Chapter 44: Battle Between Incarnations

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CLASH!

Henrietta landed on the floor with a loud explosion. The Abyssal Black Flames that Darius conjured were covering her entire body, burning through her Light Aura, and weakening her with each passing second.

"Ugh…" She slowly stood back up again. She felt the presence of her sponsor within her, healing her wounds and blessing her with more power.

However, the power of Leviathan was much more overwhelming, as his synchronization with Darius was much better than that of Henrietta and the Archangel Gabriel.

[The Cosmic Throne {Divine Judge of Flames} is concerned about your safety.]

[He says you're not ready to fight a Demon Incarnation all by yourself yet.]

"It is not as if this is just my battle, Gabriel." Henrietta said, giggling. After hearing the whisper of his messages, "This is also a battle between you and Leviathan, isn't it?"

[The Cosmic Throne {Divine Judge of Flames} gives you a meaningful glance.]

["My purpose is to slay the Demons that threaten your world. However, as I said before, you're not ready, Henrietta."]

"Not ready? I've been training all my life. Henrietta muttered, spitting some saliva and cleaning her face. "You've been there for all this time yet... You don't recognize my efforts yet? Everything I've been doing..."

["…"]

["If you use this power too much... Your body will receive a severe backlash."]

"I don't care." Henrietta cried. "I can't let a monster like him live... I can't let him live like this. After everything I went through with Darius by my side... After all the things I learned from him... I used to even consider him my own father. I don't know what he did, but... The one speaking to me isn't him. I am sure of it. I want to end this. I want to kill him myself. I know it's selfish, but…"

["Henrietta…"]

[The Cosmic Throne {Divine Judge of Flames} sighs, unable to bear the guilt of losing you because of his own powers.]

"What are you babbling about?"

Darius suddenly appeared before Henrietta; she didn't even sense him. As if he had turned into pure darkness itself, he fell right into the same crater as she was and slowly walked towards her. His eyes were glowing bright red, emanating a malice she had never seen in him. Darius used to be a much different man. A person she appreciated and loved like her own father.

He was an old hunter, one of the first to awaken, and perhaps one of the first A-Rank hunters in America. Henrietta back then was much younger and inexperienced, yet with his aid and his training, she slowly blossomed into the amazing hunter she became. Because of this, the truth about him being the Cult Leader of Leviathan's Cult was very painful. It felt like a terrible lie, something only an insane person would come out with. Yet, at the end, it was all true. 

"Why?" She asked.

"Huh?" Darius raised an eyebrow, suddenly standing still. "Why what?"

"Why did you become a monster?!" Asked Henrietta. "Why did you choose this path?! You were the one who taught me all those things. About justice, about protecting innocents, about how we Hunters had the responsibility of protecting humanity... So why?! WHY?!"

Henrietta cried, her eyes beginning to flow with resentful and painful tears. They weren't because of the pain within her body, but the pain in her heart, the agony of thinking someone she thought so highly of... became a monster she despised so much.

Darius glanced back at Henrietta; his sudden façade changed. He became oddly serious.

"Why do you think I changed, Henrietta?" He asked.

"Ah…." Henrietta quickly remembered something that happened many years ago, when she was still training. "When your family..."

"You're a smart girl." He sighed. "You know, I was just like you before they died. Innocent, stupid, unaware... Of what humans are truly capable of. I always thought we were all a big team, that we would gather together and fight for a single goal of protecting humanity against the monsters."

Darius looked into Henrietta's eyes.

"But that was just a stupid thought. I trusted everyone too much. I let my guard down. Monsters became secondary. Once I realized the true monsters amongst us, I learned the truth about this world and about what we are." He said. 

Darius recalled what happened to his family several years ago. He was inside an A-Rank Dungeon that had appeared in the middle of New York, away from his family, his wife, and his two kids.

He had created many enemies without realizing it. His righteous actions, his charismatic personality, his leadership talents... They all made many foes who wanted his positions hate him for that.

They knew they stood no chance against him. However, they knew they could hurt him in other ways. They infiltrated his house and captured his wife and his children, and as Darius walked out of the Gate, he was constantly sent pictures and videos of his family being tortured.

His wife screamed in agony as she was being raped. His two children were crying in horror as their fingers were slowly being sliced apart. Their screams, their tears, their agony—he tried everything. He stormed the countless hideouts of many criminals. Yet he was never able to find them.

The last message sent to him was from his family. cut into pieces and a single man wearing a black mask in the middle of the room, with a message saying, "You were a bit too late, old man".

After such a traumatic incident, his life changed.

He stopped training his disciples. He stopped working with anyone. He faded into obscurity for many years, until he suddenly resurged anew, just like before. He started becoming popular in the media once more, and everyone loved him.

Many admired him for having overcome such a painful thing, however.

He never did.

Who could do such a thing, anyway?

"In my search for that bastard, I changed. I killed, and killed, and killed, and killed." He said. "I killed so much... Hahaha… However, I could never find him."

"But there's…" Henrietta cried.

"While everybody else forgot about me or my family, someone else spoke to me. Leviathan. He said he knew who the bastard was." Darius said. "He led me to him, and I found him. I learned it was truly him through all the evidence… And then, you know what I did, Henrietta?"

