"N-no way..." Even the usually cheerful and optimistic Tiona dropped down as she witnessed the monsters blooming, "W-we already gave our all just facing one..."
Tione, Bete, Gareth, and Riveria were already speechless and their leader, Finn couldn't find a way to win no matter how much he thought about it, "Everyone! Breakthrough the new species! We'll escape to the 58th floor!"
However, that was easier said than done. Everyone was already spent and could barely swing their weapons anymore, while the number of monsters coming down from the 58th floor was in the magnitude of hundreds or maybe even thousands.
"Is... Is this the end?" Lefiya, who was currently being carried by Ais, muttered absentmindedly with tears streaming down her face.
Ais could only stay silent as she grits her teeth.
"What are you doing!? Hurry up! We're getting out of this place alive!" Finn shouted again, however, even he could hardly see their chances of survival and it became even worse when they suddenly heard the two corrupted Spirits speak behind them, [I want you! I want to eat you up! That power... That power is mine!]
Sona shuddered and she had a feeling that those words were directed at her, 'What!? Did I attract it with my Demonic Power?'
Everyone tried their best to open a path of escape, however, there was no end to the monsters coming on their way.
[[Strike, strike, strike, hammer of punishment, spear of gold, roar of heavenly thunder.]]
"!!!!?"
"Hurry up!"
"Dammit all!!!"
[[Answer the prayers and cleanse the sins. Annihilate the wicked and wipe the earth.]]
"...We won't make it at this rate," Sona muttered and even Finn couldn't say anything. She then sighed and looked towards Aika and Koneko, "What do you think?"
Aika and Koneko suddenly stopped moving and looked towards Sona. Everyone from the Loki Familia thought that they already gave up and they couldn't blame them. They also didn't see any way to survive this predicament.
"What about you?" Aika asked.
Sona's answer shook everyone to their core, "I can hold them off for a few minutes."
Everyone couldn't help but stop what they were doing and listen to their conversation.
Aika and Koneko smiled towards Sona and asked, "What do you need?"
"Survive their attack."
Aika and Koneko already had an idea of what Sona was about to do as they would sometimes see her practice unknown magic but never cast it for real. However, they also had an idea of why Sona didn't do so and it was probably because it would leave her extremely weakened.
"If you're going to do it, then we'll also have to do our part," Aika replied and faced one of the corrupted Spirits.
Koneko faced the other corrupted Spirit and muttered, "...I wonder how long are we going to sleep this time..."
"Y-you... What are you going to do?" Riveria asked the three of them.
Aika and Koneko both closed their eyes and ignored her while Sona turned to her and said, "We'll use some techniques that could potentially take our lives. But since we'll all die if we don't do anything, the risk of dying is not important."
The leader of the party, Finn, then commanded, "Protect them at all cost! Don't let any acid or Riveria wanted to ask more but the flow of wind suddenly changed around Aika and Koneko, "Please protect us from the other monsters... If we can escape from here, please take care of us." Sona said as she went behind Aika and Koneko, she also closed her eyes and held the halberd close to her, ignoring any further questions from the rest of them.
"Don't let the monsters come close to them! Also, don't move too far from them!"
"Finn?"
"I'm ashamed to admit that even with our last-ditch effort, we won't be able to escape. Since they say they have a way to hold them off for a few minutes, we can only trust them... Besides, we don't have anything else to rely on anymore."
"..."
Riveria stayed silent for a moment before she also started to urge the others while hitting the monsters with her staff, "Move it! Clear the monsters in the vicinity!"
The trio smiled as they knew that they would be in good hands later.
[[Spear of destruction, Javelin of disaster - I call you upon the name of the agent, the name bestowed to me is Tornitus, avatar of lightning, queen of lightning.]]
The first to have a drastic change was Aika as she muttered, "I'll be borrowing the power that I can't use yet. Please assist me." Putting her hand in front of her face and swiping it down, a white protruding bone mask instantly materialized on her face while her pupils became slits, her iris became golden, and her sclera turning black.
As black and red energy started to swirl around her, a strange urge overcame Aika and took a deep breath, "ROARR!!!" A roar of a majestic dragon came from her human throat and a heavy pressure descended to everyone.
"!? W-what's this!?" Tsubaki couldn't help but exclaim despite being busy surviving.
