135 Chapter 115: The Ultimate Arte

NOTE: There's 3 pages soft porn posted last chapter in case you missed that.

Reminder:

Seri: Seri the Eternal, progenitor of the High Elf. An ancient loli belongs to the Elven race, preceding the founding of the Modun and Esther realm.

With both Kibadios' scythe and Ayer's threads being thoroughly imbued in their own Nen, each clash between them creating a terrifying blast that sent shockwaves across the platform. Yet despite all his efforts, Kibadios was completely powerless in his fight against Ayer. That much was obvious during their uninterrupted exchanges, with none of his attacks could land on the Ennead while he struggled to fend off the endless sharp threads, resulting in him bleeding slowly as Ayer continued his relentless attacks. Although the Ennead was using Melkorium threads as weapons, much like Doflamingo, his movements greatly resembled that of Kazuki Fuuchouin from Getbackers instead, right down to the small catbells which he held in between his slender fingers to control the threads themselves. With a series of gracious gestures, Ayer simultaneously directed some of his threads to target the cornered hybrid while others formed a protective barrier around him. On his own, the otokonoko was already looking feminine enough but once combined with his fighting style, Ayer looked just like a beautiful performer who fully submerged in her own dance routine. Had it not been for the twisted grin on his face that betrayed his charming beauty, any man who fought him would have fallen for the Ennead's elegance alone.

「Tired already, Zaeryn? You should not have helped out your retainer just now. You could never recover from that blunder to take back the initiative in this fight… Despite being reincarnated, you're still the same weak, pathetic man eons ago… Had you only realized that "friends" and "others" are only supposed to exist for your own sake, maybe you could have become great.」Ayer teased before crossing his arms into an X and manipulating all of his threads into one cohesive offense.「<Heavenly Judgement>!!!」The Ennead screamed, his eyes opened wide in anticipation of the bloodbath Kibadios was about to experience. By abandoning all his defense, Ayer was able to generate a giant yarn ball made entirely out of his threads floating above Kibadios' head. From within the ball, streams and streams of Melkorium threads projected downward like an unending rainfall in the middle of a raging storm.

「<Aegis>!」Kibadios hurriedly summoned his spirit, which allowed a shield to appear above him in the nick of time. The hybrid sprung upward, taking Ayer's attack head-on. Nonetheless, the sheer intensity of the "rain" was much more than the hybrid could have ever anticipated. Although the torrents of downpouring threads were not able to breakthrough his <Aegis>'s absolute defense, both the summoner and the hedgehog-like spirit were crushed down onto the ground like Omniman was crushed by the Hammer.

「Garrhhhh!」The hybrid coughed up blood as he tried to stand up after surviving Ayer's powerful move.

「BOSSS!!!!」The hybrid heard Uri call out to him from behind. As he turned around, Uri was standing by his side, propping him up.

「Where's Ectharen and Falkor?」Kibadios asked

「I defeated them! I defeated them offscreen!」Uri grinned. Of course the fight wasn't that easy for the Vice Captain as Kibadios easily noticed all the injuries he sustained, particularly on his bleeding hands.

「... Ha, we're still in so much trouble, now is not a time for Rick and Morty reference.」Kibadios smiled. Looking at both the Beastman Head and his retainer lying exhausted on the side, their bodies broken free from Ayer's controlling threads, it wasn't hard for the hybrid to deduce that Uri had torn off the threads on the two by his own bare hands.「Get away from here, Uri. Amongst us, you're the most vulnerable. If you die here, you'll die for real!」

「Well…」Uri stepped forward.「It's not like I can let my Boss, my Alpha no less, be killed here, even if you can respawn back in the world outside. Besides, even if I were to leave you here and run away, where can I go? We cannot leave this place until we clear it and if you all are defeated, this crazy ass Ennead would just come after me, no matter where I hide in this dungeon… If I am killed here, so be it. At least I get to experience something incredible these last two nights.」The Vice Captain grinned.

「Wait, Uri! Don't!」

「Shut up!」Ayer was suddenly irritated.「What's with you people, fighting to protect your friends and those you love? Don't make me puke! It's survival of the fittest! Our own lives are what matter the most in this world! You should all trampl the others in order to live! To survive!!! No wonder you people just kept being slaughtered by us Astrals!」

「What's with him?」Uri wondered.

「... Ayer…」Kibadios stared at the maddening Ennead.

