Chapter 21

Vali and the girls Delta, Emilia, Nepgear, Olivia, Compa and IF entered the dungeon before they found themselves in front of a set of stairs that went downwards. "Huh? That's weird, why does the ground become something man-made?" Compa questioned, tilting her head in confusion.

IF then shook her head. "No idea, just like how several Dungeons have been recorded to possess architecture similar to Planeptune's. There's been a LOT of debate over that especially in discussion forums."

Nepgear hummed thoughtfully at that, remembering a few times when she'd visited those forums whilst surfing the web online. However, she soon shook her head as she jogged down the stairs to catch up with Vali, something which the rest of them soon followed suit in doing.

As they walked down the stairs, they eventually reached the bottom where, looming over them, looked to be a great iron door. Vali then glanced back at the others, his eyes narrowing. "This is it girls, the moment we enter, there is no going back are you ready?" the silver-haired half Devil questioned.

"I am."

"Let's do this."

"Delta can't wait for some action!"

"Alright, let's go!"

With each of them giving their consent, each of them entered the room, to which they had expected nothing to be on the other side since this was something they'd never been in before. However, that still didn't prepare them for how, past this door, there looked to be some kind of maze.

Something which did NOT go well with the rest of them. "Ahhhh dammit, a fucking maze?! This will take us about days to figure it out!"

IF tried to think of another possible means of progression, however she couldn't. As a result, she shrugged her shoulders and began stepping forwards whilst preparing her Qatars. "Then we have no choice. We have to split up then." she told them.

Something which the half Devil reluctantly agreed with. "Fine, let's do it." after Vali had said that, they each went to a different path to look for a way out. Vali went alone, Delta went with Emilia, Nepgear went with IF and Compa went with Olivia.

Thus, what followed was for each of them to struggle with MANY dead ends that almost rendered them completely lost. The maze itself proved its namesake thanks to how incredibly complex it had been, not to mention that when those who could fly tried to look at it from a bird's eye view, they could only get so high before they seemed to get magnetically pulled back to the ground level. That could have only meant that this place had been designed SPECIFICALLY so navigating through the maze was the only option for adventurers, and it showed. Not only did they encounter monsters that were vast in number yet weak in terms of overall power, but they ambushed them from all kinds of different hiding places. Like, there were some which came at them in the form of treasure chests which the less intelligent members of the group (like Delta) would open them, seeking treasure, only to be nearly headless when those boxes form teeth and try to bite their heads off.

Fortunately, it had only taken a couple hours before a change occurred through their navivations. During their search for a way out, they heard a click when Delta killed a monster before the walls slid down into the ground to signal the maze's ending, which caused mass confusion among the group. "Huh what happened?" Delta wondered, scratching the top of her head.

IF took a moment to think about it, before something clicked in her mind and she clicked her fingers in understanding with a look of realization forming on her face. "Hmmmm ohhhhh I get it, in order for us to go further down to the floors we have to kill the monsters that were in the maze." she remarked thoughtfully.

Hearing that, Nepgear looked on over to her friend. She looked rather puzzled at that, and it was understandable why. After all, none of them knew the reasoning behind the methods of the maze's construction, so ALL of them (not just her) had to be confused about this function. "That sounds….. Easy?" she questioned unsurely.

Though IF shook her head whilst placing a hand over her forehead, the other being placed on her hip. "Don't look at me I'm not the one who built this thing." she told them all, getting some inevitable shrugs from the rest of them

Once this was all concluded, Vali and the others exited out of the room to another flight of stairs, which Emilia deduced were the telltale passageways to get down the floors. Made sense, though Vali and the smarter members got the feeling that logic may not be as applicable here as they'd like, the same with many Dungeons of the more normal variety… although normalcy was subjective.

As they descended down the long staircase, the group inevitably entered another room which seemed to be….. Another maze. Something which caused Delta to growl in frustration, not liking so many things which forced her to use her brain too much. Hey, she was a simple girl, alright?! "Ah come on another maze!?" she exclaimed.

"Well what choice do we have, we have to go with it, it's not like we have magic powerful enough to blast these walls."

Meanwhile as Emilia tried to comfort her friend, the silver haired Half Devil shared Delta's frustration over this. After all, these mazes would just delay their progress and slow them down, giving any kind of sinister individuals time to catch up to them. "This is wasting our time!" Vali yelled, and before anyone could stop him the teen strolled on over to one of the walls, infusing his mana into his right fist and rearing it back, intending to see if he can even dent it in his anger.

Of course, the brunette Guild Agent didn't see this as a good idea and instead one which would cause even more problems for them to deal with. Hence, why she quickly tried to stop the half Devil before he could hurt himself. "Hey even with your mana you can't damage a spot from i-"

BOOM!

A loud boom resonated throughout the floor. Meanwhile, IF went silent as she had her mouth open thanks to her seeing Vali destroy a maze wall with one punch. She wasn't the only one though, as Vali stared at it for a moment in slight disbelief, blinking owlishly a few times before looking down at his right fist. A look of comprehension formed on his face as he mumbled the following. "Huh… looks like it does work….." With this knowledge, Vali glanced behind him, and IF had to stop her brow from twitching in irritation at the slight smirk that he sported, his smugness all too apparent. "You were saying...?"

"... nevermind."

Once that was said, Vali put his hand forward before he let out a large MR that destroyed multiple walls before them, allowing the Party to see an exit on the opposite side. Something which sent pleased murmurs throughout the Party whilst Vali himself let out a pleased smile. "Heh, looks like we might get the mascot faster."

Back outside the Orcus Dungeon, a group of individuals cloaked in hooded cloaks stood by the forbidden dungeon's entrance. None of them went inside however, they just stood outside seemingly like they were waiting for something. This became the truth when one of them came up to one who seemed to be the leader of the group, judging by the way the cloaked figure saluted him like a soldier speaking to a higher ranking officer. "Sir, they have been detected!" he reported loudly.

Meanwhile, the man who looked to be the leader wanted more details than just that, so he knew what he was working with. "Report." he stated calmly.

Something which the subordinate promptly gave. "Sir, there are traces of unknown magic up to the third floor. One of them is confirmed to be that of the unbeatable prince Vali!"

At this, the leader nodded in confirmation to himself, a thoughtful hum escaping him before he turned to the rest of the hooded people. "Alright boys, listen up! Combine this data we've gained and the data from the report that Underling gave us, and we've got confirmation that members of Shadow Garden are here. They will likely have the CPU Candidate with them as well, according to Underling who will be considered a priority target much like the unbeatable prince and the theorized founder of Shadow Garden, Vali. Your orders are to capture the CPU candidate and the unbeatable prince before they reach the Mascot." he bellowed, getting various sounds of confirmation from his men.

However, not all of them answered. One of those who hadn't answered like everyone else was a man with evil eyes as he wore an ASIC emblem on his collar, as well as wore old, crusader-like armor. "Are we sure we should capture the CPU candidate? Wouldn't it be better if we just killed her?" he questioned.

The leader of the group, narrowing his eyes at the man whilst a sense of distrust formed within his gut, shook his head negatively. "No, because she escaped from the Graveyard when they managed to rescue her. Not only did she survive the experiments, but she has also been reported to have gained a new Form, something which makes her dangerous for our organization." he explained.

"I see."

