Chapter 86: Frost Reaper

I truly believed I was about to die...

I had so many questions about the exchange I just heard, but I wasn't sure if Iris would be here in time. Meanwhile, the Oracle was screaming obscenities at Iris and yelling at someone named Abbadon.

Right now, the mere thought of the Oracle made me feel nothing but seething hatred.

Hatred that could swallow a world.

I wanted to tear her apart...

And hopefully, I would...

That is, if I survived this battle.

Kazuma seemed to be preparing to strike me. The tip of his claw moved to my forehead and it began to heat up.

As soon as the flickering around us stopped, Kazuma looked around.

"What was...hmm... That was a strange feeling... Deja vu...?" He said.

Then he looked back at me.

The air around my body began to greatly heat up and then...

It started feeling cold.

REALLY COLD.

Suddenly, Kazuma looked up as several icicles and iron thorns shot straight for him.

He threw me to the ground and leaped backward. As he did, iron chains and spikes shot from the ground in an attempt to bind and skewer him.

"So the cavalry has arrived... I was wondering if you would show up, Frost Reaper."

After I hit the ground, Isabella immediately crawled over to me and held me against her.

"Grand heal...!" She said somewhat weakly.

She continued to heal me as Dante stepped in front of us with the remaining Enforcers.

"Leiso, Gavin, and Michael. Go help Carlos. If possible, kill Elizabeth with extreme prejudice. I'll handle Kazuma," Dante said.

Immediately, the three of them ran off to deal with Elizabeth.

I hadn't been paying much attention, but the area where they were fighting was an infernal hellscape at this point...

Due to the presence of civilians, it was more than likely that Carlos was losing badly at this point.

Dante looked back at me and shook his head.

"Thank Iris you're still alive, you two. Stay back and let me handle this."

As if...we're in any condition to protest...?

Isabella continued to cast Grand Heal on me until the bleeding from my missing arm and other wounds had stopped. Then she began to tear off pieces of her clothing as well as mine to patch me up...

Damn it all...how am I supposed to fight from now on with only one arm!?

I silently wondered if Iris would be able to fix it. I hoped so...

"Dante...I'm glad that I finally get to kill you," Kazuma said.

"I am far stronger than I was all those years ago. You'll find me more than a match for your power at this point, Kazuma."

"Then shall we begin...? I'm itching to turn you to ashes. After that, I can finally deal with the rest of your pathetic allies once I'm finished."

After the exchange, I saw something truly amazing.

When Dante fought in the sports arena, he cloaked himself in armor and made a scythe out of ice...

It never occurred to me that he wasn't even using his Ultra Aspect that day.

Shadows began to gather around Dante as his flesh melted away.

I felt a truly oppressive force wash over the area as he was cloaked in a black robe.

The robe shifted in darkness and was further bolstered by icy armor.

Dante held out a skeletal hand and a scythe of bone and ice formed that radiated darkness.

The Frost Reaper.

Truly...such a thing might even be more terrifying to face than the shadow dragon, herself...

"You will regret harming our allies, Psycho Demon Kazuma!" Dante said with a voice that sounded raspy and menacing.

Thank the Creator he's on our side...

Dante stomped the ground and a dark pulse of shadow and ice erupted all around him. A wall of clear ice further strengthened by bones formed around and over us.

Kazuma reached his hand out and pulled Dante to him, but as soon as he did, Dante disappeared into shadows and reappeared behind him. He slashed with his massive scythe and Kazuma barely blocked it with his claws.

We felt the impact despite it being in mid-air.

At once, Kazuma exploded with fire and slashed at Dante rapidly with his burning claws.

Dante evaded the strikes and several shards of bone and ice erupted from the ground at Kazuma.

Dante was laughing as he did this.

Kazuma responded by launching himself into the air to avoid the attack and Dante sprouted wings of bone and ice. He flew up after him and they fought in the sky.

The explosive exchange was something I didn't think I could ever forget.

Ice and hellfire constantly flying back and forth. Shadow, bone, explosions...

It was hard to tell exactly what was happening.

Eventually, Kazuma grabbed Dante with his psychic power and threw him into the ground. He flew down after him as a massive hand of bone and shadow reached out of the ground to strike.

Kazuma stopped and crushed it with his psychokinesis. Then Dante appeared behind him with his scythe raised.

"DEATH FINDS YOU!" Dante shouted just before slicing off one of Kazuma's wings.

After that, Kazuma teleported away and summoned several massive orbs of hellfire.

"DIE, FROST REAPER! BURN IN HELLFIRE!!!"

