CLANG!
The halls of the chamber echo with vibrations as Asta clashs the Angel.
Their swords halt each other, Crimson darkness and Cyan light facing each other at the edge of their swords.
Then a explosion happens, causing shockwaves as Asta and Angel both flew a little back from the recoil.
While he flew back, Asta stomped his foot into the ground, stopping himself in his tracks. He raised Demon slayer, bathing it with Anti-magic as it's edge grew to double his own size.
He dashed ahead, sprinting as he charges his swing with all of his physical strength. " HAAAA!"
Bang-bang-bang.
Three sword strikes, two diagonal slashes and a stab all reflected within a second. The Angel said nothing, her gaze looking down unwaveringly as the giant body of her's casted a eerie shadow above Asta.
The recoil broke Asta's posture, unstablizing him as he leaned back to retreat. However Angel had no mercy, she struck first, appearing before him as the curved edge of the cutlass left a deep gash over Asta's chest.
"Your resistance is futile, " She Slashes from the left, "Devil or not, " Angel Lifts her hand, " You won't win. Collection magic: Reap. "
The magic circle engulfs Asta. His body repelled the spell almost instantly however, there was something the spell managed to retrieveβ the weakened Imperial sword, Elsdocia.
The Angel looks at the key she gave to the prince clover centuries ago, shaking her head sideways while muttering to herself, "what a shame. Such a good key this was...now, I will have to make a replacement for Lucius."
Toss. Peng!
The sword was tossed away like garbage, it's blade cracking from the landing. 500 years worth of legacy was treated no better than trash, showing the amount of personality Angel had.
In Asta's eyes, Angel was the most greedy and one-sided maniac just like Lucius, maybe even more. She treated everything except Lucius as insects and the world as her playground, leaving Asta with no pity for her.
The sound of the sliding Elsdocia matched with Angel's movements. Her quick speed causing a explosion of air each time the broken sword hilt bouncee on the floor. She appears near Asta and slashes downwards.
Kllang...!
Albeit barely, Her sword was blocked, but the residual force carried down Asta's body, shattering the floor below as he sunk a foot deep into the ground.
Asta tried to react, but another strike followed the first one, then another, and another until it began ringing in the chamber similar to a forge's hammer.
"This can't go on...! One of these is going to kill me eventually! I have to do something now, Anything! "
Asta mentally panicks, his eyes scanning the halls for anything but didn't find anything except the unmoving Conrad.
Unable to fight back, Asta could only clutch and grit his teeth in frustration as the strikes became more frequent like a unheard rhythm.
The constant sounds were mind numbing, slowly eroding away at Asta's focus. Soon, his mental strength couldn't take it anymore and he leapt away while parrying a strike to the side. A very big mistake on his part.
Angel smiles, her grin widening when Asta took the bait she had set up. The metal body of hers accelerated in that split second Asta was unfocused for, bashing her off-hand into his chest as it pierced through his chest.
Blurgh!
Blood flowed down Asta's mouth. His body suspended mid-air, supported above the ground with the hammer like arm casually lifting him.
It took a few seconds for him to recover from the shock. Then he looks at Angel, his gaze stuck in disbelief as the two joyful and jolly eyes enjoy the suffering he was going through.
"I told you, didn't I?... You can't defeat me.*angel bring her hand to her ear* Now what was that story again? The one you told to those Puny extras about swearing Revenge on My Lucius?"
With each word she spoke, Angel's face grew more irritated, more furious as the joy vanishes from her eyes and gets replaced by contempt.
"A 'Rat' like you, beating up an Guidance tier angel?... Did you think that Just because I was little curious, you can spew whatever rubbish you want out of that mouth?"
SLAAMMM
The Angel Bashes Asta into the wall, violently.
"You are not even a complete devil and you want to kill my dear Lucius...? JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!!?" Yelled Angel as she drags Asta through the walls, breaking them with his body like a battering ram.
The sight made Conrad flinch inwardly in pity, causing his nerves to bulge out in rage. Then as he prepared to close his eyes, "Shing* a noise halted him in his tracks.
" Guidance tier? Your Lucius? I Don't give a Crap About Any of THAT!!" The voice of Asta penetrates the walls as a loud thud followed his words.
When he turned his eyes to the front, Conrad found himself looking at an unbelievable sightβ like gazing down a artist's painting.
Asta was on ground with a big hole through the left side of his abdoman. A little to the side, one could see the left hand of Angel, severed right at the elbow with a dark energy eating away at it from all sides.
