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Normally, people tend to be killed when they were eaten by a dragon, and then they would be digested, but again, normal things get flipped on Velvet Crowe, for her living through abnormal mess till now.
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Which was the same case for Tartarus, who lived through unreasonable situations, and that is what persuaded Velvet to think he is not dead. One with perfect resistance to malevolence like Tartarus should not be affected after being engulfed into dragon’s stomach, where concentrated with malevolence. If Tartarus wished to be eaten by the dragon, the whole thing is getting suspicious, he must have his reason to make the choice.
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The presence of the giant dragon is troublesome, Velvet realized that by hearing how it destroyed the frontline before the battle, and she clearly understood her health was bad enough to put the team at risk before it. Entering the dragon is relatively the better solution in this case, which is to protect herself better and to be able to attack the enemies at the same time, since it is the blind spot to the dragon, it won’t attack its own body.
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On this premise, Velvet made her secret plan, however, she had no time to tell her teammates. The malevolence emerged inside a dragon enough to make a seraph a dragon in a second, let along the big one like this, so Velvet must let Eternal, a normin seraph, stretch enough distance from herself. When she threw Eternal to a farther place, she saw Edna’s expression of shock and desperation. Edna stretched her arm, wanting to pull Velvet back and she was calling her name. That look appeared too similar to the past Velvet—the desperate look when they can do nothing for their family.
Velvet didn't have a way to comfort her, so she couldn't help but smile.
She wanted to tell Edna: this is not the end of her.
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In the short moment of several seconds, that’s all Velvet can do.
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Then, like rumbles of great rock collision, the dragon’s mouth closed heavily, It obliterated the light of the entire world, leaving Velvet and Eleanor to fall endlessly in the dark.
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In the dragon’s body, where full of malevolence and darkness, the armatization defused at a moment after they entered it, the malevolence interrupted the pact contract and communication system, causing them to lose consciousness for a moment.
The great fortune in the misfortune is that the power entrusted to Velvet is derived from the extension of the Empyrean who feed on malevolence.
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As the last reset device when the ground is covered with malevolence, Innominat and his power will not be affected by the malevolence. As the price of the oath, everytime Innominat awakens to clean the malevolence on earth, he shall lose his emotion in order to absorb the malevolence, which is a product of feelings, infinitely.
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Yet, after Velvet’s sealing Innominat forcefully with the method of forever eating each other, the oath and its power were eaten by Velvet and half-digested. The Innominat with recovered feelings returned to become Maotelus’s power, and the power left inside Velvet provoked by the acknowledgment of the Void-armatus power, it empowered the pact formers the immune ability to malevolence. The power is just enough to protect them from the overwhelmed malevolence.
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The former dark lord awoke in the darkness, perceiving the surrounding, only darkness. The absence of vision is making her other senses sharper, she hears noises, the flow of liquid and some moaning. Also her hand is catching someone's waist. The former Lord then tries to light the silver flame, as she obtained from the pact with Eleanor and Sorey, that's the only thing she learned as a pact former to clean malevolence.
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Velvet concentrates and channels her mana to the palm to spark the silver flame. A small flame sparks from her hands, floating in the air, and slightly lights up the surroundings. She got to see who's next to her, of course, she knew the answer even without light.
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A familiar face of the good student is shown next to her, her hand holding still on her former Lord.
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“You didn't hesitate to follow me even to this kind of place, how should I say…. you are too stupid or… a great friend…." The former Lord murmured as she gazed at the void-element seraph.
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The seraph surely be reckless enough to follow her into the dragon body, where filled with toxic malevolence to seraphim. Despite Velvet dragging her into the mess when they were armatizing, the seraph had the right to break the linkage forcefully.
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The seraph won't leave her master alone as she swore, not only for their pact but her wish to save her. Even when the former lord always abandons herself and thinks herself not deserved for such kindness, the former exorcist never leaves her alone.
