Chapter 886: Now, Logan... Fire! [2]
The purple lightning arcing at the end of the weapon reflected in Asmodeus’s dulling eyes, and yet all he could do was curse.
"Shit..."
Leviathan’s claw remained buried in his stomach, twisting and yanking at his muscles and organs as if to tear him in two.
Black blood ran along its elongated fingers, instantly corrupting anything it touched while mixing with Asmodeus’s beautiful crimson blood before dripping into the ocean below.
The creature raised him higher, deliberately positioning his body between itself and the distant Kraken Slayer.
Its countless eyes blinked as the vertical mouth stretched wider.
’Is it smiling right now...?’
Asmodeus couldn’t help but feel this monster knew what it was doing, what their plan was and revelled in defeating them. The bastard understood exactly what Logan intended to do and still used him as a shield.
[Fire!]
Brando’s voice crackled through the device attached to Asmodeus’s armour, the tiny little noise sending a jolt down his spine.
’I have to move!’
"Your Majesty, move!"
Asmodeus glanced toward the fortress.
The surviving Kraken Slayer glowed like a dark purple star against the damaged coast. Its remaining mana rings spun around the shaft, trembling as engineers struggled to keep the weapon stable.
Logan stood at the controls.
Even from miles away, Asmodeus could imagine the old dwarf’s expression.
Both furious and terrified.
’Or maybe he’s crying over the damage to his beloved weapon...’
"Laddie!" Logan shouted through the communication device. "I have the shot, but you’re blocking the entire bloody target!"
Asmodeus coughed, blood spurting and spilling over his chin.
"Then... take the shot... trust me."
"What kind of answer is that!?"
Leviathan pulled its claw deeper.
The curved blade tore through another section of Asmodeus’s abdomen. His body jerked, and the weakness spreading through his limbs grew worse.
"Just shoot!"
Axiom remained trapped beneath his arm.
He tried to raise it, but the sheer pain and weakness after using most of his energy made it too difficult, as his entire arm trembled.
Leviathan’s free arm twisted around his throat, locking him against its narrow chest while the eyes inside its wings watched the Kraken Slayer’s charge.
’It wants Logan to hesitate.’
Asmodeus’s lips curved before unsummoning Axiom.
’Bad choice.’
Leviathan’s eyes followed it.
Asmodeus grabbed the arm piercing his stomach with both hands. His fingers sank into the grooves of black armour. The pain jolted through his brain like a steel rake, yet despite that, Asmodeus focused himself, wrapping both legs around the monster’s abdomen, digging his fingers into the flesh beneath its black armour.
The monster glared at him, a disgusting, smelly drool leaking onto Asmodeus’ face as he grinned up at the thing.
"Bastard, you’ve clearly never fought a berserker before!"
He pulled himself farther onto the claw; agonising pain overwhelmed his senses as the blade tore completely through his body. But the sudden movement brought him close enough to Leviathan’s vertical mouth.
"Heh, what are you looking at?"
Asmodeus slammed his forehead into the creature.
CRACK!
The impact crushed several teeth and snapped its head backwards.
Leviathan loosened its grip.
That was enough.
Asmodeus twisted around the embedded claw, wrapping one leg around its elongated waist as he locked both arms beneath the ring of wings surrounding its shoulders.
He held the creature against him.
Leviathan thrashed.
Its long limbs bent backwards, claws tearing into Asmodeus’s back and ribs as it tried to pull free.
He didn’t release it.
"Logan!"
The Kraken Slayer’s light intensified.
"Laddie, get away from it!"
"No."
"What do you mean, no!?"
"I mean fire."
Brando’s voice cut through the channel.
"Asmodeus, the shot will go through both of you!"
"DON’T BE FUCKING STUPID, WE ALL KNOW THAT IF WE LOSE THIS CHANCE.... KUHA..."
The monster’s second arm punctured his chest.
More blood spurted from his mouth, though almost invulnerable... this was almost enough to force Asmodeus to black out.
Velvet screamed through their telepathic connection.
[Don’t you dare!]
Asmodeus closed his eyes for a moment; the fear of his wife getting angry at him was a little more frightening than this damn aberration being held within his thighs.
Yet the creature was already adapting again.
The wounds across its black armour were sealing. New eyes opened along the edges of the hole in his stomach, studying his blood, his aura and the faint divine energy struggling around his heart.
If he allowed it to escape the firing line, there might never be another chance.
"Logan."
Asmodeus’s voice sounded different... it was softer... almost weak.
The old dwarf went silent as he stared up at the sky, his finger hesitating over the firing button.
"Fire the weapon..."
Asmodeus tightened his grip around Leviathan.
"...Please..."
A pause followed; the dwarf covered his face with one hand as he pressed the button, tears of sky water leaking down his cheeks.
