God Eater: Fates Entwined

18 - No Restraints

Of all places, it just had to be this one. Though, it shouldn't be a surprise, right? It all started here after all, this mess—"Aegis," the dark-skinned man muttered under his breath, the setting of choice obviously not to his liking. This place doesn't have too many good memories, especially for him. He held Evil One in his hands, on the ready and charged with devastating amounts of energy. Unlike the time he was told to do this, he did not hesitate now, filling it to its utmost limit, almost to the point that it's putting strain on the ivory blade.

"I'm... I'm ready to atone for what I did to your Goddess." The pale girl's head hung low, her voice so small. The Oracle Reaction she continued to emit had only gotten stronger; enough to stop even experienced God Eaters from advancing anywhere near the source. "Just end this fast. The Demon is going to break free any moment."

Soma wasn't fazed. His sharp blue eyes remained fixated on the girl, not being swayed by her words. And he shouldn't be. He's been killing monsters since he was twelve; this one here is not any different. Just another monster on his list. "What stopped you from doing this anywhere else?" He then asked, every now and then adjusting his grip on the Buster Blade. "You were quite silent on the way here."

"This is the most ideal place," she answered. "The awakening of the Nova made by Johannes von Schicksal, my attempt at starting a second Devouring Apocalypse... Events that large of scale, it greatly syphoned this area of Oracle Cells." Both their gazes wandered to the remaining signs of those events, damages too big for them to even be fixed at this point. Aegis is a shadow of its former self, or rather, of what it was supposed to be. "Even if you fail in this attempt, the levels of Oracle Cell concentration here is too high for it to emerge in full strength. That would still give you high enough chances to obliterate... us."

The weapon shifted slightly in position as Soma adjusted his stance once more—"Is that so..." A sigh followed. "I'm not going to tell you that I will not enjoy this." His sharp stare narrowed down to fierce glares, though he spoke in monotone. Without any sort of warning, he swung the massive blade down. The released power had enough force to rattle Aegis' entire dome structure. It left a deep fissure on the floor, spanning a couple of meters long, and Demi was thrown away by the force of the attack, crashing against the nearest wall. But, even with that amount of destructive power—one that would have toppled down even an Ouroboros—she only took a few scratches, much to Soma's surprise.

"N-Not enough," Demi coughed as she rose back to her feet, spitting out a small amount of blood. The wounds had started to heal, her clothes scorched and charred and torn. "You can't kill me—or it—with only that!"

"Easier said than done," the man grumbled in return. If he's going to push his Arc far beyond its limits once more, it might really break containing massive amounts of concentrated energy. And yet he still needs more.

Demi returned to her spot, limping slightly, but otherwise, she's fine. This is like fighting the Arda Nova once again—even the strongest of attacks barely even leaves a scratch. "Don't just pump out more energy, that's not what you're looking for," she said. "You can't win quality over quantity, not this way. This is simply digging your own grave."

"Could have told him that the first place, you know." C's snickering echoed in Aegis as the speakers came online. "Seriously, your method is just as flawed as mine." Soma would have made a witty remark, but he was too busy catching his breath from overexerting himself beyond his limits. "I don't have any obligation to help you though. But come on," the Devil laughed, "is this the only thing you can do, Pride? You're a brute and nothing more. Even love-struck little Lotus boy knows better than you."

The growl building in the male's throat was interrupted by the girl before him. "What she's trying to say is to focus that massive amount of power into something more condensed. With your God Arc, you should be capable of it."