Thunder and lightning strike the black dragon.

Crack!! Crash!! Crack!! Crash!!

Crack!! Crash!! Crack!! Crash!!

Crack!! Crash!! Crack!! Crash!!

The dragon roars in bone-shaking might.

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Cirrus responded with his own roar.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The sounds of fire and explosions fill the floor with molten heat as sword and scale collide.

Cirrus has been fighting the Nightmare for 21 minutes now. At that time, only his sword was able to damage it before it regenerated, putting Cirrus back to square one. No matter how damage he did it recovered form the most devastating of Cirrus' strikes.

"Huff! Huff! Annoying cunt! (Sing your Vespers, Swords of Damocles) [Dia Dikastí̱s]!!!"

Crack!! Crash!! Crack!! Crash!!

Crack!! Crash!! Crack!! Crash!!

Crack!! Crash!! Crack!! Crash!!

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

He had been weakening it for a good while, so he knew something had changed. It's regeneration must have a limit, he is sure of this.

"!?"

The fire started spewing from its body and started to heal itself. Its scales began to convulse and break apart. Its body was getting bigger. Another pair of horns sprouted from around the jaw, making it look like an ant's mandibles and another pair of wings.

Its size was like 3 goliaths in height and 2 in width.

"Fuck me." He said, looking at this black beast going into it's second form.

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Cirrus could see the flame building up, but it was far quicker than before, drastically so.

'Come on a power boost!?'

Bwoosh!! Bwoosh!! Bwoosh!! Bwoosh!!

It shot out the fire even faster and—

Bwoosh!! Bwoosh!! Bwoosh!! Bwoosh!! Bwoosh!!

Bwoosh!! Bwoosh!! Bwoosh!! Bwoosh!! Bwoosh!! Bwoosh!!

Bwoosh!! Bwoosh!! Bwoosh!! Bwoosh!! Bwoosh!! Bwoosh!! Bwoosh!!

"Gaah!!!

—Stronger.

Cirrus quickly began to move when a tail came into his view. The beast knew how Cirrus would move, not as much Cirrus knows it's but enough to raise it's lethality.

"!!"

Woosh!!!

"Grrr!!!"

Barely scraping Cirrus, he quickly tried to get closer, but the dragon was now much faster despite its large size.

"Get back here you fucking bitch!!!"

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

It spewed a wall of fire at Cirrus to obscure his sight. He quickly flew up to avoid the breath attack when a beam of purple fire clipped his wing.

"!?" His armor was worn down from all this fight. Normally they would be fixed instantly but that costs him his mana, something he needs to conserve as much as he can incase of the worse.

Several more started to pin Cirrus down, and when the fire finally passed, the dragon was beneath him, as it charged up an even stronger attack.

"How fucking strong are you!!"

The breath attack was fully charged as it opened its mouth. Cirrus could feel the air molecules burn; the air ignited from its heat.

"(Exousía, Adorn: Chimera)!!!!!!!!"

Cirrus was quickly outfitted with the armor.

"Gram!!! Max level!!!"

The cursed sword glowed brightly, and Cirrus could now feel everything. The heat was like being thrown at the sun, the pain of the graze was as if his bones were breaking. He felt as if he had kidney stones in his arm.

"GAAAH!!!!"

Cirrus only gritted his teeth as a fiery annihilation flashed before his flame and pain-filled eyes.

"RAAAAAH!!!! (SWORD OF DAMOCLES, SING YOUR VESPERS)!!! [DIA DIKASTÍ̱S]!!! (DAMOCLES)!!!!!"

He faced the blast as much as he could, but as strong as he was, the dragon flew towards him with their large body quickly covering the distance, pushing him back to the ceiling.

'Intelligence!!! CLEVER GIRL!!!'

"COME ON!! COME ON!!! COME ON!!!!" Cirrus didn’t have enough magic to hold it back as it continued to fully grow into its second phase, gaining a more robust form.

"FWOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!!"

Cirrus braced for the impact. Hecton's arms shot out from the shadow behind Cirrus and covered him.

"YOU MOTHER FUCK—"

BAM!!!!!

RUMBLE!!!

How fortunate he saved enough mana for the worst case.

 

Back on the 18th floor, a tower of purple fire engulfed a good chunk of the floor and even well into several of the upper floors.

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Its roar can be heard as clearly as day as it flies up to the 18th floor.

Its appearance brought about a great fear in many of them.

"I-is that the Nightmare!!!" shouted Neze.

"I-I can feel the power it has!!" said Noin.

"Seems Cirrus wasn’t able to kill it. If it made it here, I would assume he is dead." said Alfia.

Up on a hill overlooking everything.

"It’s even more of a freak than what I had expected…I think I’ll call it Delphyne, or maybe Alcor? No, I think Delphyne fits better." said Erebus.

