardian angel. Claudio looked up, grunting softly as he noticed me in my Messiah Form, stumbling backwards as I pushed him away then grit his teeth and charged at me for a heavy strike.
I phased through his attack then released a burst of wind from around my body, blowing Claudio away and cracking the walls around us, the windows shattering from the immense force of the wind. I warped toward Claudio, launching him away with a powerful kick and launched one of my butterflies toward him.
"Hey, wait for me, Appa!" Rozalin called out, getting off the ground then flew after me and Claudio.
Claudio and I went clash for clash, the two of us soaring across the air equal in strength yet not in resolve. Parrying his next few strikes, I countered with a chop to his neck, sending him crashing to the ground.
Rozalin flew toward Claudio at high speeds, following into my attack with a Fearing Neigh to petrify him in the air, chain it into an aerial charge forward. She roared as she rammed him through the wall, taking the fight outside into the vast open.
Claudio rolled backwards along the ground, recovering into the air and awakening his Ace Sigil, Esoteric Energy flowing around his body and two dark blue demon wings manifesting from his back. "It's going to take more than that to take me down!"
Summoning a ball of roots behind him, he began firing multiple large roots toward Rozalin as she ran forward, but she dodged each root with quick steps and leaped toward him with a spiralling kick. Claudio generated roots in front of him to block the attack, using intense force to push her back then fired a thin, sharp root toward her chest.
My butterfly landed upon Rozalin, turning her body into a light blue silhouette before the root could pierce her body and warping her into my arms. I set her down carefully onto her feet then smoothed out her dress, using my thumbs to clean off her face.
"Hey, Appa..! Why are you pampering me during the fight! I'm alright..." Rozalin whined embarrassingly, closing her eyes with a red face, her tail wagging from side to side due to my attention.
"Can't a father check on his child? Besides, I can't lose my eldest to some makeshift savior. Also," I began, leaning into Rozalin's ear and whispering something only she could ear.
Claudio watched the two of us plan in front of him then looked at the sky, noticing the moon had started to set, noticing time was moving faster than normal. Looking higher, he could see the Mojisolan Star shining brightly, a golden star that gave him power.
"I think it's time we ramp up this battle. With you evacuating the campus and leaving only Leonidas left, I think it's only fair I get some allies as well right?" Claudio asked, continuing to look at the sky.
"Fine. I'll give you until 10 AM to prepare, recruit anyone you want from the brave who remain here. It shall be my Council, Monsters, and the future Dark Lord of Nature... against what's left of this dying lie," I said, taking Rozalin's hand then warped away.
Claudio looked down and noticed we had disappeared, exhaling softly and licking the inside of his jaw with a smirk. "Future Dark Lord huh..? So that's what the Bloosom event is. It's true, Floria is giving birth...you just set yourself up, my good rival..."