Chapter 346: Like a Storm God.
"My faith comes from the heart."
"...Oh?"
"If I take your heart away, will you still have faith?" Victor appeared in front of the man who came out of the breach in the sky, and his hand went through the man's body.
He pulled out the man's heart.
Bandup, Bandup.
Looking at the heart in his hand, Victor felt strange. The texture he felt was legitimate, but for some reason, he felt it was false.
The man's body fell from the sky, and the moment his body fell to the ground, he disappeared in a golden light.
"As long as I breathe, my faith in my god is unshakable."
Victor casually dodged the golden sword that was thrown towards him, and looked at the man.
"Tsk."
'He's weaker than Mizuki... But he's hiding his powers.' Victor assessed the situation.
Two golden wings appeared behind the man again, and with a thrust he flew towards Victor.
'I must kill him here.' When the two swords were about to hit Victor's body,
Victor assumed a martial arts stance in midair, and in less than one second, his body was covered by lightning, his fists were covered by ice, and a spiked gloves appeared.
Victor parried Leo's attack, redirecting it upwards, to create an opening.
He changed his martial art stance.
In the same instance, Victor generated a massive Greatsword made of ice, which spontaneously burst into both flames and yellow electricity.
Tensing the muscles in his arm, Victor swung his weapon in an attempt to slice the man in half, but before the Greatsword could hit the man's body, a golden shield appeared in front of him.
Clang!
The loud sound of two metals colliding echoed out around them.
FUSHHHHHHHHH.
Followed by a shockwave that rippled through the surroundings.
Suddenly, a clone appeared next to Victor as its body glowed.
Victor's perception of time sped up once more, causing the world around him to slow down again, and he turned to face the clone.
The Clone attacked Victor with both swords, but with minimal movements, Victor angled his body just enough that the clone missed his blow.
Not giving up, the clone attacked faster.
But all the blows were deflected from that awkward position.
Time returned to normal again.
AND...
FUSHHHHHHH
Several arc swings of golden power passed by Victor, but it never hit the man.
"Damn monster, just how fast you are!"
"...My wife is the fastest woman alive." Victor gripped onto the man's head, and started squeezing: "And I can't be left behind."
"Let go of me!" The clone's body exploded in golden power.
And Victor's hand disappeared from existence.
Victor raised an eyebrow when he saw his hand disappearing, and saw that his body was having trouble regenerating the damage.
'His power is greater.' Victor watched his hand return to normal at a much slower pace than he was used to:
'He's stronger… Much stronger… So… Can he be a worthy opponent?' Victor's smile grew wider.
Unbeknownst to Leo, he'd pressed a button that no one should press on Victor.
Taking advantage of Victor's apparent distraction, the clone quickly flew towards the original body, and saved it.
The clone quickly broke apart the ice a little, and golden energy left his hand and entered the hole he created.
And in less than a few seconds the man inside the ice came out in all his glory, and he was completely recovered.
"..." An uncomfortable silence fell around the girls, specifically speaking Nero, Jeanne and Anna.
"How old is he?" Anna asked in shock.
"21 years old-...Wait, He's 22 now." Ruby corrected herself.
"22 years old... And he fights like that..." Jeanne spoke as Anna's mouth dropped open in shock.
'Come to think of it, Ruby is older than me now…' Sasha thought to herself.
"Still not good enough." Scathach snorted.
"Wha-..." Jeanne couldn't believe what she heard.
"Just when will he be good enough, Mother?" Ruby asked curiously.
"When he defeats me." She flashed a small smile.
"...." Ruby's face quivered a little, and she thought in twisted amusement: 'And will that be the day I call my own mother my sister?'
"...If he keeps evolving like this, can he defeat her?" Sasha asked curiously.
"Scathach isn't exactly a weak woman, and she never stopped training, so it's hard to say." Alexios was the one who replied. He was also shocked by what he was seeing, although he didn't show it like the two women and child.
"Scathach, how much longer?" Victor's voice was heard by everyone.
Everyone looked towards Victor and saw him looking at his hand.
Scathach's smile grew a little when she heard Victor's question, and she replied:
"3 minutes."
