55 Chapter 54: I Lose?

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(General P.O.V)

(Unknown Circle of Hell)

Divine lightning fell from the sky, obliterating hundreds of thousands of demons.

Inhuman screams and grunts filled the air.

"Your sight annoys me. Begone!"

Gaea yelled, her hair dancing behind her wildly, eyes glowing with power.

The sky above echoed with her divine might. More charged streaks of light flashed across the gloomy and gray clouds.

"You cannot hide from me Mephisto! I am coming for you!!"

The Earth Goddess roared.

Then,

Krakooooom!!!

Pillars of blinding golden lightning rained down on the barren wasteland, laying waste to innumerable mid rank and low-rank demons.

Only the High ranked ones survived with injuries. Due to the nature of demons, while in Hell there was little they couldn't recover from.

The presence of souls meant that nothing was impossible.

However, to balance that out, death was permanent for them.

Unfortunately for the ones who survived Gaea's attacks, death came for them in the form of hundreds of small portals that appeared beside each High Rank.

And before most could even react, orange daggers shot out, tearing through flesh easily.

For the larger demons, the daggers would explode, blowing up chunks of their bodies.

The Ancient One was relentless in her attacks, matching Gaea's power with ruthless dispatching of their enemies.

Creating these small portals was easy, too bad anything large enough for the two to use to get back to the castle was unavailable.

Mephisto's hold on this reality was undeniable.

Yet for every hundred they mowed down, more Demons took the place of their fallen brethren, incessantly crawling and trampling on their scorched forms in a bid to get closer to the two.

The Ancient One, standing on Gaea's left shoulder wiped the sweat on her forehead.

"There is no end to them. We need to get back to the castle soon or we will fail."

She told the goddess.

They had been fighting for so long...and both of them, were getting exhausted.

This wasn't Gaea's true form. It was just an emanation without her full power.

The Goddess frowned. Then she gave a determined nod.

"I understand. Hold on."

The Earth Mother raised her hands, her form glowing brighter than a star.

The Demons rushing forward stopped in place, heads turned up in stunned silence.

Then one High Rank, backed away, before turning around and flapping it's wings, escaping to the opposite direction of Gaea.

Something that hadn't happened before.

Terror spread across the horde of millions. A few smarter Demons followed the High Rank's example and began to run away.

"Too late for that."

The Ancient One intoned, accessing the Time Stone and slowing down time within a large area.

The demons' movements got sluggish, as if they were moving through a thick viscous liquid.

Then Gaea's move was finally completed. She pulled in all her power, compressed it then unleashed the full weight of her divinity.

An explosion of emerald energy burst out. The wave of power heavy and widespread, quickly drowning the demons under its effects.

Thousands, hundreds of thousands...millions disappeared, their atoms shredded out of existence entirely.

Soon after, the dust and smoke settled, revealing something shocking.

Nothing remained standing as far as the eye could see.

High Rank, middle rank or low rank. It didn't matter, every single one of them was gone.

Drifting as ash in the hot atmosphere.

But it wasn't without a cost. Gaea's aura dimmed. Her chest rose up in harsh breaths. And she couldn't keep herself in mid air anymore.

Her body descended, landing on the ground with a massive quake, before taking a knee.

The Ancient One jumped off her shoulder, turning to face her with concern etched on her face.

"You shouldn't have done that. We can't have you exhausted my lady."

Gaea's body pulsed. And then, it shrunk on itself. Before long, The Ancient One wasn't facing a giant voluptuous female goddess.

This new Gaea still retained her beauty and influence. Only her form was more compact, smaller.

"I'm fine Yao. Your concern is appreciated."

Gaea responded, getting to her feet.

While not as tall as before, she still towered a little over the Sorcerer Supreme.

The Ancient One stared at her for a few short seconds, before stepping back with a small head bow.

"If you say so, Lady Gaea."

"I do."

Gaea responded, staring at the direction to Mephisto's castle. Anger marred her features.

