Chapter 883: Leviathan’s True Form
"Asmodeus!"
Velvet released Ein without hesitation.
The wounded Arbiter drifted several metres through the air as the Dragoness folded her wings and dove. Rain lashed across Velvet’s face, mixing with the tears already spilling from her eyes as Asmodeus dropped toward the turbulent ocean below.
His body no longer responded.
’Damn... at least I managed to deal a mortal blow...’
Axiom fell beside him, rotating slowly through the air while the last traces of white, crimson and abyssal light faded from its blade.
Velvet reached him moments before he struck the water.
Her arms wrapped around his waist, and the sudden weight dragged them both down several metres before her wings snapped open.
"Got you!"
Asmodeus remained limp against her chest.
He wanted to brush the tears from her cheeks, and to tell her it was fine, that he was just a little tired from overdrawing his divine and abyssal energies. Yet the words wouldn’t leave his lips as she continued to cry.
’Velvet... I’m okay...’
Even the telepathic communication wouldn’t go through.
Half his body was charred, his left arm barely recognisable beneath the ruined flesh. Blood continued dripping from his nose and lips, spreading across Velvet’s armour as she held him tighter.
"Wake up."
He didn’t respond.
Velvet’s breathing became frantic.
"Asmodeus... wake up!"
’I’m awake... I’m here... don’t cry... my little dragon...’
Ein descended beside them, one hand pressed against her ruined side. Silver blood continued leaking between the broken plates of her white exoskeletal armour, but her remaining eye focused on Asmodeus.
[His life remains.]
Velvet glared at her.
"Then fix him!"
[I cannot.]
"What do you mean, you can’t?"
[His body rejects my powers... By consuming the energy stored inside that weapon, something has changed.]
Her words stopped as she glanced at him with strange eyes. Despite being an emotionless arbiter, Velvet Ein almost seemed reluctant and concerned.
Velvet’s fingers trembled against Asmodeus’s back.
"Then what am I supposed to do?"
[He will be fine—this man wouldn’t die even if death tried to take him...]
"Hahaha..." Velvet chuckled as she remembered fighting against the so-called god of death in the past; she thought this woman was someone she loathed. An enemy! She decided not to attack or cause trouble. "It seems we’ve won?"
[....]
Ein didn’t answer.
She just stared at Asmodeus, fluttering her pure white eyelashes with each blink.
"Well, I guess I can take your word for it... as someone who has been stalking him for the past year."
"Eh?" Ein’s lips trembled as she finally looked at the exhausted woman before her. "W-What?! How?" The Arbiter genuinely seemed confused as she looked at Velvet.
"Hah... did you think wearing that cloak and peeking from behind walls was actually going to hide you from sight?"
"N-No... there should have been an enchantment that blocked all mortals from noticing me."
"???" Velvet tilted her head. "Really? But I’ve noticed you at least fifteen times in the past month..."
[WHAT?!]
However, as the Arbiter shouted, her eyes suddenly widened, her pupils darting around.
[I-It cannot be...]
A deep bubbling noise rose from below.
Ein’s head turned.
The two halves of Leviathan’s corpse floated across the ruined ocean, each one large enough to resemble a fallen island. Black blood flooded between them, colouring the sea for miles while severed limbs and shattered armour sank beneath the waves.
For several minutes, there was just a silent howl echoing through the air.
Then, she watched in horror as the flesh began to swell. Large blisters rose across Leviathan’s divided body, until...
POP!
One burst open.
A thick cloud of black mist sprayed into the air, carrying the scent of rotten salt, burned meat and something strangely sweet beneath it.
Another blister appeared.
Then dozens.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
POP! POP! POP!
The corpse convulsed as the blisters ruptured one after another. Each burst released more mist, until Leviathan’s remains disappeared beneath a writhing black cloud.
Velvet pulled Asmodeus closer.
"What is it doing?"
Ein’s white lashes narrowed.
[Reconstructing.]
Her words sounded calm, yet her arm shook violently.
The divided halves began collapsing inward.
Miles of armour folded like wet cloth. Bones longer than city walls cracked, twisted and vanished beneath the bubbling flesh. Millions of ruined eyes sank into the corpse as the enormous mass compressed toward its centre.
The ocean rushed inward.
Waves collided around the shrinking body, throwing pillars of water into the sky while the storm churned above it.
Leviathan’s island-sized form became smaller.
Slowly at first.
Then faster.
Its broken shell contracted from miles to hundreds of metres. Hundreds became dozens. Black flesh twisted around itself, forming an upright shape within the cloud.
Valkyries retreated toward the coastal walls.
Even the remaining abyssal beasts stopped fighting.
They floated above the sea with their wings spread, every malformed head turning toward the black mist.
