Chapter 139: Mah Plan!
Chapter 139: Mah Plan!
Chapter 139: Mah Plan!
I had predicted that Velma's clumsiness would eventually lead to her losing her glasses, triggering her sadistic second personality. Most Exorcists after reaching a certain rank became weird, and some even psychopathic. Velma was a prime example of this, as her second personality was nothing short of sadistic.
But armed with my knowledge from the manga, I should have been able to handle her. I planned to create a situation where Carpy would report on one of the many demons in the area, and I would build a friendship with Velma through battle. It took hours to get every detail right, but when I saw Carpy panicking, I knew the plan had gone to shit.
I couldn't blame anyone for this. These things were random and couldn't be accounted for. But of course, I blamed Agon! My plans usually worked 90% of the time because I had future knowledge. But every time Agon was around, the only plan that worked was to act as shounen as possible!
"Ultimate Class?" I asked, but I didn't need the answer. Carpy wouldn't be scared of some high-class demon. He nodded, immediately capturing everyone's attention. Even Velma seemed focused and not her usual self, which was usually ripping out someone's lover's nails while they watched; something she had done before. At least she didn't kill people that often, unlike Delia... which was definitely a low bar.
"If it's another Ultimate Class demon, then it's probably one of Shuten Doji's four commanders," Uwabami suddenly announced.
I was surprised. Weren't there supposed to be three commanders? I glanced at Uwabami, and she looked away, trying to hide something. But she soon turned back to us and said, "Anyway, I gotta go. As one of the commanders, if I'm seen here, that will be bad. I still need something from Shuten Doji, so I can't betray him... yet."
Then she looked at Agon and waved goodbye. "Bye~"
After that, she blitzed away, showing that although her diminutive body may have sacrificed power, it had gained something else.
"She's fast," Chariot commented. It was a compliment coming from someone like her.
BOOOM!... An explosion rang out, rocking the whole castle. Not only that, but despite us being in the cellar, light rained down on us and we could see the sky. The whole damn castle had just blown up!
High in the sky stood a man with a long white beard, light green skin, four arms, and a scholar's robe. Ibaraki Doji, also known as the Demon of Rashomon. He was Shuten Doji's strategist, so not necessarily a fighter.
But he was still an Ultimate Class demon. Strategist or not, we were all about to be smashed into little bits.
"Hey, Chariot, what percentage of your full power can you use?" I asked her. Since this was going to develop into a battle anyway, I needed to gather all the information I could to help Perfect Me.
"Well, the nerdy bitch likes TV dramas, reading, and is obsessed with idols. She let herself go, I can barely use 60% of my strength, and that's being generous," Chariot complained and cursed under her breath.
I scratched my head, and tried to consider how I should handle this.
There were only a limited number of options... You know what, fuck it. With Agon around, I doubted that options even mattered anymore! Whatever plan I came up with would be fucked with in some unforeseeable way.
Fuck logic! I had to do some shounen shit!
Was I going crazy? I didn't know. Maybe? But none of that mattered when faced with an enemy. I had an opponent in front of me, so all I had to think about was how to kill that bastard! At this level of power, strategies or schemes dont matter, otherwise I would have become a politician instead of an exorcist.
Although even in this state, I knew one thing for sure. "Agon! Start charging up a punch."
"Okay!" He crouched down and put his left hand over his right, and the ground around him shook as a brilliant light gathered on his right fist.
"Sei, Chariot, and I will hold back! Others, you will be ranged support. Diamond guy, protect the rangers! Bets, if I fall, you're the next strategist!" I instructed them. Whether they would listen to me or not, I didn't know. But this was the best I could do. Then I looked at Chariot as the ground shook and the ultimate class demon floated down.
"Why are you looking at me?" She frowned.
"Can you lead the charge?" I asked. I knew I was asking too much of her, but what choice did we have?
Chariot let out a sigh. "I wake up for the first time in years, and the first thing I have to do is fight an Ultimate-class demon."
Despite her complaints, Chariot crouched down, waiting for the demon to touch the ground. As soon as it did, she charged towards it like a bullet, the floor beneath her feet cracking as she did so.
"Humans so far behind our front lines? That's bad," the old-man demon shook his head, wagging a finger at us as if scolding bad children. "Luckily, I was just flying around after some talks with Lord Shuten Doji. Otherwise, this would have been a blemish in my reputation."
As he spoke, I couldn't help but glance at Agon, who was charging up his attack. I knew it was illogical, but the chances of stumbling upon two Ultimate-class demons in less than a week weren't something that happened in my life. Usually, trouble wouldn't even come to me unless I went looking for it.
Chariot had reached the four-armed demon, brandishing a rapier sword with a silver handle. Her blade moved so fast that even with Perfect Me, I could barely see it. Her slashes were like a cocoon of silver that surrounded the demon.
