"This is all I saw, or rather heard as I waited at death's door before you came to save me, Alan," Armis said, disappointment and sadness evident in his tone.
Almost reaching the gate of the 40th floor, Alan helped Armis sit down, giving him support against the wall nearby. Hearing the horrific recollection of events from Armis, Alan's blue eyes were completely bloodshot, boiling with fury. He struggled to contain his rage. Relecta's face mirrored his anger as she gritted her teeth, clenched her fists, and yelled out her frustration, "Boss!!!! He's just beyond this gate, let's KILL THAT BASTARD!!! And save our friends!!!"
Alan gave Relecta a stern gaze, acknowledging her sentiment, but before he could respond, Father Zeneth interrupted. His expression, a stark contrast to Alan and Relecta's, was filled with horror and fright. His voice trembled as he retorted, "No!!!! Are you insane? Have you not heard what Armis just told us?! The creature inside is not Augustus anymore; it is not human!!! What awaits us inside is death incarnate, the devil!!! And you want to rush in?!!! Forgive me, young lady, but what you suggest is utterly childish!!!"
Relecta was taken aback and shocked by Father Zeneth's retort. She began to argue back, but Alan placed a hand on her shoulder, halting her. He looked at her with his usual stern demeanor, masking the rage boiling within him, and said, "Father Zeneth is right; we can't rush in like that."
A smile began forming on Father Zeneth's face, thinking Alan was siding with him. However, it quickly vanished as Alan retrieved five dried leaves from his cummerbund. Turning towards Father Zeneth, Alan handed him some leaves and instructed, "Here, keep these safe."
Alan turned back toward the gate, explaining his plan. "What I just gave you are special leaves that boost your physical and mental capabilities manyfold, almost to a higher plane. The drawback is that they only work for twenty minutes. That's all the time Relecta and I will have to defeat Augustus and save our friends." He handed some leaves to Relecta and continued, "If we don't return in that time, Father Zeneth..." Alan turned to Father Zeneth, his eyes serious. "I want you to use these leaves and escape with Armis from Relica Castl—"
"NO!!!!"
Before Alan could finish, Armis sprang to his feet in anger. "No, Alan! I won't let you go in alone. I'm coming too. I want to kill that monster! I will eat him ali—"
Alan halted Armis's anger with a calming grasp on his shoulders, gently nudging him to sit back down. Looking into his blind eyes with an attempted hopeful gaze, Alan said, "Armis, I understand your rage. Believe me, I want to do the same to him. But please, don't take this in the wrong way, when I say this. You will slow us down. I can't attack him and protect you at the same time. With you, we will have even less of a chance to save our friends. So please, let me do this. Wait here for us."
Armis calmed down upon hearing Alan's words. A mild chuckle escaped his lips, acknowledging the truth in Alan's statement, though a pang of pain lingered in his heart. "Y... you are right... but damn, buddy, you could have put it lightly, no need to rub salt in my eyes..." he said, trying to lighten the mood.
Alan chuckled in response, but the gravity of the situation quickly returned. Sensing Armis's shifting tone, Alan opened his arms to welcome the attempted embrace.
As Armis leaned in, he revealed his true intentions, muttering gravely in Alan's ear, "Then promise me one thing, Alan. You will tear that bastard limb from limb. Make him feel every ounce of pain he inflicted on us, but double. Promise me you'll finish him off by stomping through his chest and crushing his heart under your feet. Promise me, Alan. Because if I find you in hell with me, I swear, I will kill you again with my own hands."
Terrified yet understanding his friend's raging emotions, Alan stepped back from Armis, trying to maintain his composure. With a playful tone, he replied, "Sure, buddy, I promise."
Turning towards Relecta, Alan took a deep breath and held her hand, gazing into her now surprised eyes. In a somber yet uplifting tone, he said, "So, my love... are you ready?" A tear welled up in Relecta's previously furious eyes as she nodded in response. Alan continued, "I wish I had married you before, and now that I think about it, I would love to have a bunch of kids with you."
As Alan's suggestive yet teasing remark brought a radiant blush to Relecta's face, Armis, surprised by the unintended revelation, gasped and yelled in shock, "YOU TWO ARE MARRIED? WHEN?!"
Alan understood Armis's shock and, maintaining his stern and calm demeanor, let out a chuckle. "Oh yeah... sorry. Long story, buddy. If we survive, I'll personally tell you everything."