"Very well." Victor landed on top of a building, and as he kept his stance low, his body began to glow gold.
Rumble, Rumble.
At some point the Odachi returned to his hand, and the Odachi began to glow a golden hue.
"???" The people around didn't understand their dialogue.
But that was normal for them, even though they weren't in each other's heads like Victor was with Sasha, Ruby and Violet, the two understood each other like the back of their hand.
Ophis looked at Victor, and Sasha and Alexios didn't try to stop it again, the vision of hell that was before was cleared by the red haired man.
"Ugh, taking care of a child is hard." Sasha sighed when she saw Ophis's gaze.
"You need to get used to it, when you have—." Jeanne was going to say something, but suddenly her mouth was held by Ruby.
"Don't talk about that right now, idiot! What if you give my mother the wrong idea? Think of my situation where I will be her child's sister/mother!" She whispered fiercely, she wasn't ready to have this vision yet, maybe a few thousand years from now.
Despite having toyed with it before in her head, she still wasn't ready for this news.
"…Eh?" Anna and Jeanne were speechless.
'So they have this relationship!' They weren't dreaming!
"Stop playing around, we need to get out of here."
"Huh? Why?"
"...You really are rusty." Scathach looked at Anna in disdain, where is the former demon general she fought?
"...." Anna felt uncomfortable when she felt Scathach's gaze.
"Anna, where are you now?"
"In the reverse world of Yōkai."
"And the reverse world needs...?"
"Energy to keep up..." Anna replied like a duckling, and then she opened her eyes in shock.
"That's correct, they're here, all the Major Gods of Japan. They're watching just as they keep this world reversed." Scathach spoke as she looked at the gap that was starting to close.
'...These idiots know that Clan Alioth is here, why are they trying so hard to trap us?' Scathach thought to herself as she spoke:
"Victor, who is thousands of years younger than you, felt the gaze of these beings, and he judged this situation better than you."
"What a great ex-Demon General you are."
"…Ugh, I'm rusty okay? And the bloodlust isn't helping."
"Excuses."
"..." A vein bulged on Anna's head.
"Regroup. Create a base of operations, and send the most vulnerable members to safety." Jeanne suddenly spoke to herself.
"That is correct. Fighting the Gods head-on is stupid." Scathach was already thinking of methods to face the Gods if necessary. It all depended on Victor, and his attitude towards this 'war'.
'Let me see how you handle this situation~.' Her smile grew.
"Huh, why?" Sasha asked.
And it was Anna who replied:
"The Gods are dirtier than the Demons when they fight."
"..." Sasha nodded indicating that she understood, and she startled a little when she heard the crack of lightning near her.
RUMBLE, RUMBLE!
They quickly looked at Victor, and saw the man crouching like an animal, his body was surrounded by a very strong golden lightning, and his Odachi was in his mouth, sheathless.
RUMBLE!
A giant lightning bolt fell on top of Victor, and soon the lightning from his body began to change. Two golden bat wings, a large sharp tail, and animal claws, precisely speaking, parts of demonic beasts, began to appear.
"...Is that a Demon Beast?" Sasha found his current appearance very similar to the demon beast he'd fought in her turf.
And feeling the power emanating from Victor's body, she opened her eyes in shock: 'Did he change the Vampire Count's transformation? How is that possible? Isn't the Vampire Count transformation just Vampires reverting to their original state? How can he change that so easily?' Sasha was full of doubts now.
Victor's head took the form of a lightning beast, his power wrapped around his face like a helmet. His ears became sharper, his lips disappeared, and his teeth were the only thing visible.
"What the fuck is this?" Leonardo just didn't know how to react to this.
'He entered the form of a Vampire Count, but why is it so strange?'
"...This is new..." Scathach showed a confused face, she had never seen it before in her entire life.
'Is he using the memories of the demon beast he absorbed with that Tree to do this? And at the same time he changed the Vampire Count's power? Huh?'
Suddenly the lightning stopped crackling, and a dangerous sensation emanated from Victor's body as he stared at Leonardo.
"Give me your head!" His voice came out like the demonic roar, and in the blink of an eye he disappeared.