He brought the fireballs down on Dante and instead of impacting him, they were met with a barrage of bone shards, shadow tendrils, and icicles.

"So many of our allies...our friends and treasured Attendants...our researchers... You killed them all. Their souls cry out for revenge. They will have it," Dante said.

He let loose a pulse of shadow and all of a sudden, hands began rising from the ground.

They were...people...

All of them...humanoid forms made entirely of shadow with glowing blue eyes.

Dante is even capable...OF RAISING THE DEAD!?

Isabella and I watched in both horror and amazement as hundreds of shadows charged at Kazuma in a furious rage.

He began radiating more hellfire and slashing at them before they could get him. Some of them leaped onto his back and gnawed at his neck and horns.

Soon, he was covered in them as they tried desperately to devour his flesh.

All the while Dante was fueling their rampage.

"ANNOYING! THE DEAD HAVE NO PLACE ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE, YOU DAMN MONSTER!"

Who's the real monster, here? I mean seriously!

"These are our allies. The people that you have slain. They will serve our cause one last time before their souls are returned to the land of death," Dante said.

Kazuma erupted into a tornado of fire and incinerated the shadows.

When he emerged, he was covered in bite marks and scratches. His severed wings began slowly growing back as his other wounds regenerated.

Kazuma raised his hands and the ground violently shook.

Among the flames rising from the ground, huge amounts of debris began to block out the sky.

"I'll CRUSH YOU INTO DUST, FROST REAPER!!!"

"YOU CANNOT ESCAPE DEATH, PSYCHO DEMON!!!"

As Dante spoke, the ground erupted into bones and shards of ice.

Kazuma unleashed the tremendous amount of debris in his psychic grasp as numerous bones and icicles shot from the ground.

Among them, the shadows themselves began to move and eviscerate everything in their path.

Hellfire mixed with ice, shadow, and bone violently exploded in the area. We watched helplessly as Kazuma and Dante fought tooth and nail. All within the cloud of pure chaos.

Dante formed multiple scythes of shadow to strike at Kazuma from all angles as he exploded into fire. He parried the scythes with his claws as he tried desperately to strike Dante...

Unfortunately...Kazuma and Dante seemed evenly matched in power.

Every time Kazuma would grab Dante with his psychic power, he would regret it.

Attempting to drag Dante closer would result in him being within range of the massive scythe he wielded. Even trying to crush his entire body seemed to have little effect and only served to increase the ferocity of Dante's ranged attacks... That is, of course, in the event Kazuma managed to actually grab Dante with his psychic power.

The longer the fight raged on, the more aggressive Dante became.

At one point I saw a flash of green energy that began to eat away at Kazuma's wings. They slowly rotted away with each passing second and Kazuma tried to get away.

Sadly for him, the ground had erupted onto a hellish field of skeletal hands and icicles.

I was beyond amazed.

This was the power of an Ultra Aspect.

Kazuma eventually managed to get enough distance to regenerate his rotted wings, but...

Several beams of light mixed with gigantic iron thorns soon impacted and nearly impaled him.

There was a swirling vortex of water filled with glittering metallic shards hurdling for Kazuma just before he teleported again into the air.

It seems that Leiso and Michael had come to help Dante.

"Michael, Leiso, what of Elizabeth? Is Carlos alive?" Dante asked.

"Carlos is good! Gavin is dealing with Elizabeth like it's nothing right now. He really has a lot of steam to blow off. Gavin also suggested that we help you finish off Kazuma!" Michael said cheerfully.

After he spoke, he snapped his fingers and there was a brilliant flash of light.

Several orbs of flickering light shot at Kazuma and he narrowly avoided it.

He tried to attack Michael, but Leiso protected him with a wall of iron. Soon after, spikes erupted from it and nearly skewered him.

Before he could teleport and attack the two of them, however, Dante struck again with his scythe and chopped one of his arms off.

After that, it seemed like Kazuma had enough. He teleported away and flew high up into the air while clutching his shoulder.

A moment later, he began to regenerate.

This piece of shit can regenerate...? Damn...no wonder they can't take him down...

"I knew I should have brought an Abyss Engine... If I had one, I could have easily killed every single one of you meddlesome pests! HOW INSULTING TO THINK THAT YOU LOT COULD PUSH ME SO FAR! YOU DAMNED WEAK ENFORCERS!" Kazuma shouted angrily.

"Awww, he's mad. Isn't that adorable?" Michael said mockingly. "Hey, wanna show us how angry you are Kazuma? Wouldn't that be fun!? Fight me, you little bitch! Or are you scared that the little Enforcers are gonna spank you?"

