-dxd -
Thanks for reading!
How you doin'?
How we feelin about video game consoles in this generation?
-dxd -
---"You have already awakened it, haven't you...? The Abyss-Side Balance Breaker of yours..."
-crash!-
'So what's the deal with Sacred Gears?' I thought as Fenrir's claws tore a chunk of my ribs with a single swipe.
-cough!-
I coughed up a lot of blood as I jumped back up and decked Fenrir in the snout.
Damn, they don't call these creatures God Killers for nothing. I'm not even a God and I'm feeling the heat over here!
Wait, that's not how that term is used, right?
-crash!-
I dodged another deadly claw as Vali appeared in a blur, cratering the snowy earth next to me as his Divine Dividing Scale Mail looked more punctured than a pincushion.
"This Fenrir guy is the real deal, huh?" I chuckled.
"Yep. Real as ever." Vali smiled as he got up.
"Nyaha! Stinkin' dog!" Kuroka gave a nasty snarl as she worked in tandem with Le Fay to harass and annoy Fenrir.
"Looks like this won't be easy!" Le Fay continued to lay binding spells on Fenrir as she narrowly slipped past one of his claws.
We continued our attempts to wear Fenrir out as Kuroka and Le Fay tossed their very own spells at the very large wolf, while Sadako assisted them as a life-sized conduit thanks to the powers she gained from my natural divine protein milkshake.
"I think... I would like a long vacation after this..." Sadako sighed.
'Hmmn... What was I thinking about...? Oh yeah, Sacred Gears!'
Sacred Gears are funny.
When you think of it, or rather, when old man Azzy thinks of it, they're like divine cheat codes handed out to humans by the Biblical God. Tools of power stuffed into random mortals because, apparently, fate rolls dice when distributing weapons of potential mass destruction.
But they're honestly pretty simple when you think of it, you've got swords with special abilities, reality-bending powers, healing powers, and gauntlets with the soul of a dragon inside of them.
Simple actually.
-slash!-
Oh wait, there goes my arm.
"Daichi---!"
"---bocchan, are you okay?"
My left arm went flying with a swipe from Fenrir, and in return, I opened up a [Crack], a long tear in space across Fenrir's side that leaves a long gash, causing me to be doused in liters of Divine blood of the Giant Wolf race.
[God Slayer Giant Wolf Genome Acquired]
Tit for tat, bitch.
"I'll be fine!" I reassured my trusty compatriots.
But even then, Fenrir was so damned durable that he didn't even look worse for wear.
But not for long.
[Sensitivity Manipulation x3000]
I raised my palm.
[Earth Magic; Giant Fuck You Ballsack Flick To Middle Finger Model]
I smiled evilly as a giant lump of frosted snowy earth piled up into a hand that furiously flicked Fenrir's nether regions.
---"AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO---!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Fenrir let out a pained howl as he tumbled over, rolling side to side as I could see tears forming in his large wolf eyes.
"An opening!" Vali shouted as he flew down to Fenrir and started to stomp on him.
"Wow, that's rough..." Bikou sweated at the sight of it, but didn't miss his chance to join.
At this rate, with Kuroka, Le Fay using spells to slow Fenrir down with Sadako to help them, Arthur might be able to dominate Fenrir's mind with Excalibur Ruler.
As for my [Hypnosis]... I think I'll use my cards on something else after this...
---Anyways, there's Sacred Gears, and then there's the Balance Breaker.
From what I've 'gathered', a Balance Breaker is when your Sacred Gear throws off its limiter and 'goes further beyond', or as old man Azzy put it in all of his perverted wisdom, a bug in the system.
Now, I personally like to think that it happened after the big G went to the upper-upper room.
Like the most talented guy at a tech company leaving, and now all the code is nearly indecipherable without him.
And yet, despite being this so-called bug, Balance Breakers are everywhere. Like, there's more Balance Breakers than Krypt*nite shards when the plot needs Superm*n to lose.