"Shit-..." Leo quickly created a shield in front of him. The shield did protect him, but he was still blasted away from the force.
'...How many times did he attack in that split second!? I couldn't see it!' He saw that his clone had long disappeared and decided to focus his power on defense.
BOOOM, BOOOM, BOOOM.
Several hits were landing on his shield, and his shield was breaking at a very fast rate. The attacks were primitive, as Victor was only using his lightning claws, and making several cuts on his shield.
Crack, Crack.
Realizing that his shield wasn't going to hold any longer.
"Fuck!" He roared in rage, and his power exploded, sending Victor flying backwards.
Taking advantage of this moment, Leo jumped towards Victor and attacked him.
The world slowed down, and at the moment when Leo's golden blade would reach Victor, the man literally straightens his position in the air, and defended himself with the Odachi blade that was once in his hand.
Clang!
The sound of two blades struck was heard.
'Fast!' From Leo's perspective, Victor, at insane speeds, corrected his position and defended. If it hadn't happened in front of him, he wouldn't even have believed it!
Victor brandished his blade, aiming to strike.
In a desperate struggle, Leo quickly formed a golden shield around himself.
As the blade approached the shield, the familiar impacting tone didn't appear. Instead, Victors blade passed through Leo's shield like a hot knife through soft butter.
'Fuck-.' Leo, realizing he wouldn't be able to dodge it, made a decision, putting his hand in front of the attack, and...
Slash!
Sacrificing his arm!
RUMBLE!
His severed arm exploded with the power of lightning and sent Leo flying away.
'UGH!' Adjusting his position in the air, Leo looked around confused but couldn't see Victor.
'Where is he!?'
Having the opportunity to breathe, he wasted no time and healed his wound. He looked at his arm, and soon a new arm was created on the spot.
"He's too fast, I can't see shit!" Anna complained, irritated and at the same time surprised.
'Honestly, you can't measure this man by normal standards. In addition to being a Progenitor, he has the power of the three strongest Count Houses, he is very unusual.'
'I see... That way, he sacrificed all his strength, and put it in speed and in power? But does he still have strength?' Scathach thought as she looked up above the clouds, she was trying to understand what she was seeing but still had no ideam, however….
"... Wha -...HAHAHAHAHA!" Scathach began to laugh crazily.
'As expected, it's always fun to be around him!'
"???" Following Scathach's gaze, people looked up, and their eyes widened in shock.
"Father is cool!" Ophis's eyes gleamed.
RUMBLE, RUMBLE.
"Priest." Victor's voice resounded in the sky.
Leonardo looked around for Victor.
"Pray to your god."
"Huh?" He looked around confused.
Rumble, Rumble, RUMBLE!
"You're going to need his mercy."
All the clouds started to glow golden, they were completely charged with lightning.
Leo looked at the sky, noticing the strange change.
And as if Victor were a God of Storms, all the clouds gathered in one place, and soon a massive giant blade of lightning was created.
"What the fuck..."
"He's got to be kidding!" Sasha spoke while squeezing Ophis a little.
"Ugh-…"
"Oh, sorry."
"He's just being Victor." Ruby and Scathach flashed a small smile.
"Don't look away." Victor tightened his grip on his Odachi's handle.
"Don't think about breathing." He positioned himself in the air.
gulp.
Leo swallowed hard, and positioned himself in the air. His power began to increase, and soon golden armor wrapped around his entire body, and his golden wings grew even bigger.
"Don't think about blinking."
He tightly gripped the two golden swords and focuses all his power on the swords.
"Because the moment you blink..."
Rumble, Rumble.
The lightning around him began to glow brighter, the clouds around the massive blade began to compress to the normal size of Victor's Odachi.
"You will die."
Leo didn't hear Victor, he blinked, and before he could see, feel, or realize, Victor was in front of him.
RUMBLE!
"AHHHHHHHH!" With a war cry, he pushed his body beyond limits and reacted, swinging both swords towards Victor.
The moment the blade was covered by clouds of lightning from Victor, and Leo's golden blade clashed.
An explosion of unbelieveable proportions blasted out.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
....