"Lets go!" As the leader said that, the group proceeded to enter the Dungeon to capture their targets for the glory of their superiors… that is, before they abruptly halted when they sensed a gathering of IMMENSE Mana behind them.

"I think that's enough, coming along this far was plenty you know?" They looked back and saw a summoned archdemon.

"What the-a summoned beast?!"

"The girl is simply too dangerous to live, so it would be a problem for us if she continues to live so thanks for your hard work. Crush them, Archdemon!"

"AAAAHHHHH!"

"Ok, I have to say this: What kind of a fucking dungeon is this?!"

"Come on, it's not that bad Vali."

Back with the main heroes, Vali and the others were currently seated on a blanket in the middle of what looked to have once been a large space, enjoying a meal. They had been taking a break since they had cleared about 60 floors out of the known 100, with each floor offering them a different challenge to separate them from the rest. They weren't necessarily HARD challenges, but a lot of them involved some kind of perverse or humiliating actions… and unfortunately, the one who had taken the brunt of them had been the sole male member of the group. "Not that bad? Then let me tell you this: the fortieth floor was to solve a quiz while the heat from the lava was spinning around our heads, which I'm still feeling the heat. The fiftieth was where we had to freaking DANCE with them!" Vali shouted at the end, looking rather embarrassed judging by the pinkish hue on his cheeks. It didn't help that, thanks to that part of the excursion a new talent had awoken within the half Devil: the ability to dance like a disco master. Let's just say he pretty much blew the others out of the water once he got into it, to the point where he was the only one dancing with the monsters whilst the girls had recordings of it on their phones.

He did NOT want to know what they were going to do with those.

However, the same could NOT be said for the rest of them, especially the girls whom were romantically involved with the half Devil. None of them had missed the chance to record a video of their man dancing so they could show the rest back home, especially his father. Plus, they thought that he looked rather sexy when he danced, Emilia even smiled fondly whilst interlocking her hands together. "Oh that was fun, can we try that again?" she questioned with an 'innocent' smile.

Though Vali QUICKLY shot that notion down. "No! And the sixtieth floor was a slimy place where instead of actually devouring us whole like a NORMAL dungeon area, it instead eats our fucking clothes! Worse, the whole place seemed to have a fixation towards guys!" He exclaimed, with the sixtieth floor being their most recent conquering. Right now they had been on the sixty first floor, and throughout their recent navigating that slime-based floor almost seemed like it had it out for trying to cover Vali in its mass and leave him naked in front of the girls.

Fortunately, there were two 'sane' girls who had to play the straight woman in this party dynamic, one of them being IF. "Uhhhh you have a slime on your hair." she noted, gesturing to a bit of slime still stuck in one of Vali's bangs.

"GGAAAAHHHH!" The said half Devil screamed like all hell, as he quickly ripped the slime off of his head before he threw it like an Olympic athlete. "Who the fuck even created this dungeon?! It's no wonder why this is a forbidden one, it's only for men who entered this place!" he raged.

'I can see why, this place only has more value on women.'

Even Albion had spoken with a tone which suggested how uncomfortable and humiliated he felt inside. What his partner had gone through, well, he could see it as an equivalent to what women in hentai manga and anime went through on a daily basis to get fanservice out to the male viewers. Thinking about what Vali had endured made him realize that, if he learned that this would have been what the girls he cared about would have gone through normally, he would have had a whole new level of respect for them.

Meanwhile, Olivia tried to play peacemaker whilst struggling to keep her composure… thought she succeeded the most out of the girls thirsty for him. "Calm down Vali, remember why we are here." she tried to say in order to take his mind off everything that had happened.

Something which worked as the male recalled that they had come here for the Mascot. "...haaaaaaaaa fine, but the sooner we get the mascot, the faster we get out of here." he stated grumpily, looking like he wanted to just go back home and sleep for the day.

"Indeed Vali, let's finish up our meal first."

Oh, also on this floor they had to deal with a giant crab that had demanded to have Vali make a meal for him, before the said male killed it in his anger from the other floors. It had proven himself delicious of course.

They finished their meals and went to the iron door where the next floor is, hopefully, it won't be a disaster like the other floors.

As they entered, it looked like a ravine with the water going so fast that it resembled some rapids.

"Sweet CPU, if we fall to that, it would be our end!" IF exclaimed in shock, fear blossoming inside of her as she gritted her teeth at the possibility of any of them falling into those rapids. She had seen things like this before in some of the more dangerous dungeons that she'd been able to explore. More than once she'd nearly lost her head in their traps.

On her end, an anxious, stressed out Delta made a point of covering her ears by folding them downwards onto her head. "Delta hates the sound of it!" she wailed.

"Alright enough, we can cross the river over there, we just have to be careful. Don't look down." Vali said as he went to the bridge as they carefully proceeded to slide along what looked like a ledge over the ravine. All the while, they each made sure to not look down which had been QUITE tempting for them to do so. However, their efforts were not helping, especially with the sound of high-speed rapids flowing beneath them. From beneath the waters, several silhouettes burst out, revealing a bunch of Bird monsters that had appeared. Instantly, they dove down towards them like airborne torpedos.

Looking up and noticing their approach, a dry look crossed onto Vali's face. "Another monster... deal with it, Olivia."

"On it." As she said that, Olivia brought out her Heilig Pfeil, aimed at the monsters before she let out a volley of arrows that easily dealt with all of them.

"That seems to be no problem at all."

"You can say that ag-Vali watch out!"

"Hhuh?!"

Upon hearing that warning from Olivia, the silver haired male looked back to see a flying snake that was coming to them. Instincts made him respond quite quickly, resulting in him using his MB as it got closer.

Whilst that was happening, Delta glanced downwards after she had heard something crackling, thus she saw a crack quickly forming on the ground. Her eyes widened in alarm, knowing what this would mean in a couple of seconds. "Dodge!" She pushed Emilia out of the way before out came a giant worm.

"A summoned beast! Trap worm!"

A man appeared before Nepgear, looking absolutely delighted… in a sick, twisted kind of way. One which sent chills down her spine. "I finally found you!" he bellowed happily.

Though the same couldn't be said for Nepgear and the others. "Who are you?!" The CPU Candidate screamed, taking a few steps away from him.

At this, the man gave a polite, formal bow. "I am Geibalt, a follower of the ASIC! We finally meet, little miss Nepgear." He declared with his smile being present.

Although, this just made them all enter a maximum alert state similar to when agents were alerted to Solid Snake's position in the Metal Gear series. 'Damn I knew that they would send reinforcements. I have to get there, quick!'

"To think that I would end up chasing you to such a remote place, you really are a detestable woman! For the sake of the deity of sin hurry up and die-GAAAH!" Before the man could finish what he was saying or even take action for that matter, he was pushed into a wall by Vali, who had appeared with his Divine Dividing deployed, before he quickly got to Nepgear's side. Geibalt got up as he was bleeding from his lips. "You really have been a thorn on our side since the beginning, unbeatable prince!"

In response, Vali simply rolled his eyes whilst he began channeling his demonic power. "Hmph and they always say it when I beat them, you're just like the others." he stated, deploying two MSs.

"YOOUUUU! I'LL KILL YOU-UGH!"

Once again, Geibalt had his words cut off before they could be completed when Vali had his fist through the man's chest as he gripped the heart before he pulled it back. Geibalt put a hand on his chest before he fell to the lake as it swept him away quickly. The trap worm disappeared too since there was no one fueling mana to it.

