Chapter 37A: Versus Enigma VI: The Unbeatable Duo (Perspective: Lilicia)
"I wasn't expecting to run into the younger brats of Pandemonium and Thanatos," The girl that I presume was the aforementioned Cammy-san says as she wipes blood off her lips.
"Did you think I would sit on the sidelines when Onee-sama and Yuichi-niisama were fighting for their lives?" I can't help but feel insulted, I won't forgive those who target the ones most precious to me, "You scum have done no less than three things that have upset me," I exclaim as I glare at the goth girl who has already got injuries all over her body.
"Three things?" Elizabeth-san asks from behind me.
"One, you brought so many people who are precious to me into this alternate dimension in the first place. Two, you nearly killed Elizabeth-san with your own hands." I take a deep breath before I recite the final and most important point, "Three, that announcement addressed me as Lilicia Pandemonium, instead of Lilicia Shiro!" I glare at the woman in front of me with one hundred percent of my hostility focused into my gaze. I can feel everyone else, both friend and foe, staring at me in wonder for some reason.
"Lilicia-chan, why on earth do you want to take up that pervert's name?" My best friend, Tsubaki-chan, asks in shock, "He has absolutely nothing good to him whatsoever." She chides.
"Indeed, I could understand if you wanted to take up the name Kirei, but why Shiro?" Elizabeth-san nods to herself, she really has grown fond of him, I never thought I'd see the day. Well, I think Ren-san is cool too, I can remember the time he became a human anomaly when he bravely faced danger. But he still isn't on the high level that is Yuichi-niisama.
"I cannot describe Yuichi-niisama's wonderfulness with words alone. His kindness, his radiance, and his gentleness are not things that can be taught." I explain, I liked him the first time I ever laid my eyes on him.
"Hahhh," Cammy-san sighs as she stares at me, "The first two things aside, will this make you feel better?" She clicks her fingers and then.
"Fight updates! Cammy Leon Versus Elizabeth Cerberus, Lilicia Shiro, and Tsubaki Thanatos!" The announcement corrects, much better, I nod my head in satisfaction.
"Well then, shall we get back to it?" Cammy-san asks as a confident smile returns to her face, "If I defeat all three of you, Stella will praise me even more!" She screams as her body vanishes.
"Tch, well I originally only came here because there was the chance Carrisa came, but there is no way I can let some fake anomaly walk all over someone from the three families, can I?" Tsubaki-chan says as she leaves Elizabeth-san's side and stands next to me, we're both holding our scythes in our hands.
"Be careful! That girl can shoot acid, mask her presence and many other things. But she can only hold the invisibility for so long before she reappears. You should..." Elizabeth-san begins to explain the characteristics of our faux anomaly opponent. Suddenly some kind of green projectile starts flying towards Tsubaki-chan and I, the speed is fast but hardly unavoidable. We both step one huge stride back and the green projectile hits the floor, that starts sizzling. I see, this is the acid Elizabeth-san was talking about. However, maybe due to the damage Elizabeth-san gave her earlier, but her attacks seem almost dull.
"If she can turn invisible, then we'll just have to make her visible, Tsubaki-chan," I state as I activate my specialised earth elemental reaper technique to gather parts of the ground and crumble them away into innumerable small, yet still visible deposits.
"Oh, I see," Tsubaki-chan says with a smile as she activates one of her wind elemental reaper techniques and lightly blows the small ground deposits through the air.
I then notice an unnatural movement of the deposits, they are heading straight for me at a high velocity. I quickly predict the trajectory and sidestep out the way before grabbing at the area that it just passed by, my hand feels a disgusting slimy object.
"Wha! WHAT!?" Cammy-san exclaims as her body regains its visibility. The object that I am holding is her extended tongue. Cammy tries to continuously pull it back but I just further secure my grip.
"You maybe able to turn invisible but you still disturb the surroundings with your movement," I explain.
"That dirt your blowing around!" She shouts in shock.
"We're using it to track your movements," Tsubaki-chan says with a smile.
"Together Tsubaki-chan and I are more than capable of dragging you out of the shadows, you've picked the wrong opponents," I state as I manipulate a pointy chunk of earth to extend out of the ground to try and pierce Cammy's body.
