96th Adversary: A Woman’s Resolve

"You fused with your regalia? Is that even possible?"

Luka smiled in response to Miko's questions.

"A regalia will take the form of whatever weapon the most compatible with you. My regalia is a living type just like yours, but it isn't a humanoid model."

She stretched her hand to the side. Miko saw what seemed like snakes slithering under her skin.

"It's a Parasitic Type. It looks like my desire to become your equal made my regalia like this."

Miko saw darkness coming out of Luka's palm and formed a black claymore, the claymore then transformed into a snake which hissed at Miko.

"I see."

Miko realized something. When the giant serpent first attacked him, a light engulfed it and Luka appeared with her sword. He originally thought she somehow switched places with it, but he was wrong. She and her sword were there all along. They are the giant serpent.

He looked at Luka again. She didn't have a wound from being stabbed in the chest by Miko, which meant the one he stabbed wasn't Luka, then….

"Her regalia can change into her form and the snake was actually her?"

That meant the serpent that battled with Regis and Ishma while Miko was bleeding out was actually Luka.

"What the hell? It's like she's a regalia herself….Oh, she did fuse with it didn't she?"

He looked annoyed.

"Ugh! I'll just stop thinking about it!"

He pointed his sword at Luka.

"It just means you're craftier than I initially expected. Also, you still haven't displayed what kind of abilities Ouroboros' proxies possess. But that changes now."

Darkness started seeping out of Miko.

"I'm gonna show you that no matter how badly you wish to be a monster, you'll never compare to a real one."

Miko's skin started darkening and his appearance started changing.

"Ascending Satan, 1st Gate- Dark Lord."

Meanwhile at the borders of Renacido. The army led by Momo and the others was directly clashing with members of the Flameheart Clan.

*Bam!*

Explosions resounded as the Renacido's army used weapons of mass destruction to the fullest of their capabilities.

"You damn beasts!"

The Flameheart members retaliated with attacks of their own and mercilessly destroyed their enemies. One of these members captured an orc, held it up by its throat, and began strangling it.

"You filthy monster! I'll make you regret opposing us, humans!"

The Flameheart member laughed as he watched the orc's legs dangle in the air.

"Um…."

That's when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"What?!"

He turned around and shouted.

*Bam!*

His head was squashed by a club and his body hit the ground.

"That's a citizen of our country. I'll have you unhand him."

Hina looked down on the headless body and said.

"Well, it's not like you can hear me."

She walked up to the orc, who was coughing and trying to catch his breath, and held out her hand.

"T-Thank you, Ms. Hina."

"No problem."

Hina pulled up the orc. She looked around.

"This place sure became a battlefield pretty quickly."

"Hahahaha!"

She heard an arrogant laugh and turned around to see Ace battling it out with several Flameheart members at once. He was slightly taller than he usually was. He's far more muscular and bulky as well. The expression on his face was wild, and he looked a bit older. It was hard to tell that he was the same person. Even his clothes were weird. He was wearing a dark pants with a belt, which was made with thick chains. He was wearing armored boots, thick arm guards with armor attached to them, and a pair of fingerless gloves. He was shirtless which made his hard muscles visible.

He was using his Brawler Character.

*Bam!*

He punched an enemy and kicked another in the midsection, so hard he fell to his knees. He blocked a sword strike with his gauntlet before smashing the head of the guy who attacked him. He laughed wildly as he clashed with two enemies at once in a fistfight.

"He's having too much fun, and did he get stronger again with that cheat ability?"

Hina complained. She turned and looked at Momo who was clashing with an elder of the Flameheart Clan. From her expression, Hina could tell that Momo was trying her best to make it to Miko and Luka.

"Does she want to prevent Miko from killing Luka so badly?"

"Jealous?"

Sora appeared behind her and asked.

"Honestly, Yes. Luka is Miko's fiancée and she's obviously someone he has special feelings for. It's natural for me to feel jealous."

"Woah, I didn't expect you to be so honest about it."

"There's no need to hide it. Besides, I disliked characters who were always being dishonest about their feelings and then cry when the protagonist chooses someone else."

"So you're viewing this like a story, huh?"

Sora smiled and thrust his hand behind him to block a sneak attack. He spun around and thrust his palm forward. A powerful sound wave hit the attacker and completely crushed them. He turned and faced Hina.

"So, what do you want to do?"

"I wanna meet Miko and Luka and stop them from killing each other."

"…Why?"

"Because I don't want Miko to kill those special to him ever again."

"If you stop them, there's a chance they might reconcile and become a couple. Do you still want to after knowing that?"

Hina nodded and smiled.

"It doesn't matter because either way I'll still love Miko."

"..."

Sora froze. After a while, he started laughing.

"Hahahaha! After hearing that confession, I have to bring you there!"

He smiled.

"Don't worry, your big brother will crave the path to your happy ending, even if I have to point a gun at Miko's head and force him to marry you!"

"Ah, no. That wouldn't be good."

"I don't care! I'm still doing it! Because that's what big brothers do! Ace!"

