The Great Tomb's Collapse II

The gigantic Gargantuan was nothing more than a strong golem, a machine with an objective, without any personality. There was no feeling of fear 'programmed' in it. Yet it had never faced a foe bigger than itself... double the size. 

Fear was one thing; helplessness was another.

Every slap blew it away; every fist crushed him to the root. And the worst part, he could tell she was playing around. But Yasaka was bound to learn a lesson. 

...

On Ray's side, his fight with Rubedo had already moved locations a few times. He ducked, twisted and evaded her fists a few times, blinking on top of a tree branch only for her silhouette to manifest like dark dust next to him with that imperturbable, terrifying gaze of hers.

Her fist missed him but shattered that tree in big logs and pieces. She changed and adapted. As Ray evaded, she landed on the soil, her gauntlets transformed into claws, swords... her body, seemingly created out of nanomachines, could become anything with virtually no weakness to the naked eye. 

Super Tier Magic: Natural Pigmentation was terrifying. 

But while it had no weakness to the naked eye, Ray could see it as clearly as the day. 

'The only way to destroy her body is by burning it. She has to spend mana every time to recreate those nanomachines, and the effects of her Super Tier magic also work passively'.

She had humongous mana reserves, that was the reason why her energy felt so much tyrannical compared to the other monsters from Nazarick. But at the same time, that fighting style of hers was very costly to maintain.

The strength of her power lay not in its devastation but instead in her capacity to kill. He had already died a couple of times, and so had she. 

'He shouldn't be able to recover more than a few times. I have killed him five times,' Rubedo rationalized. From the fifth time onwards, Ray adopted a more defensive stance which put them in a battle of attrition that wasn't convenient for her at all. 

Ray didn't mind dying during his fights, but dying to Rubedo was just a mind-numbing pain he didn't wish to experience. Eventually, her mana would run out, while his energy was nigh infinite. He put his bet on that.

The Sun God landed in a tree branch while Rubedo stopped in mid-air to reconsider her strategy, they were already a few kilometres away from Yasaka deep into the forest although the destruction the Kitsune was causing could still be felt from that distance in the form of minor tremours and explosions. 

Just at that time, a poof of smoke exploded in Ray's shoulder, gaining Rubedo's attention.

A blue and white slug appeared in there. 

"How was it?"

"It is done. Kuu-chan just had a minor perchance," The slug finally spoke.

"Is she okay?" He asked with concern, and the slug merely nodded. 

<Triple Maximize Magic: Geomorphic Spear>

*WHOOSH!*

!!!

Ray gasped once again. The activation of her spells was seemingly instantaneous. The tree branch underneath him started to morph as if gaining consciousness of its own, and it pierced forward at ridiculous speeds. 

But the target wasn't him. 

The branch pierced 'Katsuyu', and Rubedo smirked evily upon noticing there was finally a reaction; his gaze switched.

For Ray, it was like something exploded inside him. He knew Tsunade was alright.

*POOF!*

The pierced slug exploded in a poof of smoke, and a tree log appeared that had been pierced by the spear. Rubedo frowned; she didn't feel anything. At least no mana was used in the mysterious spell. 

Tsunade landed on another tree branch, sweating, with Katsuyu on her shoulder, who was also scared shitless. Using different energy sources meant neither party could effectively sense one another's intentions or techniques. 

Only Ray was able to do so due to Energy Records. 

'Just now... that was dangerous.'

It was precisely because this was a completely different world filled with unknowns and variables that Tsunade had been extra careful from the moment they arrived, but still... not even she could predict Rubedo's wickedness. 

"Tsunade, get out of here. If this woman does something else unexpected, I won't be able to protect you-".

*WHOOSH!*

He blinked and pushed Tsunade out of the three branches that immediately morphed once again to catch her up.

!!!

"Stop going for her, bitch!".

"Fight me then, deity..."

Rubedo jumped at Ray, smirking at how she riled him up successfully.

"Go away and help Yasaka, Tsunade. I will be okay; she can't kill me, and you know that".

<Sun Stare!>

"Ugh!"

The incoming Rubedo's eyes started to itch until they literally set up ablaze in flames; she felt her very soul burning.

<Radiation! >

Ray jumped at her mid-air and caught her by the neck, pressing and melting it with his fingers in a horrendous fashion. Unlike him, she didn't seem able to feel pain. He carried her away from there as minor burnt marks started to appear on Tsunade's skin as she groaned, and the forest itself was set in flames. 

