[110] Dawn of Pride (IV)
[2300 words]
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"Hadean Release."
Damien revelled in his newfound power. He devised it during the three-month wait until the Festival, applying the advancements of his fruit mastery after the bout with Basara.
"I will take it to the skies… I'll leave the ground to you, Rayleigh," a crackly voice resounded from the demonic figure.
The Dark King was undoubtedly surprised by the Sin Incarnate's new look but nodded all the same.
*Whizz* Damien turned into a blur as he left a black and red trail from his absurd speed. His Ravager-configured Ryushi was ready.
It was a simple attack rammed straight into the Sol; the two weapons clashed.
Clang!
"Increasing your speed will not aid you!" Sol was unamused, glaring at the two globs of red in his foe's eyes.
Damien disappeared with another burst of air, leaving behind a confused Sol.
"Huh?" He murmured, seeing the enemy reappear in the sky and then a few meters to the left. Then again to its right, and then its right, and so on—he was moving so fast that the afterimages left behind resembled clones!
It finished with a dozen Damiens equally spaced like a clock around the enemy.
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"Onslaught."
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And in a single instance, from every direction, came a collective attack.
Boom! *Clang* Bam! *Shing*
It was a bombardment of crimson energy, a slash from the left, a slice from the right, then a swipe from behind and all around.
Sol took every hit one by one but quickly realized that his Observation could not keep up with Damien's onslaught!
They weren't attacking at the same frequency either: some were every second, others came every five seconds. At the same time, a few were random—impossible to predict and defend!
The ground beneath the Warrior of Liberation cracked increasingly, shattering into red cubes; Sol soon found himself sinking in!
Ten more seconds of abuse, and then he was stapled into the ground. The Overlord growled in response, only to feel something blocking his airway.
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"Restoration."
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"!!!" Sol was left shocked as the ruined earth from earlier had magically returned to its original shape, going from ruin to restoration!
*Whizz!* The Hadean figure of Damien appeared right above the buried enemy. He was satisfied by the situation—Damien could change the shape of Ryushi at will, and in his current form, he could apply that to his attacks as well.
The menacing Ravager stabbed ahead at the fresh grave, digging through the earth layer and nailing the Overlord below.
"Aughh!" Sol grunted while his body was plucked out and raised two meters off the ground with the blade digging at his lungs.
"I'll kill you for thi–!"
Sol's roar was plugged shut when a blade was thrust into his mouth.
His furious eyes traced the new figure who had appeared in Damien's place—it was Rayleigh! They had swapped places when Sol blinked his eyes.
The Dark King flexed the muscles down his arm and sent out a bullet of silver Emission Haki, exploding the man's esophagus.
"Guhh!" The sun-man retreated a few steps, grasping at his throat. His anger erased all pain while he reformed his solar blade and traded attacks against Rayleigh.
Webs of cracks appeared all over the ground and nearby lands.
Rayleigh was a machine. He attacked from the smallest possible angles, using Sol's momentum against him and redirecting it with his saber. The towering enemy kept up solely because his powerful flames fuelled his strikes.
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*Vvoosh!* Dust lifted away as Damien suddenly appeared in front of Sol's 5-meter frame. The Overlord dwarfed him, yet his eyes carried a shine of great confidence.
The Holy Terror raised his divine weapon and brought it upon Damien to throw off his momentum. However, Rayleigh was faster—he jumped into the air with a sideways flip and made short work of the distracted Sol.
*Swish* *Swish* *Swish*
The Sin of Pride's eyes widened as he felt pain once more.
Three cuts formed across his body: one on each bicep and another at his throat; Rayleigh's Haki-clad blade moved with silver arcs of energy as the Overlord was left with a broken voice box and slashed arms.
Sol's arm subconsciously reached to the crumbling throat, protecting the vital area. But this wasn't the end of the assault as Damien mercilessly slashed at the raised limb.
With a resounding thump, a fiery arm fell to the ground.
"Aughgh!" Sol roared, his right hand covering his open stump. The blood from his throat only sought to distort his cry of pain.
Neither Rayleigh nor Damien would allow such an opportunity to go to waste. Still, in the face of such danger, Sol's great pride whirled in the form of the Haki of Kings, and his body exploded in golden fire.