"And now, I believe we have wasted precious time here. It's time to save my champion and crush that impertinent Demon."

"Then I believe I can help with that."

A new voice cut in.

Immediately, the Ancient One lashed out with an attack.

Dimensional energy roared out of her, manifesting as miniature concentrated dark suns that flew into the air towards the source of the voice.

Her attack was answered in equal measure. A flame breath that collided against the Dark Dimension's spell.

An explosion of untold might rippled out, both energies reacting violently. Like oil and fire.

Only for the resulting energy to immediately die out with a simple wave of Gaea's hand, before it could do any damage.

"Who are you demon?"

The Ancient One demanded, hands lighting up with more power. Her skin gained black veins across her neck.

Gaea narrowed her eyes at the Sorcerer Supreme but said nothing. There were more important matters to deal with for now.

For example, the new stranger.

A huge form tucked it's wings in, gliding down onto the ground.

A bone dragon.

And on it's back was a skeleton on fire. It wore a black leather jacket, studded gloves and black chains that were wrapped around his shoulders.

"Who? me? You can call me...Johnny."

The Skeleton answered.

(Billy's P.O.V)

You know what?

I was wrong.

This wasn't going to be hard at all.

Case in point...

"Stay in place you little thief!!"

The huge Dragon bellowed, the sound crashing again my Ice Unit as I flipped backwards.

My feet landed on the walls of the pit. Red energy covered the Ice Unit's legs, giving me immense strength that when I took a leap, cracks were left on the wall.

The Unit cut through the air at subsonic speeds.

Mephisto wound around the pit after missing me, changing trajectory and coming back around for another attack.

My Ice Cleaver clashed against his claws, the sound like metal shredding apart. Sparks flew out.

Then the Unit changed states, becoming water that quickly flowed up the claws, the limb, past the wings and onto his back.

A prime position to land the killing blow.

The water reformed into the ice Unit, and the Cleaver in my hands came falling down onto his neck.

Then his body disappeared into smoke.

But I was ready for him now. Using the new control over water I had, my ice Unit shifted into a third state.

Cold mist.

Tiny water droplets that dispersed into the air at a temperature lower than the surroundings.

The droplets evaporated quickly, though not before absorbing heat from the air in the Pit and lowering temperatures even further.

Mephisto's smoky form tried to escape and reform elsewhere, only for my white gaseous form to clash with his dark gaseous state.

The gaseous collision melded the two of us, a black and white cloud with two consciousness fighting for supremacy.

The cold won out, freezing parts of the smoke into a solid state.

Almost immediately, there was the sound of something shattering as frozen parts of his body fell to the ground.

"No! What are you doing?!"

The Hell Lord demanded, his real face reforming in the air, attached to the smoke.

So he could do partial transformations huh?

So can I.

"Killing you."

I answered, temporarily reforming the cold mist into the Ice Unit's mouth.

Then ice daggers shot out, on a direct path with his face.

His head dispersed into smoke, dodging the ice daggers.

Then the smoke ignited into dark-orange hell flames.

Shit. The move was too fast for me to react to!!

Pain!

Agony!

I couldn't help but scream as my gas form was immediately set on hellfire.

I reformed into a half melted Ice Unit, the hellflames burning across the left side of my body.

I couldn't keep myself in the air anymore so I fell down.

"Hahahaha! You got cocky little thief!!"

Mephisto said, swooping down after me.

I felt his Claws puncture through the chest of my Ice Unit. Another fresh wave of pain rocked me and I couldn't help but cry out in agony.

He flew closer to the ground, pressing the Ice Unit onto the floor of the pit face first. The ice chipped off into shards that quickly evaporated into the air due to the heat.

"Raarghh!! Your torment has just begun!"

Mephisto laughed in sadistic glee, slamming me onto the walls of the pit.

The Ice Unit was nothing more than a a leg, a hand, half of the torso and half of it's head once he was done.

The rest of it's body was either melted by the hell flames or shattered due to the heavy strikes.