Crushing the heart, Vali looked to the rest of them. "Let's go." he stated simply, prompting the girls to nod and continue on their track towards the stairs leading towards the next floor.

Timeskip

It has been a bit challenged as the other floors were kinda hard. The seventieth floor had a moving mechanism that took victims to a monster room if they were careless, to which Vali had destroyed all of them to relieve his stress from the ridiculous dungeon floors. And the eightieth one had a moving corpse which made some of them scared and disgusted to see this. If they had purification then it would be easy but that spell had been lost as a saint hadn't appeared for 200 years, therefore they had to kill them and bury them so that they could at least show some respect for the dead.

Though, after everything had been all said and done, Olivia had found herself in depressed spirits from seeing so many corpses. Corpses which had never got the respect they had deserved for so long. "I wish we could do something to those poor people." she mumbled.

Vali had heard her however, causing him to glance on over to her with his hands pocketed inside of his Slime Suit's coat. "We can't Olivia, as per mentioned previously that skill can only be used by a Saint, and one of those hasn't appeared for a long ass time." he told her.

"But-"

"Listen I know you feel sorry for them but this is as much as we could, the dead would rest for now."

"I….. I see." Olivia sadly said as Vali did make a point, there really wasn't much they could do for them.

Eventually, the group found themselves walking through what looked like some sort of cavern, one which hardly had any light to it making visibility quite difficult.

Something which was soon pointed out by a shivering Compa who looked like she was going to pass out from fight if she weren't holding her Syringe close to her chest. "I-I-I-I-I-I-I-Its s-s-s-s-so d-d-dark down h-h-h-h-h-here… why is it s-s-s-s-so d-d-dark down h-h-h-h-h-here?" She questioned, glancing around whilst sweat poured down her pale forehead. She never was one for horror or scary stuff, there was a reason why she never attended movie nights with IF or her friends especially if she heard they were going to be watching horror movies.

Fortunately, IF had been beside her with Vali up front and the members of Shadow Garden surrounding them, so she had been quite literally within the safest place she could be at the moment. Speaking of said Guild Agent, the brunette used one of her phones as a makeshift torch so she could look at a map she had procured before coming here. She hadn't initially thought it reliable, but apparently judging from what they had experienced the map had actually more credibility to it than she'd given it credit for. "Well, this looks to be on the 100th floor, so I'd say that we're pretty close to the Mascot." she commented.

Her comment resulted in a multitude of relieved sighs throughout the group, most notably from Vali himself which explained a lot. Especially since he had been the one who should be the most traumatized out of all of them. "Oh, now that's the best news I've heard all fucking day!" he exclaimed, though nobody blamed him due to previously stated reasons.

"Still though, something's been bothering me." Emilia stated, gathering everyone's attention. "Sure we were able to clear the Dungeon floors, but doesn't that just mean that the enemy should be right behind us? If so, then why haven't they caught up to us yet? I doubt they were able to get ahead of us due to the challenges looking like they haven't been disturbed in a long time, so its just confusing to me…"

Now that caused the group to ponder on this. Sure they had only been ambushed once by that guy who had summoned that trap worm (they'd long since forgotten his name at this point due to how forgettable he had been), but since ASIC was a large organisation they would have thought they'd sent a bigger force than just one member. That made them wonder if a bigger force was indeed on their way or not, and if so why hadn't they caught up to them? Could there have been some kind of resetting function to this Dungeon that applies itself to the floors after those who had cleared them were no longer on them?

"I say we don't look a gift horse in the mouth, guys. I mean, at this point…" IF began to say, before she looked up when she saw something blinking. "Huh? Well, would you look at that…" she muttered, pointing upwards with her free hand's index finger. "Hey guys, look above us."

Each of them did so, and instantly the girls became transfixed at the sight of what looked to be some kind of gem embedded inside of the cavern wall. Vali didn't look nearly as impressed, but he knew what that was due to having so many girls forming a harem. Of course he'd learn a few things from them. "Grantz Crystal, huh? Looks like it's a big piece too, which is quite rare." he remarked. Grantz Crystal wasn't anything special in that it lacked many special properties outside of its beauty, nonetheless many female noblewomen would go crazy if they ever received jewelry made from this crystal due to how beautiful it was.

IF however, had a frown on her lips, her eyes shimmering with suspicion and caution as she eyed the crystal warily. "Still, we better leave it where it is, because if it's in a Dungeon like this with such elaborate traps, chances are that it's probably bait to lure in unsuspecting adventurers. Much like the majority of traps here." She remarked, causing the other girls to frown in disappointment over that statement likely being true, thus they didn't say anything about getting it themselves. After all, this place had traps geared towards males which would lead to women getting precious fanservice material, so it could indeed be possible that this Grantz crystal would be used to lure in male adventurers wanting to score high with women by using it to forge jewelry. Whatever fates would be in store would likely not be pleasant either, thus the group made to continue onwards…

Had it not been for something happening which took the power of choice away from them.

"?!"

"Oh, you have got to be fucking KIDDING ME!"

Instantly as they stepped forwards, what looked like a Magic Circle appeared beneath them, or to be more specific Vali who soon found himself floating into the air. "Shit, is this thing altering gravity around me or something?!" The silver haired teen thought as he hurriedly summoned his Divine Dividing to try and get out of the spell's range. However, to his shock he found that he couldn't move in the way that he wanted to… actually, he couldn't move at all. "The fuck?!"

"Vali, look out! It's pulling you over to the crystal!"

Compa's warning came out too late however, as Vali's back touched the crystal causing him to go pale with horror. "Oh, fucking shit!" He shouted… just before they all found themselves glowing with a bright light.

By the time that they could open their eyes again, the group uncovered them by lowering their arms, noticing two things: One, Vali had now appeared right where he had been before being 'pushed' off the ground towards the Crystal. Two, they now stood before a single long bridge, one which hung over a deep, dark abyss which sent MANY chills down the girls' bones. It was their sole male member who spoke first however, after regaining his composure and keeping his Sacred Gear out. "The fuck…? What just happened? Feels like we were transported like back on the 70th floor…" he mused in confusion.

"Yeah, I get that feeling too." IF remarked, causing waves of dread to spread across the rest of the group as they quickly drew their weapons, knowing from past experiences that this would likely be spelling trouble for them within the next instance. Actions which soon got proven to be correct when they saw a magic circle appear on the bridge in front of them… and from it, out came a Monster the likes of which the group had NOT expected to see here… or anywhere in the world of Gamindustri for that matter.

Huge, could be one word to describe the creature that now loomed ahead of them, possessing a huge body of 10 meters length. It's body looked to be mostly shaped similar to a triceratops, with a head like that of a bull that sported two large huge horns sprouting on its head whilst it sported glowing red eyes. Eyes which hungrily leered at the group which, thanks to the lack of light around them, made it look like a pair of downright sinister eyes had their gazes locked on to them from within the depths of a dark abyss, only adding to the intimidation levels that it had.

"KYAAAAAAAA!" Compa screamed at the sight of it, stumbling backwards whilst holding her Syringe out ready to fire. "WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!"

An answer soon came from Emilia of all people, who had her sword glistening with icy cold vapor to show her readiness for battle. "NO CLUE, BUT WE GOTTA GO FORWARDS IF WE WANT THAT MASCOT! LET'S HURRY AND BEAT THIS THING!" she called out to the rest of them as they began to solidify their nerves.