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"Supernova!"
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A wave of molten inferno raged from the Overlord, enveloping his two enemies.
"!!!" A dangerous future rebounded in Damien's eyes, forcing him to pull off the attack.
His black wings flapped as he raced out from the radius of Sol's attack. On the way out, the Sin Incarnate grabbed Rayleigh's arm in a hasty escape.
They rocketed through the air, a hellish scene trailing quickly behind, obliterating and disintegrating everything—a tsunami of lava!
With a thud, the two landed 200 meters away and saw the ravaged land. *Purrup* Bubbling hell of molten earth was all that remained.
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"I think we made him angry," Rayleigh hummed and slashed his sword, slicking the blood onto the ground.
Damien nodded through the mask, "Which means he's being cornered by us."
The two collected their breaths while their foe did the same.
"By the way, Rayleigh," he called out amidst heavy breathing. "You know how strength tends to bloom in battle?"
The Dark King nodded with a hint of interest, "That is the gain one profits at death's door."
The younger pirate hummed in agreement before glaring at the distant threat. "Can you hold him down for a minute?"
The Dark King chuckled at the request, turning back to the man marked by flames. "Very well, young man, I'll let you get the finishing blow."
Rayleigh turned into a silver burst of speed. He ran so elegantly that it seemed like he was skating across the land, leaving the molten mess untouched!
The fearsome swordsman read the future like a book, granting him a perfect route to land his strike.
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"The Last Supper!"
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BOOM!
Sol's sword crashed upon the Dark King as the two engaged in a tug-of-war. Neither side budged, yet the former started to overpower the latter.
'He trusts me with his life,' Damien muttered, seeing Rayleigh's casual, lone assault. 'Let's hope this feeling in my heart is worthwhile!'
It was an instinct. Years of combat had left the young pirate entirely reliant on such internal tremors.
The clash against Basara gave birth to the idea of Hadean Release. This technique bumped up Damien's connection with his Haki and Devil Fruit.
The same instinct that guided him after Enigma robbed his senses was telling him to let go and allow his fruit to materialize as the situation dictated.
*Purrup*
The Sin Incarnate did precisely that, relying on his impulses to release tremendous energy that bubbled and raced around his left palm.
The rest of the world went silent while Damien focussed on the air sitting atop his open hand. The hungry pulverizing energy surged out, starting with a swirl and slowly spiralling into something more.
Tiny, short-lived crimson sparks went off under the pirate's gaze as the air was slowly crushed. It went from one centimeter cubes to one milimeters, then a single micrometer and continued getting smaller.
Damien didn't blink and gave all his attention to the spectacle.
…
Rayleigh's attack had grown dry at the primary battle, pushing him back.
*Grrr* His feet skid across the bubbling earth, digging into the molten earth. After having regained balance, he continued.
"You would dare to put your life in the hands of a pirate?" Sol spat, slashing his blade.
A chain of explosions went off along Rayleigh's saber, somehow using Emission Haki to evenly distribute the opposing force to keep the weapon intact.
"Hehe, I saw the same look in that young lad's eyes as I did my Captain when he first asked me to turn the world upside down with him."
The Dark King found some strength to launch a bullet-fast stab that Sol barely dodged.
"Then you are as much of a fool as Roger!" The Overlord bellowed, dropping his weapon and opening his right palm towards the swordsman.
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"Helios Flare!"
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A burst of solar energy boomed out of the palm as it rocketed at the Dark King.
Rayleigh saw the threat three seconds before it happened, held his sword pointing downwards and wedged it to the ground.
His hands dug into the grip and were locked in further with thick Haki, which provided him leverage and defense.
The Dark King went full dark mode, wrapping his entire body with a glistening coat of Armament.
BOOM!
The miniature sun crashed onto Rayleigh, forcing blood to dribble out his mouth and nose. "Guh!" he grunted, feeling the heat of the sunfire melt away his Haki and sanity alongside it.
Seconds passed, a gap of eternity in between, yet the swordsman held strong. Sol felt the defiant eyes glaring through the ball of light, leaving him shocked, 'What gives him such trust in him!?'
