Danmachi: the Great Devourer

C164: Death

Alt Title Teaser: True Form

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 

Overall Word count = 1517 on 11/28/2024. 

***************************

"Now that was a proper main course. As a token of my thanks for helping me reach this state. Let me have just another bite before we continue this fun." It reaches for Passionlips again with its tender but pale human white hand when Raikou tries to slice the arm off with her katana, only for a CLANG sound to occur upon impact as the dragon man has a smirk on his face. 

Finding that the man's arm was not cut off and barely even budget, Raikou followed up with a burst of lightning from her sword which acted like a railgun channel as the raw bolt struck the hollow as he was blasted away…but only 30 ft away (roughly 9m away).

The grin on his face hasn't stopped which continues to unnerve Raikou, luckily Passionlips is not down for the count completely, her authority over light has a lesser healing aspect which helps her already naturally high endurance to be higher and thus she is back on her feet with a confused expression.

"Who is that?" Tulips asks, confused as she has never met this handsome white-pale man with one eye closed. The white on black suit he is wearing would give the impression that it's simply a very pale lawyer with his rolled up sleeves. With what looks like a sheathed rapier on his hip (pic here)

"That is the One-eyed dragon. He transformed again and was the one who bit your neck open." Raikou informs her

"Oh yea, that did hurt. I don't like him anymore" Tulips states as she moves forward, turning into a streak of light and then materializing again as her golden claws come smacking down onto the ground.

She finds that she missed as the full fledged Arrancar had used [Sonido] to dash away. He continues to have the same derisive grin on his face before casually lifting up it's left hand that was this whole time in it's pocket and unleashing a cero at Tulips.

"Dodge!!" BOOOM Raikou warns but Tulips simply waves her hands at it and the collision of energy and magical steel causes an explosion 

"I don't like this, it feels weird" Raikou waves the dust away with a swing of her sword, only to find that Tulips is gone from where she was but the location of impact between the cero and hands was where it should be. Instead, Tulips is right next to the hollow, who is missing his leg and a missing grin. Tulips is also missing the whole right side of her body.

Yet she is not in danger, She has simply transitioned from trying to use her newfound Mana burst [Light] and had actually tried harder by invoking her light divinity to move. This puts her in a partial elementalized state and actually grants her proper light speed movement but she is complaining since she is just so not used to using magic like this. 

SPLURT. A needle shoots out from the stump of a leg and then that weaves around and expands until it's a proper leg. Strangely enough, the pants leg also reforms around that leg. 

"Not quite strong enough" The hollow huffs and then [Sonidos] away. Only to reappear next to the group of 9 heroes who have been channeling their might into the shield to constantly repair it and the ruined city around them as well. 

SQUELCH, "ASTOLFO" "NOOOOOOO" Multiple voices of concern rise up as Achilles pushes Astolfo away only to receive a hand into his own chest now. His heart crushed and to the dismay of everyone here, his soul visibly ripped out of his body, flowing into the mouth atop the angular jawline of the dragon man. It's aura rises as the soul is devoured.

The hollow had originally targeted Astolfo due to the weak 'link' there was with Axel. it had spotted this link on Raikou which was much stronger but since it doesnt know what this link is properly and doesnt realize that it's the former bond of the Trifecta Falna that Astolfo used to be part of before choosing to help Axel grow more than prioritize her own desire for a familia. The hollow is unaffected by it missing the attack, instead it finds that it can have more variety by targeting people at random.

"Mhmm, delicious, maybe i'll have another" the hollow states with glee now present upon its face, the body of Achilles collapses on the ground with blood coating his mouth and jaw from the bits he threw up with his lungs being pierced as well before he died. The hero had given his life for Astolfo The hollow instead stabs out at the next individual who happened to be Anastasia with her doll but thanks to the cursed dolls spiritual nature. Viy manifested and blocked the strike only for the spiritual construct to shatter like glass as the white haired girl was blasted away by the backlash.

The others aren't doing anything just standing around, Assassin is the first to move as the white haired armored man moves to initiate a shorter time freeze only for him to collapse on the ground and find that his legs are next to his legs. Chirons arrows arrive next and provide just enough time for help to arrive. 

Before the hollow can do anything else, Tulips arrives and wards him off. Yet he had already sucked up the second soul which was Siegfried. The hollow remembered him and his draconic blade vividly as said blade is also shattered under his foot. 

A kind smile graces the draconic hollows face as he states, "Why must you keep interfering, I am assisting these weak ones to join in my power which will allow me to get revenge upon the one who inflicted this soul wrenching curse upon me." His melodious voice sounds out but his actions gravely contrast to his 'kind' actions.

A vein appears on Tulips forehead as she fully elementalizes with the exception of her arms. She now fully moves at the speed of light to begin tearing apart the hollow but its exceptional speed allows it to only receive scratches upon its body. Afterall, the soul is not limited by such speeds like light.

While at first he did get gravely injured, rapid regeneration combined with his gradually learning how it's abilities work better allows it to move faster and then faster. It now only suffers from light wounds, yet it's frustration is only mounting as it fails to injure passionlips herself. Her 'arms' are somehow indestructible to it's immense physical might and it's unable to touch her soul body. 

Tulips and her attacks are coming so quickly that unless it wants to take a greater injury which would only take longer to regenerate and gradually build up until it would be torn apart with every second. 

"Axel!!!" Tulip and Raikou yell out upon seeing its next actions. To fulfill its original goal and lessen the trouble that might affect it. It preemptively charges up into the sky, thin black leathery wings sprouting out of its back as it rushes at Axel. Tulips and Raikou try to intercept it but Tulips is avoided and Raikou's leg is cut off. Their actions only incentivize it to rush at Axel before he finishes absorbing the clouds. Making it think that he is incapable of doing anything else at the moment. It rushes into the quickly turning red clouds. 

It raises its left hand with draconic scales covering it, it swipes down at Axel, a manic grin on its face. A great expectation of the backlash that Axel would undergo from getting distracted while taking in such vibrant energy. 

BOOOOOM

A shockwave spreads out, not affecting the clouds at all, yet the smile on the dragon hollows face disappears as it properly spots Axel as he is now. Axel's right hand is gripping the dragon's wrist. Veins popping all over Axel's arm. Skin peels off Axel's face due to the brief instability for the interruption of law energy but behind the peeled skin is not muscle or flesh but condensed and vibrant energy. Yet his eyes filled with rage hold only a promise of endless pain for the hollow. 

In the brief moment of contact, The dragon is drained of tons of energy which weakens it momentarily but not enough to stall it. Yet due to it's arm being gripped, it could not dodge Axel's other hand stabbing into it's chest and then tearing out 2 chunks of 'flesh'.

A fire wraps around Axel's left hand and the flesh and blood disappears to reveal 2 golden orbs. The orbs contain what looks like a tiny version of Achilles and Siegfried, this is the part of their souls that were protected by their myths and legends.

"You…get nothing" The orbs disappear into Axel's world as he directly crushes the wrist and then splits OED in half from head to crotch with a chop.

***************************

Alt Title: Soul Reaping, Angry Passionlips. Confrontation

Drop a comment if you wanna judge my writing or the story. Ill try to respond, especially if you're confused or anything.