But hey, I'm not gonna complain.
But why am I even thinking about this?
Because Ophis, of all people, casually dropped the bomb that I'd already awakened my Abyss Side Sacred Gear.
[Chaos Labyrinth Crown].
Huh. Who would've thought.
And how did she know that? I just chalked it up to wisdom and experience of a millennium-year-old plus Dragon.
And Abyss-Side? I'm guessing it's because I used [Body Manipulation] to mold it with those couple [Twice Criticals] inside of my body and soul...
---But enough of that.
-boom!-
It seems that Vali hit Fenrir in the baby-serum ejecting machine again.
Fenrir then swipes his claws, and Vali's Scale Mail gets shredded like paper as he slammed into the snow, coating it crimson.
---"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOO---!!!!!!"
"Guess we made him angry."
Bikou charges in next, staff spinning in defiance as he leaps to the sky and slams it down on Fenrir's head.
-wham!-
"How's that, ya furball!?" Bikou yelled.
For about half a second, he looks cool, and unfortunately, it's really just half a second as Fenrir casually swats him like a bug, sending him pinwheeling into a mountainside.
-boom!-
The peak collapses into an avalanche, burying him under snow and boulders, though if you look hard enough, the Ruyi Jingu Bang was poking out of all of that snow and rock.
I aim to use [Sensitivity Manipulation] on Fenrir and bombard him with volleys of [Power of Destruction], but he leapt away from Arthur and I over to Kuroka, Le Fay, and Sadako.
"There he is!"
"He's about to attack!"
Meanwhile, Kuroka, Le Fay, and Sadako combine their magic to block a blast from Fenrir's mouth.
For a moment, the glowing barrier holds, and everything is fine.
-crack!-
And then cracks like glass as they're blasted far into the distance, three shrieking projectiles.
"Nya---!"
"Kya---!"
"aaa....."
That leaves me and Arthur. Lucky us.
"Le Fay!" Arthur shouts as he turns his gaze towards Fenrir.
With a shared look between us, we both move at the same time.
The ground underneath us shatters from the force of us dashing from both sides, flashing our weapons at Fenrir.
With his Caliburn and Excalibur Ruler, and my own weapons, we attempt to strike after strike, but the guy's got a crazy kind of defense.
He's smart enough to know that my abilities can hurt him, so he's doing his best to avoid being hit by me, and striking back with counters.
And with every counter-swipe from him coming massively faster than the speed of sound, to the point where it goes even beyond that, Arthur nearly gets torn apart until I grab him by the collar and yank him back.
-screeechh!-
The land in front of us is replaced with a deep gash into the ground as we both exhale softly.
"You have my thanks---"
-wham!-
Arthur barely manages a stiff gratitude before being promptly smacked by the next paw strike that sends him flying halfway across the valley.
"...Yeah, you're welcome---"
I barely finish the words before Fenrir's maw opens and roars, unleashing a torrent of destructive magic.
My instinct kicks in, and my [Worthless] ability flares, swallowing the attack into nothingness.
-sizzle!-
The price? My skin gets shredded and charred, sizzling as my skin boiled like I'd dived face-first into a furnace.
"Owowowow---! Bad dog! Burnt Daichi is not on the Menu." I shouted as Fenrir attempted to bite me.
I stumble back, gasping, and catch sight of her.
---Ophis.
She's just standing on a distant peak, staring at us. At me. Like an adult watching ants build a sandcastle, curious if I'll get squished or keep crawling.
"Do you want me to stop him?" She mouthed rather cutely. But unfortunately, I could not agree.
"No thanks. Next time, though." I replied. This was a stage for the youngins' to carry their own weight.
"Okay. Next time." Ophis said as she continued to watch.
Part of me thinks: 'This is insane. Now's not the time to be experimenting with Sacred Gear theory. If you really try, you can probably take him out.'
The other part of me, the louder, stupider part?
Well… if Ophis already says I've unlocked it, maybe I should poke around, see what happens.