The Overlord became somewhat lost and absently stared at the hell surrounding Rayleigh, utterly perplexed.
Meanwhile, Liquid Haki dripped from the saber-user, splattering onto the ground with a red colour—blood. It had already been ten seconds since he took the brunt of a star.
A few grunts escaped his mouth while slowly being forced back—his saber anchored to the ground was shoved back!
The raging winds assaulted the Dark King's face, scalding and charring away.
But right before he was plucked out from the ground and sent soaring off, Rayleigh commented on the surprise in Sol's eyes. "Moraino Island shaped you into a tyrant… but a true pirate's heart lies in the trust he places in his allies…!"
Rayleigh's words cut deeper than his sword, echoing in the Overlord's mind, bringing out buried memories from long ago.
Said swordsman stared into the ashy, darkening skies while his body was skipping off the ruined lands, glancing at the figure who appeared in his place. 'The rest is up to you, Damien!'
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*Vvoosh!* The surge of air broke Sol from his reverie, leaving him face-to-face with the armoured foe once more. Only this time, he had a small, red object floating on the palm of his hand.
It was a glowing red pyramid with intricate, geometric black lines and patterns on its surfaces. The pyramid levitated with a bright, intense red light emanating from its center, creating a halo-like effect around it.
"!!!" Sol's instincts went wild at the unassuming yet equally unsettling entity in Damien's hand.
[Entity Image (in Discord)]
"I will reduce you to dust with my divine flames!" he declared, raising his remaining arm.
"Ryushi."
It was a call of duty for the Supreme Weapon. Sol's anger warped into pain as he found himself on a knee with his arm nailed to the floor.
His pained glance saw Ryushi in its Ravager configuration. The blade fell from the sky with a mind of its own, nailing him down, cutting right through his bicep before lodging into the ground.
The sound of pixelations continued to whistle as its master walked ahead, glaring at the fallen Overlord.
"I cannot be killed!" the veteran howled, spreading his fruit across the land.
With a single thought, the earth began to crackle like fire, credit to the Awakened Sun-Sun Fruit.
Yet oddly enough, the budding flames suddenly died down, disappearing away with the grace of the wind. Sol's befuddled eyes fell on Damien's feet, which released a crimson net all around and turned the ground into cubes before they could be fully transformed.
The Overlord had yet to give up: "Radiance Re-!!!"
"Guuh!" Pain tore along his nervous system, originating from Ryushi, which was releasing crushing energy straight into Sol's nerves and ruining his thoughts.
"Ironically, we share similarities in our pasts, Sol," Damien said before directing his palm sideways, the pyramid following suit with its tip pointing at the Holy Terror's chest. "But unlike you, I didn't give up on growing stronger."
*Fooom!* The pyramid turned into a drill, spinning at mind-numbing speeds and stabbing directly into the man's chest.
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"Atomic Fracture!"
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"Augghh!" Sol painfully screamed as the golden flames near his chest started to break apart. They were being pulled and remodelled by the attack.
Rays of red and black shone from the man's body, leaking from his eyes and mouth while the attack surged through his system. Blood dripped from his eyes and mouth while his insides were pulverized into pieces beyond what the eye could see—they were broken at the atomic level!
The Holy Terror had no way to dodge, retreat or counterattack.
It started with the rib cage. When those bones were turned to dust, the crimson energy drilled at the heart, atomizing the lungs in the process.
Sol's eyes went white from the pain all over, losing all functionality and usage.
'He's staring right at me,' Damien breathed, feeling the Conqueror's Haki of the Overlord crashing all around. It was a defiance, not toward him, but toward the world—the man was cursing fate itself even at death's door.
*Vzzzz!* The mind-numbing drilling sound only got louder as the flesh was ground apart, opening up a giant crater in the man's chest.
Pryde D. Sol's dying shriek was heard all over the battlefield, plunging it into silence.
Night had descended, sealing the day's end. All that remained uncertain was whether the tyrannous sun would ever rise over the New World again.
To Be Continued…
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Author's Corner.
The original ending of this chapter was considerably changed from the original. I removed the summon-giant-monster-with-energy final attack to something more fitting.
You can find a list of Damien's techniques thus far in Discord, with images: https://discord.gg/aJHHHPvb6q