With that, Alan nodded at Relecta. Both ate the special leaves, and a sudden surge of energy jolted through their bodies. A massive twitch traveled from their toes to their heads, their eyes snapping open, glowing pitch black and emitting mist from their sockets and the corners of their mouths.
With the transformation complete, Alan and Relecta, now prepared to face the demon Augustus, stepped forward into the fray.
Entering the chamber of the monster lord of the 40th floor, Alan and Relecta's mist-seeping eyes scanned the room, searching for the beast they expected to find. The gate behind them slammed shut with a loud thud, leaving them in eerie silence. The chamber was a scene of chaos: green, slimy blood stained the bricks and stones, and the floor was littered with destruction. Anticipating an ambush, Alan gestured for Relecta to take cover behind him.
Suddenly, something fell to the floor with a drenched splash followed by another loud thud. Startled, Alan and Relecta quickly raised their guard. Relecta's eyes, filled with rage, squinted in disgust as they beheld a severed, bleeding giant bull's head, its lifeless eyes and protruding tongue adding to the horror. Before they could fully react to the grisly sight, a chilling voice, mixed with a monster's grumbling, echoed through the chamber—
"Heyy!!!!! You came!!!!! So does that mean that cockroach lived??!!!!"
Alan and Relecta quickly scanned the room to find the source of the voice. Their rage intensified when they spotted Augustus in his demonic form, waving at them from a stone platform jutting out from the wall near the gate to the next floor. The air crackled with their fury as they took in the horrific scene: Poduria and Aurelia lay unconscious in a makeshift cage constructed from limbs and ornaments of monsters, their bodies naked and covered in remnants of torn clothes, faces bruised and bleeding from numerous gashes.
Just ahead of them lay Lyco's withered body, his face marred with purple bruises and gashes. Blood seeped from his shoulder, pooling on the floor. Augustus, in his demonic form, stood tall with pride and amusement, one foot placed on Lyco's almost lifeless body. He waved eerily at Alan and Relecta like a child, his twisted grin adding to the grotesque scene.
Before Relecta could begin her charge, Alan's clenched fist stopped her in her tracks as Augustus's chilling, demonic voice echoed once more through the chamber.
"Hey! Before we start... a fun fact. You know why I didn't eat your friend?" Augustus's tone shifted to one of childish amusement. "It's because that would be cannibalism! Right? I mean, that cockroach has eaten people too. And believe me, it is well beneath my regal status to commit such a shameful atrocity. Can you even imagine?"
Furious at Augustus's nonchalant behavior in such a dire situation, Alan flared up, issuing a final warning. "I AM GIVING YOU ONE LAST CHANCE! Free my friends and kill yourself like a little dog, and I might spare you from never-ending torture."
Another eerie silence followed Alan's threat, which was suddenly shattered by Augustus's maniacal laughter. Finding Alan's warning even more amusing, Augustus laughed uncontrollably, covering his face with his hand. As Alan and Relecta's anger rose, Augustus gradually ceased his laughter. Peeking with his crimson demonic eyes from between his fingers, he resumed in a chilling tone.
"Oh... really? Do you realize why you are still alive? It's because you are different, weird... an outsider... the strange one. That scared me before... but you know what I'm thinking?" Augustus removed his hand from his face and pulled out his dark rapier from the platform. With a menacing grin, he prepared for battle, saying, "Fuck it, there's a first time for everything."
Acknowledging Augustus's defiance, Alan and Relecta readied themselves. Alan removed all his armor and guards, standing in nothing but his tights, his bare upper body exposed, and his hair flowing. With a backhand motion, he passed a bundle of leaves to Relecta and instructed her in a stern voice:
"Love, get to our friends and give them these as soon as you can. Until then, I'll handle this overgrown leech."
Relecta nodded at Alan's instructions. From his other hand, Alan crushed a different type of leaf and, with a powerful pat on his chest, rubbed the powdered leaves over his entire bare body, covering himself in a thin film of the leaves' powder.
As an eerie silence once again enveloped the chamber, Augustus lunged forward with a deafening battle cry. Alan and Relecta sprang into motion, charging back at him.
Relecta, quickly covering her limbs with giant water claws, leaped towards Augustus.
Utilizing her evolved wielding abilities and boosted physical prowess, she first jumped onto a wall. Using it as a propellant, she launched herself with such force that the bricks shattered.
