First Contact (Last End)

Serafall had guessed earlier that the demon wasn't a 'demon', as in it did not originate from the Underworld. As someone who oversaw foreign affairs, she had encountered beings that could use chakra.

Lifeforce.

This 'demon' is a construct of pure chakra.

Chakra so potent that it rivaled that of the Nine-Tails. The leader of the West Youkai faction was one of the last people that Serafall wanted to fight against.

And now she had to fight someone who rivaled that power.

Serafall hoped her reasoning for aiming at the skull was correct. She honestly cursed. The skull was where the upper dantian was located. It contains two of seven chakras—the Sahasrara chakra and the Ajna chakra. If the being was a construct of chakra, then she must eliminate the location where the chakra gathered. The Sahasrara chakra was the 'soul' of the being, in which it attains liberation. The chakras from the lower body release their energy and direct it towards the third-eye, the Ajna chakra, and ultimately—the soul.

Serafall guessed that the source of the demon's near infinite chakra was due it being close to liberation. Maybe that was why it decided to fight her, not for her title, but for the chance to achieve liberation and break into another realm of power. Not through the understanding of the natural laws, but through raw strength. It was like the immortal-seeking cultivators of China, but this was simply a guess.

As the blackened arrows penetrated the body of the demon, the tendrils of flesh seemingly pulled the arrows out!

"No way!" Serafall exclaimed as she willed more blackened ice out of existence.

She was the bloody Leviathan!

It was as if the tendrils gave up pulling the ice and resumed its transformation process even faster than before. A mere second later, a clear humanoid form could be discerned. Its face framed by locks of hair, with appendages on its chin reminiscent to that of a Pharaoh's false beard. Serafall hoped that this was its final phase, but just like a certain purple alien, it just had to have more than one form.

The eyes of the humanoid glowed yellow, as red chakra slowly started to gain the shape of armor. A tengu-like mask formed on the humanoid's face, and it clack shut. All that remains were the pair of ominous glowing eyes.

The left arm and its two hands held a ethereal shield while one hand of the right arm held a harmless gourd. But Serafall knew better. She could tell that the demon originated from the East as apparent by its tengu mask and in the eastern culture, the gourd often contained sealing abilities.

Her guess proved to be correct as the demon opened up the gourd with its other hand on the right arm, it sucked the remnants of the imperial palace inside of it. Serafall knew that she had to avoid the gourd no matter what, so she propelled herself using another ice totem to land on the other side of the compound.

"The demon has no long-range capabilities, so I'll just weaken it's defenses until its out of energy." Serafall knew that such a transformation must take a lot of chakra to maintain so she wanted to use the hit-and-run tactic. She had thought of calling help but if she were to explain why she's here… that would be embarrassing so she would rather just use 'that' spell instead, but 'that' spell would be a bit… destructive, more so that Celsius Cross Trigger…

'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!' she complained to herself. Why did she have to care about the mortal realm? Why can't she just cause reckless destruction?!

Serafall was frustrated; she just wanted to get this over with.

Nothing could get through that demon, she tried conjuring up more arrows to fire at the demon but whenever she did, it would just be dissolved by the shield. She had even used fire-based spells on it but the shield nullified it again, not to mention she didn't want to go anywhere the demon.

The Leviathan conjured up multiple serpents, each aiming for a different part of the demon's body.

Three serpents tackled the demon's front while the other six slithered for the back.

As they tried to wrap around the demon, they all started to melt upon contact, it was as if the demon was an indestructible construct.

"At least it doesn't appear to have any offensive capabilities either other than the gourd…"

It was as if fate was messing around with her as the gourd shot out an orange fire. The fire then morphed into the shape of a sword.

"Well…"

The demon then finally started attacking for real.

Despite not having any movement capabilities, the demon aimed it's sword at her and then unexpectedly, it shot straight at her!

Serafall twisted her body to dodge, she didn't expect the sword of fire to just extend like that!