However, it seemed like lady luck didn't favor them much today since the sounds of a Magic Circle appearing were heard behind them too, causing Olivia to glance behind them… and noticed a bunch of Undead Skeletons rising up from it. "Oh no! Our way back's been blocked off!" she yelled, alerting the rest of them to the danger.

Cursing himself for letting this happen, Vali gritted his teeth while deploying his MSs, readying them for combat as his Sacred Gear glistened brightly in the darkness like a pair of angel wings… oh, the irony. "Alright, I've got the one up front, Nepgear you're with me! Olivia you provide fire support on the Skeletons! Emilia, you and IF keep them away from Compa, Compa you provide healing! Delta, you just go wild! Alright people, let's move!"

"RIGHT!"

With that call, the battle began as each member of the Party jumped into their assigned roles. Whilst Olivia and Delta jumped towards the undead skeletons with the former firing arrows at them to halt their advance so her partner could deal with them herself, IF and Compa kept close to the middle line so that the Nurse could cast healing magic on the rest whenever they were injured. One could call them the 'support' unit whilst the 'rearguard' consisted of Olivia and Delta whereas Valli and Nepgear were the 'Vanguard' Unit.

Speaking of said Vanguard…

"Haaaaah!" Nepgear, having quickly transformed into her Demonic self in order to close the distance between her and the enemy, prompting her to slash at it like crazy. Speaking of the transformation which she had aptly named her 'Satanic Devil Driver' or SDD for short due to the twisted power that was used for it. As for her demonic self, her SDD Self, she had taken to calling herself 'Diabolos Sister' due to the form's origins and her being a CPU Candidate. Her Nodachi sword crackled with her black and silver lightning as she ducked under a lunge from the creature, slid beneath it and slashed away at its abdomen like a madwoman. As a result, the creature grunted as sparks flew from its injuries, injuries which didn't seem all that deep but the lightning within them had coursed through its internal body structure like blood through its bloodstreams, and had thus left it with severe internal damage.

Not willing to give it a chance to strike, Diabolos Sister lifted her right hand up to the air space above her as she made a clutching motion with her hand. As a result, black and silver lightning started to form in the space her hand occupied, and whilst this happened she glanced down at Vali who had readied his MSs for his own assault. "Vali, keep it busy for me, I'll need time to prepare this one!" she called out to him.

"How much?!"

"About 10 seconds!"

"Got it, make sure that attack hits!" Vali called out to her as he sped through the air towards his opponent. Meanwhile the Behemoth, ignoring its original injuries, growled as it lunged at him, intending to ram into him with its long horns or at least bite off a chunk of Vali's flesh. The said half Devil however, didn't let that happen as he instead leapt upwards just before they could collide, resulting in him shooting above it. All the while, he promptly slashed away at its upper body, hacking away in a manner akin to his comrade before he landed on top of its tail and jumped off it, slicing the tip of it off with a quick spinning slash that caused it to howl in pain as it stumbled forwards. 'Good, I have its attention…'

Knowing that now he would be able to keep its focus on him, Vali gathered his Demonic Power and activated his MSK as well as his MZ, which also allowed him to get clued into an ABUNDANCE of ambient Mana in the Air. 'WHAT?! Holy hell, why the fuck is there so much Mana here?!' the teen wondered in internal dismay, not having expected the amount that he now had access to. However, nobody said he was complaining, so by gathering the Ambient manner at various points, various Magic Circles formed around the Behemoth as Vali held his right hand out, pointing it at it. "Eat Mana Rays, fucker!" he bellowed…

Before multiple Mana Rays the size of cars burst out of one Magic Circle each, numbering at about 8 in total and fired from positions where, if one looked from a bird's eye view, they'd see them positioned like the corners of an octagon.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

The sounds of 8 MRs exploding filled the air as the Behemoth howled in absolute agony, fierce and violent Demonic Power coursing through it thanks to the MRs hitting it in various locations. It felt so much pain going through it that it fell onto its burned abdomen, which only made its pain even worse… though it still didn't go down completely as Vali had sensed various life signs from the creature still remaining. 'Huh, I see… so this fucker is more like a Tank than a runner…' Vali thought to himself in understanding. Not only that, but thanks to this Bridge not looking to be supported all that well he didn't want to use too much of it since that would risk it collapsing beneath him. Sure he could fly, but considering how there were of those among them that couldn't fly on the bridge, thus the caution.

However…

"I'm ready!"

After hearing that call from Diabolos Sister, Vali looked upwards and saw her floating there… with what looked like some kind of three pronged Trident made entirely out of black and silver lightning in her hands, ready to blow. He could sense a CONSIDERABLE amount of power behind that weapon, causing him to frown in worry. "Got it, Nepgear! Remember, we can't destroy this bridge otherwise our comrades will fall!" he warned her, a bit worried about the amount of power within that weapon. Even though she had fought in an ample amount of their battles in this form since entering the Dungeon, Diabolos Sister still hadn't quite refined her control over her Demonic Power since it was pretty much the exact OPPOSITE to the energy that she was used to. Thus, she MAY have put in a little too much into forming that Trident of hers.

"Got it, when I give the signal, shoot towards the rest as quick as you can Vali! Get them off the bridge!"

Looked like even in this state, Diabolos Sister still retained her ability to see reason, he could see. That was good, that was very good indeed. Now that he knew that, Vali nodded in understanding as he quickly spread his Divine Dividing wings before taking off towards the rearguard as well as their support unit who were still keeping the Skeletons at bay. From what he could see, they looked to have killed off a dozen of them already, but their numbers weren't going down quickly enough. 'Can't believe I'm thinking this, but like that blue hedgehog I gotta go fast!' the silver haired male thought.

Just as he flew forwards past the wounded Behemoth though, just as Diabolos Sister made to throw the powerful Trident that would likely destroy the bridge…

RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE!

Chills of dread assaulted everyone's spines when the sounds of rumbling occurred throughout the area, accompanied by the loud roar of the Behemoth. They did not know what the thing had been up to, considering it to be the one responsible for the rumbling, but what followed TRULY sucked the life out of the Party… for the moment that it roared, various Magic Circles suddenly appeared across both sides of the Chasm deep below the bridge, spinning and rotating wildly. Not a second later, Vali gasped as the male felt a sudden weight drop onto his shoulders, causing him to crash onto the Bridge hard enough to make an indentation on it. "Ugh! What… the…?!" he tried to say, before cursing as the weight pressed him harder into the bridge's structure. Multiple times he tried to get up, only to be pushed back down onto the bridge and even harder than before. Additionally, Olivia had noticed and had quickly made to go over to him, but Vali had stopped her with a couple MR's that he had barely launched and had landed near her feet, stopping her from being potentially affected by this as well.

'This is bad, partner! These Magic Circles, they're flight restriction spells, and they're keeping you pinned to the Bridge since you were registered as a flying being thanks to me! Quick, deactivate Divine Dividing, or else we-!'