"I’m surprised you managed to fight this thing for as long as you did, Cirrus."

Back to Alfia and the Astraea and Loki Familia.

"!?" the Astraea and members of the Loki Familia flinched.

"He…he’s not…" said Ais.

"A-Ais?" said Riveria.

"H-HE’S NOT DEAD!!!! (TEMPEST)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She roared as wind covered her like armor as she charged headfirst into the dragon.

"Ais!!!!!!!"

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

With the wind, Ais was able to quickly get out of the way of the fire and heat of the blast, but its intelligence was far superior to any monster she faced.

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

With a tail swipe, it completely changed the geography of the floor.

"!?!?"

 

"Oh my! How frightening!" said Erebus, being carried by one of his Evilus members. "I didn’t think it would be this much of a force of nature."

 

"That damn thing is powerful!! How the hell could anyone even beat it!" said Lyra.

"Ais!!!! Dammit!! Astraea Familia!! Can you deal with Alfia!!" shouted Riveria in a panic.

"Go on!! We’ll take care of her!!" shouted Alise. "(Arga) (Arvana) (Arvelia)! Everyone!!! Attack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

"Ais!!! Calm down!!" shouted Riveria.

"She can’t hear us!! The dam thing is making so much noise and Ais is blinded by rage!!!" shouted Gareth.

"(Tempest)!!!! (Tempest)!!!!! (Nizel)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

A fortress of black wind covered Ais as she charged forth. The air was so mighty that she flowed in-between the air of the explosions, slashing into the dragon with devastating results. Or as devesting as a Level 2 could make with a double edged skill and magic of a spirit.

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The dragon cried out in pain, a pain it felt when Cirrus had struck it with Gram but this one, this one truly made it feel pain on or just a bit more than him. But between the two Ais' attacks were like being bitten by a Bullet Ant while Cirrus' was like being stabbed and having the knife twisted.

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

It started to get more aggressive towards Ais. This annoying, throbbing pain needs to be stopped with the death of this child.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

And Ais, sadly she—

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!""

"Gah!!!"

Crack!

—Was still not strong enough to bear the strength of such power and—

Crack! CRACK!!

—Neither was her indestructible sword capable of handling it. Even the bones in her arms gained fractures from the strength of her attack. To be able to even harm a monster such as this black beast before her was a power that can easily be the death of her.

"Ais!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" shouted Gareth and Riveria as a breath attack was about to strike Ais.

But a white figure popped popped up.

‘(White Bright) [White Night]!!!’

A flash of intense blinding light filled the floor, causing the dragon to miss its attack and heavily damage the walls of the floor.

"Seems I made it on time!" said Ai, landing before them.

"Ai!!" said Riveria and Gareth, happy to see her to help.

"So this is the Nightmare huh? And…" she looks over to see Alfia off fighting the Astraea Familia. "Nox where is Cirrus?"

She turns back to her human form near Ai.

"He’s on the top of the hole we used to get down here. Circe is already on her way up with potions. He’s almost close to death."

Ai’s heart is filled with anger. Her heart beats loudly, that black flame in her grows more intense.

"Then we will kill this first and then Alfia. Nox, do you have my back?"

"Of course, I won’t let anything happen to you as per his orders."

Nox turned back into an owl and flew back up. Ai stomped her foot onto the ground and got into a drawing stance. A blood-red magic circle appeared under her.

"(Rage. Eighty-thousand men cannot quench my thirst. 

Two arrows pierce my ribs and throat, one swing of the blade.

Today I will live; tomorrow I will not lose my life.

I shall save myself, lament. Tamamo no Mae) [Yonbi Kōgō]!!!!!!!"

Her hair has been dyed in a blood-red tinge that extends down her hips, and her fox tail has been transformed into four tails the same color as her hair, with slit eyes.

"!?!?"

Her appearance shocked and amazed everyone. Her Beastification was different than the normal ones, this was of course due to her being a Renard.

"A-Ai-chan??" said Kaguya, noticing the bloodlust radiating off her.

"Beastification!!" shouted Neze.

"NOW!!!!!!!" Ai shouted out. "LETS KILL THIS FUCKER!!!!!!!!!!!"

She kicked off the ground, breaking the sound barrier and crashing into Delphyne, sending it reeling back with a large gash on its body.

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The dragon flapped its wings, sending cutting winds into the floor when it did.

‘(Grow little starlight of liquidation)! [White Night]!’

Nox’s magic pierced holes into the dragon’s wings.

"(TEMPEST)!!!!!!!!!!!"

Ais’s hatred still did not lament, only burned with the prospect of victory.

 

2nd floor of the dungeon.

"…Ugh…" Cirrus wearily opens his eyes. "…Why do I see red?"