บท 84: Chapter 84. Land of Darkness
Silva POV
A Nevermore came at me from above with a Manticore hot on my tail as I flew on my summon Skyfire. The Nevermore launched its feathers at me, and I knocked them away with a shockwave. The Manticore fired a fireball at me, and Skyfire barrel-rolled to evade it. I then here several screeching noises and saw a large group of bat-like Ravagers homing in on me.
I felt frustrated for the umpteenth time since I set foot in the Land of Darkness, which wasn't too hard to find since it is always, well, dark here. I unleashed a massive shockwave annihilating the surrounding Grimm, and I sighed, feeling drained because I have almost always been fighting since I have gotten close to this cursed place.
The few bits and pieces they showed of this place in the early Volumes do not do it justice. This whole place makes one feel unwelcomed here, and there is a large assortment of young Grimm here that attack me on sight. I find a place to rest for the day and used Earth Dust and Magic to create a small fortress for the night.
I got started on making myself an early dinner with some roasted meat I packed up. As I was about to dig in, the walls of my constructed fortress were broken down by a large rhino-like Grimm. I felt a bit of fury that I couldn't even have a moment of peace here. The rhino-like Grimm charged at me, and I clenched my fist, then coated it with vibrations.
As the Grimm neared me, I punched it, making contact and sending a shockwave through its body. It slumped down dead and started to fade into black particles. I'm beginning to hate this place.
General POV
Salem was sitting on her throne at her fortress, looking through the Seer Grimm in front of her, displaying Silva. Salem has a calculating look in her eye as she was internally debating on what to do with the silver-eyed warrior that dares to set foot in the Land of Darkness. What interested her the most was that, unlike previous incursions is that Silva has not once used his silver eyes to counter Grimm.
Salem gave a small but malicious smile as she spoke out loud.
Salem: Let's test him further, shall we.
She got up from her throne and conjured a detailed diorama of the Land of Darkness in front of her. She then created a piece to represent Silva and placed it at his approximate location. From what could be seen from the diorama is Silva is still a long way away from Salem's castle. Salem then conjured several more pieces that resembled various Grimm.
Salem then placed a few pieces near Silva's and commented.
Salem: Let's see what you are made of, child.
Back to Silva.
Silva was meditating, trying to rest his mind and recharge his aura while being aware of his surroundings. The earth beneath him started to rumble, and the silver-eyed tiger Faunus sighed in exasperation. He got up and saw a large horde of Goliaths charging at him along with Beringels, Creeps, Ursa, and Sulfur Fish.
He took out his prototype weapon and had it in its blade mode. The blade of aura was at its maximum length of 10 feet. Vibrations ran through the aura blade, and Silva charged at the horde of Grimm while summoning Cerberus, Senshi, Skyfire, and a new summon he recently created.
It was far more massive than his other summons, and its appearance resembled a Tiger Rex from the Monster Hunter games. The Tiger Rex pulled back its head then unleashed a mighty roar that stopped the horde of Grimm in its tracks by stunning them. The Tiger Rex then charged through the herd, bitting, stomping, and crushing as it moved through the pack.
The Tiger Rex bit the head of a Goliath clean off in a single motion while the smaller Grimm got crushed under its mass comparable to a Wyvern. Silva's other summons also tore through the horde with ruthless efficiency; this is because Silva continuously strengthens his summons by sacrificing his numerous other summonses of more commonplace Grimm to them.
Silva cut through other Grimm to further test his prototype weapon, and so far, it has proven to be highly effective. An hour quickly passed by, and the horde of Grimm is no more. Salem saw the entire process and held her chin in thought at what to do next. Her gaze was drawn to an unusual rock formation not far from Silva's position on the diorama of the Land of Darkness.
She smiled as she formed a plan in her mind to further press Silva into desperation.
Silva POV
I can't help but wonder if Salem is already aware of my presence and trying to tire me out because while I was expecting a lot of fighting since the blacken pools that the Grimm spawns from here, the numbers don't add up. A whole horde of Grimm making its way to me can't be natural, large groups sure, but a whole legion of different kinds of Grimm together makes me suspicious.
I put my thoughts on the back burner as another army of Grimm came at me, forcing me to retreat to conserve my aura. I noticed an unusual rock formation near me; it was like a giant tree made of stone and crystals that I see dot the landscape. I head towards it with armies of Grimm pressing me from all sides, even if it is likely a trap because they kept pressuring me to go in this direction.
I made it through the surrounding stone pillars near the tree of crystal and stone. As I drew closer, I noticed the Grimm stopped chasing after me, okay Salem, let's see what you have lying in wait for me. As I saw the massive unusual rock formation base, I also noticed what lay beneath it. It was another gigantic Grimm. It slowly rose as it saw me; its appearance was identical to the God of Darkness's dragon form.
It looks at me then opened its mouth to unleash black and purple flames at me. I evaded it by launching myself into the air, and I took out another prototype weapon I designed. It was a pair of white and black handguns; these aren't based on Devil May Cry's peashooters Dante used. Oh no, these bad boys are based on the monstrous firearms of Hellsing's Alucard's guns Jackle and .454 Casull. These were, of course, used aura for bullets, and they are currently the most powerful ranged weapons I have designed yet. I started firing on the dragonic Grimm as it unleashed another breath attack, and it did not deter it at all. As I evaded its flames again, it spread its wings and pounced on me with surprising speed.
