Chimera

In a secluded dark wood area of Intermediate ascension platform corpses of 1000 year old souls were littered around. Streams of blood were flowing on the ground. Nero who just arrived there was shocked to see such a sight as normally the corpses would be absorbed by the spirit masters and the way the souls were killed didn't look like a human's doing.

" Master there is an energy surrounding this area " Iblis came out of the spirit ring and said after looking around. Nero focused his demon eyes on the surrounding area and sure enough there was a barrier surrounding the dark woods. Nero tried to take a step inside and passed without any hindrance [ The barrier didn't block you probably because you entered with Zhou Hongbuo's card if you entered with normal spirit pagoda ticket you would be surely blocked in fact you might not even see this area] Aria theorized and focused as whatever it was in the woods it was important.

" munch!. munch!." as Nero headed deep inside the woods the sound of chewing and eating sounded following that sound Nero finally found the culprit of the massacre. It was a strange beast with the head of a lizard, horn and tail of a dragon, body of an ape, scales of a crocodile, claws which resembled dragon and wolf and wings of a phoenix(photo in comments ).

" A chimera " Nero whispered becoming fully alert as the beast was 10,000+ years old and its eyes showed no wisdom only hunger and bloodthirst. [This is why this place is hidden if the outside world hears a word of this then the spirit pagoda will be criticized heavily. This chimera is probably the result of Spirit pagoda ruling board's desire of an ideal soul but due to its bloodthirsty nature it was trapped here] Nero nodded as he also agreed with Aria's reasoning. ' No matter which world it is there will always be some fraction of the human race whose greed and desire has no bottom line. I have to kill it right here although I don't care even if the ruling board dies but if the news of a chimera gets out then Grandpa Zhou and Aunt Yaozhu will also be affected and the world would be in chaos ' Nero thought and focused on the chimera beast.

The Chimera beast roared and flapped its wing dashing towards Nero. " Clang! woosh! " Yamato and The Chimera beasts clashed producing a wave of wind stirring the surrounding trees even uprooting weaker ones. Nero kneeled on one knee to balance himself as chimera's power was overwhelming and before he could counterattack a dense ball of lightning attack formed on chimera's horn. "booom! " Nero narrowly escaped the explosion using his movement technique. Nero was caught off guard as he didn't think the chimera would attack him when it was also in explosion range. The smoke cleared showing the chimera standing in a pit with injuries which were rapidly healing. In this short confrontation Nero determined one thing the Chimera was a reckless beast it would fight him like a berserker without any consequences. The chimera spread its wings with multiple eyes opening on it firing rays similar to cero towards Nero. Nero formed a rotating shield made up of mirage blades diverting the attack towards another direction. Iblis who was hiding in shadows appeared above the chimera and slashed at chimera's spine with his claws but the chimera's scales as if alive concentrated on the spine blocking the punch and at the same time Chimera's tail slammed Iblis sending him flying towards Nero.

" Master it seems like every different beast part of this chimera has its own consciousness but at the same time some of them are at conflict with each other if we want to defeat this chimera we have to take advantage of this " Iblis told Nero his observations. Nero also carefully observed and found out it was true. [ I think the consciousness are differentiated into three parts which are Dragon , Ape and phoenix and it also makes sense as Dragons and Ape descendant of Beamons are deadly enemies while phoenix is a bird which seeks freedom ] Aria also clarified the problem after scanning the Chimera. Nero and Iblis kept running around dodging the chimera's attacks while thinking of an effective way to defeat Chimera.

Nero suddenly had a flash of inspiration and asked Aria "Aria can you change the way my clone looks and replicate Tang Wulin's bloodline nature" [ Yes I can but I need some at least 5 minutes but how are you goin.. wait a minute you are not thinking of using Yamato's Law of separation are you but you haven't done this before even for practice ] " There is first time for everything Aria and I can't possibly defeat this chimera's overwhelming healing factor without using Yamato's Law of separation. Now focus on finishing the illusion I have a chimera to take care of " Nero assured Aria and focused on the chimera.

After discussing the plan Nero and Iblis surrounded the chimera from opposite sides. Nero surrounded himself with mirage blades and Iblis also entered his humane form. Nero dashed forward slashing at chimera's face . The chimera tried to use its claws but found itself trapped by Iblis's shadows. Nero after cutting chimera's jaw in half lowered himself and punched at Chimera's chest with full force sending it flying backwards, Iblis also released his control at the same time. Without giving the chimera a chance to react Iblis appeared behind it and dab kicked at the spine { Naruto uzumaki truth seeker orb kick } changing chimera's trajectory back towards Nero. Nero also immediately fly kicked chimera's head in the opposite direction. Chimera's head separated from its body as the head and body got sent in the opposite direction. Nero knew that this would do nothing to chimera as its vitality was too strong and sure enough from chimera's neck tentacles of flesh were slowly growing. Nero and Iblis waited for chimera's eyes to grow and used the second spirit ability Demon prowler consecutively imprisoning the beast for 30 seconds.