A tingling depressed feeling suddenly presented in the heart, that’s the feeling of the presence of malevolence. Even when it was no longer the feeling like when being the therion, Velvet knows it was malevolence, like needles stuck inside the body, like a black hole swallowing reason. The present amount of malevolence exceeding the normal resistance of normal people, the painful feeling was what Eleanor felt, a pain for Velvet to bear as her pact former.
Velvet heard a weak and painful moaning, she saw Eleanor frown and express a painful face, seems to be influenced badly by the malevolence and resulted in coma. Maybe the pact with Velvet and armatus artifact helps alleviate the negative effects of malevolence but the alleviating effects are also reduced by the highly concentrated malevolence of dragon body.
“We shall not stay long.” Velvet concluded inside her mind.
To have Eleanor followed till here, Velvet is impressed and she doesn't plan to let her die. She carried Eleanor, who lost her consciousness, to somewhere possibly less tainted.
There is no light forward, nor temperature or life. Confusing moaning rings around ears attempted to lure fear, whispering the chaos here. In the hell filled with corpses, same scene everywhere.
It wasn’t the first time Velvet had been to such a bad place, nor the first time she faced resentment. She fought alone at the button of the dark tower of Titania, she finally knew 3 years had passed when she escaped from the tower. The darkness blurred her time and settled her mind, angry but calm until the revenge reached. She has been living on the dark side since all her life was ruined, and she is not afraid of the dark. Darkness ate her and became a part of her. She swallowed all resistance and survived. She experienced and understood the darkness, so she knew what the light and darkness were, so she became the light of others at the same time. At this moment, she was the only person who had the ability to get Eleanor out of danger.
Life is strange, to meet an enemy and eventually a best friend. To Eleanor, Velvet had shown her a whole new world that she never pictured, to see all life processes of equal value, noble or poor, human, seraphim or daemons, that is a colorful world. To Velvet, Eleanor caused her to gradually be her human self again in the process of keeping her an untainted vessel to Laphicet. From the first time they met, Velvet was escaping the city by setting fire to the town and later when Eleanor joined in the team for a certain time, Velvet intimidated residents to abandon their own villages as their own, strictly speaking, the residents lose their homes in both cases, but the latter is obviously a manifestation of kindness to the residents because when the team left, the residents can also return home. In the later time, Eleanor saw Velvet as another human similar to herself, a friend of hers, she wanted to help and save a friend, therefore she looked after Maotelus for her lifetime as she promised Velvet until the day Velvet wakes up.
Velvet could not envision a day she wakes up truly to live a new life, She was holding the consciousness of imprisoning herself forever to seal Innominat. She has never thought about the mood of the people around her when facing her choice. She just feels that this is the end she deserves. Like a miracle, the end she written for herself didn’t become an end, Innominat hoped the ‘Lord of Calamity’ who remind him of feelings and emotions, wakes up and lives a life that she should have, the eternal seal faded by the disappearance of Innominat and the ‘Lord of Calamity’ return to the surface of the world. A page after the last page had added to her story, a blank page, seemingly a new life from scratch.
Maybe the guidance of Karma involved or caused by Eizen’s blessing, things always turned in a direction she didn't desire, still, she met all sorts of companions in a short time because of that. Before meeting them, she thought that she was alone and didn't really open her heart to anyone. It was the person next to her who had always encouraged her to live.
When Velvet lost everything and was imprisoned, the encouragement in Eleanor's letter made her decide to work harder. The repetition of the bad situation and the maliciousness of the strong squeezed her strength. On the edge of exhausted body and mind and despair, Eleanor’s Appearing allows her to continue to hold on to hope. Velvet still remembers that when she was forced to burn the village that once rescued her, she fainted and got lost in a nightmare. When Velvet was about to be buried by malevolence and became a daemon again, Eleanor found her. When she fell off the cliff and climbed up, there was only darkness, but there was a silver light for her to follow, guiding her to Eleanor's side. Eleanor let her know that she was not alone.