"You bastard... lad, I swear... emperor or not, I will..." He swallowed his words, and before the monster could do more damage to Asmodeus, Logan roared.
"KRAKEN SLAYER!"
The remaining engineers locked the final brace.
Purple runes erupted across the damaged shaft.
"FIRE!"
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The coast shook.
The Kraken Slayer’s support frame collapsed beneath the recoil as the final harpoon launched through the storm. Dark purple lightning spiralled around its enormous shell, tearing the clouds apart while it crossed the ocean.
Leviathan saw it coming.
Its wings spread.
Every eye opened.
A wall of darkness formed between the creature and the projectile.
Asmodeus snarled while raising his weak hand towards the beast’s chest, a slight sneer on his lips as his face remained deathly pale.
"You’re not escaping."
He forced the remaining energy inside his body to move. It felt like turning broken gears with his bare hands. Demonic fire crawled through his veins, Abyssal power churned inside his muscles, and the faint divine aura around his heart burned against both.
His flesh tore beneath the pressure, but the three energies moved.
"AXIOM! COME TO ME!"
Axiom answered from below.
The halberd shot from the ocean and pierced through Asmodeus’s back, tearing through his chest and lungs before ripping through Levian, piercing even the massive eye and wings behind it.
The creature convulsed with a bizarre noise, almost like a scream.
Asmodeus tried to speak, make a funny remark... but he couldn’t even open his eyes, and darkness swallowed his consciousness.
’Mom...’
The harpoon struck.
The harpoon struck Leviathan.
BOOOOOOM!
Its serrated shell punched through the creature’s back and buried itself deep inside the black armour surrounding its chest. The impact folded Leviathan’s narrow body forward, splitting hundreds of eyes across its wings as black blood erupted into the storm.
Asmodeus felt the shock through Axiom.
His grip loosened.
The energy he had forced through his ruined body finally collapsed.
The demonic power burning inside his veins dimmed first, followed by the abyssal energy gathered around his muscles. Even the faint divine aura surrounding his heart flickered and vanished.
’No...’
His concentration broke, and Axiom started to fade.
Leviathan tore itself free from the halberd and swung one elongated arm across Asmodeus’s body.
CRACK!
The blow shattered several ribs and launched him through the air. His wings failed to appear, leaving him tumbling helplessly above the ocean while blood poured from the wound in his stomach.
The explosive shell began to glow inside Leviathan.
Logan’s voice screamed through the communication device.
"GET AWAY FROM IT! THE SHELL IS ABOUT TO DETONATE!"
Leviathan seemed to understand.
Its seven fingers plunged into its own chest, tearing through flesh as it tried to reach the embedded harpoon.
VWOOM!
A golden blur of light cut across the horizon, striking first as Erika appeared behind the creature, both blades crossing through its wrist.
"Don’t even think about touching it, you disgusting beast!"
The severed hand dropped into the sea.
Leviathan twisted toward her, but a black tail wrapped around its throat and dragged it backwards.
"Profane Filth."
Serena descended through the storm, her pure-white hair half black, floating around her fox mask as darkness rapidly enshrouded her figure, transforming her like a living armour. She extended her long claws and grew ten enormous tails behind her.
For a brief moment, the pressure surrounding her matched Leviathan’s.
She caught the monster’s remaining arm.
The ocean beneath them sank.
"Erika."
"I know."
Erika attacked without hesitation.
Her twin blades carved through Leviathan’s elbows, shoulders and knees, severing joints before the creature could escape the blast radius.
Asmodea arrived moments later, beneath them, in a beautiful red gown.
She stood atop a pristine black rose, as countless blood-red roses bloomed across the ocean beneath Leviathan, their roots twisting around pieces of wreckage and dead abyssal flesh.
In the centre of them, Asmodeus lay wrapped in soft, pollenated buds.
The sea weakened her power, but she didn’t care.
"Dear husband, you always rush ahead on your own... and look what happened." Her words were slightly harsh, and yet the flowers budding around her only told of rage, worry and anxiety.
"Wait for me, darling. I’ll ensure this disgusting thing pays!"
Asmodea raised her hands to the sky.
Thorned vines burst from the waves and wrapped around Leviathan’s legs, waist and wings. Each time the monster tore one apart, two more rose from the water.
Blood ran from Asmodea’s nose.
"Hold still, you disgusting thing."
Leviathan roared.
Dark purple light gathered inside the eyes covering its body, but Serena’s tails tightened around its wings and forced them shut.
"You will not escape."
The shell cracked.
White-gold light spilt through the wounds in Leviathan’s chest.
Asmodea’s roses opened across its armour, their roots burrowing into every exposed groove. Erika drove both swords through the creature’s ribs and twisted, widening the hole around the shell.
Logan’s voice bellowed through their communication devices.
"HURRY! IT’S GOING TO BLOW!"