Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
Ravel POV.
"- Ryuujin Jakka! " I released my Zanpakutou, calling its name, and Ryuujin Jakka exploded into fire at the same time that my demonic power increased exponentially. A scorching fire, a massive blazing fire, a fire that consumed everything.
Hundreds of meters were covered in the fire from my sword. All the surrounding moisture disappeared instantly, leaving only hot, arid air. I raised my still-burning sword.
I heard the roar of dragons and saw Bella, along with a large number of her familiars, surrounded by indescribable monsters, but I ignored it; the excitement, the anticipation, and the euphoria I could feel through the bond told me that Bella was enjoying this a lot. So I focused on my enemies.
"Joukaku Enjou", the fire grew stronger and increased in size. Once the fire built up enough, I moved my sword slowly and swung it to the side. The flames spread rapidly, creating a giant circle that trapped me and Esdeath's devils.
Once the circle was complete, the fire expanded, creating great walls that extended above and below before joining together in domes, forming a vast sphere of blazing fire trapping everyone inside.
Just then, a devil or monster, the one Bella is fighting, burst through the wall of fire. Or tried to. As soon as the devil hit the dome, it was reduced to ash in a split second.
"I'm sorry!" I heard Bella scream. She didn't sound sorry at all. In fact, she was still sadistically excited. I sighed.
"What a careless eater," I said to myself, both out loud and in my head. I heard Bella's crazed laughter.
I looked at the Jaegers and three Beasts, all of whom had paled considerably as they looked at me solemnly. I simply looked at them closely. Six enemies: Run, Seryu, Bols, Daidara, Liver, and Nyau.
And some of Stylish's remaining devils, I looked at them dispassionately before moving Ryuujin Jakka. My flames engulfed Stylish's devils; none of them could defend themselves, much less withstand the enormous heat. They turned to ashes in a few seconds.
Really, Ryuujin Jakka was on another level. It had been almost two months since I got the template, and it was… ridiculously easy to be able to release Ryuujin Jakka's Shikai. Well, not really, not because it was easy, but because I already met most of the conditions. The only thing I was missing was familiarity and unity with my Zanpakutou.
The ability to communicate and harmonize with Ryuujin Jakka came almost naturally to me, and it was eager to please and desired to join me.
Along with my natural affinity for fire as a Phoenix, and the enhanced fire that came with Shinra's Adolla Burst, with its immense strength and power, yes, I was now ready to unleash Ryuujin Jakka's Shikai. and I couldn't help but notice, that it was stronger than Yamamoto's when he first unleashed his Shikai.
And I knew why; I could feel Adolla's realm embracing me, even without using my fourth-generation ability. Adolla was fueling my Shikai, my fire, and making it several degrees stronger. It was as if I had a decades, or a couple of centuries' advantage over Yamamoto.
Which was fantastic and a little exciting. Sera was right—if I could complete it and reach the level of Yamamoto's strength, I had no doubt Adolla could continue to improve it. Which, again, was terrifying, and even more exciting, to be honest. I could only dream about that for now.
I refocused on the fight and looked at the devils; I almost wanted to sigh. It was easier if I could just kill them outright. Ryuujin Jakka's flames went out once more, leaving my Zanpakutou trailing smoke. I had already done what I needed to do, locking them away with me so they wouldn't escape.
I grabbed my link with Adolla, and the flames on my feet exploded. I accelerated to the speed of light and beyond, appearing behind Daidara. Ryuujin Jakka moved with ease, cutting both arms before turning my body and kicking Daidara's back hard.
The strong kick sent Daidara flying into the wall of fire before passing through it.
"Damn!" Liver yelled as he finally reacted. He raised his hand and saw his ring, another Sacred Gear? According to Lucius, it could control water. Apparently, he tried this, but he couldn't summon anything, or if he did, all the water evaporated immediately. Liver's eyes opened wide.
I moved my hand, cutting off the hand where the ring was, placing it in my inventory before turning around and hitting him in the chin with enough force to knock him out, but not enough to break his neck. Really, there was a fine line there where I had to restrain myself. I had to practice on Bella a couple of times.
I grabbed the unconscious Liver with my free hand, used the fire in my feet to spin and throw him into the wall of flames.
