Ascension Rank 2; Part 1
We knew he'd show his smug face eventually. With that egoistic smile, flawless tucked suit, a glare that inspired both envy and fear at the same time. The Agency at Iaponia had already sent Summoners at the most well known gates all over the region, each one waiting on orders. The slightest twitch from any of those gates and the entire cavalry would fall on it on a moments notice. I was part of that squad too, until I was pulled away from duty by my charge- that is, the girl I was supposed to protect, to get rice balls at the closest store.
It just so happened that where I was stationed, there was a restaurant that was still open despite the rest of the neighborhood being on lockdown because of the Demon Alert. The old man that owned the place was too stubborn to close.
"I'd rather die in my store than live in my bed!" the old man cried as I tried to evacuate him.
I thought about calling in the police, seeing as civilian related incidents were their specialty. As a Demon Hunter, such incidents were not only below my payroll they were also somehow above my authority. Killing demons pays better than maintaining order apparently. Anyway, we got the rice balls and afterwards, Kurama- my charge, said her goodbyes and we started walking back to our assigned gate.
We'd barely passed the threshold of the door when we heard the police sirens close by, blaring their annoying signature sirens before they ultimately fell silent. What followed that silence was an abrupt explosion coming from down the street from were I was standing. Kurama and I stood motionless at the front of the store, both of us were painfully boggled by the explosion's origins.
As we pondered that, a second explosion erupted roughly from the same spot, but this time, a body came flying from the ensuing smoke, landing right in front of me. It was a man dressed in what was a signature blue and white but as he laid in front of us, he was charred into a pitch, smogging, black. He coughed a few times before his chest settled in a stationary position permanently.
I stared at the now motionless body while Kurama let her voice run a deathly scream, one loud enough to deafen my ears and it would've if I hadn't tuned her out. Then he emerged from the smoke, his eyes glistening a literal reflection of Hell.
[FALLEN ONE
[LUCIFER: MORNINGSTAR]
A semitransparent screen flashed right in front of me. It flashed the name of the monstrosity in human form that sauntered towards me menacingly. Lucifer Morningstar, one of- if not, the strongest Demon I've fought thus far. I squinted my eyes to get a closer look at him, which caused the screen to flash more information on Lucifer.
[FALLEN ONE
[LUCIFER: MORNINGSTAR
[CLASS: APOCALYPSE
[WEAPON: UNKNOWN
[ELEMENT: UNKNOWN
[ARTIFACT: UNKNOWN]
Figured as much. I thought.
I just loved how all it gave me his name and his class and nothing else that might've helped me figure out a different strategy to beating him. At the very least, I hoped it would give me some tips on how to survive an encounter with Lucifer. All games came with tips on how to beat enemies.
"Kurama, go." My voice cracked slightly.
"Huh?" she blurted.
"Get the others. Tell them the Morningstar never fled to the Abyss. That he's standing right here in front of me."
"W-what about you?" she stuttered.
"I'll buy you some time."
"I can fight too!" she barked.
"With a single tail?" I snarked. "You can't fight at full power without the other eight tails and even then, you'll still be outclassed. I've got a plan so trust me, I don't think I'm gonna kick it here."
I could feel the wavering of her movements even without looking at her. I might've sounded a bit harsh just then but none of what I said was a lie. Kurama was a special Angel, one that needs to level up to reach her full potential. And with each level she climbs she gains a tail to signify her current level. With only a single tail hanging from her , I could only assume that she was level ten at most.
Kinda like my Aeons when they've reached their level cap and need to be ascended. Weird….is there some sort of relationship between Kurama and the Pantheon? No, theorize later, beat Lucifer now.
"Kurama." I sighed. "I won't die here, I promise. So go."
She shook her head slightly before nodding, "Alright." She said before disappearing into the streets.
Lucifer took his eyes off me and they trailed off the Kurama, following her as she ran from what was soon to be a disaster zone. I took that opportunity to leap at him. My body moved faster compared to the last time we met. So much faster that the speed caught even me by surprise. I hoped to catch Lucifer off guard as I threw a left kick at him, which of course he caught without even flinching. It annoyed me just how strong he is.