Cammy still unable to move due to me holding her tongue suddenly roughly closes her jaw shut and the tongue I'm holding suddenly feels loose and falls to the ground. Cammy, having severed her own tongue, quickly jumps out of the way of my earth spike as her body turns invisible again.
"I guess she still hasn't learned, Lilicia-chan," Tsubaki-chan states.
"Right, she hasn't learnt that there is no hiding place from us." I reply.
Several streams of acid is shot at us but we skilfully avoid them with minimal movement. A quick sudden movement of the deposits heading towards me, I block with my scythe as I notice a large stream near me and a smaller amount going for my body, from the recoil I can tell she just tried to attack me directly herself.
"Lilicia, Tsubaki!" Elizabeth-san calls out from behind as she tries to get to her feet.
"It's fine, just leave it to us," I state confidently, as I notice the deposits acting in a way that I recognise from earlier, she's using her tongue again and it's heading for Tsubaki-chan. Like before I intercepts with my hand grabbing hold of it. Cammy-san once again is trying to pull it free. I quickly loop my scythe around her tongue several times as I smold the tongue together using fire I've gathered in my palm. Fire elements are more the Cerberus family's speciality, but that doesn't mean that I can't use them. I then release my grip as Cammy-san's tongue withdraws to its owner with my scythe attached to it.
"Checkmate," I state coldly, I'm glad Yuichi-niisama isn't here right now. I wouldn't want him seeing me as being a violent girl.
"GAAAHHH!" My spinning scythe lodges itself into Cammy-san, "Ste...lla..." She mutters weakly as she falls on her side into a small puddle of blood. She's an anomaly, so this wouldn't be enough to kill her, but I wasn't after her life to begin with, just incapacitating her is more than enough.
"Cammy Leon has been defeated!" The announcement confirms our victory.
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Chapter 37B: Versus Enigma VI: Carrisa's True Genius (Perspective: Alicia)
"Rose, Lily?" I address the two girls standing the other side of Carrisa.
"We have come to stop her from defiling our name any further," Rose states as her eyes fire up with determination, "Onee-sama, not only have you abandoned the Underworld, but you have degraded yourself and us by following a swine. I shall not let you trample on our pride any further."
"Rose, out of my sisterly love I'll let those insults to my master slide this once. My goal is only Gungnir-Mjölnir if you stay out of my way, I'll leave you be," Carrisa states as a hint of anger emits from her voice, most likely due to Rose insulting that masked man. "That goes for you two as well, Alicia, Lily. Cooperate and there will no longer be a need for this current conflict."
Alma stares at me as if she is asking what am I going to do, the answer is obvious though. "Do you really expect me to go along with your selfishness, Carrisa? I don't know what you are your so called master are after by collecting Gungnir-Mjölnir but I know nothing good will come of it. I'll fight you to the bitter end, Carrisa. As someone I used to look up to as my role model this is the best I can do for you. I won't let you drag yourself down any further."
"Nya ha ha, Onee-chan, is being really hated." Lily says playfully, she never takes anything seriously.
"And I likewise shall not hand you my soul slayer. This is a precious memento of my sister, you'll have to pull it out of my cold hands!" Alma screams, our views are united as we each glare at the former prodigy of the Thanatos family.
"Then negotiations are over, but you'll be the ones to regret my peaceful solution," Carrisa says with a sigh as she grips hold of her scythe even tighter. "I never wished to spill the blood of my family, but so be it."
Carrisa's ten Photon Options all concerntrate their attacks on her two younger siblings. As the white beams shoot out Lily and Rose's own Photon Options shoot out pink and blue lights respectively. Like before, the beams collide against each other and rebound in random directions.
"Alicia-san, we'll keep Onee-sama's Photon Options out of the picture so don't concern yourselves with them and attack her without reservation," Rose states pridefully.
Both Rose and Lily are using five Photon Options each allowing them to balance out against Carrisa's own ten.
"Right!" I shout as I nod towards Alma, who returns my gaze and then running alongside me towards Carrisa.
Carrisa brandishes her scythe and faces me and Alma whilst her ten Photon Options are facing and continuously shooting their beams at Rose and Lily. The three different colour lasers colliding and rebounding constantly, the bright colours giving off the impression of something akin to fireworks.