Albion tried to warn Vali about what had happened and what would soon follow, but it turned out to be far too late for that. For the half Devil wasn't the only one experiencing this as Diabolos Sister suddenly slammed into the other side of the Bridge in a similar manner… the Trident slamming into the Bridge alongside her. As a result, it detonated, causing a large explosion which not only OBLITERATED the Behemoth, but it also destroyed the entire bridge and created a shockwave which knocked everything not tied down into the air… which included their companions alongside the destroyed Skeletons, their bodies unable to handle the shockwave's impact force.

Even as the girls all landed safely on the other side, now free of aggression by undead, their group consensus was to pale in horror and dread as they looked back to the explosion… which failed to hide the collapsing bridge which shattered into pieces, pieces which fell down into the abyss taking Vali and Nepgear with them.

Much to everyone's horror…

"VALIIIIIII/NEPGEAAAAARRRR!"

"NNNNRRRRAAAAAA!"

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Both Vali and Diabolos' Sister screamed as they fell, unable to fly or do anything to stop themselves. It was almost as if the abyss had reached out with its many clawed appendages of darkness to claim them as the abyss's prisoners.

"NNOOOOO!" Emilia screamed, breaking off into a sprint towards the edge of the destroyed bridge before her comrades could stop her. She had just made it to the ledge and had been about to jump when IF caught up to and stopped her, doing so by wrapping her arms around her waist from behind to hold her in place. One had to give the brunette credit for this, since she may as well be a normal human compared to Emilia yet still managed to keep her from jumping after the two. "LET GO OF ME!" Emilia nonetheless yelled as she struggled to get out of her grip.

Something which IF REFUSED to let happen no matter what. "HELL NO, you'll die if you fall down there!" she protested, trying to get the girl to see reason.

Though that was the thing, when a maiden in love saw the object of their affections in trouble, little would stop her from trying to help out which was exactly what had been happening here. "If I have to save them, then I'll take the price!"

'Shit, this is bad! My grip's weakening!' yet even as she had managed to grip her companion, IF's human limitations quickly caught up to her and her grip had started to slacken. She knew what would happen if she lost her hold on her now, which wasn't something she wanted to happen since it would bring even more despair to the group. Thus, she tried to go for a different tactic. "Calm down Emilia, they'll survive, I'm sure of it!" she bellowed.

For a moment, Emilia stopped struggling in the Guild Agent's grasp, to which showed IF that her approach had worked for the moment. "How can you be sure IF?!" the half elf half Devil hybrid yelled backwards at her.

Knowing that she didn't have long before the struggling resumed, IF quickly shouted out her opinions on the matter. Opinions which were genuine and true despite the chaos of the situation. "Because from what I saw of their strength and ability, they'll manage. Besides, Vali won't be happy to hear that you died when he returns, would he?!"

"I…."

Seeing as how IF was slowly getting through to her, Olivia proceeded to step forward booking like she wanted to do the same as her friend and fellow harem member. However, she knew for a fact that Vali wouldn't want them to needlessly risk their lives like this, so she had to quickly rein in her friend before things were made worse. "Emilia, she's right Vali could survive almost anything, we need to be strong for him."

"... ok."

Finally, Emilia looked like she had calmed down to the point where they felt she wouldn't do anything stupid, allowing IF to release her as Emilia hung her head, shadows covering her eyes. By no means did this mean that she was a-ok, and who could blame her? None of them did, nor would they. Yet, instead of Olivia, it turned out to be Delta who delivered the final blow, putting her hand on her shoulder whilst soothing her in a manner which seemed rather uncharacteristic for her… though that only made her words stronger. "Don't worry, we'll find them soon if we go deeper to the dungeon, Delta promises."

"... alright, let's hope Vali is safe for now."

Olivia nodded as the group proceeded to search for an alternative way through the area to continue their dungeon exploration. "Yes, we could only hope for now."

"Uhhhhh…. ugh, dammit."

Vali cursed as he got up but was hit with immense pain in him as he put a hand on his stomach. "Gaaahhh dammit." he mumbled, pain erupting inside of him like being hit in the face by a powerful explosive… he had some personal experience there. He looked left and right before seeing Nepgear as she was turned to normal. Not only that, but he could see that she was unconscious.

'Vali hold still, your demonic is trying to heal you right now, but it's low you have to wait until it's enough!'

Hearing Albion's words, Vali wisely chose to adhere to them… though that didn't mean he had to like it, quite the opposite actually. "I…. hate this." He muttered in annoyance and frustration whilst leaning back against the cavern wall. That fall, it had likely been quite a big one to reduce him to such a sorry state, plus with the extra forces applied thanks to those flight restriction magic circles the damage he had sustained drastically increased. Furthermore, he could see that his clothes were in tatters, likely thanks to the fall that he had endured. as he sat there waiting for his demonic reserves to heal him.

As he sat there, recovering, sounds of movement alerted him and instantly caused him to enter an alarmed state. Glancing to the source of the sounds, his eyes laid their gaze upon… what he could only describe as a bunny with huge legs, one which he had to cringe at since it looked goddamn hideous. Still, confusion swept through him at the sight of it. "Huh….. what type of bunny is tha-" he began to say...

'WATCH OUT!'

"?!"

By instinct, Vali acted in the form of him creating a MS over his right forearm, which he would then use to stab into the rabbit through the body. His eyes widened even further as the facts of the situation were made to him. "What… the fuck?! How….did it move so fast?!" he exclaimed in horror.

'You and the CPU candidate have to get out of here, this place is not like the other floors!'

"What do you mean Albion?"

'These monsters, it looks like they have powerful mana conducting abilities, which means they are as powerful as the Behemoth you all fought!'

"... fuck I just have to-ugh!" Before he could finish what he was saying, Vali grunted when he felt himself get hit and knocked back along the wall, landing on another spot against it. Turning his head, Vali looked at the cause of his impromptu flight… which resulted in his gaze falling upon a Bear-like monstrosity which had large claws, two sabertooth tusks on its mouth whilst drool escaped from its maw. Immediately, Vali figured out what it had wanted and a growl escaped his throat. "Grrrrhh, you want to kill me?! You'll have to do better than that!"

Vali screamed as he used his MR with what little of his demonic reserves he had left. Fortunately for him, it was enough to push the Bear back before the MR shot itself through its stomach. Once he cut the power and lowered his hand with his mouth falling open, Vali could see that his body was losing blood as he weakly went to Nepgear before falling down to the ground midway. "Dammit….. Dammit…. Dammit all! This will not be my end! I won't die like this! I will not stop until… all of those….. ASIC are dead….. I will get…. My revenge…." Vali ranted as he dragged himself towards his companion. However, his strength kept fading rapidly whilst he was losing his ability to remain conscious. Slowly, Vali's eyes were about to close, welcoming him to the sweet world of oblivion forever… when all of a sudden a drip was heard. Vali looked around to try and see where it had come from, before he could see his body was healed. "What….. What was that?" Vali wondered, before his eyes laid their gaze upon a pond of water near his position. One which looked fresh, though that wasn't all since after looking upwards, Vali noticed a rock formation similar to a roof on top of a house, where he could see… what looked like some kind of jewel that was dripping water to the pond.

"Drink…..if you want….. The power…..to destroy your enemies….. And have….. Your revenge."

Vali didn't know what was that voice he heard but he didn't care as he put his mouth on the pond as he drank it before he felt immense pain inside of him. "GGGAAAAAAHHHHHH!" He screamed so loud his inside was damaging itself as he stayed conscious. He felt something slithering on his body as winds were appearing before him as he blew so hard around him before it stops as he felt it stopped. "(PANT)...(PANT)...(PANT)... What…. The hell?"