"How quickly the tables have turned on you, little thief."

The Demonic- Dragon taunted, it's face close to my broken form.

It cocked it's head to the side, laughter rumbling out of it's chest.

"It's a pity."

The claws around the Unit squeezed. More cracks spread out. My mouth opened in silent agony.

"I still have no idea who you are...or who sent you. And I sense no soul within you."

He mused.

Then opened his jaw wide. A dark orange glow appeared deep within his throat.

"No matter! I have a soul to devour and intruders to deal with! To hell with you Golem!"

Death...was coming to me.

Even after I had promised myself I wasn't going to lose.

Even after the mission and the reward waiting for me if I completed it...

I was still going to die.

Psych.

How laughable. Die to a bitch like Mephisto? Someone who while cunning and tricky, actually sucked when it came to a one on one battle?

He'd struggled against Gaea despite the fact that this was his dimension. All that power...and he fell for it.

The first indication that something was wrong was the sudden decrease in temperature. The claws around me tightened as the Dragon's narrowed.

Cold air blew around us.

"Oi,"

I said through the Unit, extending a shaky hand forward...and then...I touched Mephisto's claws.

Ice spread out fast, seeping into his flesh.

KRAAAK!!!

The frozen claw shattered into pieces of ice that hang around me.

"Chasing after you was getting boring...so I pretended to be overwhelmed...all so that you would get closer."

The Dragon flapped it's wings trying to fly away.

"You're not escaping." I refused.

The ice around me shifted into dozens of ice spikes that flew forward, tearing through the fleshy part of his wings.

Mephisto yelled in pain.

Instantly all the water molecules I had dispersed across the pit during the fight, converged on our position.

The Dragon widened it's eyes as it finally realized the ruse. There was no more escape.

So it wound it's head back for a last desperate move.

The heat brimming within it's maw launched out towards my body in a concentrated blast of dragon breath.

But I had anticipated that.

I pushed the Ice Unit's forearm into his mouth, the ice glowing red with Hercules' special brand of energy.

Using it this way was somewhat a disservice to the Demigod of Strength and I suspected he wouldn't be happy if he ever came to know.

However as long as I Won this...I didn't care.

A flex of my will and the icy limb grew spurs and thorns that tore through Mephisto's jaws.

The flame breath clashed against the ice in his mouth and failed to melt through.

The enhancement from Hercules' Legacy made the ice almost unbreakable.

"That was your last chance."

I told him, smiling within. Dark glee at dominating a Hell-Lord burning inside my consciousness.

The ice mist under my control, swirled around the Demonic Dragon, cutting through his form and freezing parts of his body.

He shifted into his smoky form.

Yet the ice tornado was inescapable. The smoke froze and shattered into shards of black ice.

Still, Mephisto was a Hell-Lord.

His remains changed shapes yet again. This time his true body appeared within the ice tornado, wearing a torn up red suit across his lithe form.

His hands clawed at the air, with a desperate expression on his face.

He said something but I couldn't hear him over the whistling winds.

Hell flames launched out of his hands as he tried to burn his way out of the icy tornado.

Unfortunately for him, that only exhausted his power even faster. His movements slowed down. His limbs locked down as Ice creeped up the limbs.

Hatred in his eyes... Mephisto stared at me.

The promise of vengeance burning in his dark orbs.

Leaving an enemy like him alive was not just a dumb idea, it was a monumentally stupid idea.

That decides it then. I stared back at him.

And signed off on his death. The ice tornado immediately collapsed onto his body. Mephisto flash froze instantly, eyes wide with surprise.

Then I shattered the ice into small pieces. Then I shattered those small pieces into even smaller shards. Then those shards into dust. Then that dust into powder.

Then that powder into crystal particulates that drifted into the air towards me.

I reached out and... absorbed them onto the Ice Unit. Letting them escape into the air of Hell would only see him reforming.

This way, there truly was no escape for him.

A text box appeared in my vision.