Balance Breaker. Chaos Labyrinth Crown. Abyss Side.
All funny words.
And if I'm gonna figure out what this thing actually does…
No better time than in front of the giant wolf that could tear holes through Vali's Dimension Lost and even threaten Juggernaut Drive.
"…Alright then."
I smirk, blood dripping down my cheek as Fenrir's eyes lock onto me.
"Let's see what you've really got."
-dxd-
-Somewhere deep within my subconsciousness-
-[Chaos Labyrinth Crown]-
I had never really tested it out fully, have I?
I never really tested it out fully.
But now, with Ophis' words still ringing in my head, I couldn't help but think about it.
From what I've pieced together, it lets me fashion weapons out of pure energy and magic--- swords, spears, claws, whatever I can imagine, and lock onto a target and launch them at it.
It may not be anything crazy compared to certain fellas who fight with concepts with their Sacred Gear, but I think I have enough 'cheats' in this life to not have any right to complain.
Which sounds great, especially when you're trying to test that out against a large wolf that happens to be the god-slaying mutt of Norse mythology.
---"GRAAAOOOOOOO---!!!!"
Fenrir lunged at me with claws flashing like guillotines.
I dodged the first two swipes, but the third ripped into my side, shredding through flesh. My body twisted, snow flying, and then another claw raked me, tearing at my ribs.
And yet, I couldn't help but laugh.
I'm getting torn up, yes. But by the time I'd start to recover, I'd become even stronger thanks to this.
"Hahahaha! Holy hell, you really don't hold back, huh---?!"
Each blow made me stagger with blood spraying everywhere, but the thrill was undeniable. Something primal and stupid in me was eating this up.
But even now, I was still trying to reach into my inner-self.
How, when I'm fighting with Fenrir right now?
Well, it's thanks to a nifty magic spell that I've 'crafted', and by crafted, I mean stole from the Type-Moon franchise.
I called it 'Thought Room', though it was based on the spells 'Memory Partition' and 'Thought Acceleration', which allowed me to maintain numerous calculations, functions, and thought processes in rapid fashion.
It wasn't perfect, naturally, as per the author's demands, as they said it would increase plot holes if I did something stupid with all that thinking time.
But I was close, close in my soul, close to getting deep and intimate with my Sacred Gear.
I clenched my fist, cloaking it in the raw aura of the Power of Destruction as I drove my fist into Fenrir's jaw. "How'd you like this!?"
-booooommm---!-
Fenrir dodged, but the explosion nicked his fur, causing his fur to tear and rupture as he yelped in pain.
-whine!-
---Progress.
Unfortunately, victory lasted all of two seconds before Fenrir slammed his paw down on me, pinning me to the snow like a bug on a board.
-crack!-
My ribs crunched as the snow crunched beneath me. My arms shook as I held up under the weight, barely keeping my chest from being pulverized.
"Urgghh... Bad dog… heh… so this is what being a chew toy feels like…"
But in that crushing weight, something tugged at me.
A voice? A pull? I don't know what it was, but instinct told me to sink deeper into myself, into the Sacred Gear.
---So I did.
And all I saw was darkness. Endless, suffocating darkness.
But I walked forward... or maybe I drifted until a figure loomed before me.
It was a ghostly silhouette. Broad, towering, muscles bulging like a titan carved from shadow. And sprouting from its head were bull-like horns that were long and curved.
A deep voice rumbled in my 'ears'.
"Είσαι πολύ ανθεκτικός, οικοδεσπότη μου."
("You are quite resilient, my host.")
I blinked, taking in the outline. Slowly, his form sharpened not fully, but enough for me to make out the imposing build.
Damn, this thing's super huge!
Like, super, super hu---ge!
I believe I know what this is, but aren't they supposed to be around 7-8 feet tall? Why is this guy the size of a mountain?
"…Wait a damn second." My eyes narrowed. "You're not just any minotaur… you're the Minotaur. Aren't you?"