The supporters almost fell down due to the pressure, but thankfully, it immediately disappeared.
The pressure also affected the corrupted Spirits and their chants slowed down as a hint of fear appeared on their formerly confident faces.
The black and red energy then started to gather in front of Aika's mouth as she aimed it towards one of the Spirits.
At the same time, Koneko was suddenly covered in a ball of white flame. A moment later, the ball of white flame suddenly expanded as it slowly disappeared, revealing a mature beauty in white kimono which resembled Koneko, "S-she grew up!?" Tiona exclaimed as she turned in her direction.
Six tails swayed behind her and each one of them manifested a ball of white flame on top of them while the jetpack emitted white wings which slowly lifted her upwards.
The ball of flames then followed Koneko's gesture and went in front of her. The balls of fire then started to spin around her and it created a flame hoop that had a strange field that could absorb energy inside it.
[[Lord of Lightning!]]
A golden brown magic circle appeared in front of each of the Spirits and it manifested a gigantic beam of lightning, threatening to destroy everything in its path.
At the same time, Aika's Hollow Flash saturated and released a beam of whirling black and red energy to hit the lightning. A large explosion occurred on the spot where the two beams met and it created a shockwave which almost threw off everyone behind the trio. However, it didn't end there as they tried to push each other.
Despite Aika's Hollow Flash being a lot smaller than the lightning, it couldn't be pushed back due to its destructive capabilities. But it also couldn't push the lightning back due to its lacking Reiatsu-Ki, even though Aika was using her Hollow's energy and overdrafting her soul.
On Koneko's side, the flame hoop expanded just a bit bigger than the width of the lightning, and due to the strange field in the middle of it, instead of piercing through, the lightning disappeared into nothingness.
But similar to Aika, Koneko was also having a hard time as the disappearing lightning was actually absorbed into her body and being expelled through her jetpack. But the rate of expulsion was lower than the rate of absorption, putting her in the predicament of over absorption which threatened to tear her body apart as veins all over her body started to rupture from the sheer pressure.
This situation continued for a few seconds until the lightning disappeared. Aika's Hollow Flash only went on for a bit to damage some of the corrupted Spirit's petals before falling forward unconscious as her attire returned to normal, her nodachi reappearing and her mask disappearing.
Koneko, on the other hand, immediately dispelled the flame hoop before losing consciousness and falling forward, returning to her former stature, wounded and bloodied all over.
The two of them managed to block two large scale attacks that could annihilate any top Adventurer in Orario.
"T-they did it..." Ais muttered in shock.
The others also couldn't believe what they just witnessed, but a shout from Riveria woke them up, "Hurry! Check on them! Use the remaining potions!"
Tiona and Tione immediately jumped to the two of them and poured the Elixirs on their hand.
"Please take them to the back." Sona, who had her eyes closed all this time suddenly muttered.
The sisters were startled and looked at her. But the moment they laid their eyes on her, they shuddered. The sisters were almost inept in magic power, however, right now, just a single glance was enough for them to tell that the magic power around Sona was enormous, 'T-That's even larger than Riveria's magic power!?' Both of them thought.
Riveria and the others were also shocked by this since the other two gathered all their attention and they almost forgot about the unmoving Sona. Despite that, Riveria still called out to the Amazon sisters, "Hurry up! Bring them here!"
[[Burn, burn, burn, a whirlpool of fire.]] The sisters hurriedly scrambled back while carefully carrying the two after they heard the corrupted spirits starting another chant.
All this while, Sona had been gathering Mana, several times more than her usual capacity and converting it all into Demonic Power inside her body, "It seems that I need to cool you down." The moment she muttered this, she released everything that she had been gathering along with two pairs of jet-black Devil wings behind her.
After the first two displays, everyone else wasn't that shocked anymore when they saw that Sona also had a strange transformation. But instead of accepting it, they just choose to kick it to the corner of their minds as they didn't want to think about it.
Sona's magic power may only appear strange in everyone else's eyes, but from the corrupted Spirits' point of view, it was the greatest meal that could bring them to another level and a look of great delight returned to their faces.
However, Sona only smirked at them and said while raising her halberd, "Be honored, as you'll experience the great Devil King's magic!" A blue magic circle appeared on top of everyone as Sona prepared her magic.