With a smirk he turned his eyes to me and snarked. "Bold choice, sending her away. You sure you wanna take me on your own?"
"Are you?"
"Pardon?"
"Did you forget that I'm the one that sent you packing last time? I'll do it again."
"Heh," he scoffed. "I'm almost impressed. Your provocations improve more and more every day, child. Entertain me more, why don't you?"
"Entertainment got you running with your tail between your legs."
My baiting worked on him a bit too well as he leapt straight to me and grabbed me by the foot- or by the ankle really. Lucifer didn't let go of my ankle. Instead, he simply tilted his head, his thumb pressing into my Achilles tendon with enough pressure to make my vision go dim.
"The last time we met," Lucifer began, his voice dropping to a silk-wrapped blade, "was a clerical error. A momentary lapse in my interest. Do not mistake a lion's yawn for a retreat."
He swung my entire body like a ragdoll, slamming me toward the asphalt. I tucked my chin and rolled, my sneakers skidding across the grit as I regained my footing. I didn't give him a second to breathe. I lunged in, keeping my center of gravity low. I threw a lightning-fast jab-cross-hook combo. Lucifer didn't even raise his hands to a guard; he parried each strike with the backs of his palms, his movements so minimal they were insulting.
He parried my jab, dodged my cross in a way that made it look like the atoms were aligning against me. Then caught my hook with his bare hand. The results of my combo were unsurprising, after all in an equation of Human vs Demon, Demon always wins. That's why humanity called in Angels to help them defend themselves. Rather, it was the First Lady to that signed a contract with the Angels to protect humans. It's why every other person in this world had an Angel but me.
While I was trapped in my own head, Lucifer called my attention back into reality. He squeezed my fist, the bones in my hand groaning under the pressure. I gritted my teeth and used my free hand to drive an elbow toward his jaw. He caught that too. We were locked, chest to chest, a test of raw, unadulterated strength.
"You're shivering, Timothy," he whispered. "Is it the cold? Or the realization that your 'icons' aren't here to hold your hand?"
"I'm shivering because I'm trying not to laugh," I spat, leaning into his space. "The Great Morningstar, Prince of Darkness… and you're struggling to hold down a kid with an attitude problem . If the Abyss saw you right now, they'd start a petition to replace you with a gargoyle. At least the gargoyle stays stone-faced when it's losing."
The smug mask finally cracked. A vein throbbed in Lucifer's temple, and the air around him didn't just get hot—it got heavy.
"You truly don't know when to be silent," he hissed.
He didn't use a spell. He didn't use a weapon. He simply brought his knee up into my gut with the force of a falling wrecking ball. The air left my lungs in a pathetic wheeze. Before I could even double over, his hand clamped onto the back of my neck and slammed me face-first into the road.
The asphalt shattered. I felt the grit embed itself in my cheek as my head bounced off the concrete. My ears rang with the beautiful, high-pitched scream of a concussion.
"Amusing," Lucifer said, his voice trembling with a controlled, white-hot rage. "Let's see if your 'plan' accounts for internal hemorrhaging."
It….it doesn't.
I coughed, spitting a mixture of dirt and blood onto his expensive Italian leather shoes.
"Nice… shoes. Shame about… the owner."
That was the final straw. Lucifer's calm evaporated.
He hauled me up by my collar, his fingers tightening until I could feel my pulse thumping against his knuckles. He didn't look like a refined businessman anymore; he looked like the end of the world.
"Entertainment over," he growled.
He wound back a fist that seemed to pull the very light out of the streetlamps. When the punch connected with my ribs, it wasn't just a hit—it was an atmospheric event. Well, it would be if I wasn't pulled out of the way.
A flur of purple lightning struck from the sky and descended on Lucifer. He dodged it of course- yes, he dodged lightning and leapt a few paces in front of me. Meanwhile I was picked up from the ground by a tall-ish, slender, tanned woman with short-long hair. That last bit didn't make sense- what I meant was that her hair was long but she cut it to shoulder length.
