Rebirth Pt. IV
Darkness watched as Scarlett used the 3rd Sacred Arms: Baikal to break the prism keeping Mariella locked away. He crossed his arms and noticed Archer and Pendela appearing then turned his attention back to Scarlett. Archer and Pendela noticed how close Scarlett was to breaking the lock upon the Boss Room of the Dungeon.
"Almost...got it," Scarlett said, releasing all the light energy within the blade into the prism keeping Mariella sealed away.
The eyes of the Prism opened and the cube began to rumble and rise in the air. Scarlett grunted as the aura around the prism knocked her away. Pendela caught Scarlett and her eyes widened slightly as she looked at the prism, watching it burst open.
Darkness smirked as he watched the soul take shape into the Dark Lord, his eyes flashing with a satisfaction he knew couldn't be replicated. "Yes, finally...after long years. The Dark Lord of The Sea has been awakened. Arise, Mariella!"
Mariella began to take up her original form, her beauty radiant as the blue seas that shimmered under the sunlight. She had a mermaid-like appearance, with a long, scaled tail instead of legs. She had blue hair, adorned with a golden headdress that features intricate designs and fins, adding to her regal and mystical look.
She was dressed in an outfit that highlighted her aquatic nature, with a top made of seashells, and golden accessories that enhance her majestic appearance. Her arms and torso were adorned with flowing, pink ribbons that wrap around her body, adding a dynamic and elegant touch to her design.
Mariella wielded a trident, a classic weapon associated with sea deities and their highest ranked warriors. The trident has three sharp prongs and appears to be made of metal, the bottom of the trident having a blue orb and the orb shimmered lightly.
Mariella looked at Darkness and the others, her gaze cold and icy. She glanced at each of them then rose her trident, summoning an Ice Golem and stared at them. "After long last...I have been released from my prison. Now it's time for me to destroy this accursed planet for locking me away."
Darkness smirked as he looked at Mariella. "Mariella, we saved you from your prison! Join us in our quest to destroy the Zodiacs and the barrier, merging the path between the Underworld and the Human Realm!"
Mariella looked at Darkness and rose her head, taking a moment to think about her answer. She closed her eyes then smirked, pointing her trident at Darkness. "Strike."
The Ice Golem let out a cold roar, dashing toward Darkness and launching a swift punch toward him. Darkness used his black clouds to form tendrils to impale the Ice Golem, causing it to disperse into dark energy. He looked at Mariella and chuckled softly.
Darkness crossed his arms and smirked at her. "You must think you truly have a choice huh? You're weakened. Back to the basics of your power. You listen to us, your Saviors.."
Mariella laughed at Darkness's arrogance then tapped the bottom of her trident along the ground summoning another Ice Golem then summoned a Werewolf as well. "You must think I'm just gonna roll over and kiss your feet because you freed me..? I don't care who you are and who you work for. My sisters and I answer to no one. We destroy as we please, whenever we want and how we want."
"Your battle against the Zodiacs do not concern me," Mariella finished, swiping her trident to slice the air with a cerulean colored barrier, firing ice arrows at the four as a distraction then summoned an Orc Girl. "Fuse.."
The three monsters turned into souls and merged together, becoming a single new monster. The new monster in front of Darkness and his team was a wild girl with bright red eyes and pointed ears. She had at least six fluffy white tails and wore a white wolf head with its jaw extending over her face. She was dressed lightly in tribal like clothing and in her hands she wielded a massive icy axe.
"Ylva the White Fang, arise and strike all of them down!" Mariella commanded, forming a puddle of water beneath herself then dove inside it and disappeared.
Ylva howled loudly, her howl echoing throughout the entire Dungeon. She got into her stance and readied her icy axe. "Humans...die.."
"She can talk..?" Archer asked in awe, glancing at Darkness.
Pendela sensed the immense energy of Ylva then kept her hold on Scarlett and backed away subtly then disappeared into a dark portal with Scarlett. Scarlett smirked devilishly and warped the 3rd Sacred Arms to her sister before disappearing with Pendela.
Darkness looked back for Pendela and Scarlett, noticing they were gone. He scoffed lightly and surrounded his body with black clouds. "Let us retreat for now..."
Archer nodded and his body was also surrounded by black clouds then the two warped away from the area, their mission both a success and failure as they weren't able to take control of Mariella as they hoped.