Velvet still thinks Eleanor is a big idiot, surpassing the life span of human beings, surpassing the amnesia of reincarnation to inherit the past life, and maintaining the obsession of waiting for her. When Velvet’s sister reincarnated seraph, Seres has the shadow of her sister, but denied that she and Celica were the same person, even when she regained her memory, she firmly denied that she was the same person. In contrast, Eleanor, who has been following the fragments of the previous life after reincarnation, is an opposite case. Since it is a regret that Eleanor knows that she has exhausted human life to achieve it and can't make up, she plans to become a seraph to continue her promise to the present.
There is no denying that Eleanor is one of the people who has supported Velvet to live until now, so Velvet will not deny Eleanor either. Eleanor waited for more than a thousand years for their promise, Velvet seriously felt that she was not worthy of Eleanor restraining herself like that. Even though the stubborn friend said that it was her wish and will, Velvet felt that she was responsible for it. For the time Velvet gave, she wanted to pay back as much as possible, so that the time Eleanor gave did not become wasted time.
The warmth in the hand that spans time will not disappear, now she will guard Eleanor. To live with guilt and kindness, even a sinner must turn into a trace of warmth for her best friend in this abyss, a light that can be trusted. She opened her hand, and the silver flame lit up. The flame illuminates the space just one step ahead, like a ghost fire in the dark. There is not much lighting effect, but it feels more eerie and strange.
Darkness is the playground of hellions, convenient to hide and empower themselves, a same case here inside the dragon as eternal dark night and haunted place, hellions are possibly wandering anywhere inside the dragon. It causes Velvet to think finding a safe place may be too passive, she is troubled if Eleanor turned into a dragon on the way.
The tiny flame was vulnerable in front of this malicious concentration of malevolence, just like those seraphim and Daemons that had been absorbed. Velvet realized that it was impossible to find a light in this darkness. If a light actually existed inside the body, then this dragon would not have become a dragon.
Light is a created phenomenon, a named miracle. Waiting and finding are useless here to the former therion who lived through hell, without a way to catch a chance and create a miracle then nothing starts, she rather lights up the light of hope herself…or just burns out the malevolence in the whole area here.
The former Calamity laughed helplessly, the method suited her well. After all, she would set fire to an entire town for her own escape, yet, no more death involved and resentful spirits will be liberated from here. It was a late comfort of all the resentful souls buried in the dragon’s mouth by purification, although Velvet didn’t plan to rescue those souls, rescuing the soul trapped in the malevolence is just a resultant matter.
The former Calamity further released mana from her hands to spark the flame of purification.The cold and darkness they had been in was driven away by the warm flames, and what was left was the inside of the ‘flesh’ wall. The area is lightened, so is the burden of her friend. After Velvet burned all the malevolence around, Eleanor's brows that had been painfully tight were loosened slightly.
"I see, it's working." Velvet smiled as she murmured, while carrying Eleanor on her back and continued her job to burn a path. The surrounding depressed aura has been slowly influenced by the warm enlightening flame, eventually faded without a trace.
As the imminent issue is solved, Velvet tries to inform her companions, however, neither the communication device nor the squire's pact works, the overwhelming malevolence blocks the connection like a thick wall.
“Is that also the result of Eizen’s Blessing? Even when I have a way to communicate, I am unable to do that.” Velvet complained bitterly, holding her forehead to think about the next step.
As if the entire world is going to isolate the former Calamity, she doesn’t mind hatred but she is troubled right now. She can’t kill Tartarus alone, even with Eleanor, not a chance.
Yet, halting here contributed nothing, Velvet hoped her companions were going for her even when the connection broke.
No, she believes they will come, Edna will come angrily and Sorey will be worried.
Remembering the last time throwing away her own life to save Sorey and Edna, remembering the stoic and down expression as they have shown when she finally awoke from the coma, Velvet knows how she rooted in their heart even when she doesn’t wish.
“ I will bear the sin with you.”
Remembering the sincere words from Sorey after her seek of death, cause the former calamity makes a bitty smile. The shepherd must have seen her as an important one to say that.
The innocent Shepherd sure talks big as he claims that after knowing her sins, Velvet doesn’t know if he really means that but she thinks the sins are her to bear, not him.