「It all ends here, Zaeryn!」Declared Ayer.「I'll kill you and everyone here. Then I'll get back to the world outside and kill you for real… once and for all… I'll turn you and those you love into my "friends"... my tools. Activate Ultimate Arte <Ruler of the Underworld, Osiris>. Resurrection Mode」

「Ayer, don't you dare!」Kibadios ground his teeth.

「This is…」Uri quickly noticed three dark circular blobs appearing on the ground. The blackness within each circle slowly rose up, forming into a humanoid shape. Suddenly, the black layer covering those humanoid shapes bursted open, revealing a familiar looking girl and two men standing behind her.

「Wait a minute… isn't that Princess… Queen Yllaner?」Uri was in disbelief. Although the skin tone of the girl was completely pale like a corpse, the Vice Captain could still easily notice the timeless beauty that resembled the Queen of the Wood. Before he could process what was happening, he soon noticed the two men standing behind her were wearing strange masks, a pair of dark, crow-like wings protruding out from their backs「Those two… they're not beastman, aren't they? Their aura… just felt completely different from any race I've seen.」

「They're of the Tengu race.」Kibadios softly answered.「They're two… of my… elite followers.」The hybrid's voice was breaking up.「What… you're seeing… are merely… their corpses.」

「What? That Ultimate Arte can control corpses?」Without needing Kibadios to explain much, the Vice Captain was able to deduce what had happened.

「<Ruler of the Underworld, Osiris>, Ayer's Ultimate Arte, possesses the power to "take life"

and "grant life." What you're witnessing here, is his Resurrection Mode, or granting life… It's an ironic name, though, since it doesn't truly grant life. It merely makes a mockery of life by creating these perfect "Zombies." Each of these zombies does not have a soul or a free will though. They're merely vessels to contain the stolen power of those who the zombies are made from.」Kibadios paused.「As long as the Ultimate Arte is active and creating more zombie, Ayer cannot be killed since the skill technically "take" or borrow his life and divide it among the zombie in order to animate them. Not until all the zombies are killed or destroyed that you can harm Ayer again… In short, it's an overpowered Ultimate Arte, befitting an Ennead… yet, when you think about it, it's also ironic since due to this Ultimate Arte, Ayer, a holy Ennead, actually belongs to the unholy <Necromancer> class.」

「But since that zombie looks just like the queen, does that mean Yllaner is dead?」

「That's not Yllaner… That's Sylvia.」

「Who?」

「Ayer… you've crossed the line.」Kibadios stepped forward.

「And? What can you do about it?」The Ennead grinned. Without Ayer having to give a single command, all three of the zombie seemingly nodded as if they have received the Ennead's instruction telepathically. The three swiftly leapt forward, with Sylvia's zombie chanting something and creating two beams of light that shone right at Kibadios from above, easily paralyzed him. This was a copy of Yllaner, or rather, Sylvia's own <Tears of Change>, which at its most powerful form, can effortlessly inflict status debuffs and drain away its opponents' Nen.

Kibadios' two elite guards, though, clearly possessed melee combat skill since their zombie quickly closed the distance between them and the hybrid while preparing their attacks.

「HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO MY WIFE AND MY FOLLOWERS?」Kibadios screamed from the top of his lungs. His wrath even sent chills down Uri's spine. Though part of the Vice Captain wondered if the chill he felt was really because of his Alpha's wrath, or because of him learning about the existence of this "wife." 「Activate Ultimate Arte…」

「You… you can really use your Ultimate Arte in this life too?」The expression on Ayer's face was hard to decipher since it was partially excited and partially unnerved.「There's no way right?... Activating it would most likely drain all your current Nen in an instant.」

「<Progenitor of the Heavens, Izanagi and Izanami>」 Kibadios' eyes glowed as if he had entered the Avatar State. Though, entering the Avatar State would be a fitting description for what was happening to Kibadios since even his voice has now seemed to be an amalgam of various entities from male to female. From behind him, two small birds flew out from his back before slowly growing into two giant phoenixes, one possessing blue feathers while the other pink. The sudden activation caused both the leaping Tengu Zombie to abort their attacks and jumped back a few steps.「「「AYER, YOU HAVE GONE TOO FAR.」」」

「Tsk, he really can use it.」The confidence exuded from the Ennead quickly evaporated as he witnessed the activation of Kibadios' Ultimate Arte.「An Ultimate Skill that can even interfere with our Harvest process, for it consumes and transforms the very souls of fallen individuals into Spirits, thus depriving us of the souls we need.」Ayer muttered.