It swiped me with its claw and sent me flying. When it struck me, I felt my aura being damaged from just touching it; I quickly look to where it was lying before confirming the idea I just had on one of its abilities. My eyes widen in realization at the marks it left just by lying down; this Grimm literally destroys everything it touches. I turn to face this monstrosity as it took to the air and launched a black and purple fireball at me. I scattered the fireball with a shockwave and kept firing on it only to find out I am not dealing any damage to it. I switched to my other prototype and had it in its blade form at maximum length. I then ran vibrations through it and charged at the beast with Flash Step.
As I closed the distance, the dragonic Grimm blocked my attack with its horn which shocked me when I couldn't cut through it. It parried my attack then swiped at me with its claw. I switched my weapon into its shield form and blocked it. I broke out into a cold sweat as I saw its claw corroding through the shield of aura at a rapid pace. I leaped back before it could break through my shield and then put away my prototype then took out Kodoku, my solid white katana. I was hoping that because it had both a soul and aura of its own, it stood a better chance against this monster. I took a deep breath and ready myself for a tough fight ahead.
General POV
Salem watched as Silva faced the Dragonic Grimm known as Labon that the God of Darkness himself created to destroy the God of Light's creations before creating humanity. Labon, in the age of Gods and Magic, was a natural disaster that destroyed entire kingdoms before the God of Darkness bound it to the Land of Darkness at the request of his brother. Many heroes and warriors faced it for glory and fame, only to die under its wrath. Not even Ozma dared to face this monster in his prime when he was alive, and Salem can't control it because of its origins.
Salem was mildly interested in Silva because he has managed to survive so far against Labon and felt it would be a waste to break him to fuse him with a Grimm. Silva learned the hard way how just dangerous the flames Labon unleashed because when they grazed him, they spread across his aura, greedily devouring it to fuel them. He only managed to get them off him by creating a shockwave all across his body. Silva has considered running away only for Labon to prevent him from leaving by surrounding the area with its flames and forming a cage with its flames. An when Silva tried to open a portal away from it, Labon unleashed its hellish flames at him, stopping him from leaving.
Salem started her preparations to summon Silva directly to save his life and bring him to her. She soon had everything ready and went back to watching the silver-eyed warrior struggle against this most ancient Grimm. Silva was running low on Aura and had to use what little magic already he had to heal from the flames Labon unleashed. His sword Kodoku was already broken from touching this nightmare of a monster, and his breaths labored while feeling desperation. He has not used his silver eyes, and he felt regret in not putting more effort into mastering his silver eyes.
He focused his mind and thought back to the women he loves to trigger his silver eyes while evading Labon's attacks, Miltia, Melanie, Rory, Winter, Tsukiyomi, Emerald, Morgana, Kyuu, and... Pyrrha. His silver eyes shined, and a blinding silver light covered him and the Grimm. After the light faded, Silva collapsed and lay on his back, tired and drained. Labon was turned into stone, but cracks started to form, and the Grimm broke out then roared in a fury. Labon pounced on the tired Faunus, and he was barely able to move as he raised his arms against the Grimm's claws with the intent of crushing the Faunus under them.
Silva was barely able to stop the claws using what little aura he had left to strengthen and protect himself but not for long. The destructive touch of Labon was quickly eating away at his aura, and Silva was pressed to make a hard choice. Silva pulled back his dominant right arm and concentrated his remaining aura into his left to further strengthen it but pulled backed the protective layer of Aura. What he then felt was pure agony from directly touching the Grimm, barely keeping his original plan in mind feeling the mind-wiping pain; he fired a shockwave directly into the dragonic monstrosity. Which blasted the claw off the Grimm, making it pull back in pain as it howled.
But things did not end there. The destructive touch of Labon spread through Silva's left arm, turning it into black particles. Silva seeing this, made another hard choice; he took the broken Kodoku and placed it under his left armpit, then cut off his left arm entirely. As the severed arm hit the ground, it quickly turned into black particles, and Silva then took out some Fire Dust then ignited it, burning the wound closed. He cried out in agony at the pain, and while he was distracted, Labon drew in the black particles from its severed claw, and a new one appeared, taking its place.
Silva looking ragged, looked at the Grimm in despair and thought to himself, I'm going to die. Silva had too little Aura to create a portal away from this Grimm, tapped out of Magic, his silver eyes of little to no use against this monster. The cold realization hit him that he would die, and there were no if or buts for it. He broke into a burst of self-mocking laughter and felt himself close to giving up. He then said to himself in a joking morbid tone.
Silva: Well, if this doesn't kill me, the girls definitely will.
He took out his dust crystals and impaled himself with them, and the agony they caused came with them. He grits his teeth as he readies his last desperate attack; vibrations erupted from his right hand, with various elements sparking from them due to the Dust Crystals. He gave one last thought to the girls he left behind and apologized to them in his mind. He charged at Labon, determined to at least take this Grimm down with him. The Grimm just watched him, seeing the Faunus attack is futile, and Salem sighed, seeing this silver-eyed warrior not giving into despair as she wanted, then discarded any notions of bringing him into her fold as she saw that she is unlikely to break him.
As Silva closed the distance, he rammed his aura-covered hand into Labon's exposed chest, which was no different than a bug bite to it. Silva then focuses all the elemental energies running rampant across his body and unleashed his last shockwave within the Grimm, making spikes of earth and ice pop out of it along with lighting and fire. Labon cried out in pain for the last time as it faded into black dust. Salem shook her head in disappointment because she knew that even if Silva defeated the Grimm, his death is assured as Labon's deadly touch is already running its course destroying the now dying Silva with little to no resistance as Silva's Aura shattered.
Far from the world of Remnant, the God of Darkness looked to the distance and said.
God of Darkness: Interesting, someone finally defeated my old pet. Let's see who.
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