*Ching Ching!* - Alma and I swing our respective weapons at Carrisa who skilly deflects our attacks even though she is still preoccupied with her Photon Options.
I quickly gather and shoot a ball of lightning at her, Carrisa dodges to the side and charges at us again whilst brandishing her scythe.
"Alma, cover me for a moment!" I shout as a plan instantly comes to mind, Alma looks at me a bit confused but she doesn't refuse my order. Alma guards herself and me from Carrisa's scythe as I brandish my own, however my target is not Carrisa. I slice my scythe through several of the white tentacles that are basically the power lines connecting Carrisa to her Photon Options.
"What!?" Carrisa exclaims, when I cut the tentacles they shredded briefly but they quickly took their original forms. However, the delay I created by temporarily disabling the power lines stalled Carrisa's Photon Options for a fraction of a second. "URGH!" Without the fire power of the Photon Options I temporarily severed Lily and Rose were able to get a direct shot on Carrisa.
Carrisa quickly jumps to one side to regain her fighting posture as she ignores the blood flowing down her left shoulder.
"Tch, although she took several attacks from those Photon Options it only gave her a minor wound," Alma grunts.
"Like it or not, Carrisa was born to the Thanatos family. Although she isn't immune she does have some resistance to the attacks of the Photon Options," I explain.
"This is the second time you've managed to hurt me. I must say I wasn't expecting this kind of turn of events. But Rose, Lily, the power output of each of your Photon Options is very much sub par. If between the three of you, you cannot make up for my absence, then the current Thanatos has no future." Carrisa declares
"Nya ha ha, you're being a sore loser, onee-chan," Lily jokes without any hint of worry.
"That's right, even without you we can look after the future of Thanatos." Rose states with a voice mixed with pride and disdain.
"If you say that much, then I won't bring the topic up again, but you know that the power scales have tilted considerably. If those two are going to make their move, now would be the prime time." I can't help but feel a drop of sweat trickle down my neck as I hear Carrisa's eerie words. "But regardless, now is the time I should put you each in your place."
Several more streams of white light shoot forth out of Carrisa's back as the menacing eyes join to them. Carrisa created an additional four Photon Options.
"Fourteen..." I quietly whisper in shock from this sudden revelation. All four of us stare on in utter disbelief from Carrisa's demonstration of power. How could I have been so naïve, I thought Carrisa's maximum number of Photon Options was ten. Carrisa is her father's equal? No, hasn't she already completely surpassed him?
"Were you expecting my power growth to have been at a standstill when I left the Underworld?" She smiles confidently, far from being at a standstill its sky-rocketed. Her fourteen Photon Options each begin gathering power and they all turn their sights on Rose and Lily.
Once again the white, blue, and pink beams collide but this time there is more white beams than there are blue and pink combined. The extra white beams collide with other white beams that would otherwise be steered into hitting nothing, however the rebounds change the trajectory.
"KYAAAA!"
"NYAAAA!"
"Rose! Lily!" I shout as Carrisa's two younger sisters fall to the ground with their clothes soaked in their own blood. "How could you!? Your own little sisters, CARRISA!" I charge at her with my scythe as I shoot several streams of powerful lightning at her, my anger powering up my techniques. Alma too shoots her own electricity at Carrisa as her eyes grow even angrier than my own. However the Photon Options deflect every single attack we throw at her.
"I tried to negotiate," Carrisa states bitterly, "However my orders take priority to even my own flesh and blood!" She exclaims as her Photon Options direct their attention to Alma and I, "Now it's your turn." The white lights released balance off each other continuously like a pinball machine at a high speed my eyes cannot adjust to their movements.
"Gyaaah!"
"Urghhhh!"
Several of the white lights suddenly pierce through us in several places on our bodies. Then interior burning sensation of the Photon Option's lasers instantly knocks me to my knees, Alma falls face down on the ground, she was hit a lot harsher than I was.
"Guuuh!" I try to pull myself back onto my feet but my hands slip due to the pain and I fall back to the ground.
Carrisa casually grabs Gungnir-Mjölnir out of the pained Alma's hand. "With this my mission objective is complete," She nods to herself as she glances over her newly stolen soul slayer.
"Curse you..." I grunt weakly as the only weapon I can use against her is my glare.