As he said he puts his hand on his head to relieve the headache he had before he saw his arm was different. It had a red and black stripe on it as it went to his fingers as on it acted like rings on it. He looked at the pond to see his reflection as he saw his face also had the stripes as it went down to his face and two on the bottom of his eye were two stripes going to the back of his head. "What….. Is this?!"

'Those winds….. And that power….. Could it be?... Vali, try to project some wind.'

"What do you mean?"

'Just do it.'

Mumbling in annoyance at the lack of clear answers to the already confusion as fuck situation, Vali nonetheless tried to do so. He did so by putting his hand out to try and summon the Winds again. Initially, he had been expecting a normal one but…. Once it got conjured Vali noticed an IMMEDIATE difference, that being that its color was black, not to mention it must have been INSANELY sharp since it carved deep gashes into the walls, a sight which nearly made Vali fall onto his back whilst his eyes widened. "What the fuck?!"

'I should've known this.'

"What is it Albion?! What the hell happened to me?"

'Those winds and that power… you belong to the Lucifer Clan.'

"What….. Lucifer?"

'Yes Lucifer Morningstar, the father of the devils. During the time at the great war Lucifer is one of the four crown princes of hell, particularly that of the East, the 'lord of the air', and is called the bringer of light, and the morning star.'

"Morning star?"

'Lucifer's power was a star-based bloodline where he had demonic wind and flames. Winds which carried an unbelievable sharpness to them that they carved their marks upon even Gods back then, whilst the infernal flames burned away even other abilities, energies and whatever else those flames could get their hands on. Looks like you've awakened the Lucifer Bloodline within you, but it seems….. Ah, I see. Looks like whatever you did has resulted in the bloodline being mutated, your bloodline was awakened and strengthened by the mutation process. Congratulations, you now have the power over Hellwind and Hellfire, with them together and at a decent mastery, you will eventually a force of nature.'

"...hehehehehe HAHAHAHAHAHAH!" After hearing what he did, Vali couldn't help but erupt into laughter, indeed feeling like he had become more powerful thanks to his bloodline awakening and mutating. Perhaps with this bloodline, combined with that strange power he had somehow gained back when he had fought against Judge, Vali could finally match up against that bitch, Magic. The next time they met….. Oh, Vali would make SURE to burn her soul to oblivion.

A while of laughing later, the teen slowly calmed himself down before returning to his neutral facial expression as he looked towards the pond. "This pond… it's powerful, but dangerous….if the ASIC discovered this, who knows what will happen. Call me paranoid, but if they did…. They could cause a lot of damage since this stuff has incredible healing abilities. Imagine what could happen if they get their hands on something which can keep their forces alive even on the edge of death." he mumbled under his breath, his eyes gazing at the pond with a heavy sense of paranoia.

'I agree, sometimes good things will become bad, no matter the intention. In that case, let's destroy the pond so that no one will ever know of this.'

Albion's advice resounded within his head, and Vali agreed. As much as he felt reluctant to destroy something which had saved his life, as well as a source of great beauty, he just couldn't risk what potential possibilities it could bring to the enemy. Thus, Vali went to get the jewel above it, taking it off for safe keeping. He could at least protect this thing with his current power level, heck perhaps he could fashion it into a gift for one of the girls or maybe, into something they all could have, who could say? Holding the object in his hand, Vali felt the power coursing through this stone for a moment, before he put it in his storage and took out his water patch, filling it with water from the pond, before he put it back to the inventory.

Prepping the necessary supplies was a good way to survive in foreign, hostile environments.

With that in mind, Vali held out his hand towards the pond, his eyes briefly glowing a faint silver as he tried to tap into his bloodline. Before, when he had tried he had felt something along the lines of two pools, both separated from one another by some kind of force yet still connected to one another. The best thing he could compare it to would be a mixed hot spring where men sat on one side and women sat on the other, a divider mixed between them. As such, Vali had decided to try to tap into the other 'pool' in him than the one he had used previously to conjure the Hellwind…

As a result, a small flame conjured itself into existence within his palm. The flame itself looked to be a silver color, but with a darker tint to it… though, this didn't remain the sight he saw for long as Vali clutched at the flame with his fingers… and promptly made a flamethrower attack which shot forth and destroyed the pond completely, leaving nothing remaining. Steam came out from where it had been, convincing Vali that he had destroyed the pond completely, before he then turned on his heels to walk to where Nepgear still lay. Fortunately, nothing had tried to take her away while he had been distracted, that would have been disastrous.

Kneeling beside her on one knee, Vali looked her prone form up and down, though if he didn't know any better he would say that she had been sleeping considering the position her body had found itself in. He noted the faint rising and falling of her chest, so he knew she was still alive, thank god. Still, that didn't excuse the fact that her clothes had various holes of different sizes across them,, mostly her stockings which had ovular holes over the backs of her knees, as well as her kneecaps and inner thighs. Her sailor outfit had a piece of it shredded off at the side like some makeshift pencil skirt slit, though fortunately it wasn't enough to expose her underwear. Furthermore, her dress had circular holes at her left and right hip, with one being formed beneath her left armpit. Thanks to these holes, Vali could see that she had various bruises and scratches, each differing in how deep they were, so the silver haired Hybrid held his right hand over her body and proceeded to heal her with his demonic energy, his MUTATED demonic energy.

Since she had a form that used such, and since her body seemed to be able to make its own variant of demonic power now, she shouldn't have any adverse effects from his power. Additionally, he needed to heal these wounds of hers so that she wouldn't attract as many monsters who would be drawn to the smell of her blood, if what he had seen from these last few had been any indication they would DEFINITELY be carnivorous, thus would have excellent senses of smell. Vali didn't believe he could take them on whilst protecting her for very long, so those injuries had to go.

For now however, he figured that until she woke up she would be helpless to defend herself and change this, thus would be an easy target down here, something which he couldn't allow to happen. As such he decided to grab her body with his arms, lift her up in a piggy back style, before grunting whilst he proceeded to head out into the rest of the dungeon. He would also use one of his MSs for light, so they could know where they were going even if it would potentially draw his enemies to him. However, Vali believed that these creatures would have had poor eyesight due to staying within the darkness of these caves for so long, so anything 'bright' like this would definitely not be too good for them.

As he walked he encountered many monsters that were tough, but nothing with his Hellfire and Hellwind can handle. He made some hellfire on the way in front of him to make sure no one could surprise. The hybrid had to admit that this Lucifer Bloodline proved its usefulness quite well, since on one hand the Hellfire burned away any foes who tried to ambush him, heck in one case it burned a Lizard that had been staring at him, and in another a Rabbit had been burned before it could reach Vali. As for the Hellwind, that power proved to rival his MSs in terms of sharpness, as the winds he could generate managed to cut through the hides of many monsters in pieces with great ease. Heck, one time he had managed to find some two tailed wolves and the winds carved them up like they were nothing.

The current way he was now, the hybrid felt like he had become indestructible, untouchable even… which turned out to make him even MORE cautious than before. He'd learned well that he couldn't be arrogant, especially since that fight against Magic had taught him that even with all that power, someone can even defeat you even with these godlike abilities. They could do so by being either stronger than you, or perhaps smarter in that they would be able to weaken you before striking you down themselves. That last one was considered a cowardly move, but it was effective and had been used countless times throughout history, so one couldn't deny its effectiveness as a battle tactic.

