The dust, heavy and laden with the sll of burnt sulfur, finally began to dissipate under the effect of the unstable air currents generated by the explosion. In the center of the room, the debris from the basaltic pillars bore witness to the violence of the previous shock. Klein stood straight, his black katana in hand, his dark coat barely stained by the ash. Beside him, Nox Walpurgy displayed a disconcerting nonchalance, playing with the red lightning that danced between his gloved fingers. Both seed unhard, protected by their respective auras against the blast that should have reduced them to pieces.
Facing them, the entity that now inhabited Akazel’s body floated a few centiters above the vitrified floor. Belzebub’s gaze, of abyssal and malevolent depth, fixed intensely on Klein.
"You are the only human who keeps bothering since Constantine... and the only one I will co to kill personally," declared Belzebub in a voice that seed to resonate from the depths of hell.
Suddenly, a sinister cracking sound rang out in the oppressive silence of the base. Akazel’s body, which served as a receptacle for the entity, began to crack in a spectacular manner. Dark and throbbing veins appeared on his neck and temples, while shreds of skin detached to reveal black and corrupted flesh. The base director’s carnal envelope was far too frail to contain the raw power of the Lord of the Flies. The re fact that Belzebub had uttered his words of threat with such murderous intent had caused a surplus of magical pressure that the corpse could not withstand.
Belzebub let out a grunt of frustration. He felt the molecular structure of his host collapsing under the weight of his mana. If he continued to deploy his true strength, the body would explode in a few seconds, sending him back prematurely into the Abyss.
Consequently, he was forced to stabilize his energy, drastically reducing its production to less than five percent of his total power. The crushing aura that weighed on the room lightened slightly, but the threat remained no less deadly.
Belzebub once again turned his attention to them, then simply raised his right hand, whose fingers transford into a swarming mass of chitin. A dull buzzing filled the space, intensifying until it beca a shrill scream. Thousands of jet-black flies burst forth, forming a swirling cloud around him.
With a brusque gesture, he hurled the swarm toward the two n. These creatures did not rely sting; they possessed a property of absolute putrefaction. Wherever the cloud passed, reality seed to wither. The stone slabs touched by the insects blackened instantly, crumbling into fetid dust. The air itself beca charged with the sll of a decomposing corpse, a stench so strong that it would have made any ordinary warrior faint. Klein reacted imdiately.
< Aura Coating >
A film of bluish aura enveloped his body, acting as a filter against the ambient corruption. He did not waste a mont and used the mobility offered by his combat style.
< Dash >
He propelled himself to the side, narrowly avoiding the heart of the swarm. An isolated fly brushed against the fabric of his coat, and Klein watched in horror as the leather dissolved and liquefied in a second, leaving a trace of rot on the garnt.
Nox, for his part, did not seek to flee. His reptilian black eyes shone with a dented gleam as the red discharges around him intensified.
The red lightning burst from his body, striking Belzebub’s flies head-on. With each contact, the insects were not simply killed, they were disintegrated, erased from existence by Nox’s destructive mana that nullified everything it touched. However, for each fly destroyed, Belzebub generated dozens more from Akazel’s flesh.
The fight truly began at that mont. Belzebub, despite his restriction, moved with a nightmarish fluidity. He appeared before Klein in a blur of movent, striking with an arm surrounded by a blade of compressed flies.
Klein used his < Eye of Perception > to anticipate the trajectory of the attack. He spun his black katana with surgical precision.
< Art: Sundering Eclipse – Second Movent: Quarter Moon >
The clash between the aura blade and the mass of putrefaction caused a shockwave that shattered the last mana crystals in the room. Trails of aura remained suspended in the air, forming secondary blades that attempted to slice the demon. Belzebub used part of his swarm to block the attack’s replicas, the flies sacrificing themselves to absorb the shock.
Belzebub launched a new wave of insects toward Klein’s face, who had to retreat abruptly, using < Aura Repulsion > to create a bubble of pressure that dispersed the putrefaction flies.
"Nox! You should get serious," Klein shouted over the buzzing of the wings.
Nox, who had just leaped onto a pillar to avoid a column of black flas launched by the demon, replied: "I feel like I’m going to have a lot of fun," Nox shouted, a mad smile beginning to form on his face.
Despite his mad words, Nox took action. He joined his hands, accumulating a phenonal amount of energy between his palms. The air around him contracted, the red lightning becoming so dense that they seed to form a sphere of void.
< Art of Babylon: Singularity of Blood >
He hurled the sphere toward Belzebub. The projectile crossed the cloud of flies, ironically putrefying them with a massive dose of destructive energy before reaching the Demonic Prince. Belzebub was forced to use his arm to parry the blow. The impact was devastating: Akazel’s limb was literally vaporized, leaving only a smoking stump that imdiately began to regenerate thanks to the swarm.
Taking advantage of the opening created by Nox, Klein rushed forward again. He concentrated all his aura in his legs and his blade.
< Dash >
He appeared behind Belzebub, aiming for the point where the demonic mana was most unstable. His black blade sliced through the demon’s shoulder, sinking deep into the corrupted flesh. Belzebub’s black blood splattered the floor, causing an imdiate hiss of corrosion.
Belzebub turned around, an icy fury distorting his face. In a single movent, the flies remaining in the room converged toward him, agglutinating on his body to form a living and putrid chitin armor, while his eyes lit up with an unbearable violet glow.
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