Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster’s Power - Chapter 1014
All of the Dense Black Demonic Essence that broke out from his Royal Demon’s Core fills this Demon’s entire true body. His Divine Core tethers it all together, and it seems like both of these vital cores are on the verge of dispersing, but are held together by pure willpower alone.
The force of gravity at the center of his being is so unfathomably strong that the contents of his cores are taking a new shape and escaping death.
Every time he moves, I see more strange reflections of his demon core and horns as loot drops, but in others he is still a fully functional and deadly demon over level 3 million.
I’m witnessing the system glitch and show incorrect data before my eyes. This time, it is not the fault of my own lack of perception, but of the construct we’re standing in being unable to make sense of what’s inside it.
“Do you think I’ve only sat around and waited for this day to come? No. I’ve been preparing to conquer the system myself. The Overseer has his plan, and I have mine. They both include you never making it out of the membrane!”
Orange Aura spreads onto his dark demonic form, but there are tendrils of dark essence that seep outward too, flooding into the cores of his daggers.
The chipped chaotic blades start to fill with a pressure laced with glitching system commands, and an evil dark pressure. The desire pouring out of this darkness is very potent and clear. It wishes for the galaxy to be rid of life, and its existence to be the only remaining power.
The beautiful aura that once made these knives feel as though they controlled fate becomes less and less bright. The dampening effects of the all-consuming demonic darkness start to saturate the opal-like glyphs that remain in the blade.
It turns them into purple weapons, and the missing chunks start to grow back and fill the absence of space with physical shadows.
He swings them across his body, and instantly, dark purple crescents of energy begin flying throughout the domain.
They have trails of orange chaotic aura rippling off them, but the core of these attacks is made from pure demonic essence.
I raise my sword to block, and many layers of circular crimson defensive arrays form out of millions of miniature blades to try and stop or slow these attacks before they even get close.
It works, devouring large amounts of the demonic essence on impact, but there are strands that glitch their way through.
In the moments where this essence is not connected to the system, it rides the waves of chaotic aura and phases right through my arrays.
I can dodge their trajectory and make sure none of this strange matter touches my vitals, but it’s impossible to avoid all of it.
It’s like purple acid spatters all over my Origin Body, and tries to seep into my soul to erode it and disconnect with the system just like him.
I try to activate skills in order to gain an edge, but everything inherently combat-related becomes obsolete, as the activation times are far too slow. Any physical movements and manipulation of pure advanced Primordial Aura are far more powerful.
I can only rely on passive skills, or large-scale arrays that can mimic skills by using millions of glyphs at a time.
The only way to block the brunt of these high-speed and high-density demonic attacks is with enormous brute force defensive arrays myself.
The imagery of giant ice mirrors shattering and blocking demonic crescents on the other side of the dome is clear to see. Maria is pushed back on the defensive just like me.
“You know it’s all an illusion, don’t you? You have been taught that Demonic Energy is a force that must be defeated, haven’t you? That Dragon must have fed the two of you with so many lies to make it this far. Where do you think mana came from? Where do you think all of the dense, built-up ether in this galaxy came from? Do you think it was all just placed here by chance? Do you think the system is just a natural occurrence, that all life can just gather energy and become gods?” Marcellus yells question after question at us.
Every time he does, he brings up points of logic that, even with all of the understandings from over 120 billion worlds, I still do not truly know.
My arms, legs, chest, and even face become covered in purple spots as the acid rain continues to fall.
Hundreds of blocks of these long-range demonic crescents build up, and the feeling of static begins to form all over the outside of my body. Just from the function of my corruption’s devouring properties, and the inherent nature of my absorption skill that is at the base of all my abilities, I can tell something is shifting. Every bit of this Demon’s Chaos and Demonic Essence that I assimilate, its power becomes mine.
Marcellus Imperial is losing Demonic Essence, and has to constantly resummon his Advanced Chaotic Aura.
However, the will of Demons that resides in my corruption and corresponding black glyphs begins to bend.
Some of the glitching essence that registers as the body of a fallen demon pours into my own core like any one of my past kills.
Even his Primordial Aura, his High Royal Vibrations, the thick strands of purple divine threads, fragments of them all start pouring into me.
The bright white blinking light around the dome we’re fighting in starts to become so fast and violent that it almost seems like a constant stream of light. For those outside it without my level of perception, it probably does look like nothing more than a blinding white glow.
This same flashing emerges from the Demon’s chest. The one remaining core’s brightness cannot be held back, and through the deep purple, a white orb can vaguely be sensed.
I still do not understand how Marcellus is possibly still alive, but I do know he’s living to protect that artifact, so my eyes do not leave it.
Any time I have any momentum left over after dodging or blocking, I send fiery waves of Advanced Primordial Aura right back into the chaos, aiming for his chest. Maria does the same, but he does not even try to dodge anymore.
When our long-range attacks hit, they only light up in red and blue slashes on his liquid demonic essence body. It destroys massive amounts of his energy, but he does not care at all. Not reacting, and sending long-range attacks back to keep us occupied, is more efficient.
Frustration starts to build up, as there are no clear paths to success in front of me.
It even seems as though my enemy cannot even die…
Trillions of ongoing background primordial-grade foresight scans are testing every possible scenario, from both my point of view and Maria’s, but every one of them comes back with the best option being to stay back and fight at a safe range.
Marcellus is more than happy to sacrifice himself and destroy his whole body the instant we get too close.
I grit my teeth, and my crimson blade grows hotter with its own rage as bloodlust boils deep within its core. After a long nap, it’s hardly even stretched awake, and it cannot properly reap the rewards of a true fight.
The tension of the aura in my hands grows, and the strange, uneasy pressure of assimilating my enemies’ will and chaotic nature while fighting him increases as well.
All of a sudden, there is an internal breaking point.
I’m hit by a large crescent of dark aura. It is no different than many of the other attacks I’ve had to block, but over ten percent of the entire attack glitches through all of my defenses in a giant chaotic chunk.
Most of the time large pieces like this will break apart and be stopped by different layers of my arrays, but this one stays solid all the way through. It’s an outcome my foresight skill never predicted.
It doesn’t stop glitching until it slams into my side and bursts into a chaotic and demonic assault.
I’m sent flying backward, and an extreme surge of pain flows through my entire system as parts of it erode through my Origin Body and touch my soul.
Yet, in the same moment, the same essence starts pouring memories of Marcellus Imperial’s life in the Lower Realm into my mind.