It was hard for Ayer to openly admit it, but in a sense, the power of Kibadios' Ultimate Arte could be considered superior to the Ennead's, for unlike most of normal Spirits that can be summoned by a <Summoner> class, the Spirits created by <Progenitor of the Heavens, Izanagi and Izanami> were immortal, in a sense that no matter how much fatal injury they received, they would not disappear. In fact, not too long ago, Ashura was the first in this era to notice such peculiarity since even after he pierced both of the knights summoned by <Damocles> while blasting a hole on the torso of the last one, none of the three Spirits disappeared as he had expected. Though, of course, just as Itachi had famously declared "Every jutsu has aweakness," the same can be said for <Ultimate Arte>. Even the seemingly godly Ultimate Arte that Kibadios possessed would also have its own restriction: that it could not turn any souls into Spirits. <Progenitor of the Heavens, Izanagi and Izanami> could only do so with the consent of the fallen souls themselves, which meant that all of Kibadios' Spirits were, in fact, at one point in the past, his dear comrades who willingly offered their souls after their death for the hybrid. Such a decision was permanent, for it meant their soul will forever be condemned to be part of <Progenitor of the Heavens, Izanagi and Izanami> and the prospect of an eternal rest after death, or a chance at reincarnation, were forever forfeited. That was the reason why each time Kibadios called forth his Spirits, a feeling of sadness and guilt slowly ate away his conscience… or whatever was left of his conscience. The first time Kibadios, or rather, Zaeryn, had activated the Ultimate Arte to take in the souls of the triplets knights, his own "teachers" who first taught him to fight in melee, he was reminded of Kurei Mori from Flame of Recca and the painful decision when the supposed heartless man made a decision to turn Kurenai into his flame.

「Zaeryn, whether it's this life or your previous life, you and your power have always been an enigma. But regardless, the outcome of your struggle will be the same.」Ayer raised his arms up.「In the end, you… this current incarnation of yours, will become my "friend."」Ayer declared. Suddenly, a large, slithering shape slowly formed around the Ennead.

「Huh? What's that?」Uri, who has been mesmerized by Kibadios' power, suddenly was reminded of Ayer's presence as he noticed the giant serpent slowly appeared out of thin air.「Wait a minute… Is that a dragon? Like Ryuu? But its Nen… this aura…」Uri ground his teeth. His wounded body seemed to be frozen in place from the sheer dread he was experiencing. For the second time in his life, just in mere minutes of each other, he experienced "despair." 「It's a first generation Dragonkin… zombie? And who's standing on its head? Another tengu zombie?」

「「「「Ryuujin too? Just how many people I cared for were killed by you, Ayer?」」」」

「Can't be helped. They were invading the Modun itself. The moment they dared to defy us Astrals, they signed their own death warrant.」Ayer tilted his head with a grin.「And here I thought you'll be more interested in its rider… Your own zombie! ZOMBIE OF THE GREAT ZAERYN!!!!」At Ayer's signal, all of his resurrected Zombie sprung forth, targeting the stationary Kibadios. The Zaeryn Zombie, despite still be considered to be Ayer's trump card and the strongest Zombie in the group, was evidently unable to use a copy of <Progenitor of the Heavens, Izanagi and Izanami>. Ayer could never figured out why since all of his zombies were all able to utilize copies of their own <Arte> or ever <Ultimate Arte>, but there was something different about Zaeryn's <Progenitor of the Heavens, Izanagi and Izanami>. He had meant to investigate that, but after 1000 years, the Ennead had given up on finding out the reason why. Not able to use his Ultimate Arte, though, did not the Zaeryn Zombie weaker than any of the other Zombie, for it could still use the Arte <Myrddin Emrys>, which allowed it to cast all magic spells without chanting. This meant Zaeryn Zombie could easily be classified as an SSS class mage since it could instantly project countless magic spells without stopping. Worse, combining magic spells that resulted in great synergistic effect could also be performed without spending any effort. In fact, unless the opponent was immune to magic, anyone who stood in front of Zaeryn Zombie would find themselves at the receiving end of an endless torrent of spells.