The former calamity is avoiding to acknowledge what she feels towards Sorey, ignoring it, lying to herself despite her body expressing the honest reaction sometimes. She stubbornly thought that is the right thing when she doesn’t deserve it, causing the whole thing doesn’t cause her to release malevolence at all.
Even so, her acknowledgement towards the shepherd stays at “an important person”, so are Eleanor and Edna to her, she believes they will come here.
"Perhaps subconsciously I am using their feelings for myself, maybe." Velvet smiled bitterly, laughed at her hopeless selfishness and moved on to carry Eleanor's on her back.
"Maybe I should at least leave signposts." Velvet said, leaving the purifying flame that had been burning and would not be easily extinguished, and the surroundings became brighter on the way she walked.
The darkness forward seems to engulf everything, destroying every living being. Velvet slows her pace for a careful approach, yet a sudden 'earthquake' throws them into the air and falls into the darkness.
At the very moment the accident happened, Velvet holds Eleanor tight to protect her from the free falling, knowing even for a seraph, falling from a highground with the head landing firstly is fatal. Velvet hardly managed to empty her left hand and grabbed the 'fresh wall' next to her, taking her steps onto the 'wall' finally. Repeatedly jumping on the 'walls' facing each other, she reduced the final landing force with friction.
Both the human and the fainted seraph landed safely, after the shaking stop, the conscious one collects herself and observes the strange environment. The place is far broader with a warm and wet feeling, pretty much disgusting--enough to tell her again that they are inside the dragon's body.
The malevolence inside the dragon isolated the area from outside, other than malevolence, just fresh and void, with the dragon being alive, the malevolence here got plenty of supply. Peaceful time isn't long, the silent environment is colored with craze. The existing malevolence is no longer just mist but combined the corpses and souls trapped here becoming wandering mindless hellions. The environment enables the hellions to obtain power easily and their malevolence is being the power of the dragon, forming a bad cycle of malevolence. The forward way is dark and filled with these hellions.
Noisy voices keep moaning in low whispers as if it is telling out their resentment. The human and seraph full of life, resonance and mana, seems to be the best meal for the hellions, they will raid their meal from everywhere at any time.
"Hellions inside a dragon for that much, a concept of Matryoshka huh…."
Immediately, a dog-shaped hellion rushed towards the two of them. Velvet cut through the hellion with her sword and malevolence and was burned by the purifying flame on the sword.
She relaxed and checked if anything happened to her friend.
Eleanor is still in coma, so Velvet can’t armatize but to protect her. Lucky enough, those hellions are not very strong one so she can handle them alone. What she needs to do now is to tense her nerves and prepare to deal with the attacks from all sides.
The hellions don’t take a fixed form but they are all like the stray dogs coming for food, wild but still handleable.
As Mana is related to body strength, unleashing purifying flames requires mana, thus she needs to save her mana and save her strength while dealing an unknown amount of enemies. She releases a thin layer of purifying flames covering her sword and covering Eleanor.
Facing the hellions who threw forward, she just put the sword tip to the left of the opponent's chest, let the opponent pounce on the weapon, and then used the opponent's weight and impact to cause fatal damage.
Velvet knows that her physical strength is limited, so she concentrates on attacking the deadly part as much as possible, and does not allow herself to make extra moves.
Once stabbed at the vital point, the purifying flame spreads over the hellion's body like a firework. Still, this is not a big problem for those hellions who receive infinite malevolence and replenish their energy, they can’t be killed with one hit.
Just a few misses in the battle are enough to make a big mistake and kill yourself. But in this kind of long-term unilateral consumption of physical strength, mistakes are unavoidable. Measured by consumption alone, Velvet is at a disadvantage. She will eventually lose all physical strength, even if she deliberately controls the consumption, she cannot fight against this Unlimited army.
Facing the endless black scene ahead was like an extension of a daemon, but she still couldn't give up.
She had to think of a way, at this moment those Arthur’s maxims came to her mind.
She has always remembered the swordsmanship and combat training that Altorius taught her when she was a child, because she loves and hates this brother-in-law, and she will remember everything he taught her.
