Chapter 151 - Abyssal Encounter
With all his Conqueror's Haki left going berserk, Vlad kept moving toward Lacilet, who was pushed a lot by this pressuring will.
"Curse, may this power be! I WILL NOT SUCCUMB!" roared Lacilet keeping himself straight, while his [Armour of Blight] began gushing out with green miasma, flying like waves around him.
With each step Vlad took, the palace began shaking even harder, having all of the people outside the palace stop their fight and stare at this grand building shaking continuously.
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Lacilet kept roaring with madness as he pushed more of his devil power to fight against Vlad's berserk willpower that had him forced in a corner.
Gathering his powers in his sword, he sent a sword slash at Vlad, who was advancing forward.
He glared at his attack as it moved toward Vlad, waiting for the moment he would put a stop to his conqueror's assault. Yet with each moment, it advanced toward Vlad.
The white-haired man only extended his hand forward, and as he was gathering blood, he sent a blood projectile that collided with the sword slash.
Lacilet saw his attack being destroyed by the blood projectile, making his mad expression turn even more sinister, only having one thought in his mind that was assaulted by the willpower.
'I need to use that forbidden ability to win against this cursed bastard.'
The moment he thought that the intensity of his devil powers suddenly dropped down, disappearing into nothingness, and slowly his heart began beating faster.
Vlad, who kept advancing in the same fashion, looked coldly at Lacilet and his sudden movements that were abnormal.
Using his blood powers, he sensed the intensity Lacilet's heart was beating and its abnormal rhythm.
*** Something isn't right with this person, Lord ***
[That is correct. I feel it too. You better end this fight before your transformation ends, or we'll get into another unnecessary trouble. Do you hear me?]
Vlad's eyes shined with a crimson-black color as he started dashing toward Lacilet, not giving him the chance to even power himself.
After some seconds, with his steps covered in darkness and blood, he slashes Nemesis straight for Lacilet's head.
"It is unfortunate. You didn't have the chance to show me what else you have in your sleeves." added Vlad while slashing at Lacilet's head with light speed and surgical precision.
Lacilet wasn't focused on Vlad's attack, remaining in a vegetative state while standing on his feet. Yet the moment Nemesis grazed his skin from his neck area, a powerful wave blasted at him.
'What now? This guy prepared something nasty for me.' thought Vlad coldly as he stopped his attack, to later enter a defensive stance, blocking the dark green wave, which looked even darker than its initial stages.
'This sensation? Could it be?'
[YES! HURRY AND END HIM BEFORE HE COMPLETES IT!] roared the black moth, a bit disturbed by what they began revealing on Lacilet.
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Without wasting time on formulating a plan, Vlad used his blood and dark energy to its highest limit, getting in front of Lacilet once again in just some seconds, attacking with [Death's Serenity] that created a black smoke mark in its path.
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Suddenly Lacilet's eyes, which were dead cold, released an intensely deep black-green color while his body began turning skinnier at a visible rate.
As Lacilet was changing himself into a sinister form, he extended his skinny hand that got covered in an intense armament haki that blocked Vlad's attack effortlessly.
Lacilet then gazed at Vlad, and with a sinister smile and voice that didn't belong at all to him, commented.
"You pushed this human so much that I can't bring myself to thank you. No, I will thank you for giving this chance to walk on this land after millennials by ending you!"
Then, as his body turned skinnier, leaving him only in a skin and bone shape, he dropped the sword in his hand, attacking with a new abyssal green coloured spear that released flowing dark green lights.
Not expecting this turn of events, Vlad blocked the spear in time, and followed with his counter at this deformed Lacilet, going with a fast diagonal strike on the left side, left unprotected.
"Such attacks don't work on me!" roared Lacilet with his sinister voice, blocking Vlad's attack with the spear shaft.
Then with unbelievable strength, he sent a kick to Vlad, pushing him back, charging at him with his spear, sending a spear thrust while his voice bellowed in the throne room.