She closed her eyes again to concentrate. She intended to cast the magic that she had been practicing. The magic that she always admired since she was a very young girl. The magic of her beloved sister. The magic of the Devil King, Serafall Leviathan.
"Celsius Cross Trigger!"
A gigantic blue cross emerged from the magic circle and in an instant, everything within the 59th floor, aside from the spot where the Adventurers stood, stopped moving and was frozen over. Serafall's signature magic which converts the land itself into a frozen wonderland.
================================================================================================================================================================================================
Spectator Stands:
Alexander: In your face!!! And Tiona, don't give up. There is still hope for you, as long as you pester/entertain Kisuke.
28th00: Those two have 0 mana entirely from what I remember, their magic stat is literally 0, impossible to increase. Also, Serafall would literally cry tears of absolute joy seeing Sona use her signature attack, which is almost on the level of a conceptual attack. Absolute Zero is terrifying after all. Serafall used it in canon to freeze a massive region of the underworld, along with the magic-immune devil-immune Annihilation Maker monsters, with ease… OH! She just fixed the floor from Jungle to Arctic Tundra too! Environmentally friendly devil-chan, restoring hazardous environments by accident!
Goyya: Well, it's a non-Dungeon construct, so it'll return to normal eventually.
That's it for now~
And I'm sorry for the long wait~
"N-no way..." Tsubaki muttered as she looked around with widened eyes.
"T-the whole floor changed? She froze everything in an instant?" Riveria also couldn't believe what just happened. Although what Aika and Koneko did earlier was beyond amazing, she couldn't understand it. But as the 'strongest' Mage of Orario, she knew how much magic power Sona required to create such an effect.
A few seconds later, Sona also started to fall backwards and Riveria immediately caught her. Once she turned Sona to her side, however, she saw that her ears, eyes, nose, and mouth were covered in blood, "Sona!?" Riveria turned to one of the supporters and shouted, "Immediately bring me an Elixir!"
"Y-yes!"
However, just as she was about to administer it, Sona stopped her. Although barely conscious, she was still able to speak, "P-please... don't bother... It... won't change... my condition..."
Although Sona was able to cast Serafall's magic, it was only because she was closely related to her and witnessed her magic on multiple occasions. Aside from that, it was also thanks to her Devil magic that she was able to use it after imagining its effect.
Sona didn't have nearly enough Demonic Power or the same understanding of ice magic as Serafall had, thus she could only forcefully use it. Due to this, she damaged her body and quite possibly her brain. And although it was a lot weaker compared to the original magic, it was still the trump card she had prepared and the most effective magic in her arsenal, she wouldn't hesitate to use it, if the call for it arose.
"But...!"
"I... just need some rest..." Although struggling, she looked towards the stairs leading to the 58th floor, "...My attack... I couldn't control it properly and... I was only able to exclude... our spot from the magic..."
The path towards the 58th floor was riddled with frozen monsters and they would have to dig through them to reach the higher floor, "...Please... Hurry up... The ice can't contain them... for long..."
Once he heard this, Finn hurriedly looked towards the corrupted Spirits that were now encased in ice and saw minute cracks appearing on it. He then hurriedly shouted to everyone, "Make a path to the 58th floor! Hurry! We don't have much time!"
With their battered bodies and the lethally cold surroundings, everyone from the Loki Familia and Tsubaki gritted their teeth and started to smash the ice statues. Since they were already very weak, they didn't know if they could still survive the monsters on the upper floors and everyone was anxious. However, this was still a lot better than the 'death sentence' from earlier and they regained their hope.
Riveria softly and carefully laid Sona down on the ground so that she could help clear the path. But after some calculations with their rate of clearing and the rate of ice cracking, she grimaced slightly and called out, "Finn..."
With a heavy expression, Finn replied, "...I know..." He also calculated the time they would need to clear the path and figured that it would be barely enough before the corrupted Spirits break free from their confinement, "Hurry it! Use everything you've left! Stop thinking about the monsters on the upper floors for now! We have to survive this first!"
Everyone understood what Finn was trying to say and became even more desperate in their efforts.
But something unexpected happened as an unknown green magic circle suddenly appeared below everyone, "W-what!? What's this!?" Gareth exclaimed.
"Is someone attacking us!?" One of the supporters cried out and everyone tried to look for the caster but failed to do so.