Just as expected, while the two Tengu and Ryuujin Zombie closed their distance, Zaeryn Zombie moved his hands and instantly casted 10 consecutive Great Elemental magics, each blow had enough intensity to bring down a 10 stories building and reduce it to nothing. Yet, Kibadios simply floated still, with the two Phoenixes flying behind him. Since he had activated his Ultimate Arte, it allowed him to simultaneously fuse with all of his spirits instead of one by one as previously. Furthermore, each fusion form was now reaching its greatest potential in term of power, or rather, two times stronger than when he previously entered fusion mode without his Ultimate Arte. In short, instead of the "Jack of all trades, master of none" evaluation that the chimera gave him, Kibadios has turned into "Jack of all trades, master of all." In his absolute barrier, an ability borrowed from <Aegis>, a spirit created from the soul of a young page hedgehog beastman who followed him at one point, could easily make Aspen and his absorption Arte blushed.

「Tsk..」Ayer clicked his tongue.

「「「You know, Ayer, I have never shown you the full power of Izanagi and Izanami, did I?」」」asked Kibadios, again, in his echoing voice since multiple souls were now inhabiting his body. His hand flicked, creating a restrictive chain magic that wrapped around the two Tengu and the enormous Ryuujin Zombie. Of course, he knew it wouldn't take long for the zombies to break free, but a few seconds were all he needed.

「Full power?」

「「「You probably wouldn't know, but on earth, according to the legend, both Izanagi and Izanami were one of the primordial gods that were able to create other gods. That explained why here in Esther, this Ultimate Arte can create Spirits. But another part of the legend is that after showing how shitty of a husband he was, Izanagi went home and purified himself… 」」」

「... Purified?」Ayer raised his eyebrows.「You mean!?!??」

「「「Your hold on my body and those whom I love ends now!!!」」」Declared Kibadios before he signaled the blue Phoenix to flap its wings and release dozens of its feathers toward the group of Zombies. As Ayer had feared, the moment the feather touched the zombie, a bright light suddenly enveloped their discolored corpses. Before long, the light completely swallowed them, then dimmed away. Just as the light disappeared, so did the Zombie corpses they touched.

「WHAT DID YOU DO?」Ayer growled. His threads sprung into action, slashing at the unimpressed Kibadios.

「 "Every jutsu has a weakness" and unlucky for you, the hard counter to your powerful Ultimate Arte is my own!!!」Kiabdios shouted. 「I merely purified your necromancy. "You have no power here."」Kibadios imitated Saruman of many colors as he taunted the Ennead.

「Shut up, you weak pathetic mortal!」Ayer screamed at Kibadios. Unlike the calm and composed self he has shown, Ayer was now frantically targeting Kibadios, to the point that his usual elegant "dances" were now showing imperfection. Ayer weaved his threads together into two giant blades and sliced one downward and the other horizontally at the hybrid, though Kibadios simply slightly moved his position to mere centimeters away from where the slashes stroke, effortlessly dodged the attacks.

「Slow!」「Sloppy!」「Sad!」Kibadios taunted. As Ayer continued to launch another downward slash at Kiabdios, the hybrid finally stood form and block the attack with a new Arte that he only possessed in this reincarnation: <Demonic Abyss >. From behind his back, two dark, shadow claws emerged to grab onto the blade made from Ayer's threads. Had it been his usual < Demonic Abyss>, Ayer's blade would have easily cut through the shadowy claws. However, with the power of <Gaia>, a spirit created from the soul of a dying mother, the essence of wood and earth elemental were imbued in the shadow claws, further reinforced it. Once the claw successfully caught and stopped the blade, greenery vines quickly sprouted from the claws, growing and weaving itself into the matrix of the Melkorium threads. As the vine reached the Ennead's fingers and catbells, the source where all the threads propagated from, the wood elemental suddenly disappeared. Replacing it was a shocking lightning ray that shocked the unsuspecting Ayer, causing him to shriek loudly.

「... I… cannot believe it.」Uri was fixated on the battle between his Boss and the Ennead.

「... It's one…sided.」Wylan and Kuron, who had regained some consciousness, laid exhaustingly while watching the battle as spectators.

「Just few moments ago, Kibadios dono was at the mercy of that boy.」The bloodied Ectharen commented

「... Yeah.. but now…」Falkor grunted as he tried to twitch his broken arm.

「The young lord is overwhelming the Ennead.」Gyo could not help but proudly grinned.