"[Spear of Death]!"
Vlad didn't expect such power from this Lacilet, saw the upcoming attack, and with his body releasing dark energy, covering Nemesis entirely, he made a spinning attack that released a powerful circular sword slash that sent out an echoing banshee scream blocking the spear advance.
'[Banshee's Scream]'
"Human, I don't know from where you got your powers, but they should remain in the dark realm!" shouted Lacilet, who had his body releasing dark energy just like Vlad's, but whose body shrank, even more, turning more skeleton-like.
Without giving Vlad a chance to react, he appeared in front of him and stabbed Vlad with incredible speed and power, leaving the latter look shocked at this mummy monster.
Feeling the pain of the piercing spear wound, along with the powers that started decaying his flesh, he later heard the black moth saying something unexpected.
[FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! END HIM FASTER! USE THAT ABILITY! DON'T HOLD ANYTHING BACK, VLAD OR EVERYTHING WILL END! EVERYTHING!] screamed the black moth in Vlad's head, feeling even more panicked, ignoring even the fact that he got wounded.
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Hearing that scream of panic and how serious the voice of the black moth was, along with this sinister transformation of Lacilet that looked closer and closer to a vision he had in the past when he overused the dark transformation in his fight with Wincester, he saw some disturbing things and heard some indiscernible sinister voices.
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'Is like back then. What are those visions about? Sigh, I still lack enough power to know what those beings lurking in shadows are exactly.' thought Vlad solely in the white temple.
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Looking at Lacilet's mummy face, gazing at him, he sent a kick sending him flying before starting to release more dark energy and blood energy from his body, beginning a collision.
Closing his eyes, Vlad took a deep breath while his body was gushing out all his energy. Doing this, he felt something icy inside his heart, and with each second, that sensation began accelerating, until his state turned like when he tried the same transformation 3 years ago.
'Walking with death, sure, is unpleasant. I start hating that feeling of emptiness.'
[Remember. Once you feel you can't take it, STOP your connection.]
Vlad didn't respond back, feeling the icy sensation in his heart stronger. He then pushed his will on that cold energy that started creating in his mind all different visions. Dark corrupting emotions, agonizing screams from women, children and all sorts of animals kept echoing in his mind.
Trials after trials, his sanity was put to the task as visions went and go, voices of beings he couldn't understand, and their disdainful laughs kept him cold.
The situation inside his inner world was so tense that Khrone, who was hiding at the base of the throne with the black moth, asked, panicked.
*** Brother Black, what is going on with the Master? ***
The black moth kept its silence, but its body also began releasing an intense dark energy similar to the one Vlad was drawing from his heart before it began scattering in the mental world.
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Meanwhile, Vlad, who was fighting to keep his sanity, in this assault of agonizing emotions, had on the outside his body surrounded by a flood of dark energy and a Conqueror's Haki that started pulverizing the stone of the palace, turning it to ash.
In the same manner, he kept Lacilet pushed back, starting his advance on Vlad while the pressure was going stronger.
"You will suffer our wrath for even daring to use our powers, mortal!" roared Lacilet while pushing his spear ahead, clashing with the flooding dark energies surrounding Vlad and his guardian Conqueror's.
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Back to his mental world, inside the white temple, Vlad's consciousness sitting close to the white fire began turning darker with each second, but the moment this darkness started to take over the white flame that was docile until then roared to life, burning with a bright light that destroyed the dark energy.
'I can feel myself in this madness! I am still there. I am not alone.'
Saying that to himself, the Vlad on the throne now fully morphed into something sinister with a devilish crown of thorns and horns on his forehead, skin-tight dark armour that was pulsing.
Once he gained his clarity thanks to the white flame, he opened his abyssal eyes on the outside and could see the vast dark energy surrounding him and sense that he could use this power.
Looking at his body, he saw the abyssal armour that was bound on his body, just like three years ago. However, this time, he felt that he had control over this power and wasn't just using it on instinct.
