Chapter 926 - We fight dirty (Patreon)

Vega delivers another punch, and the Demigod's skull cracks a little. Then I grab her and move her into the path of an attack, causing its wing to break.

The demigod moves and tears through the mana hands holding it, shaking us off and causing us to crash onto the street.

Still holding Vega, I move us across the road to avoid a kaiju stepping on the nearby building and entirely destroying it. Before that kaiju can attack us again with the ground shaking, one of my Regalias bulldozes through the nearby skyscraper and bodyslams the kaiju away.

Once again I lift Vega up to defend against the attack from the Demigod, and the huge area around us explodes, leaving us standing on a small patch of untouched road.

The Demigod swings one of its remaining wings and flies through the air clumsily, passing over the river and onto the hill there.

Pushing us up on one of my Regalias and then off it, we fly towards where parts of the Golden Bridge stick out of the river. I tilt Vega perfectly so the attack deflects off her and slams against one of the kaiju, half of whose body evaporates. The giant weapon, moving as if in slow motion due to its enormous size and weight, tilts and slowly falls onto the city, causing the ground to shake and a myriad of remaining glass windows to crack.

This time it is the Demigod that moves away. It swings one of its paws, tearing the air and escaping through the tear.

Once we reach the tear, there is no mana signature, no structure of the skill I could follow.

Vega says something about a coward and uses the opportunity as I let her go to stretch and shadowbox the air, warming up for the next clash.

Looking around, I gesture for Vega to follow, and we enter the forest where I find a tree with a poster nailed to it. It shows the unmistakable Eiffel Tower.

Grabbing my minion's hand, I jump at that poster, and instead of slamming against the tree, we pass through, appearing a mile high in the air over Paris.

Freefalling, the wind picks up against our hair and clothes as I continue to scan the area and search for the Demigod.

I find it at the last moment and twist in the air to get under Vega, just as a dark shadow falls on us from high in the air, and with the speed of a falling meteor, the Demigod slams against my disciple.

At the point of impact, both of its front legs break, its neck twists, and its barely restored skull is stripped of its flesh again. It desperately waves its wings and pushes us away with its hind legs to separate us.

I watch it crash into the city and roll through it, while me and Vega gently land on the top of the Eiffel Tower.

“I have a difficult time grasping what its exact powers are,” I say to her as we walk at the top of the tower, which I'm fairly confident is all wrong. After all, my only source of information is some pictures and movies. The rest is filled by my imagination.

“Maybe its ability is to be cowardly.” Vega nods seriously, grasping the air while not taking her eyes off our opponent, just as I taught her. She blindly reaches back, finds my hand, and grabs it.

It is just in time for me to release all the heat gathered in my body through exhaust nodes at the bottom of my feet. The metal of the Eiffel Tower melts in the next moment as it falls, and we drop with it, just as another of the Demigod's attacks passes over us.

Vega steps in front of me on her own, and the following attack slams against her. This time it is a direct hit, pushing her back slightly until she stops against me. The attack finally slips by and carves a Grand Canyon-sized gouge through the city.

The Demigod swings its nearly fully restored wings in frustration, lifting into the air in a single push and disappearing into the clouds.

"I'm still convinced that this Demigod is related to some power suppressing god," I say as I teleport us away.

From a distance, I watch the Demigod slam where we just stood, causing cascading shockwaves that move through the city like ocean waves, lifting up the ground, creating entire hills, and turning the buildings into dust.

“You know,” I continue unbothered, “maybe the god was a much weaker version of the ridiculousness that is Starless Sky. Something with restraint or silence in the name. I still don't know how the gods work or their powers, so maybe the Demigod was bred specifically to suppress mana, narrowing that selective suppression. I've already had an idea that the barriers around the kaiju could be generated by their connection to the Demigod.”

This time it's me who shoots into the air with Vega in my arms. As we pierce through the clouds, the shockwave drills a hole through them, creating a circle that lets light pass and fall onto the destroyed city.

My mana explodes around me as huge armor covers me entirely, locks its hands into one, and slams them down against the Demigod that reaches us at that moment.

Though the barrier isn't fully restored, I can sense my mana weaken slightly at the touch. But the impact tempers the armor, causing it to grow tougher. I power it up so it slams against the lion again, while we twist and spin in the air as the lion claws and bites at me.

When its mouth reaches and bites into the chest above Vega and I, the air screams as I cut with my mana, causing blood to explode from the lion's maw and forcing it to push us away and launch even higher into the air.

All the mana creating the huge armor around me gathers into an equally huge lance, and with a boom that ripples the clouds, it launches and tracks the Demigod.

Vega and I continue to fall down, and I let it happen. For a short moment we are above the clouds that are lit by the setting sun. Beautiful and orange, they seem so soft, the endless white expanse painted molten gold. I hold Vega close as we hover there, the wind pulling at our clothes while the golden rays catch the edges of her hair.

Then we continue to fall through the clouds until we can see the city again, barely lit by pillars of light passing through the holes in the dark clouds.

“Whatever its true abilities are, they are either unable to be fully replicated by the system or it is unable to use them fully here. Still, it has a ridiculous body, and a barrier that I don't think I would be able to break without a shitload of black mana or some other fancy tricks.” I don't let the interruption bother me. “It is surely at the level of an Absolute, and possibly a powerful one, as it continues to get only stronger and stronger.”