The mana that seeped out of the arm was being devoured by Anti-magic, turning the overwhelming amount into an relatively miniscule quantity of mana.
Asta had sacrificed Anti-magic's converting efficiency, turning it from a converting machine to salvaging one. He did after a instinctual observation that he couldn't convert the mana of such density that was flooding from angel.
He had given up taking over her mana, instead the Anti-magic now break every speck of mana to manabits before gathering those like a vaccum.
"Can't defeat you?" Says Asta to Angel, "a Devil can't defeat an angel?... But all I see in front of me, is a selfish bitch that has no kindness in her heart."
Then As he completes his small speech, Asta lunges ahead, his sword aimed at Angel's torso... He missed completely, not even scratching her, all thanks to her speed and ended up slashing nothing but air.
However the hope in his heart grew louder as for the first time in a week, he heard a familiar noise arrive from the depths of his face, explaining the sudden surge in his movements.
[Trait activated: Battle fanatic]
" Took you long enough! I almost thought that trait wasn't gonna activate." Asta said mentally to the panel. "This gonna be wierd to ask but... Anything that can help me out right now? "
[ *smiley face* Trait system stage 2=> 3]
[Panel has been reworked. Trait hints have been dissolved. Create Traits and Trait missions will replace hints]
[ the system suggests merging Anti-magic with Trait: Half-devil using Create traits. Proceed?]
Shing
The smiley face and the instant reply stunned Asta a little, baffling him as he found himself a little bit more emotional dilemma whether the system was always like this or not.
Yet, he didn't have the moment and soon focused back onto the fight instead. He whips back his sword, barely blocking Angel's slash to his side. His body gets flung from the impact, landing a little distance away before sliding back to a stop.
"Just do it!" Asta said as he locks his sight on Angel and reads her ki. " Anything is better if it works!"
The next second, he felt a attack coming and bent his body sideways. He attack while preparing to dodge, strike back with a heavy swing in retaliation.
He dodges the sword edge by an inch, watching it narrowly pass while grazing his left ear. His strike also landed, leaving a shallow cut on Angel's torso, stunning her.
The panel also got to work, gathering the excessive amount of manabits that leaked out of Angel's wound. The system devoured the mana, feasting on it to speed up the process.
[8 hours remaining. 7 6 5 4 3 2 1... Ding Crafting complete.]
[ Trait created: Devil Hybrid(Anti-magic infuenced) ]
[Anti-magic can now be used as mana replacement for normal mana. Nullification attribute has been turned into a extra element will be added when Anti-nagic is used as substitute.]
[Anti-magic requires less ki to control.]
The newly evolved trait immediately got to work, flooding Asta's body with anti-magic without a care of side-effects of nullification.
The dark energy flowed into his heart and cells seamlessly, not facing the rejection it always faced ever since his resurrection as a half devil.
The devil heart devoured every single bit of Anti-magic it needed within seconds. And before Angel could even recover from the side effects of being hit by Anti-magic, Asta healed from his injuries right in front of her.
" I have decided!" Asta mutters, "No matter what it takes from me... I am gonna destroy this rotten cage you have built... right to it's Core!"
Resharpened and Eager to destroy, The Demon Slayer sword effortlessly cuts into Angel's metallic flesh like butter. The giant body was split down the middle, leaving a hollow shell and a flood of pure mana behind as it collapsed.
...
....
..... Hehehe
Asta slowly looks down, giggling to himself. The feeling of victory washes over him, his joyful and kind smile plastered across his face while places his sword onto his shoulder gently.
"Did you see that, Conrad?" He cheerfully exclaimed, " For some thousand year old angel she was definitely weaβ"
PIERCE!!!
A sudden jolt up his spine awakens Asta from his delusion.
He looks down at his stomach, finding it impaled through with a giant wooden spike that his Anti-magic was trying to corrode but failed to.
"Weak...? For someone who killed a mere puppet. you sure talk big." A soothing and annoyed voice came from behind.
Asta slowly turns his head, watching as the giant engine in the distance opened up like a carriage door.
Soon he began remembering the story he heard just a little while ago, feeling the words reciting in his head as he wishes to punch himself for not realising it before.
πππ π°ππππ... ππππππ πππ ππππ’ π πππππ πππ ππππππ. πππππππ πππππ π πππ πππ ππππ ππ πππππ.
He was never fighting the real Angel to began with. It was just a puppet, a small pair of eyes she used while her real body slept in frozen time within the engine.
It was only now Asta realises itβ That only now, the fight has truly began.