*Bam!*

Ace slammed an enemy head into the ground and looked at Sora.

"We're clearly a path for her little sister, so give it all you got!"

"I don't get it, but roger!"

Ace lifted the enemy and threw them into a group of enemies. He slammed his fists together with an excited grin on his face.

"Clear the way, you assholes! My little sister's coming through!"

Meanwhile, Momo was still in a heated battle with the Flameheart elder.

"What's wrong, Midnight Witch? Can't your staff keep the gate open any longer?"

The elder mocked Momo who was breathing heavily. The fiery monsters she summoned had already been destroyed by him no matter how many she continued to send at him.

(This is why I didn't use this staff against Hector. An elder-class fighter would have no trouble crushing this infernal army. Also, it might be a replicate but it takes a lot of mana just to keep this gate to Avicii open.)

She clenched the staff.

"But at least it bought me enough time."

Momo tapped the staff on the ground. Light m surged through the earth.

"What the?"

The elder was caught off guard by the sudden light, which was moving in odd directions around him.

"Wait."

He turned around and looked again and started following the paths the light was taking.

"No way…."

He started sweating.

"This can't be….!"

He looked at Momo with a frightened expression.

"This is a spell circle! You drew one this big while fighting me?!"

If one was to look down from above, one would see Momo and the elder standing inside a massive spell circle that had at least a km radius.

"I gotta go!"

The elder tried to escape the circle but he suddenly found himself unable to take a step. He felt like his body was being tied down by invisible chains.

"I told you earlier, Elder. I don't have time to waste on someone like you."

Mono smirked with a tired expression.

"So it's natural that I would prepare my killer move from the start, right?"

"Fuck!"

The elder started to struggle.

"Fuck! What spell is this?! From the size and how complicated it looks, it must be really powerful!"

"It's over, Elder."

The spell circle lit up showing that it was about to activate.

"Fuck!"

Momo tapped the ground with her staff again.

"No!"

The elder screamed before suddenly freezing in place. He neither moved nor spoke, he just stood there like a statue.

"Dreamland."

Momo spoke with a smirk on her face.

"Have a nice long dream."

Dreamland, it was a spell that causes people to enter a daydream state for as long as the user wanted it. It's a basic spell.

"Dreamland, huh? That's a pretty impressive move there, Momo."

Layla walked up to her and said.

"But it was also pretty risky."

Momo nodded.

"Normally, someone of his caliber wouldn't get caught in a basic spell like this, so I had to shake him up mentally first."

"The spell circle on the ground is a dud that you just created right? This was a bluff so that you could use a binding spell on him undetected. Once he saw that he couldn't move, the elder had to believe that you were going to use an extremely powerful spell to finish him off. This allowed you to successfully cast Dreamland on him thus incapacitating him."

Layla smiled at Momo.

"You have guts. I would never try something like that. If the elder had maintained a cool head, it would've been your loss."

Momo closed the gate that led to the fiery world and put away her staff. She also made the enormous spell circle disappear.

"I took a gamble and won. That's all that matters."

"But you've exhausted a lot of mana to do it."

Layla looked at the elder who was in a trance.

"You don't have the strength left to kill him right? And the spell won't last forever."

"About that, can you handle that? I'm going ahead."

Momo walked a little but stumbled.

"Be careful."

She was caught by Hina. She looked and saw that Sora and Ace were with her.

"Let's go."

Momo nodded.

"Don't worry about anything. We'll take care of the rest. Those guardians and Oden are really handing the Flamehearts who are here quite a beating. Just make sure to bring Miko back alive."

"Thanks."

They all nodded and took off quickly leaving the borders. Layla watched them leave with a smile on her face.

"Is that alright with you?"

Jason walked up behind her and asked.

"Didn't you want to help Miko out too?"

"That's where you're wrong. The one I wanted to help out was Luka. I don't want Darius' niece to die by Miko's hands, of all people."

She smiled.

"But I'll leave it in their hands."

"I see. But there's something funny about this situation isn't there?"

"I think so too."

Layla looked around.

"With the Flameheart Clan going wild and Miko and Luka fighting, it's strange that there aren't any signs of the Dragna clan making any moves to calm things down."

She frowned.

"What's really going on here?"

Back in the rural area where Miko and Luka were fighting. Miko had activated his Irregularity and have become the Dark Lord after opening the first gate. He was standing face to face with Luka with a frown on his face.

"You don't seem frightened at all. All who see this form usually are, even if for a second. Yet you remain unfazed?"

Luka smiled.

"Currently there's no one who frightens me more than myself. I think you can relate to such a feeling."

"...."

Luka spread her arms.

"But I must say, I feel honored. I can finally say for sure that you're giving it your all to kill me. To show my gratitude, I'll give it my all as well and show you what I've become just to reach you."

A dark mist started covering her body. Soon Miko could only see a silhouette of her standing in front of him. He saw a pair of glowing red eyes on that silhouette.

"Infinite Demon Dragon!"