Like Daidara, neither of them died. I could control my fire enough to filter them both without burning them. Instead, I sent them directly towards Narcissa, where Mez was receiving them with ease.
Although none of Esdeath's devils noticed, since they couldn't see outside.
Finally, Esdeath's devils began to react. I heard the sound of a flute. It could have been emotional manipulation, but once again, Lucius was right. It wasn't strong enough to break through The Company's defenses.
"KORO!!!" I heard Seryu scream; her dog-like pet emerged from a circle, its size suddenly expanding enormously before launching itself towards me. And not only had she moved, Run had a pair of angel wings emerging from floating discs on her back; her wings were pointing in my direction, while sharp feathers were heading my way.
Finally, Bols was aiming his flamethrower at me once again. Run's feathers were the first to reach me, but I ignored them. The feathers pierced my body, but my regeneration healed the wounds immediately. I ignored Seryu's dog and accelerated towards Bols.
I reappeared at their side before any of them could react. Ryuujin Jakka cut through their Sacred Gear, Rubicante, with ease. The tank and flamethrower fell to pieces, as did their wings, and my feet sped up once again.
My foot hit the right side of his head. I accelerated until I disappeared and placed myself on the opposite side. With a swift kick, I hit the left side of his head. I then accelerated again with my fourth-generation ability and appeared in the air behind Bols. A third kick struck the back of his head.
Three hits, three kicks just fractions of a second apart, all hitting where they should, and having the desired effect. Bols fell instantly unconscious; I could see his mask filling with blood. I grabbed Bols by his neck and threw him towards Narcissa.
Actually, Sera was right; that move wasn't perfect. I couldn't have done it perfectly without a teacher, but I did my best to imitate it from what I saw in the series Sera showed me.
Renewal Taekwondo. A martial art from The God of High School series, the strongest martial art in the series, developed by Jin Tae-Jin and used by the protagonist Jin Mori, among others. Like regular taekwondo, it was based on strong, linear kicks.
And it might be very compatible with my pyrokinesis ability to accelerate on my feet. I'd have to see if Sera could find a way to get it without needing a template. I really didn't need Jin Mori's template, no matter how strong he is.
I disappeared from the scene just in time to avoid being eaten by Seryu's dog. I appeared near Run and pointed at him with two of my fingers.
" Bakudō #61. Rikujōkōrō " six beams of light hit Run, leaving him frozen. I moved my head just in time to evade a shot from a long-range anti-tank rifle that had replaced Seryu's arm.
I moved away once more to evade the giant dog and instead headed towards Nyau. The sounds of his flute became louder, but the defenses made it only background noise.
My sword severed his flute along with his arms. One of my feet accelerated, and I slammed my knee into his face. I could hear his nose break as he fell unconscious. I spun around and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying out of the dome.
I looked at Run, who had just broken free from his prison of light. His angel wings pointed at me threateningly. Seryu approached him, entirely on guard, while her dog stood at her side. I prepared to attack when I frowned, sensing a strong demonic power. The demonic power of both of them exploded with force.
"Balance Breaker! Mastema: God's Wi-"
"Balance Breaker! Hekatonkheiras: Bers -"
"No need." The cold voice filled the entire place, making Run and Seryu freeze and stop in place.
The temperature of my Joukaku Enjou began to decline rapidly. I looked down to see a massive glacier passing through my fire cage. At the top was Esdeath, her face twisted in a huge, sadistic smile, her sword free in her right hand.
She swung her sword, and ice covered all my fire, extinguishing it immediately. I tightly gripped my Zanpakutou, with her name on the tip of my tongue. Let's see how I fare against her.
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Bellatrix Pov.
I could feel the heat of Ravel's Zanpakutou as she released her Shikai. I could even see the enormous dome of fire that quickly formed to enclose itself with its enemies, but I ignored it. Ravel would be fine. Instead, I focused on my fight.
My dear souls, my familiars immediately threw themselves into combat. Not only my dragons, but also other equally dangerous creatures, including a couple of nundus, half a dozen acromantulas, manticores, trolls, giants, Runespoor, werewolves, and even Koloss. There were also those death eaters, stray devils, the devils I had just killed, exorcists, and other vampires.