With my aid, we land on the edge of the city that isn't too damaged, and I look around for a poster.

“So we fight dirty?” Vega asks.

I look at her proudly and nod. “We fight dirty,” I say as I lift her up, making her sit on the small table on the restaurant's terrace. “The beast has come to the wrong mental space, and now is forced to face the terrifying and legendary techniques called Minion Punch and Minion Shield.”

After getting nudged by me, Vega follows my gaze to the pamphlet that is on the table, which shows a snowy mountain. With excitement, she reaches her hand out and taps it, and both of us get pulled inside just as the huge lion slams against where the two of us were.

Appearing on the side of the huge mountain, both of us fall on our bottoms and begin to slide down the slope, quickly gathering more and more speed.

Vega lifts her hands in the air and laughs. I watch her for a bit before turning back and seeing a tear appear over the mountain. That white lion flies through, entirely destroying the mountain's peak, flying far into the distance and slinging around as it gathers more speed and heads our way.

It is now fully restored, and where its heart was beating slowly before, as if hesitatingly, it is now beating faster. Even the monster itself has a firmer gaze, and though its size didn’t change, it feels bigger.

That black and blue barrier with the texture of crumpled paper rests on its body and trails behind it as the Demigod flies.

It has eyes only for me, unable to see Vega at all, and I can't even bring myself to feel bad. I feel not even a speck of shame. It doesn't hurt my pride in the slightest. It just shouldn't have come here.

The Demigod slams into Vega as she moves in front of me. The side of the mountain explodes, and the lion bounces back. The barrier is gone, and its maw, chest, and front paws are broken.

Grabbing Vega, I boost myself, destroying what remains of the mountain behind us and latching onto the lion. I land on its back where Vega punches it, breaking its back and spine.

We fall down as the lion twists, but I avoid the wings. I add to our speed and catch up to it as it twists to bite at me, and Vega punches its maw, exploding half of its face.

Ten more kinetic boosts add more speed, bringing us under the Demigod, by its side, and then back on top of it where my disciple slams its head, causing it to spiral even more and fall into the snow.

I move again to reach it, but it disappears into the tear it tore with its broken paw.

Once again I look around, surprisingly, finding a nice small cottage nearby. I break the front door to enter, and looking around, I find a painting over the fireplace.

Both my disciple and I jump at it, entering the new area.

With wide eyes, Vega looks at the sea and the soft white sand under her feet. I give her a smile, kicking off my shoes and wiggling my toes into the warm sand.

Mimicking my smile, she gets to untie her shoes. I move and plop onto the ground behind her just as a white blur passes by and slams into her, deflecting and skipping across the beautifully white water and into the open sea.

Vega also buries her feet into the white sand and closes her eyes, examining the feedback she is getting. I gesture towards her, and she jumps onto my back, locking her hands around my neck as I charge forward. I pick up enough speed that my feet slide across the sea like I am skiing across it.

The sea stretches as far as I can see. It is a beautiful day, and in the bright sun, the water seems impossibly blue. A gentle breeze ruffles my face and Vega's, which is just next to mine, as I change direction and pick up even more speed. Where we had just stood, the sea explodes into a mile tall geyser of water that throws a shadow over us.

With my eyes, I follow that white blur moving in the water below us. I change direction again just as it pierces the surface like a dolphin, right before the Demigod dives back underwater. The sea in its wake ripples and bubbles.

Tilting myself a bit, an attack slams against Vega and raises my speed further, while it draws a canyon that entirely separates the sea, revealing the sea bottom deep below.

At the tips of my fingers, a tricolored mana orb forms. I give it a spin that blurs all these colors into one with such speed that it seems like a solid mass of spinning indigo. I form them one after another and drop them into the sea like some sort of mines. Each of them explodes once the Demigod gets closer. These explosions send water shooting high into the air, and there are even a few rainbows reflecting their light.

The Demigod moves around the explosions without losing much speed and jumps up in another attack.

This time, I turn toward it without relying on Vega. I push towards it as my ichor cycles inside of me. Two streams skirt against each other, causing a spark that I fan, and a long spear made of Empyrean mana stretches out in my hand.

Even as the lion swings its wings to avoid it, I boost myself closer and drive that spear towards it. I watch it pierce through the Demigod, as its barrier isn't even restored yet. Before it can get me off balance, I let go of the spear and boost us down and further away just as the spear explodes, causing a stream of blood to shoot from the wound.

Something else catches my attention, so while sliding across the sea, I lean lower, bury my fingers under the surface, and grab the only fish, the only “living” being present here.

Before I can examine it further, a voice from behind me thunders over the sea, causing it to ripple as far as I can see.

“System slave.” The Demigod speaks coldly for the first time.

A dozen quick follow-up attacks slam against Vega on my back, launching me ahead at incredible speed, though I have to sprint across the exposed seabed whenever the attacks completely part the ocean.

While jumping and dancing in between the pillars of water and torrents moving like a tsunami, I shake the fish. “What do you want?”

And it speaks to me in Sophie's voice. “This is a message I am sending to you while unsure when it will reach you. Nine minutes have passed outside of the thought acceleration, so beware of that in connection to your disciple communication token. We will be starting our attack on Tariel the Undying. Good luck.”

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