Brando’s voice crackled through the communication device.
"What the hell is happening out there?"
Velvet didn’t answer as she gasped for air. She couldn’t look away or move, as if locked in place by a pair of massive hands.
The mist split, and something stepped forward- yes, something.
The divided halves began collapsing inward.
Miles of armour folded like wet cloth. Bones longer than city walls cracked, twisted and vanished beneath the bubbling flesh. Millions of ruined eyes sank into the corpse as the enormous mass compressed toward its centre.
The ocean rushed inward.
Waves collided around the shrinking body, throwing pillars of water into the sky while the storm churned above it.
Leviathan’s island-sized form became smaller.
Slowly at first.
Then faster.
Its broken shell contracted from miles to hundreds of metres. Hundreds became dozens. Black flesh twisted around itself, forming an upright shape within the cloud.
Valkyries retreated toward the coastal walls.
Even the remaining abyssal beasts stopped fighting.
They floated above the sea with their wings spread, every malformed head turning toward the black mist.
Brando’s voice crackled through the communication device.
"What the hell is happening out there?"
Velvet didn’t answer.
She couldn’t look away.
The mist split.
Something stepped forward.
It stood roughly twice the height of an ordinary human, yet its proportions made it appear even larger. Its torso was narrow and stretched, covered in layers of polished black flesh that resembled armour.
Yet within that armour were tiny... disgusting grooves that leaked a sticky black fluid, revealing countless small eyes.
Its legs bent backwards at the lower joints.
Long talons touched the ocean without sinking, each claw resting delicately atop the waves.
Its arms hung almost to its ankles.
The monster might’ve resembled something human at first, but once the transformation ended, it became a creature of nightmares.
The limbs swayed with unnatural flexibility, bending in places where no joints should have existed. Each hand possessed seven narrow fingers, their tips ending in curved blades that dragged across the water.
Behind the creature, black wings unfolded.
Rings of wings surrounded its upper body, overlapping across its back, shoulders and head like a broken divine halo. Some were feathered. Others resembled skeletal fins wrapped in translucent flesh.
Dark purple eyes opened across every wing.
More eyes appeared along its chest.
Its throat.
Its arms.
Inside the palms of its hands.
They blinked at different times, filling the air with a soft, wet clicking.
The creature’s head remained hidden beneath folded wings.
Then those wings slowly opened.
There was no face beneath them.
Only a vertical mouth stretching from its forehead to its throat, lined with rows of narrow white teeth. A crown of black horns curved around the mouth, forming a perfect circle above its head.
Ein’s gravity gathered instinctively around her.
[Impossible.]
Velvet glanced at her.
"You’ve said that several times today."
[No... this isn’t right—how can that monster take such a shape...]
The creature lifted one elongated arm.
Its fingers opened.
Every surviving abyssal beast froze.
Then their bodies collapsed.
Flesh, wings and bones dissolved into black fluid before flying toward the creature’s palm. Thousands of beasts vanished in moments, absorbed into Leviathan’s new body as dark veins spread through its narrow limbs.
The creature grew slightly taller.
Its armour thickened.
The eyes across its wings became brighter.
Velvet’s stomach twisted.
"That island-sized monster became this?
[No... the island-sized body was but a prison.... a seal!]
The final remains of the Behemoth sank beneath the ocean.
Only the humanoid creature remained.
Its many wings folded inward, arranging themselves behind its back in several circular layers. The dark purple eyes across them shifted toward the coast, studying the damaged fortress, the surviving Valkyries and the broken Kraken Slayers.
However, as if these things meant nothing, it soon turned away and faced Velvet.
No, maybe it was towards Asmodeus in her arms.
Because the moment it saw him, the creature’s vertical mouth opened and as if a storm, its deep breath passed through its jagged teeth. Distorting the clouds into spirals while the ocean remained perfectly still beneath its feet.
Velvet backed away subconsciously.
"W-We cannot win....!"
[...Affirmative]
"Can you fight it?"
The Arbiter remained silent.
That answer terrified her more than anything else.
Velvet’s hands holding Asmodeus tightened as she tried to gather what little aura remained in her body. She wanted to use the dragon’s blood in her veins, burning rapidly, to grant her a momentary burst of speed and strength.
Leviathan bent at the waist.
Its long arms touched the surface of the sea.
The creature’s body folded unnaturally, spine curving until its vertical mouth hovered only inches above the water. Every eye across its wings remained fixed on Asmodeus.
Then it spoke.
The voice was no longer the roar of a continent-sized Behemoth.
It was soft, yet it pierced through the very minds of those who heard it.
Velvet spread her grey wings out of sheer instinct and shot into the sky as she screamed at the top of her lungs for all to hear.
"RUN, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"
[KILL]