Split Personalities

(Progressive dungeon, Floor #100)

It has been only less than a week since the last visit, but for Katsuya it felt like it had been longer since he had visited the powerful being that sat across from him.

"Why the sudden visit? Here to ask more about the voices you hear?" The Dark Demi-god asked.

"Not this time. I have a different reason today." Katsuya stated.

"Oh? And what would that reason be?"

The being leaned forward in his throne with an aurora of curiosity surrounding his voice.

Ever since Kasuya was brutally beaten in that fight with Harley Vale, he had become self-conscious about his overall ability to fight, and how it would compare to others.

By Harley's speed alone, he had a feeling that it was greater if not on par with the Demi-god's speed.

So, his reason back in the Dark Demi-god's presence was….

"Well, it's a simple reason. I want to spar with you. But I want there to be no holding back."

"No holding back? I apologize in advance but, I will have to hold back quite a bit. I'm sure that you're aware of the power gap between us."

If it was a fight that the Demi-god went all out in, he would most likely kill Katsuya on accident in only a matter of seconds.

"Ok, whatever works for you. But I'm going to fight my hardest.'

His hardest as if he was fighting Harley Vale again. Though this time his opponent would be holding back. But that was okay with him because as far as he could tell, the Demi-god's power was far greater in terms of raw strength.

'He'll be holding back. But if I could somewhat keep up with him then I'll see it as a win. Even if I lose the actual fight.'

"Hmm. Let's make this scenery a bit more interesting." said The Demi-god.

Clap!

With a simple clap of the being's hands, the space around them twisted and changed in a swift moment. The large concrete room was no more.

Now, the floor was white, being covered by a snow-fall that rapidly dropped. And in every direction were many trees, also covered by the snow. The soft winter breeze and the calming white-ness of the blizzard covered scene was almost enough to make Katsuya forget about why he was here in the first place. His gaze turned and looked at the Demi-god who now held a dark ball in his palm.

"What's the ball for?" Katsuya asked.

The being then answered.

"This ball I possess here in my hand, I will throw it into the air. The very moment it touches the ground, our sparring match will begin."

After taking in a breath of the cold air, Katsuya blew it back out then spoke.

"Alright. I'm ready when you are."

With only a light toss from the Beings hand, the ball was thrown high into the winter air.

Katsuya locked his eyes on the ball and his body tensed up, waiting for it to make it way back to the ground. His opponent, on the other hand, was standing calmly and patiently, with no worries.

1...2...3...4... seconds passed and only the breeze filled the silence as the two waited. Then on the fifth second, the moment the outline of the ball touched the snow, Katsuya immediately dashed a great distance forward.

1, 20, 40, 50 different strikes were sent forward, which the Demi-god easily evaded. This wasn't a surprise to Katsuya, as a matter of fact, he pretty much expected this speed.

'I need a speed boost'

A slight blue haze then wrapped around Katsuya's legs and immediately, he shot forward and kicked the Demi-gods chest, before lifting his other leg and slamming it down on his head.

Fwsh! Bam!

With only the shove of his palm, the being sent Katsuya into the air.

A dark fog surrounded the Demi-gods hand as a long silver sword appeared in his palm. It's sharp tip was lifted then aimed up to Katsuya.

"Abyssal shards."

Poof Poof Poof Poof.

Many Purple spikes appeared mid-air and all flung at Katsuya. Their speed was incredibly fast and were sure to hit before he even landed.

'Crap..I won't be able to block them all.'

His hands moved left and right with great speed as he tried to wack each spike away from his body but he was unable to stop each one as there were too many. Biting down on his lip, he endured the pain as his side, shoulder and arms were pierced.

Tmp.

A feeling of relief entered his body the moment his feet touched the ground. Now, he wouldn't be so helpless to evade attacks but, it still wouldn't be easy.

The Demi-god tilted his head.

"Hmmm. You did pretty well against that attack. Let's try something different."

He kneeled down and gently touched the ground before whispering under his breath.

'Spawns. Please go easy on him.'

Crack. Smash. Crack.

All around, bony hands reached out from below, and skeletal bodies began pulling themselves out. A matter of seconds had passed and yet, numerous walking skeletons had already surrounded Katsuya.

Already, an exhausted expression ran across his face. It wasn't that he was tired but, judging by how many opponents he had, he was soon to be tired.

'When I said that I wanted to sparr, I assumed it was only to be one-on-one. I guess this works but, they aren't gonna go down easy. I can feel that each of them are at least on the level of a Gold-rank.'

He then asked Sora a question.

'Sora, can you please tell me how many there are.'

'Yep. There's 457 of them. Enjoy.' the voice replied.

It was strange though, none of the monsters had made an attempt to attack. Instead, each one stood still, watching him as if they were waiting to see if he was ready.

'He's waiting on me? Well, he's awfully nice.'

A breath flew from Katsuya's mouth before he cracked his knuckles and nervously grinned.

"Alright, I'm ready now."

"The fight shall continue." said the Demi-god.

The being then clapped his hand and each of the skeletons proceeded to step closer and closer to Katsuya.

'Well, this might take a heavy toll on my endurance but, I have a way to fight multiple opponents at once. By hitting them all in a single second.'

