Well, today was definitely not Christmas for the Owl-headed Devil.
What the Specters did to him? If you ask me, that was borderline harassment. Without the borderline.
And Tamayo? Well, she wasn't making things any easier for him either.
But hey—I was the one who started it all. So blame me.
*
"Good day, Strong Ones. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
The devil had tried to greet me, all polite and civil.
But you see—getting flung around by Sarvest and pounded by Levina had turned me into a bit of a jerk seeking stress relief.
And right now?
I was in the mood to bully a devil.
So, before he could get too comfortable on his high horse, I shot a black streak of liquid at him—striking with impossible speed and sending him flying several feet away.
I was hoping to deal some serious damage.
But—
As expected of a tenacious cockroach, he couldn't die easily.
He stood back up.
Not a single drop of blood on his face.
Which… was, uhm, insulting. Considering how badass I was trying to be.
That black liquid? It wasn't just some ordinary attack.
It could pierce through steel effortlessly.
Yet here he was—standing unscathed.
That was my borrowed ability from Levina—something I got through [Receive].
It was called Black & White Water.
A truly wicked and ominous power.
Or rather, a difficult and complex technique.
It fused darkness and water into something deadly.
Platform handled the hard part—the actual fusion.
I just controlled the result, as if using a regular water attribute.
There was also White Water.
Even more complex than the black variant.
But I couldn't use it.
It wasn't a Supreme Gift, but I wasn't at the level where I could "receive" it yet. It was also tricky for Levi to use sometimes too.
According to her, Black Water contained:
Millions of poisons.
7,000 predominantly deadly diseases and curses.
3,500 of them incurable—by medicine or alchemy involvement.
And yet—
All I managed to do was crack his defense.
He wasn't even foaming at the mouth for my enjoyment.
...But do Devils even get sick?
The Owl-head finally realized I wasn't here to chat about how hot the weather was, or to exchange pleasantries.
Good.
It took him long enough.
Then he readied himself for battle.
With me?
Does he not realize who stands before him?
Or perhaps my masculine/feminine form is throwing him off?
Haha! What a flea!
He has absolutely no idea how deep in trouble he is, does he?
But hey—I respect his courage.
It's better to die trying than to just die like that.
I escaped Pluto and Sarvest with that very idea.
But the question is—would this Devil survive me? I wonder.
I had already applied severe magical pressure to the area.
It'd be a miracle if he could even use those wings.
For now—
(Get the reptile.)
I sent the command telepathically to the Specters—excluding Trigger, Hachiman, Shizuka, and Tamayo.
With the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse—Actually, it's the Four Phantom Fang Commanders—leading the charge, the Specters swarmed the beast like a wave of piranhas.
But that monster?
It was just a step below Trigger, their leader.
Let's see if they can manage on their own.
The Owl-head just stood there.
Watching.
Helpless.
His precious mount was getting mounted aggressively by my gang of trustees.
But he didn't move a muscle.
I dared him to.
And as if on cue—the reptile grew larger.
Scarier.
Stronger.
Sweet!
More food for everyone.
Please keep growing, reptile! I'm cheering you on!
But enough of that—
Let's get to the real experiment.
Mr. Owl-head here was going to be my test monkey.
I needed to know—
How far could I push my Black Lightning attribute?
How flexible was it?
How much of it would it take to fry a devil—I mean—an opponent?
Well—
I have a guinea pig right here.
So let's light it up.
*
I willed the black lightning into existence, hurling it toward the devil.
The fool actually tried to block it.
With a fancy, well-made barrier, no less.
Probably thought black lightning was just some fusion of holy and darkness magic.
Cute.
It ignored his futile defense and struck him.
Hard. Merciless.
This was the same thing that (didn't really) help me against Sarvest.
At the very least, it softened him up.
I kept up the frying session for about a minute or so—
Before the devil redirected the attack to the ground.
Smart move!
Still—
His feathers were standing on edge, smoke swirling off him like he'd stayed too long in a hot spring.
Yet—
He was alive.
Well.
Durable.
Which meant—
I could test other things without worrying too much about it breaking.
Abilities I had obtained but never used.
Abilities I had dismissed.
Abilities Platform had generated just to kill time when I was in captivity.
Abilities Platform had merged and stolen from my summons.
I tested them all on our test monkey friend.
And—
He was more than happy to oblige.
Look at him!
Happily hopping from pillar to post—like a good dog.
His regeneration even rivaled—or maybe surpassed—mine.
"Even that nightmare I fought in the Wasteland took… well, some damage from the black lightning. This one should've been a pile of ash by now."
If devils didn't stink up the place so much,
I might've kept him as a pet.
I'd test all my new abilities on him.
I bet he'd like that.
He stayed several paces away, maintaining his distance.
Because devils always use magic as their main form of attack and combat, so we both knew—
If he got too close—
He was finished.
As I fed him one attack after another,
Alicia and Levina watched in awe.
'Guys, guys, it's not that cool. Stop looking so enthralled.'
{They could possibly be relishing the suffering of the devil instead.}
Oh.
Yeah.
That made sense.
Not because I was cool and awesome.
Got it