Don't give in to fear. Don't despair, no matter what.
At first, when escaping from the daemons, Arthur gave her an apple and told her not to give up at any time. He gave up secretly after failing to protect his wife, but passed on the skills and spirit to Velvet. Velvet thought about it. Thinking, maybe the current situation is a bit like the situation that Arthur faced at the time, facing a lot of enemies alone and there are people behind who need protection, and he hasn't given up at the time, and Velvet will not give up either. She will never give up until the cherished person dies.
If she didn't get to the point of being divided or unable to move, she would have no reason to give up, even in such a disadvantaged position.
She knows that her loyal friends need her, she has to stand here to protect her friends, she will not fall easily, and must find a way to deal with the current situation.
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Plans must be solid, and reactions flexible.
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The number of the opponents is unknown, but they will definitely chase them because she ignited the light.
How dazzling is the sporadic light that appears in the eternal night. It is like the light of life for the undead who lost their lives and chance of returning home, it is hope. Those who have fallen into the dark but are nostalgic for the light, so they will definitely follow the precious light, like those moths fly towards the light and get burnt at last. The flame may burn all the moths flying towards it.Unfortunately, Velvet is not as high in energy as fire.
Just a slight twisting of the abdomen is very painful. After all, she has not taken a good rest from the time the wound exists. A series of battles have prevented the wound from healing properly. Even after several battles Velvet wasn't directly involved, and that short period of time is not enough to fully recover from the wound. Yet, destiny will not allow you to recover well and be prepared enough to face it. The storm will come at any time and it is unpredictable. Even if you are injured, you will have to fight.
The pain prevented her from exerting all her strength, and the enemies on all sides prevented her from focusing, and her breathing began to be disordered.
If enemies keep coming in this way, her stamina will be consumed first.
"The direction to be concerned must be reduced..."
She looked around and saw the flesh-like wall at the end, carried Eleanor to jump away from the enemy's attack, and retreated to a narrow and long passage. In this way, the enemies she had to deal with were greatly reduced from 360 degrees in all directions to just deal with the front.
Perhaps facing an unknown number of enemies alone is dangerous, and she is not afraid. Just like life, there are always people who need to face it. There is always a way to trek alone, but that is not forever. Walking alone in silence will finally meet a fellow traveler. She also believed that Eleanor would wake up and fight side by side with her, because she was the ‘tenacious top student’, and even death could not obliterate her belief. Thinking like this, while she was ready to fight, she drew out the sword again.
Mystic undead came out from the shadows and towards the light. They were all the sad lives that Tartarus took away from their companions and the future. In the darkness, there is no way to identify who they were, only resentment is left behind, and they are shackled by regret and unwillingness. Now it is eliminated by Velvet.
She does not take the initiative to attack the opponent, but waits for the right time to fight back. With her natural combat touch, she is able to deal with an attack from the dark. This is also not her first time, she has defeated hundreds of powerful daemons and dragons before.
In response to a large number of enemies, she still managed to support it, and it felt like a century of battle. In the end, the malevolence in front of her was completely purified, illuminated by the flame of purification, and there should be no more malevolence for the time being. The scenery becomes purely a scene of inside a body (just disgusting though).
Never let your guard down, even when victorious.
Reflexively slashed towards the wall of flesh that had been on the back. Looking back, she was shocked to see the alien hand emerging from the wall of flesh. The slash neatly cut the hand in half, and fell on the fleshy ground in a disgusting muddy gesture to be absorbed.
There is no time to rest here. Once she lowers her vigilance, she will be raided. Velvet smiled bitterly and leaned against the wall that had just become aggressive, from which she could feel the pulsation, a torrent of liquid rushing to one place.
Although she has tried her best to avoid injury, her exhausted body has already reached its limit. But she knew she had to move, and it was not a good idea to stay here-the enemy seemed to be aware of her presence.
"Is drinking it the only option now?" She muttered to herself unwillingly, groping with her right hand in the pocket for the forbidden drug Rose gave her the day before yesterday.
She shook her head, self-denying the action.