Kazuma glared at Michael and almost looked ready to start fighting again. He ultimately decided not to fall for the taunt, however.

As much as I hated to admit it, there seemed to be a method to Michael's insufferable personality...

They clearly had the upper hand right now and he knew it.

Kazuma reached out his hand and then there was a flash of red light.

An unconscious Elizabeth was now slung over his shoulder.

She was missing both of her legs and an arm. It looked like she had been blown up and skewered in several places, as well...

Even someone as seemingly lethal as she was still had trouble taking on multiple Enforcers at the same time.

"Ka...zuma... I'm...sorry...ugh..." She said.

"A pity I must leave you all right now, but we will retreat for now. Soon, you will know true hell. Our new ally will finally put an end to this war," Kazuma said.

Kazuma teleported a short distance as an exploding cyclone nearly impacted him.

"GET BACK HERE, YOU BITCH!!! I'M GOING TO BLAST YOU TO PIECES!!!" Gavin screamed in rage.

"That's our cue to leave. Before I go, however..." Kazuma said.

Elizabeth disappeared from off of his shoulder and he raised his, now regenerated, hands.

Both Vengeance, which had returned to its sword form, and Bravery flew into his hands.

"I'll be taking these interesting tools. Perhaps that will prevent any further incidents while our newest ally is still awakening. Goodbye, Enforcers. We will meet again soon. And when the time comes, we will show you what a crushing victory truly looks like," Kazuma said with a sinister smile.

Several more exploding cyclones shot towards Kazuma just before he disappeared again. This time, for good.

"Mizik...he took our swords!" Isabella said to me.

"Damn it all..." I managed to say.

There was a blinding flash of light as a radiant, teal covered figure floated gracefully to the ground.

I could tell that it was Iris.

Her entire body had been completely enveloped in a teal-colored energy. Her eyes glowed brightly with golden light and a huge set of divine scales hovered just behind her.

It was quite a sight... She was incredibly beautiful in that form.

Gavin appeared, helping Carlos walk. Carlos was covered in strange burns and it looked like a large amount of his flesh had been eroded away. It almost made me sick to look at him...

As they reached Iris, every Enforcer bowed down to her.

When they arose, Iris resumed her original form and immediately healed Carlos. After that, Dante held out a skeletal hand to her.

She touched it and his flesh returned to him. The robe of shadow and ice disappeared and he stood in his normal casual attire.

I noticed then that he was wearing slippers.

I guess he just likes the comfort? Dante has always been pretty relaxed...

"Thank you for returning me to normal, Lady Iris," Dante said.

"You can thank me with a kiss, you adorable hunk of man!" Iris said with a sly smile.

"Eh...I...appreciate the offer... But we need to attend to Mizik and Isabella..." He said uncomfortably as he shifted the subject.

Iris looked like she wanted to protest, but soon turned to us.

The barrier of bone and Ice receeded and Iris knelt down to us.

"Our agreement still stands regarding the 'Demon King', Mizik. But I will need to speak with you later. I'm glad you're both alive. We'll make sure you have proper medical attention from here on out," Iris said.

"Iris! Mizik lost his arm! Can you fix it!?" Isabella said desperately.

Iris looked at my missing arm and shook her head.

"I only have the ability to repair my own Enforcers and Attendants. Healing and creation power are not elements I possess. I...can't fix him. Not until you two truly become my Enforcers..."

Isabella gritted her teeth.

She was trying hard not to cry right now...

Moments later...I began feeling extremely weak. As if my status had been severely depleted. I checked my status menu and...

My stats had all shrank back quite a bit.

At the same time, I no longer had any of Vengeance's skills.

Isabella's eyes suddenly went wide as she felt the same effects.

"What...Bravery!? What's going on!?" She said.

Iris frowned sadly.

"I don't know how...but it seems like Kazuma has severed your swords from you. By the Creator...that madman..." Iris said sadly.

"This can't...be happening..." I said.

That sword was not only my greatest weapon, but it was also a gift left to me by my father. Vengeance was precious to me.

I needed to get that sword as quickly as possible. If they could sever its connection to me, who knew what else they might be capable of? I shuddered to think that it might be possible to use it for themselves...

"Iris, can we get them back...?" I asked.

"We can, but not right now. We're at an impasse here. If anything, we must be on high alert. Nexus could attack at any moment and you two are wounded. No... We need to retreat for now. Once you two awaken, we can try it, but... No promises..." Iris said.

Damn you, Kazuma! I swear I'll kill you with my bare hands if I have to!!!

Shortly after listening to Iris, my consciousness began to fade and I passed out.