All of the Elizabeth’s watched the bolder, even the one hidden under the earth, eagerly awaiting the moment their rival would ooze out with another clever scheme.
This never happened however; the time for playing had ended.
A terrifying abyssal aura on the level of Jeeves bloodlust burst out to form a typhoon of dust and debris on the mountain top. Even the beastified Elizabeth was forced to cover her eyes while squinting - their shoulders sinking under the might of whatever was happening. Soon a guttural groan echoed out, as if the world itself was creaking under the pressure enforced upon it by the will of the being, as the group found themselves within a storm of pure darkness.
“This one didn’t wish to do this however thou hast made mineself face the truth. The only way this could end was a fight head to head - even if this one wished to end thou with another's blade that was just a foolish and disrespectful wish to hide my sins behind conviction. With that thou should feel honoured for this one shall show thine my loss!” <Legion>
There was no longer the arrogant yet cute voice of the prideful yet well meaning Promicarus; all that was left was a voice void of any emotions. In fact the voice no longer pretended to be human but instead sounded metallic & artificial. Almost muffled as if holding back the deepest pains held inside of an abyss of malicious intentions which they pointed out to the world.
Eel couldn’t help but feel a tremble in her heart while the corners of her eyes glittered - she had no intent on losing though. If anything this renewed her desire to fight even more, lowering her hand from her face, while glaring towards the swirling dark in front of her. She would no longer cower or run away.
If she was going to run anywhere it would be straight forward; for what she wasn’t sure yet she knew that if she ran away now she would never be able to call herself a hero.
Slashing the air with her sword once she pointed her spear towards where that bolder should be located while the abyssal aura drenched her in curses. The system was constantly pinging in her ears confirming she was indeed being cursed repeatedly - even faster than her purple flames could burn them away - yet she didn’t care about that. If anything it just meant she would need to end this faster than these curses could eat away at her life.
Lowering her stance once more, those now familiar crimson sparks burned through her nerves like they were fireworks, giving birth to explosive speed. Similarly her clones looked at one another with a solumness only beaten by the conviction they each held - entering the exact same stance as the original. No words were needed for what they were about to do.
“Le-!” <Eel 4>
*VU~M* *SPLAT**BUM*
“Noisy.” <Legion>
Before any of them could react a greatsword sailed through the air only to impact with the clone's head making it rupture before it landed in the ground behind her falling corpse. The body faded however the effects of losing one of the clones did not; all of the Elizabeth’s spat out a mouthful of blood while only the beastified variant remained standing. This resulted in only her seeing the figure that came from the bolder.
They reached their now free left hand to grab onto the side of the boulder when they were buried; crunching the rock under the might of their three digit hand. Black wisps of flame rose from the armoured claw as the figure slowly pulled itself out the hole - jumping onto the ground bellow with a weighty *BOOM*. It was adorned in the exact same tattered cloak as the 9 foot puppet however the giant appeared to be only 8 foot; though with how gigantic it was this seemed irrelevant.
Another thing that separated it from the gigantic puppet was its fluid yet majestic action that carried the arrogance of one above all lifeforms; the arrogance of Promicarus.
No matter how talented one was at controlling a puppet there would undoubtedly be some stiffness which was impossible to overcome. The being did contain some stiffness yet when mixed with the fluidness of Promicarus it came to be even more domineering; power practically oozed out of the being. Free from the hole they had no intention of hiding themselves any longer as their left claw reached up to grab the cloak (their right holding a familiar sword).
“There is a saying among puppeteers that one must try to become as close to being one with their puppet as possible; in that way I am the perfect being. While I’m sure many consider that just the idle mutters of old fools I took it to the logical conclusion that can only be done by me due to my unique body as an [Heavenly Chimaera - Abyssal Slime]. This one is not ‘one’ but we are many as we are legion, we are legion and we are strong!” <Legion>
With that shout they pulled the cloak off themselves to show their true majesty; finally showing the finished product of what she always had hidden. Its entire frame was abyssal black yet contained within armour plating - like that of the ancient samurai from the eastern seas - which was also black but with an indigo gleam. Draped from its shoulder was a majestic crimson cloak that flared in the wind as if a flame waiting to burn the world itself.
A belt around its armoured waist was made to look like two of its insectoid limbs holding one another expectantly.
Under the cape were two ‘wings’ that were not yet extended. Each wing had two blades like spouts at the end and halfway point - it didn’t even need to use the wings to look down upon the world with its towering height after all. Elizabeth had always wondered why Promicarus used those two greatswords since she was a proud dark mage/puppeteer.
Anyone could tell that there were weapons far more suited for the slime girl yet she insisted on using those swords that practically dragged her along with them when swung. Now she understood that those weapons truly weren’t Promicarus; they belonged to this ‘Legion’. Their size was perfectly suited to its height as they seemed more like mere-longswords in their hand.
The feet of the pseudo-demon were the same three pronged design as the hands making them appear quite insectoid like. However, the face was anything but insectoid, looking like an ice crystal onryo mask with abyssal black flames pouring out from its eyes & mouth. Behind its mask was a mane of ‘hair’ made from more of those black flames.