'I can work harder when it is not the most necessary. '
When she was about to carry her friend forward, the seraph showed signs of waking up. Velvet squeezed Eleanor's cheek very unceremoniously to speed up her waking up.
"Eh...awww…." released a noise of pain, the seraph slowly woke from coma, she heard the pulse all around her, and the place where she lay was falling and rising with the rhythm of the pulse, like a solid wave. Yet the strange sensation is interrupted by another sensation, like pains on her cheeks.
The void-seraph slowly opens her eyes, she sees her pact-former gladly smile to her. She loves to see her pact-former smile, just if Velvet doesn't squeeze her cheeks at the same time. Her pact-former doesn't lose her demon demeanor, she teases her dear friend without changing her smile: " Good morning, sleep beauty."
Eleanor sees Velvet squeezing her cheeks, she thought of countering approaches but gives up when she notices the situation of ones. Velvet has a few wounds and she looks tired despite the fact that she masks it with a cheerful smile. The seraph knows that was the trace of battles, Velvet was protecting her and she didn't mind a little teasing like that.
"You surely love sleeping, and you finally wake up." Velvet released her squeezing hands, whining.
Eleanor smiled helplessly and sent her gratitude. She guessed where the place she is in as she managed her cloudy memory before fainting. She gave up on whining about the reckless approach of her friend to come up with an idea to go to such a place as hell cause she got used to her reckless pace somehow.
Though she would say Velvet is playing with her life to come to such a place, in this world, she believes only Rokurou and Velvet would do such a crazy thing. If this is the interior of the dragon, it would make sense why this environment is so disgusting--floor... Let's call it "floor" and "wall", here "floor" and "wall" are both soft and elastic. If the moist and sticky properties are removed, it should be a wonderful big bed. The pulsation and peristalsis around her since waking up gave her the impression that this environment is alive.
It is a very dark place, without the presence of silver flames, it must be in complete darkness. The seraph knows those were purifying flames left when Velvet was in battle, thus she didn't get negative effects inside a place highly concentrated in malevolence.
"Are you okay? Is malevolence affecting you?" with Eleanor's silence, Velvet worried about her.
"I am good, in excellent state actually, all thanks to you." Eleanor smiled and responded. Velvet doesn’t mention a sentence about what she did but Eleanor has known Velvet devoted to protect her from malevolence, she knows this is who Velvet is–-a person who devoted her best for the people she cherishes.
It is precisely because she understands the pure part of Velvet that she feels unwilling and regretful for this friend who is only in her life like the sparkling fireworks, short but impressive. Velvet showed her a whole new world, allowing her to establish her dream, but Velvet's ending was a pity for her. Only Velvet was not saved in the end, and she wanted to do something for Velvet's future, she thought she deserves better. This regret took her life as a human and could not be subdued, because she wanted to see the future where Velvet could live happily. For this reason, even if she has to reincarnate as a seraph, she has devoted to achieve what she couldn't do when she was a human.
It is not a big deal for her to follow Velvet to such a dangerous place. Instead, she was very happy that the ex-lord of calamity, who used to shoulder all burdens alone, finally decided to rely on her and take her to the danger this time instead of leaving her alone to face it as before. She doesn't blame her for the messy contractor, she knows very well that her pact- former is audacious but always has a measurement in the heart, and she has long decided that no matter how she messes up or is reckless, she will follow.
"So, what are you going to do when you come here?" Eleanor skipped all the questions that went directly to the core.
"Go to the source of the pulsation, the deepest place."
Know your foes, and strike where they're weak
There should be the weakness of the dragon: the source of life is where they will meet Tartarus. The source of the pulsation is the heart, as long as it stops, life will stop. Although the dragon is not like these creatures, it does not have normal internal organs. After all, it is the product of the malevolence-influence of the seraphim that were mana-merged individuals. It is impossible to have a normal biological structure. However, the life characteristics of human beings also exist in the seraphim, so in the face of life and death, there seems to be little difference between the two. If the core place is destroyed, it will die.