"…" Henrietta looked back at her former senior.

"I crushed him, bit by bit. Killing him in one attack wouldn't have been enough. I slowly killed him. Piece by piece…" Laughed Darius. "I tore apart his limbs! And eat them! I ate them in front of him! I made him scream in agony!" Darius slowly started to transform; his body began to grow with black and red hair, and his face slowly deformed into that of a lion.

"Hahh! Since that day... Even after avenging my family! I couldn't go back! I had to tear apart more to eat more! TO FEAST IN THE WEAKLINGS!" Darius roared. "To feast on all the BASTARDS that forgot about me! To FEAST on all of the insects that always wanted to be PROTECTED for free! For all the MAGGOTS, pathetic pieces of GARBAGE! I will DEVOUR! I will EAT all of them! I will TEAR them apart! APART! APART! APAAART!"

Darius roared; his lion roar echoed across the entire dungeon. His Berserk-like cry made all monsters suddenly go berserk, growing stronger as a result. Not even the Dungeon Boss was able to resist such a power. His entire body continued to grow larger and larger until he became as tall as five meters. A mass of muscles covered in black fur, with the face of a furious and berserk black lion...

"T-Teacher…" Henrietta cried. "I'm sorry for not being there for you. This is all my fault. What you've become... And what you've gone through."

"Don't blame yourself for it, Henrietta." He laughed. "I am happy as I am! I am incredibly fulfilled as a person, in fact. And I… still have some room for a disciple. My retainers, as you saw, were all fried, hahaha… WEAKLINGS! Yet… you are here. Become my ally, Henrietta. Join me and Leviathan, and together we can overtake the world and everything! We'll show them all. Hunters are the ones at the top of the food chain, and we have the right to do as we please with ants like them!"

Henrietta sighed, looking back at her teacher.

"That cannot be." She sighed. "I can't do that. I am not like you. I might have also lost my family, but I simply cannot become like you, teacher. The things you imparted to me changed my life, and I plan to follow them until my death."

Darius sighed.

"What a disappointment! You fought so well. Yet, in the end, you chose that? You're pathetic, Henrietta."

Henrietta smiled back at him, her eyes blazing with conviction.

"Call me whatever you want, teacher. But no matter what, I will never change who I am!" 

Henrietta's aura continued to overflow greatly, growing stronger and stronger. However, at the same time, Darius' aura clashed against her, like an endless sea of darkness.

"Then die."

His arm reached Henrietta in a millisecond, crushing through her and shattering the ground beneath. The enormous force of the impact generated an explosion of black flames that erupted like a volcano from the depths of the underground.

Henrietta intercepted Darius' attack using her shining, divine sword, resisting with both of her arms against the enormous fist trying to crush her. Her Mana continued overflowing more and more, attempting to resist the overwhelming strength of her teacher after becoming Leviathan's Incarnation.

"No… I cannot die. Not yet! Not until I free you, teacher!"

Lightning sparks began emerging as the clash between two overwhelming forces started shattering and shaping the entire landscape around them.

Henrietta, however, was slowly beginning to lose. All her skills and magic couldn't damage Darius anymore. His half-beast form was incredibly strong, perhaps comparable to an S-rank entity.

"Ungh…!" She started vomiting blood as she resisted the darkness' attempts to consume her. "Gabriel!"

["…"]

"PLEASE!"

["Fine."]

"Ah!"

["But don't die on me, Henrietta. We've got a lot to do before we part ways."]

["Let's teach him a lesson."]

"Let's do it then... {Divine Descent}!"

FLASH!

From the skies, the dimensional walls of the dungeon distorted and opened as a ray of light descended, reaching Henrietta and possessing her entire body. The very power of the Archangel Gabriel began flowing through her body, a part of his soul and strength, and even his divinity.

"Unnggh?!" Darius' suddenly realized something terribly wrong was happening as Henrietta started pushing more and more, until finally.

A gigantic blazing sword emerged. Henrietta's divine sword transformed, slicing through Darius' arm completely and then unleashing an explosive catastrophe of divine flames! Darius was thrown into the air due to the enormous power and then fell into the snow-covered land, only to stand up right away to see Henrietta flying towards him. 

Her entire body was now covered by an armor made of divine power and flames, and her wings were made of gold, covered in the divine flames of Gabriel. Her sword had grown to a disproportionately enormous size and was overflowing with a tyrannical and divine power—the power of Gabriel's Sword of Flames!

"Hahahaha… So it's you! Long time no see, Gabriel!" Laughed Darius—no, Leviathan.

Since the moment Darius gave up on Henrietta, his body has become that of Leviathan once more.

"Leviathan, you envious demon! You've gone too far," Henrietta spoke, with the will of an archangel. "We shall resolve the fight we never finished eons ago now, TODAY!"

"BRING IT ON!" Leviathan roared, and as his arm quickly regenerated, a barrage of gigantic fists reached Gabriel!

"Don't get too cocky, demon."

However, countless blazing slashes engulfed Leviathan's entire body and sliced all of his arms and legs into pieces, burning him at the same time with the power of divine light.

SLASH!

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