[You have activated multiple skills at once: Attack Double, Speed Boost, Double Speed]

The air in the room vibrated as a sudden impact struck the skeletons bodies, shattering their bone and instantly tearing them apart.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

In only two seconds, each of the 457 monsters were slaughtered.

There stood Katsuya with smoke flowing off of his palm.

"I couldn't do it all in a single second but, I guess two seconds will do. That's 457 strikes. I guess they actually did go down easy afterall."

{Endurance: 5,270/ 6,184}

'I thought that would've worn down my endurance a lot more. At this rate, I could fight a couple thousand of them. But I'd rather not.'

His eyes met with the Demi-God who was still at the far side of the forest.

"Feels like you're not trying too hard. This is supposed to be a challenging fight for me, remember?" Katsuya asked.

The Demi-god tilted his head in confusion.

"I do believe I told you that I would have to hold back. If i went too hard, you'd probably die."

"Whatever it is, I'm sure I could survive long enough until you realize that you need to stop. Come on, I've kinda been curious about what you can really do. I mean, I've never actually seen you use too much effort. So, show me."

The Being let out a sigh before his whole demeanor went serious.

"Ok then. If you really want to see some effort, then I'll have to ask you something. Is this really what you want?"

Without double thinking, Katsuya confidently replied.

"Yeah, I'm ready for it."

But, his conscience didn't match his voice.

'I kinda feel unnerved by his sudden change in attitude. I'd be lying If I said I wasn't a little scared to see what him putting in effort would look like. But,..'

But it was all just part of Katsuya's personality, dumb and curious. Down to the root, that's what he truly was.

In a deep tone, the Demi-god spoke one final Reply.

"Very well."

Moments passed as the atmosphere grew more and more quiet while the Demi-god stood in a trance-like state. Whatever was about to happen, Katsuya knew it wasn't good. Right then, the Beings eyes flung open and his eyes shone red, bright fiery red. And thick fiery red-haze surrounded his body, making his blood-red armor light up. A pair of wings, also covered in the haze grew on his back.

Katsuya had to take two looks in order to realize that the Being had grown in size, now being twice of what he originally was.

The Demi-God then aimed his sword in the direction of Katsuya.

With no sign of what was going to happen, a giant ball of fire appeared and blasted forward.

Swoosh!

It was so fast that by the time Katsuya noticed what had happened, the blast was already within feet of hitting him. His eyes widened in great surprise.

'That'll.. kill me! I need to deflect.' Katsuya thought to himself in a panic.

A red beam of light followed the path of his hand, guiding the blast's direction to the side.

Swooossshhh!

Booommm!

While the ball of fire exploded against the trees of the forest, Katsuya couldn't help but let his hands twitch as they burned.

'I don't want to imagine how much damage I would've taken if it hit me directly.'

Hardly any time had passed after he nearly got turned to ash but, it was now time for Katsuya to brace himself as more attacks were headed his way.

Swoosh.

Slash.

A deadly spike missed his face by a hair, slitting his cheek. But that wasn't all, hundreds if not thousands more were quickly flying his way. There were just too many. Too many to the point where Katsuya knew, there was no coming out of this un-touched.

'I can't dodge them all!'

Almost nothing could be done. So, he tightened his fists and raised them.

[New skill has been learned: Rapid Deflect]

Purple beams followed the path of the spikes.

It was in that second when all the projectiles hit their mark, and dirt was knocked high into the air.

The Demi-God had a cold yet disappointed expression on his face while he stared at all the dust his attacks had caused. Not one thing could be seen.

'Of course he's dead. I knew he wasn't the one to exceed all expectations. I suppose I should've just seen this far ahead so I could've been prepared.' the Being thought.

Then, the dust cleared, fading into the wind.

Katsuya was still standing with no hits taken from the spikes.

"Oh? So you overcame that many at one time? I guess you're ready for what I have planned next." said the Demi-God.

Katsuya hadn't even seen it yet but, he already knew it was going to be difficult.

'I'm really having second thoughts about sparring with him'

An emotion that Katsuya thought the Dark Demi-god was incapable of showing was ringed out across his face. The being greatly grinned, before holding out his arms and laughing hysterically, before speaking out loud.

"Katsuya, I suppose you now greatly hold my interest. I'm going to love it if you somehow manage to overcome this as well. That being said, I will begin."

His hand was held into the air, before he shouted a phrase, all while wearing a twisted grin.

"Death Shower!"

The entire sky lit up. Without an exaggeration, there were thousands of portals opening up in the sky.

Katsuya lifted his head, staring at the un-imaginable sight up above. Still, his face showed that he was ready for it.

Sora's voice spoke into his thoughts. Clear concern was held within her words.

'Katsuya. I sense something really bad. He's not only sparring anymore. He's fighting with deadly intent now.'

This was clearly a fight that Katsuya couldn't win but the option to leave was already gone. He did the only thing he could do. He grinned and accepted the situation for what it was. It was then that his monstrous instincts started to kick in.

His eyes gleamed purple while he started stepping forward.

"Well, I guess I'll accept your challenge."

The change from time to time in Katsuya's personality was terrifying.

One moment, he was a kind, understanding and clueless teen. Then Another moment, he was the embodiment of a monster.

Noticing this, Sora thought.

'The Monsterization skill really has corrupted his personality to an extent. It's like he is two different people, sharing the same body.'