Just as the chimera recovered from Demon prowler's effect Iblis entered his beast form and deadlocked him. Nero detonated all the mirage blades he could summon with his current Demonic-spirit energy at chimera's point blank range. Iblis returned to Nero's unharmed as he used shadow void at the last moment. [ Nero everything is ready ] Nero sighed in relief hearing Aria's voice as this was all he could do to limit the Chimera without wasting Demonic-spirit energy. Nero summoned a clone and closed his eyes focusing on Yamato's law of separation while Aria made the required illusion using Nero's clone.

The chimera emerged from the explosion with pieces of flesh missing from its body but after seeing what was in front of it the beast began writhing on the ground. In front of Chimera was a gigantic Golden Dragon with a tyrannical aura around it. The Dragon was chewing on a golden Beamon while a Phoenix with a wing missing was dead under its claw. This was the illusion Nero asked Aria to create. Nero wanted to suppress the dragon part of chimera using GDK bloodline aura from Tang Wulin and make the Ape and phoenix part go crazy by making them see a Beamon becoming prey to Dragon and a phoenix losing its source of freedom.

Nero didn't have any idea what was going on outside as he was focusing on finding the right frequency, just when Nero was getting impatient flashbacks of His parents, Sebastian, Zhou Hongbuo, Leng Yaozhu and Vergil came to his head saying " Believe in yourself ". Nero calmed himself and threw everything out of his head. A moment later Nero opened his eyes and pulled Yamato out of its sheath slashing at the writhing Chimera. The slash divided the chimera in half before it could even sense a danger. Nero kneeled on the ground as the slash took every ounce of his power. Iblis supported Nero helping him stand up. Nero after catching a breath looked towards the chimera's direction. Everything was divided into two there was a deep gully dividing the area into two parts even the barrier hiding the area had a hole in it.

With Iblis's support Nero went forward to check Chimera's remains, its body was gone leaving behind four spirit bones. [ It looks like the chimera was made using multiple creature's DNA and these spirit bones. Whoever made this chimera sure spent hefty resources] Aria commented seeing the four spirit bones as it was a very precious thing in the current era. Nero touched the spirit bones while thinking what to do with them when suddenly the spirit bones got absorbed into Nero's body.

* In the real world *

Nero body which was unconscious in the simulation pod lit up with faint light and Sparda bloodline got active. No one was able to notice this phenomenon as the staff gave privacy to Nero and only paid attention if Nero was in danger.

*spirit ascension platform*

[ The spirit bones disappeared because of sparda bloodline it seems like your bloodline converted these spirit bones into something like Devil arms. It was fortunate that the staff gave privacy to your body and from the moment you entered the barrier the staff only saw an illusion of you killing souls and nothing else] Aria explained to the confused Nero. ' I have to discuss this with Grandpa and Aunt because if anyone else below soul king other than me entered this barrier by mistake he would be dead. I was only able to kill the chimera because of Yamato and Aria's help ' Nero didn't dare to imagine what would have happened if he couldn't use the Law of separation.

[ You should have guessed already which devil arms it is, try focusing sparda bloodline and demonic-spirit energy on your hands and legs at the same time] listening to Aria Nero focused on his legs and hands. One second later gauntlets and greaves which looked like wolf's head and claws with light like strips respectively covered Nero's hands and legs. " Beowulf " Nero whispered and smiled seeing the familiar Devil arms. Aria also displayed Beowulf's information.

[

Soul bone :-

Beowulf (image in comments)

• Beowulf spirit bone/Devil arms : Beowulf is a set of Devil arms with spirit bone like properties. It was created because of the Sparda bloodline using the spirit bones of a chimera beast. It grows with the user's bloodline and the user can also let his allies wear Beowulf with a thought.

Skill :-

• Focused Amplification (Passive can be turned off with a thought): It gathers the user's power at a single point and amplifies it every time the user strikes at the opponent. Amplification rate increases with the user's demon bloodline

]

Nero was surprised that Beowulf could be shared with others to test this he thought about Iblis having Beowulf. Iblis hands and feet were immediately covered with Beowulf " Iblis try Beowulf's skill " Iblis listened to Nero and punched the ground with 50% power. " Boom! " most of the terrain surrounding Iblis immediately cracked into fragments of land and pieces of rocks burst out from the ground making the area look like an earthquake aftermath.

After experimenting with a few souls using Beowulf Nero withdrew from the Spirit ascension platform. Nero opened his eyes and stepped out of the simulation pod. Seeing Nero come out one staff member greeted him and asked if everything was alright. Nero went outside to meet class zero after assuring the staff that everything was good.