Since the core is so important, Velvet has the confidence to assert that Tartarus is there. The source of the pulsation of the flesh wall is like the root of a plant hidden deep in the soil. There are millions of branches, but the end point of all branches is the root, the most important place of the plant. Then there must be a heart-like place here.
The two explored deeper places together. The deep malevolence was like mist. With the pulse getting bigger and bigger, the road seemed to be able to see the colorful red spider lilies blooming on the road, connecting into the road, as if guiding them, inviting them…
“Those flowers grown on the ‘fresh road’ are odd but beautiful.” Velvet commented when she observed those red spider lilies.
“Those are flowers called red spider lilies, also known as corpse flowers, usually used in funerals, symbolizing death. In some legends, these flowers bloom along the path leading the way to see someone you may never meet again.” Eleanor explained with her knowledge in the past human life, death was probably the second familiar thing to her as she had seen wars.
“Ominous enough to bloom on the road of fresh meat, I doubt they are normal flowers in this case.”
“Now that you remind me of how this place is, these should be pretty decorations of the place.”
“Gross, if such things actually grow inside my body.” Velvet shows a disgusted face as she imagined the flowers growing inside one’s body
“I wish you could be more romantic in this way.” Eleanor helplessly commented.
They came to a lake in front of a lake as they followed the guidance of the flowers, which was unusually holy and soft light in the darkness, like the only hope left in the solidifying curse of a thousand years, and maybe this is the lake formed by the accumulation of tears of all people. Lake water. The side is full of corpse flowers, as if to mourn for all the lives that have passed away.
"What the hell is this?" The scenery in front of her was so clean and calm that Velvet wondered if she had gone to the wrong place, but this was indeed the source of the pulsation. The passage was shaking, and the flowers swayed along with it.
"I don't know, but it should be the heartland." Eleanor also guessed half-knowingly.
"It feels very sad."
"Dragon and Tartarus are two individuals. This may be the core of the seraph that became a dragon."
Velvet uttered a single syllable that expressed understanding but was a bit perfunctory.
"It's not helpful to understand what action should be taken." Velvet pointed out the facts, and Eleanor grumbled unwillingly.
While they were still thinking about it, the whole environment began to tremble violently, as if something was about to come out, and they were also rolled around by the strong pulsation over and over. It took a long time before they successfully fixed their bodies with weapons inserted into the flesh wall.
"I didn't expect two small pests to come to this place. You are really strong and lucky enough, Velvet." Tartarus's voice came from behind, and the two looked behind, only to see a strange-looking human-shaped piece of meat from the ‘meatland’. It stretched out from walls, flashing a dangerous red light; then voices came from the left, right, and all directions. From the flesh wall, the fresh ground, and the fresh ceiling gradually formed a humanoid flesh meat, including the flesh where Velvet’s and Eleanor’s weapons were inserted, and they immediately pulled out their weapons to find their next footing.
Humanoids rushed to them, each with a similar appearance to Tartarus, all rushing with the intent to attack, their hands extended out of bone swords, like an army.
Velvet fought against the humanoids, and she was almost overwhelmed by their strength without using her full strength.She was surprised that there is a rough estimate of 500 humanoids. Each humanoid has the same strength as tartarus.It can be described as the strongest attacking team, and the strength should not be underestimated. The absolute strength of the first two is difficult to fight, it can be seen that Tartarus has made up his mind to eliminate them this time.
Velvet and Eleanor can only deal with the enemy on one side. The two stood back to back, and with a few slashes in full strength, the humanoids around them turned into pieces, but they only chopped up the 20 humanoids around them, there is a massive humanoid army behind. Velvet stared angrily at the humanoid that was suspected of giving orders. He was standing next to the tree in the middle of the lake. The humanoid flesh sneered: "You are really strong, but No matter how powerful it is, your physical strength and weapons will be worn out. You can't stop me, impossible."
He was right, Velvet’s physical strength was indeed bottoming out. In the situation where she had been fighting and her injuries had not healed, normal people were too exhausted to fight in this case, but she always continued to fight under such extreme conditions, and she never allowed her to rest. It is because she has been facing situations that do not allow her to rest, so even if she is exhausted, she is accustomed to it.