There were hundreds of freed souls. It wasn't Alucard's Level Zero; it wasn't his River of Death, where he released all the souls he'd accumulated over his life. That was stupid. I had no restrictions from the start; I could release all the familiars and souls I wanted and control them as I pleased.
The hundreds of souls I'd summoned? They were nothing compared to the thousands I still had as backup. They were simply the ones best suited for combat. I'd even manipulated their forms through my mist so I could give wings to those creatures that couldn't fly.
Even if they were my summons, I'd be the first to admit that a giant acromantula with bat wings wasn't a pretty sight.
My army of familiars launched themselves as one with unadulterated fury, with no sense of danger to their own lives. It wasn't necessary. My souls wouldn't die, just like me, as long as I had souls in reserve.
Immediately, they collided with Dorothea's army of mutant creatures. My familiars outnumbered Dorothea's creatures and outgunned them, while Dorothea's creatures seemed completely savage without conscious thought; mine were thoroughly coordinated and kept moving and attacking even when lethally wounded.
My familiars launched a ferocious attack, unleashing everything they had. The dragons spat fire and tore their prey apart with their jaws, the acromantulas filled their targets with poison, and the nundus sprayed their poisonous breath everywhere.
Devils and wizards cast magic without concern, snakes imprisoned their victims in vicious grips, and more. The number of Dorothea's monsters began to dwindle rapidly.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" I laughed out loud as I shot out towards Syura and his group. As I ran into one of the monsters, I backhanded it with enhanced strength, sending it flying straight into Ravel's dome. I could feel it turn to ash instantly. "Sorry!" I'm not sorry!
"What a careless eater," Ravel mocked mentally. I just laughed harder.
When I approached Syura's group, Sten and Ibara were the ones who came forward to face me first. I raised my spear and made a downward slash. Sten tried to receive my spear by crossing his forearms above his head. He seemed really confident in his stamina.
I grinned madly as I infused Armor Haki into my spear. Sten's arms were easily pierced, and he let out a groan of pain as he thrashed his bleeding stumps.
I threw a strong stupefy at him that left him momentarily unconscious, my body turned into fog, and another dragon came out of my body. A Peruvian Vipertooth, a small four-meter dragon, but the fastest I had.
His claws dug into Sten's torso and gripped him firmly before he began to fly in Narcissa's direction. Ibara appeared beside the dragon and decapitated it with his bare hands; the dragon didn't even flinch and continued flying headless.
I positioned myself in the middle, infused my spear with the Gura gura no mi, and charged in his direction. Ibara's body warped like paper, and he dodged my attack. I could feel Cosmina launch an ultrasonic wave in my direction. My bones shook violently, but that didn't even make me stagger.
My bones regenerated immediately, I raised Jackal and fired a couple of shots in his direction, only for Izou to cut the bullets mid-air. I saw that damn clown with his orbs throw one at me, the orb lit up and created a massive whirlwind that caught me in the middle.
"I sing at full blast!"
"cross attack!"
"Explosive Orb!"
All three attacks hit my body at the same time; my body was cut, pulverized, and exploded. One of my souls died instantly as I fell to the ground.
I hit the ground softly as I began to regenerate. Syura and the rest landed on the ground, a little far away from me. Syura was looking at me with contempt and condescension.
"Is that all the Impaler Queen has?" Syura mocked. I ignored him.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" I laughed out loud as I stood up, my body completely deformed by my fog as I regenerated. I looked at Syura and his gang; they really knew how to work as a team. It was so fun!
I had to level up. I pulled another medallion from my inventory and immediately placed it on my finger. This time, for Feruchemical Duralumin, the ability to store and use the connection. I took out a special ring and began to use it.
I could immediately feel the connection forming with the land. The ring held the connection Sera had with Pentagram City as the owner and protector of the land. Now, that same connection with this land is beginning to form.
The stored connection had multiplied so many times that as soon as the connection was formed, I usurped the strongest connection there was, that of Honest and Syura. Now I was their owner and protector temporarily, as long as the medallion and ring lasted, and that was enough.
"Come, savages who trample over my territory!
It's time to discipline you!
I screamed loudly with a massive, sadistic smile, and everyone's eyes opened wide.
"You're bragging! You can't activate your ability! This isn't your territory!!" Syura shouted angrily.
"I'll turn my compassion and rage into red-hot stakes and skewer you all!