Ylva howled and rushed forward, seeking out a battle against anyone she could find within the dungeon. "Me...Hunt!"
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Nagini, Misao, and Liao Ru traversed the Dungeon, all three of them hearing a loud howl and stopping in their tracks. Suddenly, the air around them began to grow cold and the walls of the dungeon began to become covered with frost and ice. The three braced themselves for whatever was headed their way then they noticed Ylva lunging toward them.
Without questioning, all three of them evaded Ylva's attack. Nagini summoned her Cross and changed it into a sword and Liao Ru summoned her gauntlets and Ruler's Gem, transforming into her Ruler Form. Ylva looked at the three of them, her ears perking up at the sight of their weapons.
"Humans...fight Ylva? Ylva kill enemies!" Ylva snarled, a wicked excitement playing on her face.
"Who the hell is this..?" Nagini asked, bracing herself for a battle and transformed into her Ruler Form out of pure instinct.
"I don't know, but she looks hellbent on fighting us so let's give her a fight," Misao said, unsheathing her tachi and getting into her stance.
Ylva stared at the three then howled loudly, rushing toward then and slashing down with her axe. Misao parried her slash, knocking her off balance, allowing Liao Ru to go for the punish strike, palming her chest and blowing her away. She held her hand out, forming a massive fireball and launching it at Ylva.
Ylva slid backwards then blocked the fireball, grunting softly as she was being pushed back. She deflected it and noticed Nagini rushing forward then blocked her slash and rushed forward with a shoulder tackle, following it with an upward slash, but Nagini's body deconstructed into a pit of snakes.
Nagini reformed behind Ylva, her eyes shining brightly. The blade of her sword began to shine green. "Burst Skill: Piercing Fang!"
Nagini thrusted her sword twice, landing both strikes as fast as a snake's strike, poisoning Ylva and slightly paralyzing her. Nagini followed it with a staggering slash and kicked her toward Misao.
"Burst Skill: Flourishing Blossom," Misao said, her tone graceful and firm then she slashed through Ylve, sheathing her sword.
A barrage of delayed slashes struck Ylva and knocked her into a wall, eliciting a yelp from her mouth. Liao Ru appeared in front of Ylva, rushing her with swift strikes, each one striking a different pressure point then she palmed her stomach, staggering her.
"Burst Skill: Phoenix Drive!" Liao Ru bellowed, surrounding her arm with powerful fiery energy then slammed the back of her fist again Ylva's midsection, sending her crashing through the wall.
Ylva grunted softly as she stood up, shaking her head and looking ahead at the three with a low growl. "Humans strong...but Ylve still stand!"
Ylva howled as she lunged toward Liao Ru with a powerful slash, but Liao Ru used her momentum to swiftly maneuvered her around toward Misao. Misao rushed forward, launching Ylva in the air with a powerful kick then Nagini used the wall to propel herself above Ylva.
Ylva opened her eyes then blocked Nagini's slash, the both of them crashing into the ground. Ylva howled, her ice aura pushing away the trio then she slashed in a wild circle with her axe, forcing all three to block and further push them back.
"Burst Skill!" Ylva howled, icy energy surrounding her axe.
"What..? She can use a Burst Skill..?!" Nagini asked, perplexed by a Monster being able to use Burst Skills.
"Take cover!" Liao Ru warned, hurrying off to escape the large range of Ylva's burst skill.
"Arctic Havoc!" Ylva bellowed, slashing down and causing rows of ice spikes to protrude from the ground around her at rapid speeds.
Nagini, Misao, and Liao Ru all took cover and narrowly evaded the attack, Nagini noticing a spike was very close to her face. She scooted backward and huffed, moving strands of her hair from her face.
Ylva looked at the three, noticing they had evaded her attack then huffed. "Humans...agile. Ylva retreat!"
Ylva hurried off into the distance and Nagini, Misao, and Liao Ru watched her. They knew they couldn't just have Ylva on the loose and needed to warn me and the others about her presence.
"We need to get out of here. If a powerful beast like her is roaming around, we're too late on stopping the reawakening of Mariella. I'll warn the others, you two just get out of here," Nagini said, taking out her device to contact the rest of us.
Liao Ru and Misao wasted no time escaping the dungeon while they still could. They quickly made their way back from where they entered, leaving the area.
"Attention everyone in this Dungeon! Mission Failed! We have failed in preventing the reawakening of the Dark Lord," Nagini said, her voice echoing across the entire Dungeon. "I repeat, Mission Failed!"
