Chapter 297 - Destructive Collision
"He\'s on the verge of awakening multiple Sins. However, I hope that doesn\'t happen," Fuhrer muttered after watching the second battle between Apollo and Valac take place. This time around, Apollo was holding his ground much better. And, it seemed as if the power he currently displayed wasn\'t the end of it.
"Don\'t worry. It isn\'t his time. This much I can tell. When awakens to his Sins, the worlds themselves will shake. It will be the rebirth of the Monarch. How can it lack presence?" Furcas answered while stepping next to Fuhrer.
Fuhrer nodded. After all, he was aware of the implications of Apollo\'s true awakening. Once that happened, everything that was veiled will reveal itself, even the terrible things that they continually tried to evade.
Meanwhile, Valac exhaled when Apollo roared. There was no longer any contempt in Valac\'s opinion. He could feel it, two of the Sins rolling off of Apollo\'s body made him a worth adversary, \'What pure Ira and Gula, we\'ll have to take this a step further.
As Valac grasped his spear, it blossomed with two extra blades under the spearhead, "I will now show you why I am called Valac the Terrible," Valac uttered. An instant later, he too, released a ridiculous amount of Sin Power.
When Fuhrer witnessed this he merely shook his head, \'This will be one destructive clash.\' He then glanced around at the people Valac called his underlings, "This isn\'t a fight for you all to experience. If you value your lives, I suggest you vacate the premises. As you can see, their Sin volume and purity is something that will desecrate you all."
Naturally, some of the Demons didn\'t feel this to be true. They were all proud of their current strength and chose to maintain their current position. Since it was their decision, Fuhrer didn\'t offer any further suggestions.
"Very well, it is your own decision. I will neither protect you nor attempt to help you in the future," Fuhrer stated with an indifferent attitude. He stabbed his sword into the ground and created a barrier around him, Furcas, and the others before returning all of his attention towards the scuffle.
Meanwhile, in addition to the ridiculous Superbia Valac possessed, a wicked intent mixed into his weapon. He gazed upon Apollo with a vicious expression before making his move, "Let\'s go!"
After he bellowed, Apollo moved as well. Since his body was augmented, the Infernal Arms of Damnation looked like two claws of death. In fact, when he slashed towards Valac, his claws ripped open space.
Nevertheless, Valac remained unfazed as his weapon shined with dark grey and golden light. The spatial fracture was destroyed which allowed the claw and weapon to meet. When they did, not only did the ground get blown to smithereens, several demons spectating were damaged by the collisions aftershock.
"Good, good, good! Excellent! You have strength, now tell me; who are you?" Valac exclaimed as the excitement from the battle coursed through his bones."
"I am your Master," Apollo replied in a confident tone. His entire demeanor changed as he felt overcome by power. In the face of Valac, he didn\'t feel the slightest bit of fear. Hence, his words dripped with arrogance.
"Hoh? My master, you say? My master has been missing for many years. And you, you lack the qualifications," Valac responded before thrusting his spear forward. Six sharp beams enclosed on Apollo\'s position at rapid speed.
Due to their speed, Apollo blocked by crossing his arms. Contrary to what he expected, the beams didn\'t cause too much damage. In fact, except for small nicks, there weren\'t many other signs of damage.
\'Strong defense...wait, no. That isn\'t what happened,\' Valac inwardly thought while watching Apollo. As Apollo dropped his arms, he licked his lips as if he had just tasted a delicacy.
"Mm~ Your power is quite appetizing. It tastes...familiar," Apollo commented. On the other hand, Valac scoffed. If it was one thing he hated, it was going against those gluttonous demons.
"Tch...you swallowed a portion of my Sin. To make matters worse, you can use a trace of it, so you can contain even more," Valac grumbled. A typical demon of Gula could only devour the base energy. However, a demon who also possesses the Sin it was devouring could swallow even more.
In other words, a demon of Gula was anyone\'s worse nightmare and if it possessed more than one Sin, it would become very tricky to deal with.
No further words came from Apollo\'s mouth as he moved towards Valac and launched a flurry of strikes at him. As Fuhrer mentioned earlier, the battle became extremely destructive. Not a single inch of space was spared from destruction. In terms of appearance, their bodies looked much better than their surroundings. However, things became even worse.
Apollo raised his hand and slashed it downward while exhausting a large amount of Sin Energy. An empowered Devouring Nebula Strike appeared right next to Valac\'s ribcage. Due to its properties, it blew a hole in his side.
However, with the heightened abilities of his second transformation, he healed rapidly. Apollo was sure this would become an annoyance. After all, the vitality of someone at his level should be exuberant.
Inversely, the consumption of the Devouring Nebula Strike was large. And, his current supply of Gula was limited. Once it was exhausted, there was no replenishing. Unlike the rest, this wasn\'t his rightful power. It came from Ouroboros. Not to mention, they weren\'t in the proper ring, nor did the Fragment of Sin have a source to latch onto.
"Tch. You\'re such an annoyance," Valac bellowed before stabbing forward numerous times, "Piercing Prides!" Many dark lights passed through Apollo\'s body that made Apollo\'s eyes widen. The speed of the strikes was astounding! However, something was amiss.
There were no signs of his body being pierced. As he touched his chest, Apollo felt sluggish for a moment, \'This isn\'t a physical attack… it must be tampering with my senses.\' Apollo surmised.
He swayed to the side before stimulating every bit of energy within him. In his eyes, the fight had dragged on for long enough and when it came to endurance, he knew it was his shortcoming. As a result, he wouldn\'t let become a war of attrition.
Of course, Valac noticed his intentions but he also wanted this to end as soon as possible. However, different from Apollo, he didn\'t channel all of his energy. He grinned as his wings ignited in an icy blue flame.
Waves of infernal energy billowed towards Apollo but he didn\'t mind it. He was pondering whether or not he should take the additional risk. Right before he decided to do so, Ouroboros\' voice resounded in his head.
"Master, wait. Don\'t forget. You can also use Chaos. Our enemy isn\'t a being who can withstand Chaos. I suggest you use it to fight as well. I will open my reserves to you. But uh...I don\'t know how you should use it exactly," Ouroboros revealed.
Upon receiving this information, Apollo recalled the aftereffects of Chaos, \'When I first came in contact with it, it made everything unpredictable. It also made things hard to differentiate. Maybe if I unleash the Mantle and reinforce it with Chaos, it\'ll produce the desired effect,\' Apollo thought.
The more he deliberated this thought process, the more reasonable it sounded. Thus, when Ouroboros gave him access to it, Apollo immediately got to work. He released the thick mist of the Umbra Phantom Mantle but it soon took on an obscure tint.
Oftentimes it would be black, while other times it would be white, silver, and even translucent. As Valac witnessed this, he noticed the inconsistencies didn\'t follow a pattern. To an untrained eye, this would seem like an amateur mistake, but to him, he had seen this once before.
\'Weaponized Chaos...this demon has bigger balls than I do. To play with Chaos is akin to playing with a cataclysmic weapon!\' Left with no other choice, Valac made a premature move. Three copies of his spear created from icy blue flames followed behind him as he moved at a speed akin to teleporting.
It went without saying, he wanted to end it before Apollo could finish preparing what he would unleash. But, little did he know, Chaos was even more unpredictable than he presumed!
As all four of his weapons stabbed forward, they phased through Apollo\'s body. None of the figures he struck was the actual Apollo!
"WHAT?!" Valac eyes widened as he realized the unfavorable position he put himself in.