She intercepted the charging Augustus with a swift spinning kick, sending him hurling towards the wall. Seizing the opportunity, Relecta dashed towards her friends to carry out Alan's instructions.
Augustus crashed into the wall with tremendous speed but rebounded just as quickly, attempting to lunge at Relecta.
Suddenly, his enhanced sight activated, and even in slow motion, Alan's speed was astonishing. In eerie shock, Augustus lunged backward, narrowly dodging Alan's slap kick at the last possible moment. To his further astonishment, the force behind Alan's kick was so immense that it blasted through the air and shattered the wall beside him.
Alan glared at Augustus with a misty death gaze, extending his arm towards him as if marking his target. Looking through his fingers, Alan muttered in a chilling voice, mist seeping from the corners of his lips:
"Reserare Scaena V - Dei Celeritas."
A pang of fright struck Augustus upon hearing Alan's words. Not wanting to waste any time, he burst into maniacal laughter, preparing to use his new ability again. With a demonic grumble, he yelled:
"OH YEAH!!!! Let me show you something too—Dioboli Saltare!!!"
Augustus lunged at Alan with blinding speed, crossing the distance between them in a fraction of a second.
He successfully landed a punch on Alan's seemingly frozen body. But as his fist connected with Alan's cheek, Augustus's triumphant smile turned into a frown of horror.
Alan stood undeterred, glaring at him from the side eye, without flinching. Before Augustus could pull his arm back, Alan, matching Augustus's demonic speed, spun around and delivered a devastating roundhouse kick to Augustus's face, sending him crashing into the wall with an explosion of dust.
Alan slowly walked towards him, spotting Augustus lunging back. In response, Alan reentered his blinding speed, appearing only as a blur and flashes of light to the eyes of a commoner.
As Augustus lunged at the prepared Alan, he landed a punch on Alan's face. Alan countered with a kick, leaving them both suspended in mid-air for a moment before they vanished again.
To Relecta's eyes, who had successfully reached her friends, the battle only appeared as resounding thuds, dust explosions, and flashes of light. Seeing Lyco in agony, Relecta quickly manipulated water to crush the leaves and have him swallow it.
Moments later, Lyco jolted awake and jumped to his feet. His bleeding had stopped, and some minor bruises had even disappeared. Shocked and disoriented, Lyco looked around and saw a woman with cat-like claws made of water tearing through a cage made of creature limbs.
His eyes widened in shock as the woman picked up the naked and bruised Poduria and Aurelia using water platforms. As she turned, Lyco was about to attack, but he halted upon recognizing her resemblance to Relecta. The woman, with mist seeping from her gaze, looked at Lyco in joy and exclaimed, "Oh! Lyco! You woke up!"
Upon hearing the innocence and childishness in her voice, Lyco confirmed his suspicions and uttered in disbelief, "Relecta… is that… you? But how?!"
"Long story, but first, quick, give me your clothes," Relecta replied urgently, brushing off Lyco's exclamation. She made Lyco strip down to his loincloth and used his attire to cover Aurelia and Poduria before administering the leaves to them.
After a moment, both of them opened their eyes, fluttering in disorientation. They too were held back in shock upon witnessing Relecta's transformation.
"Relecta... you have grown so much... but how?" Aurelia asked in surprise as she touched her cheeks, raising her hand and contemplating her height.
"And so tall?! What happened to you?!!" Poduria exclaimed. "We saw you in that chamber, but I was still not sure if it was you. Now, seeing you in person, it's so unbelievable..."
"I know, even I was surprised. But forgive me, we have no time for this," Relecta said, stepping back from the trio and handing the lord orb to Lyco. Swiftly, she encased them in a water bubble. As they began to protest in surprise and shock, Relecta halted their retorts.
"Please, you have to understand. Right now, the fate of all of Pompeii lies with Boss and me. We can't defeat that monster if we have to constantly worry about all of your safety," she explained. With that, she began levitating them near the gate, which interacted with the lord orb and opened with a loud rumble. In her desperation, Aurelia yelled at Relecta, asking about her beloved.
"At least tell me, where is Armis?!! Is he alright?"
Aurelia's question hung heavy in the air, but Relecta remained silent, clenching her teeth and biting her lip. She didn't want to reveal the truth, knowing it would only heighten their already worrisome state. Pushing the trio outside the gate, she wiped her rapidly sweating temple and turned towards the battle between Alan and Augustus.