Currently, Vali approached a giant gate that was nearby. He looked at it for a bit, before deciding to see what lay inside. He didn't get too far however, as after only a few steps did he stop upon feeling a bunch of tremors through the ground. Looking around, his gaze landed on the side where he saw what looked to be two giant cyclops, and by giant he meant like beyond 10 meters tall. They each prepared to attack Vali, but before they could do so the male acted first. He threw his right hand forwards in a flicking motion, launching a crescent moon-shaped blade of wind which cut off the left Cyclops's head with one clean motion. Didn't even encounter any resistance to the blow, nor did the enemy know what hit them.

"I don't have time for this." Vali muttered under his breath, adjusting Nepgear's position on his back. Because of him carrying her, Vali couldn't fight in the same ways that he was used to, since they required the full use of his arms and that couldn't happen with her on his back. He REFUSED to drop her for any reason however, and so he had to stick to the simple movements that allowed him to use his Hellwind and Hellfire powers. But hey, this allowed him to experiment with them and see if he could develop his own series of techniques for the Lucifer Bloodline like his Mana Series.

Wanting to get this over with quickly however, Vali held out his hand and made a fireball that he soon launched, destroying the giant on the left side so it could accompany his comrade to the other side. The burning body, as it quickly got devoured by the dark silver flames, soon fell onto its rapidly disintegrating knees before slamming into the ground front first, soon vanishing to the point where not even ashes remained. That done, Vali proceeded to resume his trek forward (adjusting his grip on Nepgear again) to the gate and opened it.

Stepping inside, Vali soon saw how everything inside looked to be pitch black that no one could see, but with Vali's bloodline mutated he could see the dark. "This looks like one of the places in the church of the CPU….. hold on." For a moment, something caught his eye which prompted Vali to pause in his stride. There, in front of him the silver haired male saw a girl, a preteen girl at that, seemingly infused into some sort of large sphere. She looked to have calf-length rosy pink hair, partially done up into two pigtails by black hairpieces that resembled bat wings… reminding Vali of his Devil wings actually. The black headdress was connected by a black headband. He couldn't see much else about her due to her being infused into the cube.

Apparently, she had sensed him coming or had heard the doors to this room open up, because her eyes soon opened to reveal their sharp, slightly slanted red irises.

Upon seeing them, Vali IMMEDIATELY became cautious, for he knew the kind of eyes that this girl sported. They were the eyes of a predator, an animal who had been used to being on top of the food chain, thus his guard had instantly shot up. 'There is a person here, deep in this dungeon? Impossible, but the proof is there. I have to be careful, after seeing so many things in this dungeon it has got to be a trap.'

"…. A human….? I ask of you….. Let me out of here."

"...Nope."

"...Hear me out, I'll do anything-"

"Fuck no."

"What?! But why?"

If he could right now, he would lift a hand in a way a teacher would to their student whilst he addressed the stunned and slightly angry girl inside of the cube. "You are trapped here in this dungeon for a reason, there's no way I would believe that someone locked up here In this place. I can see that prison is keeping you here for a reason. Maybe the CPUs stopped you from unleashing hell on Gamindustri or something like that. Who in their right mind would listen to someone who is locked here deep in this pit."

Vali was about to leave the room before the girl spoke. "No, you're wrong! I'm not…...I was betrayed….."

From the moment that he heard that, Vali stopped himself from moving back through the door to continue onwards. For a moment, he frowned to himself as he felt conflicted, especially since he first thought she was faking it, however upon examining the tone she had used, the male found that she was speaking no lies. Therefore, he decided to indulge her as he turned back and approached her. "...hhhaaaa I'm gonna regret this, but why were you sealed in the first place?" he questioned her, raising an eyebrow.

For a moment, the girl looked relieved as she exhaled audibly, before she collected herself and looked back into his eyes. In that moment, Vali saw the strength and resolve in those eyes, the kind of resolve which didn't belong to someone being held captive. "... I'm a vampire, I was one of the strongest Vampires, mostly due to my Shinso bloodline. I ruled the vampire empire, the world of the night. Even so, I made sure to not even anger the CPU, which I suppose didn't sit well with many of my people….." For a moment, she took a second to catch her breath, much to her irritation judging from how her brow twitched, Vali noticed. Odds were, she must have been dehydrated like all hell, but she still continued her story regardless. "However, one of the vampires rebelled against me as I was overwhelmed by their sheer power. I fled to the dungeon, but one of them followed me and in my weakened state he sealed me here as he could not kill me."

Hearing this story, Vali frowned to himself as he pondered this information. Vampires… he wasn't too familiar with them outside of video games, and there had been tons of interpretations of them over the years. However, one of the constants had been a need for blood, and depending on how long she had been here (likely a long time), then he had to wonder how she had sustained herself. "Huh, can't kill you…."

The girl nodded her head at that. "My wounds can heal me….. Even when I'm beheaded."

"... another immortal, huh? Well you must have been in here for sometime, since vampires are extinct now."

"... what… extinct?"

"Yeah, let me see…" For a moment, Vali tried to rummage through his limited knowledge about the species, til his eyes widened in remembrance about a specific lesson he'd attended back in the Academy. "Ah, that's it! It was some time ago, a long one, but there was a time when Vampires went Rogue and slaughtered a whole village. As you could imagine, this had been something which made the CPU of the time, White Heart, angry as all fuck. In the end, she personally dealt with the Vampires, killing all of them. No one survived." he explained casually, since he had no attachment to this knowledge.

He would have figured that it would be different for her, but upon looking down slightly with a frown, he saw little else behind those crimson orbs of hers. "...I….see…please… I once again…. Implore you…." she tried to say, only to trail off and cough a little. Her eyes flashed with humiliation and indignation, but this soon vanished in the following seconds as she looked back at him.

… he was so going to regret this, wasn't he?

Vali stayed silent for a bit, weighing his options... before he put Nepgear down by the entrance before he went to the Vampire. Raising his right hand which began to glow silver, Vali put it on the Cube as the vampire looked on in surprise. Meanwhile, he began to converse with his Tenants. 'How should I help her?' he questioned, wanting some advice.

'Hmmmmm, the mana is being leached from her in a manner akin to her race, leaving only enough for her to regenerate long enough to survive. Why don't you overwhelm it with your Demonic Power? It's potency and destructive ability have indeed been enhanced by your mutation.'

That was true, as he had felt it's power whenever he'd used it for his Bloodline. Plus, Vali had thought of that himself but had wondered if there were alternative solutions to it. 'Let's give it a shot.' he told his partner, before looking back at the Vampire girl. "Alright, but don't blame me if what I'm going to do doesn't work."

The girl nodded her head, as Vali began forcefully transferring his power to the Prison. Not seconds later however, did his eyes widen in surprise when he discovered that it was resisting. Something which became apparent when he felt… some kind of repelling force try to launch him backwards, though he didn't let it. 'What the?! It's resisting?! Looks like I'll give it all I can!' he thought, quickly starting to apply more of his power with a snarl escaping his throat. "RRRRRAAAAHHHHHH TRY TO RESIST IF YOU CAN NOW!" As he screamed the vampire felt like she was going out before she was completely free. "Gggaahhhh!"