'The magic and powers of the foreign worlds are so confusing. They don't need hand signs, jutsus... even the current me. I don't need to use hand signs anymore either, but at the same time, I can't sense what they're doing. It will take me some time to adapt'.

"It feels like Ray-sama will be able to handle himself just perfectly" Katsuyu crawled out of her body and onto her shoulder, "That was a close call just now, Tsunade-sama".

"You saved us. You could detect her intentions before even I did".

"She was staring at you from the moment we appeared. If a monster like her were to appear in our world..." Katsuyu drifted. 

"That's why we must learn as much as possible during this time. Not only about medicine... there are worlds out there, and wicked, powerful beings inhabit those worlds. Just like Ray has come here... one day, someone else could come to ours, and they may not be as kind".

Katsuyu nodded.

"Let's go".

**

**

The thrill of battle, killing, falling and standing back up. It wouldn't leave her veins even in the next thousand lives. 

Azrael, the angel of death, was not someone they could mess with. The way she moved, the way she killed... it all irradiated so much experience. 

Hasshaku-sama had landed into the pit to support her, but... the moment she saw the battle, she realised that was not necessary.

*CLAANGGG!*

Two of the Pleiades lay dead on the fifth floor, dismembered. She recalled her introductions. Lupusregina Beta and Delta. Lupusregina's torso lay there; she looked like a werebeast with fur all over her body, but it wasn't enough to overpower Azrael. Only her torso and cold eyes remained, her neck still leading due to the cut that executed her.

As for Delta... her head split in half and rested on the hot ground, her body's location unknown. 

Azrael was missing two wings; now only blood poured out from her back. One of the wings had been cut; the other seemingly pulled harshly out of her back until only a bloody hole remained.

Hasshaku-sama was shocked by the raw brutality of the battle. These maids were no joke and she even wondered if she could survive that.

Half of Azrael's dress was torn apart to the point she was fighting almost naked with gnashing wounds and cuts all over her body. But still, she smiled like a psychopath and moved with even more strength and momentum than when the fight started to the point that her opponents, Yuri Alpha and Aureole Omega, were on the defensive and about to collapse.

Azrael fought both of them with two scythes. One was her original weapon. The name of her scythe was Sheol. Her other scythe was made out of light and flames, her power as a Starlight Angel.

She blocked Yuri's gauntlets mid-air, using her eight remaining wings to remain in place, swiftly ducked Aureole's sharp spider webs and kicked Yuri's chest; dancing in the air, she threw both of her scythes towards Yuri Alpha, who groaned and kicked the air as if she could step on it. 

<Fly! >

Even when she did that, Sheol chased after her to the end of the world, an opportunity that Azrael took to engage Aureole, who was more of a strategist using her webs instead of fighting her head out.

Before, she had been protected by the rest of the Pleiades, but now, no one could protect her. 

*WHOOSH!*

With the most maniacal smile possible, Azrael blinked in front of Aureole with three mere flaps of her wings. Shortly after, her light scythe landed in her hands, ready for execution. 

"You're one annoying slut. I have wanted to kill you for the longest while, spider".

Hasshaku-sama gasped; that's not how an angel was supposed to speak. Azrael didn't give a fart about her language or about falling out of grace; only the pleasure of massacring her foes filled her with glee. 

Aureole Omega created protective webs in a blink of an eye with swift hands. And Azrael decided to attack was well.

*WHOOSH!*

She created another scythe of light and sliced the web's protective layers over and over... and over and over... faster than Aureole Omega could even create them. Droplets of sweat ran down the maid's forehead as she saw her impending execution. Yuri Alpha continued to fly away from the chasing scythe, punching it only for it to recover as if Azrael was using it... like a phantom copy of Azrael was wielding that scythe and chasing after her. A fighting style that neither Beta nor Delta had expected... costing their death.

After this much fight, they had already learnt Azrael's patterns... but they still didn't know how to counter them. She was a monster through and through. 

"Azrael, you-"

"I don't need your help, Hasshaku-sama. Head for the treasury!"

"But-"

"I SAID I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP, LET ME FIGHT! I WILL MASSACRE THEM MYSELF!".

"..."

The Ancient Youkai gulped, recalling the myths and legends about this woman and deciding that it was better to listen to her.

That was definitely not an angel.