Moving his hand at his head, felt the thorns of the crown pierce his hand and also the horns on his forehead. Then, glancing at this opened wound, he could see the blood boil up in his wound and rapidly close up.
'This feeling and sensation might turn me addicted to this power. I need to end this faster before I lose myself. Last time I had about 3-5 minutes, it shouldn't be different now.' thought Vlad, who began to withdraw this defensive mechanism his body discharged.
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His abyssal eyes meet the eyes of Lacilet, that was only skin and bones but whose body released the same dark energy.
"YOU WILL SUFFER OUR WRATH MORTAL! THAT POWER DOESN'T BELONG TO THIS REALM!" shouted Lacilet, as he appeared in his face, attacking with a spear thrust.
Prepared for this last round of the fight, Vlad surrounded Nemesis in his blood and dark energy and blocked the spear, still being pushed some steps back.
With chilling calm, he regrouped himself and surrounding his body in dark energy, he jumped forward, appearing next to Lacilet, while [Death's Serenity] moved for his opened side.
"You seem to even know how to use this power! Who are you, mortal!" roared Lacilet after blocking Vlad's attack with a ghostly move.
"I am just a monarch. However, I have the same question for you, monster. Who are you!" asked Vlad with a cold voice, after slashing again with [Death's Serenity].
Lacilet remained quiet and blocked Vlad's attack. Yet, he took over the attack and pushed Vlad to defend powerful strikes that even this new form barely enabled him to block.
Like this, their fight of attrition and destruction commenced.
Four minutes passed, and Vlad could feel his dark energy started to run out, making his attacks slightly weaker. Yet the same could be said for Lacilet, whose skin began to peel off, revealing his skeleton, covered in dark green bacteria.
Lacilet roared with a sinister voice as he gathered more power to unleash a tremendous spear strike. He said something he couldn't understand as he attacked.
Seeing this attack, Vlad summoned a [Blood Aegis] that he enhanced with the dark energy and armament haki that blocked in time this spear attack.
The moment the spear made contact with the Aegis, it created a shockwave that sent out a dark wave from the entire palace windows that every soldier fighting noticed.
They could feel this atmosphere and didn't even dare to approach the palace.
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With both weapons clashing, Vlad's Aegis began cracking to later shatter in pieces, and along with that, Lacilet's spear advanced forward, stabbing into Vlad's armour that began cracking a bit.
Vlad released a roar, and with his remaining power, he used Nemesis to slashed off Lacilet's arm, stopping the advance of the spear altogether.
Vlad cut clean Lacilet's arm with a sinister sword slash, leaving the spear stabbed in his chest, impaled in his flesh.
"This shall be the end of this fight!" declared Vlad, who took off the spear from his chest, securing his grip since it wanted to fly to Lacilet.
His opened wound began to boil, and the blood began to coagulate, shield from external bleeding.
Lacilet gazed at his spear and said something in a language Vlad didn't understand.
What followed after that was the spear disintegrating into dark energy and bacteria of Lacilet's power, swiftly making its return to his holder.
"Indeed mortal, this vessel isn't strong enough, and I will have to return to my realm." said Lacilet in an abyssal voice, while his severed arm began to regenerate using the bacteria that solidified like it was calcium-phosphate and collagen. (A/N: Our bones made of that stuff - meme 'the more you know')
After he made a new bone out of the bacteria's power, Lacilet then summoned a new spear and dashed toward Vlad, unleashing a spear thrust that shook the throne room.
Meanwhile, Vlad also reinforced Nemesis and intercepted Lacilet, clashing their weapons at the centre of the room, seconds later sending a leg kick of their own to separate each other.
As they separated, Lacilet did something surprising and threw his spear at Vlad, grazing his neck, point where he dashed toward Lacilet, starting his onslaught with a series of cuts and thrusts that were leaving a dark smoke, aftermath.