Vali went to the floor as he used half of his power to release the vampire. If his bloodline didn't mutate, it would have likely taken all of his power to do this.

Regardless, the girl had been freed, and judging by the look she had given him as he quickly provided her his jacket to cover herself for the time being, one could tell that she held a great deal of gratitude towards him for it. "...thank…..you…." she muttered, her voice still weak and hoarse from dehydration.

In response, Vali shook his head before he went back to Nepgear's unconscious form. "Don't mention it, I'm gonna need all the help I can get to get out of here anyways." he replied, and her eyes glimmered in understanding as he picked the unconscious CPU Candidate to put her back in the position she'd been in before. Part of him wondered if she would ever work up, but far be it for him to complain instead of getting shit done. He saw himself as someone who lived as a man of action more than words.

As she got up, having figured out how to close the jacket up and slid her arms into the jacket's sleeves, the girl pondered on this and understood Vali's point of view. From what she remembered, this place had up to 200 floors to it, with this one being just below the 100th floor. That meant that there would be a bunch more left to go, each of them being harder than the last with their own unique challenges. That meant that Vali's desire to have as much of an edge as possible was something she could understand and saw as necessary, even, to which she had to give him credit for that one. Many young Vampires with adventure on their minds had been too arrogant due to their traits, thinking themselves invincible, thus they had challenged this Dungeon and had paid the price with their lives. Thus, she felt relieved knowing that her saviour had more sense than they did. Though thinking about it, that should have been an easy assumption to have since he'd made it this far in. "I see… what's your name?" Still, since they were going to be travelling together, it was best if they knew each other a bit better, hence that starting question.

After he had set himself up to go, Vali glanced back at her as she walked on over to him. "... Vali fou Bartford. Yours?" he replied while questioning back.

"... its Krul….Krul Tepes."

Omake: If Vali was raised in SMITE(game) Poseidon Part one

"Uhhhh how did this appear again?"

"I don't know my lord, I was guarding in my post while I was walking around, then when I saw a big bundle I thought one of those creatures defiled the water garden but when I got a closer look, imagine my surprise it was a baby instead! Even I don't know how this child appeared in Atlantis."

Within a large, expansive Throne Room that looked to have been submerged under a huge ocean of seawater, a lone merman wearing armor equivalent to a knight's but with a more turquoise motif, told another man who sat on said throne as he held the child. The man himself looked to be quite broad shouldered and quite muscular, showing that he took his physical ability training very seriously. He had the kind of body that a lot of modern men would be green with envy towards, while wearing a pair of pants made seemingly from scales, as well as a matching loin cloth. His upper body remained bare to the world save for what looked like a cape of orts, as well as some forearm vambraces which had shark-like characteristics. He had a full beard too, with a glistening turquoise crown atop his head of matching colored hair.

Beside him, leaning on his Throne, looked to be a sea-colored three-pronged Trident which seemed to be pulsating with power, power which ached to be unleashed once again for the protection of the man's people. After all, he WAS meant to be a ruler of the seas and all who dwelled within it.

"Hmmm." The man pondered thoughtfully, as he held the sleeping child.

"What should we do my lord? This has never happened before in our history, I'm afraid that it could be a bad omen. Could this have been because of an intruder or something?"

The man on the throne shook his head at that one. "Nonsense soldier, how can a child pose a threat to us?" he questioned back.

At this, the merman lowered his head in understanding of this point, although some doubt and worry still persisted. "I see… but what about his energy I'm sure you felt it before lord poseidon? its large enough to rival a high-ranking magician even in the infant's current state, but it's still growing. If he reached adulthood, what would happen?" The merman questioned, looking at the child warily.

The man Poseidon thought for a bit before he made a decision. "I have decided, I will adopt this child."

Of course, this did NOT meet the Merman's expectations. "Huh?! You can't be serious, my lord! You just met this child, and yet you want to adopt him?!" he exclaimed.

Yet the God of the Seas tore his gaze from the baby and held the merman's gaze. "Yes, because if what you say is true then if he were to be raised by us, he can bring glory to atlantis and I can finally show Zeus who's son is more powerful as he flanks about his child hercules, and besides I think it's time for have a son since my wife and I tried so many times."

"I see… if it's your decision my lord, then I shall go with it. What shall you name the child my lord?"

"Hmmmm…. I shall name him…. Vali."

Timeskip couple years later

It seems Poseidon was correct after all, the prince of Atlantis Vali has brought glory to Atalntis. Over years since Poseidon adopted Vali his wife Amphitrite doted on the young prince as he loved her back as a mother. Of course how Vali could breathe underwater was simple, he was given a pearl that allows him to breathe underwater as long as he wished. Though, one thing had come to light thanks to Poseidon discovering something in Vali when he was taken in for a spar.

The boy was a battle maniac.

That of course combined with his immense powers he has so many veterans in Atlantis he was proud of him. He decided to teach the boy personally. His magic was almost on par with the great Wizard Merlin when he let out his mana. His spearman ship training was of course impressive that he can wield his trident with extreme proficiency. He is able to deliver multiple strikes in the blink of an eye. His skills and powers were impressive; he gained the title Zeus of the Ocean. Due to his mastery over the water. He defeated so many Gods that brought glory to the Atlantis that Poseidon couldn't be so proud of as he made the right decision.

Vali was called over to see his father as he appeared before him by the throne. The male looked to be in his 20's at this point, and already he had a body which women would try to pin him down in order to have their way with it. Shame that the male didn't let that happen in light of always training and fighting his many rivals. Vali wore a kind of cloth glued on his upper part, leaving his muscular torso and a part of his back exposed, he had jewelry in the muscles of his arms, he wore gloves made of skin without fingers, also black pants, as well as a kind of cape fell from his waist made of silk and with gold stitching, he wore white boots that reached to his knees with a pair of seashells protecting his knees, a decorated belt with marine things he was present at his waist. "You called father?"

Poseidon nodded, and if one looked they would be able to see the pride in his eyes as he addressed his adopted son. "Yes I have, you have brought glory to Atlantis and defeated many gods like Horus, Isis and Fenrir."

At this, Vali rolled his eyes with a derisive smirk on his lips. "Heh, they were weak, almost none of them pose a threat to me as if they didn't train in their life. It's a wonder why they are the strongest."

Poseidon laughed, knowing that Vali's favourite thing was a good challenge and if anyone didn't meet it, this would be what he'd think of them till proven otherwise. "Haha! True, but back to discussion I am sending you to find Ares, for I suspect he is plotting something." he explained, getting right to the point.

A point which drew Vali's interest as he asked him curiously. "That war maniac father, what can he do to pose a threat to us all?"

"Because son, Ares is finding out who killed Zeus."

Now THIS sent all of the silver haired male's thoughts to a screeching halt, whilst his eyes slightly widened. He did NOT expect that to come out of his mouth. "... did I hear that correct father? Zeus was killed?" he questioned in disbelief.

Something which prompted the sea god to explain. "Yes and no son, Zeus is Alive but badly wounded. He is currently healing by one of the secret temples of Hera's, however I still fear he will do something that will cause many innocents to die."

"I see….. I understand, I'll leave immediately father, I may be a battle, manic but at least I have limits on myself on killing, especially Mortals. Plus, we need them worshipping us."

"Indeed so son, good luck. You may discover that you'll need it at some point."

Omake end