And these stakes are not limited, but truly infinite, so despair — and gorge on your own blood!"
I ignored the attacks launched at me, unfazed, my voice filling the entire battlefield with the authority of a Lord over his territory, defending it from invaders. I smiled widely as I pointed my spear at Syura.
"Kazikli Bey!"
The territory trembled slightly before thousands of stakes instantly erupted from the ground to defend it. The eyes of Syura's entire group opened wide, and they instantly moved, trying to dodge the dozens of stakes that erupted beneath them.
Syura, Izou, Dorothea, Enshin, and Ibara easily dodged the stakes or destroyed them and were able to fly away once again. Cosmina and Champ were slower and were pierced half a dozen times by my spears, trapping them in place.
"Damn!! How did you do it!?" Syura shouted furiously.
I laughed out loud once more. I launched myself at the two devils, immobilized by my stakes. They tried to defend themselves, but I reached them faster. I stored my weapons in my inventory and sank my hands into their stomachs, piercing completely through the skin. With my hands inside their guts, I pulled out two Draught of Living Death and broke them open inside them.
The potion's effect was immediate, and they both fell asleep. I pulled my hand out of their guts with my blood-filled gloves and cast a healing charm to keep them alive. Two dragons emerged from my shadows and took them both once more.
They tried to stop them from leaving, but thousands of my stakes formed a massive wall in their path and turned like waves towards them, preventing them from following them.
"Damn you! I'll kill you!" Syura shouted angrily. "Balance Breaker! Shambala : Dimensional Domain! " Syura shouted as he took out his Sacred Gear, a pendant-like thing the size of his palm. I could sense that some sort of guards were being placed over us.
Dorothea took out several syringes from under her dress and held them up with an arrogant and sadistic smile. Syura moved his hand and-
-I felt the sting of the needles as the syringes appeared around my body. I could feel whatever the needles had inside injecting itself into my body. My body began to mutate, huge deformities emerging all over me.
until it stopped.
"Huh?" I heard Dorothea murmur in confusion. I ignored her and focused on my body. The poison and illnesses were eliminated almost immediately, thanks to the defenses, and my regeneration was extremely overpowered. The mutation that would turn me into a monster, on the other hand, was stopped almost exclusively thanks to The Company's defenses.
Although the polymorph defense wasn't complete enough to disable all external transformations, it was still a defense, capable of making them weaker or changing them into a functional and beneficial transformation for me. And that's what happened.
The deformities of my body returned to their original state. My external appearance didn't change, but whatever those syringes did to me changed my insides. My muscles became more resilient, stronger, and more flexible. My bones hardened and became heavier. My organs improved their efficiency several times over.
That… that was just an upgrade?! My whole body had grown several notches. And it was completely free, thanks to Dorothea.
I started laughing out loud.
"HAHAHAHA! Thanks for that! I feel stronger!!" I thanked Dorothea, who had a disbelieving look on her face.
"H-how-" Dorothea tried to mutter, but I didn't give her time to respond. I put the syringes still stuck in my body in my inventory. I'm sure Sera will want to investigate them.
I drew my spear and lunged once more. Thousands of spikes erupted from the ground once more. I was moving faster than before. Not a huge improvement, but easily discernible.
"Dorothea! What the hell happened?!" Syura shouted angrily.
"I'd like to know that!" Dorothea growled as she prepared to fight. My stakes were about to attack when all the devils teleported away instantly and without any warning. I frowned.
"It's Syura's Sacred Gear, Shambala! Its effect has changed compared to the original! " Lucius quickly warned. "Think of Move Point, the teleportation ability Serena wanted a few months ago. Within its range, she's able to teleport anything to wherever she wants, without any visible limits."
That was annoying, but Sera liked that Sacred Gear too; at least she would stop muttering about the stupid twelve dimensions.
I tried attacking someone, only for one of my familiars to replace them. Then, Syura devils appeared behind me and attacked, disappearing before I could counterattack. Most annoyingly, they teleported me away.
Yes, this was annoying, and I could see why Sera wanted to replicate it. Every time I was about to attack him, my targets would disappear, or he would simply attack and kill my shadows, or they would move me and put me in a difficult position to defend myself and counterattack.