I stopped walking and paused in my tracks, listening to Nagini's words. April and the others stopped as well, noticing Nagini's voice also. The girls glanced at one another and continued to listen to Nagini.
Ashina and the others stopped in their tracks, Maiken grunting softly and listening closely to Nagini's words. Everyone began to listen closely to Nagini and what she had to say next.
"Retreat from this dungeon now! It's not safe here anymore. I repeat, retreat from this dungeon now! We shall regroup outside!" Nagini continued, her voice reaching out to each of us in the Dungeon.
Without hesitation, we all began to retreat from the dungeon with haste. Each of us exited the way we all came in and once my group made it back outside, we noticed an army of humanoid fish monsters wielding tridents and aquatic humanoid women wielding water swords.
I looked ahead, noticing Mariella and her dangerous beauty sitting inside a giant clamshell. I stepped forward and looked around seeing the chaos around the cathedral. 'Is that her, Henosis? Is that the Dark Lord?'
"Yes. That is Mariella, Dark Lord of the Seas. She has Dominion over the Oceans and the daughter of a member of the Poseidon Clan. She's insanely powerfully...well was. It seems as if she's been 'reset' due to centuries of inactivity. You might have a chance to push her back in battle," Henosis said, standing behind me.
"You would still need your strongest form to match her power, but at least you'll have a chance," He added.
I nodded then looked back at my group then noticed Liao Ru and Misao exiting the cathedral. They noticed the army of monsters as well, their eyes widening once they noticed Mariella casually relaxing in her giant clamshell. They also noticed Ylva recovering next to her, enjoying soft head pats from Mariella.
"Mariella..." Misao said, grunting softly as she gripped the handle of her weapon.
Mariella opened her eyes, noticing each of us outside and preparing ourselves. She giggled softly and sat up in her clamshell and sighed softly. "Looks like everyone finally came out to play..~ You all will be the first set of heroes I shall eliminate!"
I summoned my Zodiac Crystals, merging them into my Rainbow Peridot then activated my Crest of Conquest, transforming into my Conquest Drive, my aura shifting between hues of silver, blue, white, and a bit of violet. I opened my eyes and took off my mask, fighting as August instead of Cipher.
"Everyone...I know you're all tired from the battles of today, but we are at the home stretch. Hold out for a moment longer and stand proud!" I said, summoning my Origin Blade.
April, Lily, Nina, and Heifer began to use the last of their reserves to transform into the Zodiac Drives once again. Coral, Charity, and Garnet transformed into their Zodiac Drives as well, standing proudly as Zodiac Knights.
"Stand tall!" I called out, getting into my stance.
Ashina, Maiken, and Maliz got into their stance, standing tall. Maliz looked at Misao and tossed her the 3rd Sacred Arms, her katana, Baikal. Misao caught her katana then transformed into her Ruler Form, her aura pulsating a radiant silver color and nine fox tails manifesting upon her body.
"Stand brave! We shall not falter now! We may have failed our mission in preventing her reawakening, but we can still drive Mariella back! Now, let me hear you roar and charge!" I rallied, my aura surging around my body and affecting everyone who stood by me, cloaking them in my energy.
We roared and charged straight ahead toward the army of monsters ahead of us. The monsters looked at us and rallied, charging toward us as well and clashed with each of us.
I cut my way through waves of monsters and ran forward with a bellow, surrounding my sword in white flames. I sliced in a circular motion, creating a vortex of flames around to strike down the multiple monsters around me. Lily used her light energy to amplify the vortex of flames and expand it, causing a massive holy heat wave to spread around the battlefield.
April and Nina tapped each other's hand then began to run around in circles around a group of monsters, forming large firestorm and red lightning crackled around the flaming tornado. Their firestorm combined with the vortex I created with Lily.
"Team Arts!" We all bellowed, the tornado expanding even further and growing even stronger. "Wrath of Heaven's Breath!"
The four of us bellowed, amplifying the tornado then a powerful fire, light, and wind explosion happened, taking down a large group of monsters in the area. I smiled at the three then nodded at them. They each nodded back, watching me rush forward.
"Ashina!" Maiken called out, dashing forward and placing the scabbard of her katana in her mouth, unsheathing her weapon.
"Let's go!" Ashina bellowed, dashing next to Maiken and slid forward, her body flickering then she rushed around a group of monsters at light speeds.