At first, she only caught glimpses of flashes of light, but then Alan and Augustus suddenly appeared out of thin air, their fists colliding with each other's faces. In a moment of suspension, Alan swiftly kicked Augustus and distanced himself from the fight.
Alan landed a short distance away from Augustus, who was panting heavily, breathing like a beast. His body bore bruises and gashes from the intense combat, and one of his eyes had swollen shut. In contrast, Alan had only minor scratches and was drenched with sweat. Gasping for air, blood trickled down from Alan's teeth. Seeing this, Relecta gritted her teeth, and she too struggled to catch her breath, her body covered in sweat. It was a grim reminder of the time slipping from their grasp.
Augustus, ashamed and irritated by his fallen form, let out a bellowing battle cry that shifted every brick of the chamber. Poising his rapier at Alan, he yelled, "That's enough of you!" With a swift motion, Augustus conjured up radiant spheres of dark violet energy and hurled them towards Alan.
Alan began regaining his composure, but not quickly enough. Just as the energy spheres neared him, Relecta jumped in between, conjuring a wall of water torrent that collided with the energy spheres, exploding with water splattering everywhere.
Now facing Augustus, Relecta roared like a lioness at him. Placing her hands on the floor, she manipulated water into tendrils, shooting them at the unguarded Augustus with rapid speed.
The tendrils ensnared Augustus, twisting his body like drenched cloth and attempting to mangle it apart, eliciting a deafening scream from Augustus. Refusing to surrender, Augustus let out a deafening roar and burst through the tendrils, screaming, "Die! Die! Die!" He hurled numerous energy spheres at Alan and Relecta.
Alan and Relecta, working together, charged at Augustus. Dodging and maneuvering through his attacks, Alan leaped into the air and lunged at Augustus, while Relecta created a protective barrier of rapidly spinning torrents of water around him from the ground.
As Augustus watched Alan encased in water nearing him, he conjured a massive sphere of energy on the tip of his rapier and hurled it at Alan.
The sphere collided with Alan's water barrier, resulting in an explosion of mist and flashes. Seizing the distraction, Alan jumped above Augustus and clenched his hands together. With a misty voice, he muttered, "Reserare Scaena IV, Dei Malleus," before delivering a devastating blow to Augustus's head, sending him crashing to the ground.
As Augustus crashed into the ground, Relecta wasted no time. She sent torrents of water through the floor and conjured spikes of water from beneath Augustus, hurting him and propelling him back into the air. Alan awaited his return, and with another misty incantation, "Reserare Scaena I, Calcitrant Ventus," he delivered a mid-air slap kick to Augustus's head, spinning him rapidly before crashing back down to the floor with a massive dust explosion and a large crater emerging upon impact.
Alan landed back down beside Relecta, both of them watching with heavy anticipation and bated breath as ruining their hopes, Augustus's body morphed and twisted bizarrely, healing but shrinking in size. His maniacal laughter sent shivers of urgency down their spines as he lunged back at them.
As Alan took a step forward, he suddenly jerked back with a bloody cough, stumbling to the ground.
Relecta rushed to approach him, but she too began coughing blood, her body contorting strangely before she collapsed to the ground in concern.
With a menacing grin on his face, Augustus seized the moment. Jumping above them, he backflipped in midair and brought his foot down with crushing force, stomping on both of their guts and driving them into the stone floor. He continued to stomp on them several times before picking up Relecta by her hair and swinging her through the air, slamming her into the ground twice before throwing her away with such force that she slammed into the closed gate leading to the next floor.
The gate swung open, and Relecta fell at the feet of her friends, who were waiting eagerly for her but now stood frozen in shock and horror at the sight of their friends in such a brutal state.
Augustus grinned menacingly as he turned his attention to the bloody and bruised Alan. He picked him up by his hair, raising his chin with the tip of his dark rapier. With a chilling tone laced with frustration, he muttered, "Cockroach! You have struggled enough. Wait until I consume you, and then I will savor each of them, especially that water girl... hehehe."
Augustus's maniacal chuckle echoed in the chamber as he glared at Alan's friends with a side eye, while Alan looked at them with swollen eyes filled with helplessness. Suddenly, the sound of sprinting feet cut through the air, and Augustus turned to see the source. Armis came charging, jamming his feet at Augustus's turning head with extreme force. With his blank, enraged blind eyes, Armis looked at Augustus, yelling into his ear with a booming voice, "NO ONE!!!! NO ONE TOUCHES MY FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!!!"