I was starting to take too much damage. I had already lost some souls in the short confrontation; none of Syura's devils held back, and their attacks were almost explicitly directed at lethal points.
"Is there any limit!? " I asked Lucius while frowning.
"Try the weight! There must be some limit to how much weight It can teleport," Lucius said immediately. I took out another medallion and its matching ring. I increased my weight by several tons. I launched myself at Ibara,
He dodged my attack again by deforming his body. I raised my hand, and it turned black as the gravitational force formed. I could feel Syura's teleportation failing.
"What!?" I ignored Syura's scream, I firmly grabbed Ibara by the neck, and before he could do anything, the darkness of my devil fruit swallowed him.
I was about to jump when a wave of cold ran through my body. Almost suddenly, the entire ground froze. My familiars and Dorothea's monsters, who were virtually dead, were frozen into a huge glacier.
I stopped when I felt the strong demonic power emanating from the devil that had entered. She quickly moved towards Ravel's fire cage, entered it, and extinguished Ryuujin Jakka's fire.
I looked at Esdeath standing proudly on top of her ice mountain. Well, this was getting more and more interesting.
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Narcissa Pov .
Hana(T4) from Akame ga Kill! --SOLD
Kaku(T4) from Akame ga Kill! --SOLD
Me(T4) from Akame ga Kill! --SOLD
Mimi(T4) from Akame ga Kill! --SOLD
Toby(T4) from Akame ga Kill! --SOLD
Trooma (T4) from Akame ga Kill! --SOLD
Dr. Stylish(T5) from Akame ga Kill! --SOLD
Sten(T5) from Akame ga Kill! --SOLD
Daidara(T5) from Akame ga Kill! --SOLD
Liver(T5) from Akame ga Kill! --SOLD
Nyau (T5) from Akame ga Kill! --SOLD
Champ(T5) from Akame ga Kill! --SOLD
Cosmina(T5) from Akame ga Kill! --SOLD
Ibara(T5) from Akame ga Kill! --SOLD
Credits: +163 [243]
The Rakshasa demons that Bella had sent me were sold, just as Sera had taught me. Bella had used one of her familiars and the darkness of her Devil Fruit from a familiar to expel it. Mez completely incapacitated it immediately.
I finally looked down. The fight had gone completely silent thanks to Esdeath's presence.
"Really interesting. I didn't expect the Phenex to hide a prodigy like you, Ravel. I'm stunned." Esdeath said excitedly. Ravel snorted and didn't answer, just lightly gripped the hilt of her sword as she smiled widely. "And… I also didn't know you had such a terrifying smile."
"Get to the point, Esdeath." Ravel said simply. Esdeath laughed lightly.
"I'm really excited to fight you guys, your fire is impressive, Phoenix, and I'm also curious to see what other tricks the Impaler Queen has up her sleeve, an entire army inside of you? Your stakes don't have any real restrictions? Truly amazing." Esdeath said as she looked at Bella.
Bella just shrugged. I could see her frozen familiars dissipate into mist as she smiled widely. I could see her practically vibrating with excitement. I frowned. I'd be getting in the way if I stayed; this was about to get more dangerous. I looked at Mez. Without hesitation, I sealed her and tossed one of the time bubble cubes at her.
Mez(T5) from Akame ga Kill! --SOLD +16 [259]
I sold her without hesitation and prepared to teleport away.
"Though it's a shame we'll have to stop here." I stopped at Esdeath's words.
"What?! Don't be ridiculous! We can take them on before Prince arrives! " Syura shouted angrily in her direction. Esdeath just ignored him and looked up with a smile.
"Lady Prince isn't the problem, I don't think Lord Beelzebub would give us that option." Esdeath said nonchalantly. I looked over to where Esdeath was looking and saw Ajuka appear.
"Go away," Ajuka said as he unleashed his demonic power. Syura gritted his teeth, but seemed to understand when he was defeated. He and his group immediately teleported away as he glared at us with hatred and fury.
Esdeath was more dramatic, bowing to Ajuka before teleporting away with Run and Seryu. She hardly seemed to care about the other devils under her thumb who had died or disappeared.
Well, I guess this whole ordeal is finally over. I could feel Bella's disappointment strongly, but it was good. Now we just had to wait for Sera to finish off that white dragon.