Then the ethereal flames turned ninety degrees at shot at her again!

'How is this possible?!'

Within half a second, she willed an ice totem into existence and smashed it against her body, pushing her just out of reach.

But it wasn't aiming for her!

The ethereal flames went straight for the blonde!

'Shi—'

It was as if space-time contorted, the blonde was forcibly merged with the flames and then he was quickly sucked back into the gourd!

Then for some reason, the blonde appeared within the construct!

'Is he being used as a vessel?' But wouldn't the demon be weaker by possessing an mortal?

The blonde's head was covered in flames, but she saw that the area around the vessel's mouth open.

She concentrated her hearing, and the demon finally spoke.

"You're weak."

Serafall clenched her teeth shut.

"I don't even have to use my perfect form."

"So what?! The only reason why I haven't shattered you into ice is because I care about our environment! I'm not even using my full power!"

Serafall was infuriated, she wasn't just going to let this demon treat her like trash!

"And I am?"

"…"

"Do you think I can't grow out legs and wings to chase after you? Who do you think took your precious item and got away without you realizing for a good while?"

"…"

"Do you have any idea what my regalia can do?"

"…"

"Let's get to the point; you're not worth my time. Until you are, I'll bound your precious item to this vessel, don't even think about messing with this vessel's mind, I've already put up proper protection."

"…"

"And as a display of my power…"

Tendrils that had previously formed the 'flesh' of the skeleton appeared once more, this time enveloping the body entirely into a cocoon shape.

Two red eyes glowed from the cocoon, and then the cocoon exploded!

It burst into flames as visible chakra surged outwards!

The flame-type chakra immediately melted everything in the vicinity! Even the ground ice that had was infused with the power of destruction!

Chakra even surged into a sky like a pillar of pure fire!

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A beautiful woman with long white hair perked up as she sensed something familiar.

Her majestic voice that demanded authority sounded throughout the room.

"Bring my brother here."

Immediately after, a man about the 180 centimeters entered, his hair was blue as it ignored the rules of gravity and flowed in the air.

"What's up ane? I was trying to outfish that stupid crow!"

"Did you give your blessings to someone?"

"No?"

"Can't you sense it?"

"Sense what? My amazing personality?"

"You better not be playing around with your avatar again!"

"What?! I'm not! Ane, where's the trust in your cute brother?!"

The woman then smiled as she remembered something, "If it's not you... then it's one of those hidden masters. They're already preparing themselves. Well, it's expected after all, since they all seek immortality... Clear your schedule for next month."

"Ohhh! Isn't that when the tournament starts?! I wonder if Guan Yu is finally going to come out... He still owes me some fine wine haha!"

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A woman, around her mid-twenties, shot up from her bed.

Her black pupils turned blood red.

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A man with a buzz-cut hairstyle with greenish brown hair color and lavender eyes laid by the beach. Wearing circular sunglasses, an aloha shirt, and a jewel around his neck.

His eyes shot open.

"Didn't I kill off their King? Another one dare flaunt their power? But this power feels quite... similar to me..."

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A woman with a voluptuous figure and long blonde hair and matching eyes turned east, facing Tokyo.

"A chakra level that's comparable to a Nine-Tails? Interesting..."

"Mother!" A cute voice rang as the woman got tackled by a girl less than half her size.

"Yes?"

"Can we go watch this?" The little girl shoved the paper depicting a massive arena to her.

"Of course~"

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Serafall fell on her knees as the giant construct of chakra formed into a full body humanoid with traditional Japanese armor.

The one-eyed tengu stood in the air with its majestic wings and the sword of flames, looking down at her from above like a mighty ruler.

The ethereal shield disappeared, but she knew, whether it be consciously or subconsciously, that the entire body now had the properties of the all-absorbing shield.

It was at that point that Serafall knew.

Unless she were to use her full unrestrained power without a care in the world for anything around her, she would stand no chance against this monster.

And then black flames covered her vision.