The old man jumped back, but Chariot's strikes left small scratches all over his body. Although they healed quickly, he still wore a smile on his face. "Over eighty slashes in less than one second. That's some crazy speed, though you lack the power to make that dangerous. Your power is pitiful."
Chariot wasn't bothered by his taunts and continued attacking. However, the demon was not going to stand idly by. He raised his arm and gathered a ball of dark Ord in his hand, but before he could launch it, thin strings appeared out of nowhere and wrapped around him.
He tugged at them, causing the ground to shake and rocks to break before the strings snapped. The movement was enough to make the demon lose his footing and for Chariot to launch another attack. Although he had initially thought her attacks were weak, the demon's eyes widened as he instinctively brought up one of his arms to defend against her strike.
Just a hair's length away from making contact, Chariot's weapon changed from a rapier sword to a large cleaver. Her magic weapon had the ability to change shapes and weight, a simple but effective feature when combined with Chariot's special ability.
With a swift strike, Chariot's cleaver sliced through the demon's arm, sending it flying through the air. The demon stared at it in shock before backing away to avoid Chariot's next attack, which would have decapitated him.
"What?" The demon looked down at his missing hand in disbelief.
"Is that enough power for you?" Chariot smirked, twirling the cleaver until it transformed back into a rapier. "My special ability is called '100 Streak Bitch,' and each of my first 99 attacks causes minimal damage, barely 1% of the power I put into it. But the 100th attack has 100 times the power."
While her ability would have been weak in anyone else's hands, with Chariot's speed, she could activate it in less than two seconds. Velma's second personality had a warrior affinity, and when it came to raw power, that affinity excelled beyond any other.
That was why a warrior had the easiest time among humans to take the next step in the evolutionary pole and become someone capable of defeating an ultimate-class demon.
As the ultimate-class demon stared at his arm, which was slowly regenerating, I suppressed my presence completely and snuck up behind him. With one swift slash, my sword ran from his shoulder to his hip, but the wound was only skin-deep. I wasn't a creator who could imbue Ord on their weapons, and having a cursed weapon would have helped with this. But alas, I didn't have one.
"Huh, I couldn't sense you at all," said the demon. "That's quite impressive for someone your age."
In response, the demon attacked me with one of his four arms. I quickly dodged, but his attack was too fast. I slammed into the wall on the other side of the room, and a couple of ribs cracked. However, they healed almost immediately.
Though my lungs burned and I struggled to breathe, I stood up, determined to keep fighting.
"Talk about a try-hard," the demon sneered as he looked at his dislocated arm. "You knew this wouldn't hurt me in any way, but you still decided to be a jackass about it."
That wasn't my intention, but if an action increased my chances of winning by even a fraction of a percent, then Perfect Me would take it.
The four-armed demon popped his arm back into place, and his hand, which Chariot had cut off, also regenerated just in time for her to attack him again in a blitz of speed. While he was fighting her, he gathered a ball of Ord and threw it at Chariot. She backed off, and just before the attack hit, Sei appeared beside her to absorb the blast in one of his mirrors.
As Shuten Doji's strategist, the demon was quite smart and seemed to realize the limitations of Sei's mirrors. He used two of his arms to shoot two separate blasts, one at me and one at the long-range team. I dodged mine by moving my body like it was made out of rubber as Perfect Me dislocated all the bones in my body and I moved like a snake, but since I was close to the wall, the after-shock still harmed me a bit, propelling me forward. I used that momentum to slash at one of the demon's eyes, but the attack failed as he blocked the blade with his bare hand.
The other blast was blocked by the diamond guy standing in front of it, taking the brunt of the attack. Surprisingly, he came out uninjured. His defensive ability was quite good, though I never thought it could handle such an explosion. As I was thinking about that, Perfect Me seemed to have read the situation better and realized that the diamond guy had likely boosted his power somehow. None of that mattered as they were okay, and it was time to fight.
Chariot and Anika were the main attackers, while I snuck in an attack every now and then to keep the demon occupied. After the first few attacks had injured him, the demon took a more cautious approach, keeping his eye on Chariot and counting her attacks.
As they were exchanging blows, the demon suddenly lost another arm. Instead of being surprised, he narrowed his eyes. "You telling me about how your powers worked activated another part of your ability.
Chariot only smiled and didn't say anything. This guy was figuring out our abilities too fast! We had to finish him off before he figured out all of our powers!
I glanced at Agon and then at Sei. The latter nodded. We had a plan that would guarantee Agon's attack would land, but we had to play it carefully so the demon didn't figure out Sei's ability. We had to make him think Sei needed some kind of charge-up before activating his ability.
"AGON! DO IT NOW!" I yelled. He had charged his ability for some time now, and with his new increased Ord, the whole place started shaking. Agon let go and punched forward into empty air.