With a powerful kick, Armis sent Augustus flying, the force of the impact causing Augustus to lose his grip on both Alan and his rapier.
As they fell to the ground, Augustus hurtled away, pursued by Armis. Despite being armless, Armis leaped into the air and, before Augustus could reach the frozen-in-fear Team Goliath, Alan watched through a dizzy haze as Armis landed on Augustus's body mid-air, crashing him to the floor below with a massive explosion of rock and dust.
Alan strained to open his swollen eyes, watching intently as Armis stood just meters away from their friends. Standing on Augustus's body, Armis began stomping with relentless force on Augustus's back. With each powerful stomp, Augustus let out a bloody groan, and the ground beneath them reverberated with the sheer intensity of Armis's rage.
Alan, watching with strained eyes, noticed that Augustus was beginning to tighten his body as Armis pounded on his rising back, unable to shove Augustus fully into the ground. Surging with urgency, Alan's gaze locked onto Augustus's rapier. Staggering to his feet and limping with an already broken hand, he grasped the rapier with his other hand. Blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, Alan bit his lip and gulped it down, muttering under his breath through the pain, "Reserare Scaena VII, Adtritis Tenaci."
As Alan clenched his fist, veins bulging with the effort, he shattered Augustus's dark rapier into pieces. An explosion of light and energy burst forth from the shattered blade, expanding rapidly and hurling Alan across the chamber, crashing him into the wall.
As the explosion echoed through the chamber, momentarily deafening everyone, their hearing returned with the agonizing, anguished scream that burst from Augustus's lungs.
His body jerked upright, throwing Armis away as the demonic growth began disintegrating and merging with the shattered pieces of the rapier, which then transformed into a collective mass of glowing, pitch-black specks.
Augustus's cry faded, as he returned to his human form, eyes wide and lifeless, his naked body collapsing to his knees. Silence filled the chamber, a moment of calm as everyone began to breathe more easily. But suddenly, the horror returned. Aurelia, Lyco, Poduria, Father Zenth, and even the staggering Relecta watched in terror as Armis, driven by rage, leapt onto the defenseless Augustus from behind.
With a shard of his chest plate clenched in his mouth, Armis lunged forward, entangled Augustus's neck in his own, and yanked back the shrapnel, brutally slitting Augustus's throat. Blood spurted from Augustus's slit neck and his body writhed in agony, Armis didn't wait for his soul to leave.
In a feral manner, Armis clamped Augustus's face in his jaws and tore his head from his body. Everyone watched in eerie horror and disbelief as Armis's savage behavior continued.
Like a hungry beast, he gnawed on Augustus's torn body, ripping it apart with his teeth until it disintegrated into pitch-black specks of glow, which then began infusing into Armis's broken armor.The broken and agonizing cries of Armis echoed through the chamber, rousing Alan from his dazed state.
Alan, still trapped in the crater of the wall he had crashed into, struggled to open his strained eyes. Armis fluttered around on the floor, his armless body twisting like a fish out of water. But what followed next stunned even Alan. Suddenly, Armis jerked upright onto his knees, and the pitch-black glow that had consumed his armor erupted from his mouth, enveloping his entire body in a dark cocoon.
An eerie silence descended upon the chamber as Armis disappeared within the shroud of darkness. Shock and horror crackled through the air once again.
Everyone watched in horror when Armis's frozen body jerked violently. Staggering, Armis stood up, and suddenly, a new set of arms tore through the dark cocoon. An agonizing scream erupted from Armis's lungs, deafening the surroundings. The cocoon of light enveloping Armis burst open, revealing his healed body encased in an evolved armor.
This new armor had transformed into a skin-tight suit made of shining gold, with a ruby embedded at each joint. The armor snugged his already toned body, making him appear even bulkier and taller.The golden armor not only covered Armis's entire body but also extended into a helm that encased his whole head, leaving only his face exposed. His completely healed eye now had a pupil flared up in a dark crimson hue.
Watching his friend's bizarre transformation strained Alan's already withered body further. Little by little, Alan's eyes began to close. The last thing he saw through his blurring vision was his friends running up to Armis and the silhouette of a man entering through the gate. Finally, Alan gave in to exhaustion and succumbed to a long sleep.