"Μινώταυρος. Asterion. Some call me Asterios."
"This isn't revenge for eating Minotaur meat with Azazel, isn't it?" I jokingly asked. "If so, then it's not my fault since he convinced me to do it!"
"No." Asterion responded.
"I see." I said as my brain scrambled with trivia.
The Minotaur. Born of Pasiphaë and the Cretan Bull, locked away in the Labyrinth, slain by Theseus. A myth, and yet here he was, living in my Sacred Gear like it was just another Tuesday.
"Do not trouble yourself with such nonsense, host. My tale is irrelevant. What matters is power. Building the Labyrinth. Expanding it until even gods are trapped." Asterion snorted.
"The Labyrinth?" I did that one thing in anime where the characters repeat things said to them. "You want me to trap things inside this dark, damp space?"
"Yes." His horns gleamed faintly in the dark. "And, of course, bedding women is not so bad either. You should go further beyond, even further than my father did."
"Like your father, the Creton Bull?" I raised an eyebrow. "Will that make me stronger?"
"No." The Minotaur replied. "But by laying with other's women, you will make many enemies, and in turn have many people to trap in here when they eventually come to kill you."
"…What the hell kind of motivational speech is this?" I stared.
"Ahem. Regardless… So it is told... The Labyrinth will grow as you gain strength. And when it reaches maturity… You may call upon my powers further, in a state known as [Breakdown the Beast]."
The words echoed.
I knew Juggernaut Drive, the suicidal mode where the two Heavenly Dragon Sacred Gear users burn themselves out in exchange for greater power.
But this was different.
If I remember correctly, it's what Gasper and Sairoarg uses, so I can't help but wonder what mine would end up being.
Maybe it's the Labyrinth itself, who knows?
"No need to think about it too hard." Asterion took me out of my 'mind'. "As long as you live long enough to get into trouble, you surely will be able to awaken more of my power."
"Is that so... Kukukukukuku....!"
"Kuhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha---!"
I couldn't help it. A laugh bubbled up, sharp and incredulous.
"Music to my ears. So I gotta just go out there and be myself?" I turned away, already feeling the pull back toward reality. "Alright, big guy. You got a deal!"
"But for now, though… I've got a wolf to fight."
Asterion tilted his horned head, watching me retreat. A deep sigh rumbled from him as he lay back into the shadows.
"...πραγματικά, ένας ανυπόμονος οικοδεσπότης."
("…Truly, an impatient host.")
-dxd-
Next Chapter: 036: Ecchi Young Man And Pals Kick A Big Dog! Daichi Goes Off To Adopt Its Kids?
-dxd-
-
Trivia Time! (Againx35!)
Did you know(ofc)
Seiyuu Time!
Today we have our monkey boy Bikou!
There's Makoto Yasumura (JPN) who voices;
Miroku (Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon) Ah man, this is a classic!
Spring Mustachio (One Punch Man) Who?
Toraichi Matsuoka (Free! 2017 Movie) Oh, this is shark-teeth swimming boy's papa.
Oingo (JoJo PT3) Your first mistake was going against the Stardust Crusaders, man...
Dan Gotanda (Infinite Stratos) Evey Harem Mc needs a best-friend, and this is Ichika's
-
And next we got;
Dave Trosko (ENG) who also voices;
Spain (Hetalia) Oh Spain Oye Espana. I think I wanna go there some day.
Soramaru Kumo (Laughing Under the Clouds) Man, this came out in the later 2010's, but it feels nostalgic.
Guren Ichinose (Seraph of the End) I heard there was a flood somehwere when Guren slicked his hair back.
Present Mic (MHA) cool guy
Gauche Adial (Black Clover) siscon
Nimura Furata (Tokyo Ghoul) Freak. Imagine if Studio Pierrot animated TG properly...
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich (Dies Irae) Dies Irae is so amazing, just buy/read the visual novel. BTW, from now and forever, fck Hajun. All my homies hate Hajun.
-
dxd