'[Night's Assault]'
Pushing Lacilet back, Vlad felt a strong presence at his back and immediately, he dropped on the floor doing a plank, dodging the spear that went directly for the skeletal man.
Gushing with all his powers, Lacilet covered the entire throne room in his dark energy, and with each second he was doing this, his skin peeled off, only leaving a sinister monster that was only a skeleton bound by bacteria.
Vlad, who was on the floor, was pushed flying by this power, and after getting on his feet, he too began to summon all his energy and start the construction of 'Star of Chaos'. (A/N: Changed the name of the attack from Star of Collapse to Star of Chaos. There will be a shift in Vlad's skill arsenal because I discovered something while writing. It is hard keeping in mind all the skills he could possibly have and what they do. Expected something new with Volume 3)
Pushing all the blood energy in his body, he started forming a ball mass that began spinning madly in his hand, where he started pushing his dark energy into that blood ball. It quickly increased its rotating speed releasing lots of dark and crimson lights, as if it was a black hole swallowing a star. (A/N: Watch interstellar, the black hole scene, and you'll get the vision I have in mind with the Star)
It started pulsating madly while growing in size, beginning to devour even the energy of Vlad's armour, removing the crown of thorns, horns and the shoulder plates and gauntlets.
Each passing second made the atmosphere inside the throne room unbearable, with those two monsters fighting for supremacy.
Lacilet, while Vlad was constructing his attack, he pushed all this accumulated energy to form a spear that began growing in size, turning into something only a giant could possibly wield.
After creating the spear, he sent that spear flying for Vlad, without even telling him something, like how Lacilet would most likely do. Instead, the one inside remained cold and emotionless while gazing at Vlad's [Star of Chaos] that began devouring even its wielder power.
"Foolish human, you are playing with fire, by even daring to use chaos like that, but this shall end you. To think that I, Maloch, would have been summoned by this mortal, also this weird power lurking inside of him, an interesting concept." said Lacilet, who dropped to his knees, drained of power.
"Pitiful body, why can't you be like this person in front of me and be accommodated to the darkness?"
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Vlad, who felt the mighty force of the spear thrown at him, reacted by also throwing the [Star of Chaos] that left him drained of any power, slowly dropping on the floor.
The clash of powers ensued right away, blasting the throne room's walls on the impact, shaking the entire Sagletius on the impact.
For everyone outside feeling this quake, it appeared as if the ending had come for them, grasping for their closed one and giving their prayers to only one person, the one they knew as Blood.
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Yet Vlad was now captured in this pressuring space, where his attack and Lacilet attack collided, equally in power, until the spinning devouring ball began to strip power off the giant spear and advance.
From where he was, he could hear Lacilet saying something to himself.
"Unfortunately, it was not to be this your end, mortal. Stay alive until we meet again, and don't you dare lose against my brethren. I would be ashamed to say that my avatar got defeated by a mortal."
Saying that, Lacilet's body, who was only a monstrous skeleton bound by his devil powers, dropped on the hard floor of the throne room, later decaying, turning to ash.
When that happened, the giant spear also dispersed in the air, leaving only the spinning ball that began moving for the throne.
"Scatter."
With the remaining energy, he had the destructive attack to disintegrate in energy scattering in the air, with only a tiny part returning back to Vlad's body.
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Breathing hard, Vlad laid on the cold floor and stared at the intact ceiling, the destroyed frescos and said in this silent room.
"Moth, you have a lot to talk about after this mess is over. Do you hear me?"
Hearing no response inside his mind, he continued saying coldly, reminding the black moth.
"Keep quiet and see what will happen to you after I master all those powers in me. One month you have to tell me who you are, one month."
"Khrone, how is Sofiya right now?" asked Vlad after he gave the ultimatum to the black moth, who scattered in the mental world.
Meanwhile, the red wisp remained close to Vlad, right on his shoulder and said to him with a composed voice.
"Master, the mistress shows signs of rapid healing. She is still in the same place with the young master."