「YOUUUU!!!」Ayer mustered all his strength, pulling sea of threads to burry Kibadios 「<Ocean of Despair>.」

「「「It's futile, Ayer… Unless you're fighting me in your real body, there's no way you can win!」」」Kibadios created a sphere made from the elemental powers of all his summons, before expanding it outward, pushing out and destroying all the threads that tried to bury him. 「「「This battle ends here!」」」

From the ground, ten shadow blades spiked upward, piercing the angry Ayer's hands and feets while a current of electricity froze the agonized otokonoko in place as Kibadios slowly floated toward him.

「「「Are you satisfied, Ayer?」」」Kibadios asked, indifferently. 「「「Now, let me send you back to the Modun Realm.」」」

Kibadios' shadow extended outward, forming into the shape like that of a shark's mouth. The hybrid knew that even if Ayer was to be devoured by his skill, his soul would be able to escape, unlike Adela since there was no barrier trapping him. But by devouring his body, Kibadios could gain another doll body, which may become handy at some time.

「Ha… Uh…」Before the hybrid could finish him, though, he realized he had reached his limit. His Ultimate Arte, as quickly as it appeared, suddenly vanished into thin air. Kibadios was now panting hard, blood dripping down from his eyes since he had overexerted himself trying to maintain the activation of <Progenitor of the Heavens, Izanagi and Izanami> and other Arte, all at once.

「Looks like you're also spent, Kibadios.」Since its user was drained, the shadow spikes were also weakened enough that Ayer's flexing and struggling was able to shatter them into pieces. Of course, the lightning trapping the otokonoko was also dispelled as Kibadios struggle to replenish his diminishing Nen. His body suddenly felt extremely hot. His joint ached. He swore he could see vapor burning off from his body as if he was entering Gear 2 of Gomu Gomu.

「Huh?」Uri, the only one who could still move, rushed to his Captain.「Boss… what's happening to… your body?」

「What?」Kibadios shakingly raised his hand to his face. It took a while for him to realize his hand seemed to look smaller than usual.「Wait a minute, why… does it feel like I drank APTX4869?」

「Haaa… haa… You've shrunk, Zaeryn.」The thoroughly beaten Ayer noted.「Aren't you a hybrid in his reincarnation? Ogre and Incubus? It seems like you're reverting back to the incubus form and since incubus aged slower than ogre, you've become younger.」

「Shit…」The shota-form Kibadios glared at Ayer, who could also barely move. Rather than entering Gear 2, it's like I deactivated Gear 3 . Kibadios thought to himself.

「You're okay, Boss?」Uri stood next to his Alpha, letting the incubus lean on him.

「Yeah… but Ayer!!!」Kibadios frustratedly called out the Ennead

「Hahaha, it's been a fun battle, Zaeryn.」The Ennead slightly moved his index finger, letting a single thread wrapped around his throat.「The next time I see you, I'll end you!」Although Kibadios was paralyzed, the Ennead, too, was not in a state that could fight another battle, even if it was just against Uri. Thus, he opted to kill his doll body and allow his soul to return back to his real body.

WHOOOSHHHH!!!

But before he could sever his own head, five thick chains abruptly sprung forth and hit his chest. Although he did not feel any pain, he could see the chains were now piercing through his flesh. Strangely, he could not move an inch.

「Well well well, even if this is merely a homunculus body that you possess, getting this beaten up by Zaeryn who's yet in his prime is still pretty embarrassing, Ayer.」Voice of a young girl echoed around the place.

「This voice… I know this voice.」Kibadios grunted, tried to stand upright.

「What just happened?」Uri asked. It's been a while since he has even comprehended what was happening.

「This voice… Damn you! It's you, isn't it? What did you do to me? Why the hell are you here? ANSWER ME!!! SERIIIIII!!!」

「Shhh…」The elven loli, the progenitor of the highelf, stepped out from the shadow. Though before he could say one more word, a golden capsule swiftly swallowed him whole and sealed him inside.「Don't scream at your elder, Ayer.」Seri grinned.

Phew... Finally done with this climatic chapter. 2 more chapters (probably) and we'll be done with this volume. Next volume will deal with Wei Shimin. :3

It's funny cuz I didn't plan to have Ayer captured this soon. But because the story has been stretching out this long, I decided to skip some plotline and capture him now. With his capture, the last harem member had been introduced! I still think the ratio between male:female is a bit skewed but people from AO3 voted for the last harem member to be a trap lol.

Kibadios' shota form (100% incubus):

Artist: loloRoyal_002

Skeb: https://skeb.jp/@loloRoyal_002

https://imgur.com/TdXb80V

Seri the Eternal

AI art w/ slight modification

https://imgur.com/wsiq9Dk