<| The {Pseudo-Demon Lord - Legion} Has Awakened With Their Inhumane Hordes In [Envy] |>
"This one will show thou what loss is..." <Legion>
Everyone all over the west and some even beyond it received the very same notification from the system though Eel wasn’t aware of the implications. She simply believed it was just some fancy upgrade so her beastified form offered a hungry smile - pointing her spear towards the armour once more. In return the pseudo-demon lord lifted their own sword which was something Promicarus could hardly do.
“Say~ what’s the chance you're going to throw that sword of yours again, tin-man~?” <Eel>
Unlike with the plastic princess the ‘tin-man’ offered no comedic rebuttal however that didn’t mean they didn’t do anything in response.
“This one does not care for thine petty jips [Acuar].” <Legion>
With that they lifted their right foot up that began to glow with an icy blue aura before slamming it down onto the earth below. In an instant the mountain became one gigantic ‘ice’ crystal while all of the Elizabeth’s attempted to jump away; unfortunately one didn’t manage. The one directly under Legion had become a statue before she could react - making all the others spit out blood once more.
“Ouch~ that was real mean of you Ic-” <Eel>
“Promicarus is dead; only Legion remains [Legion of One - Babel]!” <Legion>
Saying that they Lifted their sword up to the sky while Promicarus’ green sword intent began to spew out from the sword; only it was far more than anything she could’ve managed. It was like the tower of babel had just been formed yet there appeared to be no pressure upon the Pseudo-Demon Lord as if it were the easier thing to do in the world. From there it ‘gently’ lowered the engulfing green sword.
Although a cold sweat appeared on her back, Elizabeth didn’t look away, instead she threw the spear away while a crimson sword intent began to flare up in her sword.
“If that is true… That’s even more reason for me to fight and avenge her!” <Eel>
Aligning the sword to her waist while using her other hand like a sheath she hoped that the purity of her intent would be enough to resist the sword for long enough. Without care even if she were to lose the three tails held by her beastified form - the pain would be worth it - she gritted her teeth while facing the intent. Gazing upwards while taking an already familiar stance with the remaining clones charging ahead with confidence the three-tail would succeed.
“[True [True Blood] God - [Tripple] Deciding Draw]!” <Eel>
Drawing the sword at incomparable speed sent her fingers flying while her other hand's vessel practically exploded due to the backlash. Yet she didn’t so much as wince as three crimson blades shot out to meet the towering sword. Thankfully her blood couldn’t possibly lose in terms of sword talent, even only for a moment, she managed to stop that blade.
Not letting go of that chance the four clones charged forward keeping their bodies low as all of their spears thrust forth to run Legion through.
That was not fated to be.
*BAM**CACHINK*
With its left hand it batted away two of the spears to send a pair stumbling aside yet another managed to connect with the chest plate. Logic dictated that as the largest area it would also be where the biggest concentration of ‘Promicarus’ would be if she were. Yet it turned out hopeless as the two spears instead skidded off the chestplate - this chance wouldn’t come again however so they didn’t lose their pasion.
Instead they fueled their swords with as much intent as they could manage to become like a pair of scissors.
Together they were able to-
“Pitiful…” <Legion>
-the two hands making the ‘belt’ separated to grab the heads of the two clones and easily lifted them above as if presenting them to the heavens. Eel only realised too late that those fake arms were anything but fake. The titanic pseudo-demon lord not giving any time to recover from their surprise as they clenched all three of their digits as black flames burst out.
Both their heads burst like mellons even before the flames could kill them yet the flames made sure there was nothing left. With another two deaths even the beastified Elizabeth had no choice but to fall to her knees as she threw up a gallon of boiling blood - this reaction even more intense for the two weaker clones. In direct contrast the flames on Legion flared up, more abyssal than ever thanks to the energy gained from consuming the young kit’s corpses.
Of course, that was just the beginning, as with a wave of its left hand those black flames turned into a weapon once more. Still reeling from the backlash of their fallen comrades the two remaining ‘regular’ Elizabeth’s could do nothing more but be engulfed by the flames till not even a speck remained. Slowly the demon's eyes turned to the monster and lifted its blade once more in hopes of ending this as quickly as possible.
Both for Elizabeth as well as itself.
“This was always destined to be the coda of our romp.” <Promicarus>
Slowly approaching the last remaining Elizabeth who was already on her hands and knees with a pool of blood under herself. Life flashed before her eyes as if trying to find some way in which she could possibly survive this encounter; yet no Zandman came this time. There was no thunder exploding from above nor a word of wisdom from a motherly figure.
There wasn’t even a cute little voice or nagging gobo.
Despite that she didn’t keep her head low nor beg for another chance - there was no turning away and attempting to crawl with all her might to fight another day. No thoughts even suggested she needed to do any of that as there was only one emotion that ran through her which she expressed fully. Turning her head to look up at her executioner.
She presented the brightest, most childishly smug smile of her life.
“It was fun~.” <Eel>
The sword hesitated for a single second before swinging down to cut her in half…
*CLANG*
A familiar gigantic executioner's blade - seemingly formed from black rock with molten blood red cracks all the way along - swirled before connecting with the sword. The sheer impact managed to make the pseudo-demon lord tumble back a few steps. Soon its flaming black eyes flared with wrath as it turned to the undead remains of one of the people responsible for its birth.
“One false product born from envy versus another… How eloquent.” <Legion>
There was no joy within its voice though.
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