"It's easier to fight this way." She'd say. Regardless, I was beyond grateful she got here.
"You sure took your sweet time getting here, Liu." I tried scolding.
She plunged her spear into the asphalt before smushing my cheeks together, mumbling "Mhm…I see," all the while.
"Liu?"
"Ah, my apologies. Sorry I'm late. I came as soon as I sensed danger."
"I can tell."
I was honest that time truth be told. I could still feel the lightning pulsating from her veins. That, and her eyes still glowed with that divine wrath of the Heavens.
"I take it you're ready to fight then?" I asked her.
"As I'll ever be. Give me the word."
As soon as she said that the translucent screen- the Interface, flashed in front of my face once again, forming a sort of barrier between my face and Liu's. A barrier only one of us could see.
[HEAVEN'S THUNDER
[LIU EI
[ASCENSION RANK: 2
(CAN ASCEND)
[AEON CLASS: LEGENDARY
[ELEMENT: LIGHTNING
[WEAPON: AKATSUKI
[ARTIFACT: NONE]
Who would've thought that two words would bring a boy such unfathomable levels of joy. Ever since her summoning, Liu had essentially capped at level thirty and needed to Ascend to level up further. But in order to Ascend her, I had to do a whole bunch of quests in the Pantheon and scavenge for all sorts of materials there and in the real world. It was a pain in the ass but it had to be done. Althea was already at Ascension Rank 3 so it felt wrong to leave Liu at Rank 2.
Speaking of…..
"Where is Althea?" I said out loud.
"Oh," Liu shyed away from my face.
"What's with that reaction? Where is she?"
"She's .... She's in the Pantheon."
"She's WHAT!?"
"I swear it wasn't my fault, Adjutant!" Liu panicked. "She wanted to gather materials on her own because she didn't want to bother you. And she said she wanted to test her strength against the higher rank Voids….."
"She does know that materials in the Pantheon take time to respawn, right? And if she picks a fight with the wrong Void she might trigger a whole quest. A quest, we don't HAVE TIME FOR!!"
Liu flinched at my outburst. I still struggled to get used to the feeling of seeing a woman nearly twice my size flinching because I was losing my tempter. It was all types of weird. Weird I didn't wanna deal with.
"Never mind, I didn't mean to yell at you. Sorry. Anyway, let me borrow your polearm."
"Why?"
"I need Althea here fighting Lucifer, not in the Pantheon mismanaging my resources."
"Right."
Liu handed over her polearm easily enough without resisting. It was a bit to maneuver around but once I got both hands on it to grab it's full length, it was easy enough to swing it around.
"Pantheon Open!" I commanded, before tearing a whole through space itself.
The same lightning that engulfed Liu engulfed me too, an electrical energy surged from me onto the polearm and finally into the empty space in front of me, causing a rift to rupture open, revealing a white space beyond it. From that white space, she emerged.
She had my sneakers on, my second favorite blue ones no less. Her dark jeans were torn in places that revealed just how tightly they were gripping at her thighs, worse yet, they were marked with mud too. She had a grey hoodie tied around her waist, one I could only assume was my "Dead by Daylight" collectible. A once long sleeve shirt, which was now sleeveless, clung to her upper body like wet fabric, accentuating her…gifts. Her eyes sparked a deeper blue than usual, complimented only by her up tied blonde hair.
While my saliva celebrated, my brain calculated and my heart cried for my clothes, a notification popped up before my face.
[ITEMS ACQUIRED
[×6000 XP
[×50 AXP
[PENDRAGON SCALES
[ARIAL GALE LV4
These rewards….
The Interface only gave these types of rewards under two conditions. One; when I first summoned Althea, it gave me the materials I needed to level her up to level ten, and it gave me a relic to craft her first weapon. It did the same thing when I summoned Liu. Two; it did dolled them out when either Althea or Liu Ascended. At the moment, I had only two Aeons namely Liu Ei and Althea. No others were summoned after Liu. And I was yet to confirm Liu's Ascension. Which begged the question of why- how, was Althea standing in front of me at Ascension Rank 4 without my approval?