Maiken vanished at lightning speeds, rushing around the monsters as well. The two began to launch synchronized slashes together, their motions a blur of light and lightning dancing around the battlefield. Streaks of light and lightning flashed with each successful slash then they jumped out of the way of Maliz's attack.
Maliz laughed darkly as she began to warp reality, summoning a large orb of dark energy above the group of monsters as they were being affected by the series of delayed slashes. Heifer stomped on the ground, causing a pillar of earth to rise toward the orb. The orb of dark energy crashed down, causing a massive explosion of dark energy around a large area.
"Coming through!" Garnet called out, rushing forward and leaping forward. "Coral, Charity, let's go!"
Coral and Charity dashed forward then Charity used her scepter to form large orbs of water around another group of monsters. Coral leaped into the orbs of water and began to leap into each orb in her mermaid form and leave behind streaks of waves that resembled a music sheet.
Charity began to use her Vector Manipulating to spin the orbs around rapidly, forming a large twister of water. Garnet leaped into the twister, swimming around it and leaped into the air, launching her spear into the eye of the twister. The spear crashed into the ground and caused a large pulse of energy to release within the eye then a giant koi fish emerged from the center of the twister, taking out each of the monsters within the twister.
Mariella watched us take down her monsters with an efficiency, smirking licking her lips. She sensed Liao Ru, Nagini, and Misao rush her from all directions and closed her eyes. "Burst Skill: Tsunami Surge.."
A force of omnidirectional waves knocked the three back then she looked up, noticing me above her. I roared as I came down with a powerful slash. Mariella used her trident to block my attack, pushing me back then generated ice arrows behind her, firing them at me rapidly.
I swiped my hand, forming a barrier of white clouds in front of me to block the ice arrows then generated Celestial Arrows behind me, firing them toward her and had them collide with the ice arrows. Each collision caused an explosion of light and ice energy.
"Heh...and here I thought the Modern Age was going to disappoint me. It seems like I have to actually try against you all!" Mariella laughed, turning her mermaid tail into legs and she stood up from her clamshell.
I readied my sword then grunted as Mariella's speed, noticing her appear in front of me at high speeds. She landed a powerful kick to my chest, knocking me away then ran forward and thrusted her trident at me. I blocked the attack, activating my Yaoke and bellowed, pushing my away through her attack.
I rushed forward and slashed at her, but she blocked the attack then countered with a roundhouse kick. I ducked under her kick, raising back up with an uppercut, demonic energy flashing around my arm as I connected the strike. I launched her upward then slashed downward to knock her back down to the ground.
"Zodiac Arts: Lionheart...Smash!" I bellowed, fully charging a Lion's Fist and connecting the attack straight to her face with a thunderous strike.
Mariella flew backwards, crashing into her clamshell then the shell closed on top of her. Ylva looked surprised, turning her attention to me and noticed me roaring in triumph, my aura surging powerfully around my body.
Mariella opened her clamshell then looked at me with a bit of admiration and annoyance. "Tch...to be currently outmatched by a human. Looks like I'm not as strong as I used to be back then before that snake sealed me. Ylva, let's go...we shall retreat."
Ylva nodded, stepping backwards and hurrying off with Mariella into the distance. The remain monsters within the area began to turn into souls and followed Mariella.
"It's over? Did we just...win against a Dark Lord?" April asked in disbelief, looking around at her allies.
"We...We did. We...DID IT!" Lily cried out, raising her fist in the air.
Nagini watched us celebrate and smiled at us, huffing lightly and reverting to her normal form. "Well, well...looks like we've trained our students a bit too well..~ Taking down a Dark Lord and her army as such is no easy feat...even if she was weakened.."
"Yeah, but we can thank August for that. If he hadn't sacrificed half of his stamina to Uplift everyone, I'm sure no one would truly have had the strength to deal with Mariella's army," Liao Ru smiled, her gaze lingering onto me, watching me celebrate with everyone.
Misao giggled softly, sighing softly then crossed her arms. "I know we were holding back to make them look better, but it really feels good seeing them like this...united and happy. In the end...we actually completed our mission. We got Maiken back and my precious Sacred Arms.."
Though today came with a failure with Mariella's reawakening, we succeeded in our main goal to bring back Mariella and the 3rd Sacred Gear. The St. Goken District was saved from the hands of The Fallen and Mariella and we began to head back to the academy to celebrate our momentous victory.