"Get off the magic circle!" Finn commanded, but someone immediately disagreed with him, "Wait...!" Sona on the ground did her best to shout and successfully gathered everyone's attention, "...Please stay inside the magic circle... It's fine... We're safe..."
Feeling the very familiar Mana from the magic circle, Sona peacefully closed her eyes and shut her consciousness from the world with a gentle smile on her face.
Everyone was startled and confused about why she could still make such a gentle smile. But a moment later, Finn decided to trust her and took his last command back, "We're staying here."
"..."
"I know that you're anxious, but I think we should trust her words. The moment that this magic circle appeared the pain in my left thumb subsided. I ordered to stay away from it because we don't know what sort of magic this is. But since the one who saved our lives said that we should stay..." Finn didn't finish his words and just looked at everyone.
Bete was the first one to react but didn't say anything and directly sat down. He focused his senses around the trio in case some sort of danger will come to them. This was the only thing he could do to return a bit of the massive favor they owed them.
"Captain is right. I think we should trust her." Tione agreed with a smile.
"Hehehe, we can't be sure if we would even survive the upper floors anyway. Let's just see what this magic does and why she trusts it so much for her to have that kind of smile." Tiona chuckled and sat near the trio.
Everyone else sighed and smiled, doing the same as the first three, sitting around the trio to guard them.
A few seconds later, the magic circle suddenly shone brightly. Bracing themselves, they suddenly found themselves in a different location and a familiar sight at that, "T-this is?" Tsubaki muttered as she looked around.
"...The 50th floor." Finn answered with a twitching mouth while looking in the distance where the Loki Familia camp was, "...This is ridiculous."
Everyone else could only remain speechless until Anakitty Autumn, the one in charge of the camp, came running towards them along with the other members of the Loki Familia, "Captain!? How did you appear here!? And your state..." She then turned to the other Loki Familia members which came with her, "Everyone, take the supplies from the camp and tell the others to prepare a few tents for medical procedures!"
Turning back to the party, Anakitty asked in concern, "What happened, Captain?"
"We'll explain all about it later, but for now the treatment of these three will take priority over anything else," Finn replied and pointed at the unconscious girls.
Anakitty was confused but since everyone else from the party agreed, she didn't question it, "Understood! We'll prepare the best beds for them."
On the 59th floor, after the moment the whole party disappeared, the magic circle didn't go away with them but instead, another group appeared on it. "Well, would you look at this. They really pushed themselves this time.", spoke Kisuke, who was dressed in his usual attire and carried his usual cane, as he looked around.
"Whew~. Ice magic... Did she copy this from Serafall?" Yoruichi also commented after seeing the surroundings.
"Will Shirone be fine?" Kuroka asked in concern.
"She'll be fine. As we're speaking, their Sacred Gears are healing their wounds. I didn't tell them about that feature earlier because I don't want them to become too reckless... But I guess it doesn't really matter." Kisuke replied.
"Master, what should we do now?" Medusa asked.
"It's been a while since our last proper dive in the Dungeon and at this rate, those three would overtake us. We'll use this chance to get as much excelia as possible~!"
The cracks on the ice confining the corrupted Spirits then burst open. Although the two monsters were frosted all over, Sona's magic didn't do much damage to them and they were now recovering.
"So here's the rule~! You aren't allowed to use anything other than the Falna and Sacred Gears! So without further ado, let's go have some fun while beating the heck out of these gruesome monsters for hurting our girls!"
" " "Yeah!" " "
================================================================================================================================================================================================
Corner of Betrayal(So melodramatic):
Alexander: Yeah, I feel somehow betrayed by my hero entrance scene. I know that it is important for them to lay low, but I love it way too much to read about the onlookers' reality being screwed by the Urahara family.
Goyya: It's not the time yet. There would be a much better chance later and the appearance of the mysterious Crimson Thieving Group(lol) is enough for now. Besides, Kisuke and Yoruichi already saved them one time. I don't want to repeat it as much as possible.
28th00: It wouldn't be Kisuke without some sorta regeneration failsafe… Just look at his freaking HOT SPRINGS! Time for some payback though~ They're a little angry, I'd say… Wonder if Koneko will finally get laid? Did she? I don't think she did…
Goyya: She won't until she could properly control her transformation or until her body becomes 'normal'.
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