"You truly have grown, Alicia," Carrisa smiles as she looks over at the wounds she has received. "The fact that you fought me four to one aside, that last tactic you used was really ingenious. I didn't expect that I would have to reveal one of my trump cards in this battle. Well, fortunately for all of you, I didn't have a need to play my last one." Carrisa's smile broadens even wider as a dark mist appears just above her hand. Within that mist is a large single, closed, green book. Wait that's...
"Carrisa...you can...?" I feel my body tremble from something other than the pain. I never imagined that she could even use that. Rose and Lily also begin shaking intensely as they lay their eyes on the ominous sight.
"Onee-sama...you..." Rose's voice stutters from the shock and fear
"Nya..." Even Lily who is always happy go lucky knows the true danger of what Carrisa is holding.
"Well that was just a demonstration to reward your achievements today, although the winner was set in stone from the beginning." The book and its dark mist soon dissipate into nothingness as Carrisa turns her back on us and walks off casually swinging Gungnir-Mjölnir back and forth.
I failed again...
From the very beginning, the illusion of us beating her, it was only to stay as an illusion.
"Damn it..." I exclaim in frustration as my will that forced my body to stay upright gives out and I lie face down on the cold floor whilst cursing my own weakness.
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Chapter 37C: Versus Enigma VI: A New Conflict Begins
That goth girl Cammy Leon has just been defeated and one of the barriers surrounding us disappears to show this.
"It looks like you Enigma punks aren't as powerful as you think you are! As soon as this barrier is gone I'm going to defeat you in the most beautiful way a man can!" I provoke whilst glaring at Stella, who is looking on at the screen at the defeated Cammy.
"Enigma is through," Shiori-sempai adds on, but Stella isn't listening to any of it.
"Cammy..." Stella's expression looks sad for a moment, but it instantly changes into one a lot more intense as she finally changes her line of sight back to us, "I never expected you vermin to harm my dear Cammy. It looks like you'll get your wish of a fight with me much sooner than you thought, Yuichi Shiro." Her expression turns ghastly even though she is now smiling again, just what does she mean.
Stella holds her arms horizontally outstretched to her sides as her eyes open so wide I wouldn't surprise me if her eyeballs fell out. Her smile is stretched and is as thin as fishing line. Everything about her just screams out to me insanity.
"My soul is one that is of a fleeting dream."
"False, delusional, and hallucinogenic."
"Imagination is my only escape from the harsh reality."
"And my beliefs will turn my illusions into my truth!"
Suddenly all the remaining barriers disappear, although one small one suddenly appears out of nowhere and traps Shiori-sempai.
"Shuren-sama doesn't wish for his sister to die, so I'll have you stay safe in there, Shiori Azusa," Stella states as her power emanates wildly and her cold gaze gives off the feeling of death. Shiori-sempai has lost her soul slayer so it's probably for the best that she is within that barrier.
A screen then appears in front of Stella, "Ark, retrieve Cammy, and Slots, and regroup with Gemini. Leave the remaining opponents to me and leave the dimension." Stella's voice radiates throughout the sky, she's giving orders of retreat to the guy who beat the three wielders without breaking a sweat. The screen disappears and Stella directs her attention onto me.
"I guess I'll deal with you before I clean up the trash who hurt my dear Cammy!" Stella says with her voice filled with hostility.
"Do you honestly think I'm going to let you anywhere near them? Sorry, but I've been frustrated ever since you started this demented game. So I hope your ready, the price of angering the beautiful is a dear one!" I declare my intention.
"My apologies, Yuichi Shiro. But I too am going to have to join this fight," A boy's voice says in a calm tone and before I even notice a blond haired boy, probably a bit younger than me, is standing by my side. Wait, I recognise him, although I have yet to have the chance to actually talk with him. "The number of complaints I have with this woman are far from few."
I smile in acknowledgement as I brandish my silver sword. "Don't slow me down," I order.
"Right back at ya!" He smiles confidently.
"I see, so your the reason those girls were able to force their way into this dimension. Very well, my anger has plenty to go around, you can die together!" Stella shouts confidently.
"Stella versus Yuichi Shiro and Reno Cerberus!" The announcement declares. I'm going to teach this girl a lesson she won't forget.