Closing his eyes, he started calming his mind and kept playing in his mind, everything that happened as he waited for his body to recover a bit before going to take Sofiya from where she was.
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In another part of the city, not too long after Vlad and Lacilet fight started intensifying, Nius also began the assault on Wincester, which was in his [Mental Monstrosity] form, outpowering him for quite a while in this transformation.
With his sword releasing a blast of frigid cold, Nius blocked the gold-ranked assassin and sent him flying with a kick, later moving with fast speed to the location he crashed and like an evil spirit, he slashed his sword for the head.
"OLD MAN, I WILL NEVER LOSE AGAINST YOU!" shouted Wincester, from where he was while bringing his daggers to black Demonic Sword Gram.
Clashing their weapons, Nius looked coldly at Wincester and released more power that started freezing the location they were clashing.
Increasing his strength, preparing to do the final strike to this assassin who humiliated him in the past, he saw the white-haired man in front of him shriek in pain as his bones began breaking under Nius powers.
"Ohh, but you will lose. It is only a matter of when and how. Bisected, gutted, executed, don't worry, boy, I will care for you if you are still alive. I will send all of your body pieces to that Dark Union location as a first encounter gift, and when my kingdom is prepared, we will exterminate all of you."
As he said that, he pushed Gram more into Wincester, slowly destroying his daggers, and when the demonic blade made contact with Wincester's hands, he began screaming in pain as his flesh started freezing.
"See, boy, if you wouldn't have consumed your power like a rabid dog, you would still hold some chance of getting away from me and my sword."
"YOU WILL NOT GET AWAY WITH THIS ONCE MY GRANDFATHER FINDS OUT ABOUT MY DEATH. YOUR KINGDOM WILL BE WIPED FROM EXISTENCE." shouted Wincester, while his face was contorted in pain and his devil power transformation.
Nius grabbed Wincester's long hair and raised him up before capturing his throat and starring directly in his golden eyes.
"Rat, you think of yourself too greatly. When the information about your end arrives at your home, it will be too late. Those guys will not be able to put a foot on Kaysang, no, Atlas soil. Now let's see how resilient you are. I still remember how you toyed with my soldiers 18 years ago."
Saying that, Nius sent Wincester crashing on the ground again while moving Gram to stab into his feet, making a significant incision into his muscles.
Winchester shrieked in pain and continued cursing Nius and foretelling the end of Kaysang, which the old marshal ignored.
He cut cleanly his legs, freezing his gushing wound, and began his torture. Minutes into his torture, while he was accompanied by Vlad's thunderous fight with Lacilet, he kept Wincester engaged.
"You hear that rat? This is my prince fighting. Can you feel his willpower? Your assembly of rats will have to pass by him and me and the valiant soldiers of his blessed land."
Seeing no answer from Wincester, Nius stabbed Gram into his arms, creating a response.
Winchester roared to the skies, calling out someone.
"OLIVER, GET ME OUT FROM THIS CURSED OLD MAN! I KNOW YOU ARE THERE WATCHING. I AM SORRY FOR MESSING WITH YOU! IF YOU SAVE ME, I WILL PROMISE YOU, I WILL HAVE GRANDFATHER SUPPORT YOUR CONFLICT WITH THE CELESTIAL HOUSE OF VALOIS THAT HURT YOUR WIFE!"
Nius stopped torturing Wincester as he heard that, and spreading out his Observation Haki, he could feel a small presence one kilometre away from him, on high ground.
Suddenly this presence got closer to him, and from nowhere, Oliver appeared from a black smoky portal, clashing his sword with Nius that awaited him.
"There you are boy, I thought you abandoned this place after this war started." commented Nius while staring coldly at Oliver, whose expression was serene, glancing at the old man and Wincester.
"Old man, I don't wish to fight you. I just want to take this bastard away, and I will remove myself from your kingdom." declared Oliver, in his calm tone, reaching a stalemate in his clash with Nius.