Instead, she has the power of the Void-Armatus. If she didn't have the power, she wouldn't have come to such a hellish place so recklessly.
She recalled the feeling when she touched the power of Void. There were souls waiting in the void, and the feeling of swallowing everything at the same time---a more complete power than the therion claw.
“Nothing is Everything, Everything is Nothing. The form is not other than emptiness, emptiness is not other than form.”
This contradictory and unreasonable sentence from the Void-trial resurfaced in Velvet's mind, and she felt that now she could understand its meaning.
When she first gained this power, Velvet was still indulging in the guilt of being alive. In order to get rid of this feeling, she unconsciously sought death by using ‘protecting her friends’ as an excuse. She believed that she could not be loved, and she always built up the thick wall of heart unconsciously; thinking herself a cold-blooded monster, seeking her own grave, but also unconsciously loves others, and gives them a helping hand. The people around her love her, bit by bit, break her wall of the heart, barely allowing her to remove her vision from the void in her heart.
After all the joys and sorrows, try to contact others again, try to love others, the connection that did not exist before --- her connection with the world, her connection with others, and even the opportunity a Lord of Calamity can have connection with the Shepherd, all were established again in her unconscious actions.
After she had lost everything, stood up and fell again, once desperate, then cheered up, embraced the pain and sin, tried to start again, and regained her gaze at the abyss of the void, only then she could discover that there was something beautiful in the void.
Everything in the world is nothingness, but the illusion of our fantasy and will give them entities, destruction and creation are all in a flash. The power of the void has an infinite capacity, which can accommodate other forces, can accommodate malevolence, and can accommodate souls. The soul fragments of Velvet’s family have been there since being involved in the resurrection of the forbidden Empyrean, and now that the seal is lifted, and the Empyrean himself has been merged into the power.
Under normal circumstances, it is a force that is rejected by other attributes, but the existence of the rebirth of the Innominat’s heart, Maotelus, has changed the way of power's existence–being with the malevolence: being with the human heart. The power of the heart can destroy everything and it can contain everything.
This powerful foul power and the ability to modify the nature of the principles of the world is also the reason why Innominat is the forbidden Empyrean. Since He is the God who destroys civilization, and He is also the God who brings new life to everything. His power is originally destruction and rebirth.
Since this kind of power is too strong, it is necessary to test and review the users, and it is also necessary to confirm that the users have enough ‘power’ and ‘tolerance’ to realize the essence of power, and now Velvet can use its real power with complete admission.
Even if being in the darkness, the light that is not swallowed up but shining in it.
In the endless darkness, Velvet woke up, vaguely remembering the vague dream before waking up in her mind.
The old man said, he just hopes to build a country where everyone can smile happily.
Her brother-in-law said he just hopes to build a world where no one will suffer.
The old people said that they had done wrong things, even if they believed that power should be used for the right beliefs.
The girl who regards herself as a sinner said that she has no great dreams but just hopes to protect her cherished people, even if she is a sinner, she must live.
The will of the Innominat that remained in the power recognized her, allowing her to formally use the power of creation and destruction to become a force that can be changed at will. The power will merge with the power gained from the Innominat’s Sealing during 1500 years into a powerful force.
Although the girl only knows how to use the power of destruction, the predecessors believed that the girl who has experienced pain and destruction, and love and hate can use it in the right place, and believes that the people around her can guide her not to make irreparable mistakes.
Not long ago, Velvet extended her wings and mastered this power, it became a bargaining chip that can compete with Tartarus on an equal footing. As long as Eleanor is by her side, she can exercise this power with Void-Armatus's support, so She will be sure to implement this outrageous plan.
"Impossible?" Velvet just smiled in response to Tartarus's denial.
"I don't think you know what kind of ruthless character you are facing." Velvet continued without being affected by the opponent's ridicule.
"What you are facing is the Calamity that will chase you to the ends of the world and the paranoid that transcends death." Velvet continued to smile confidently.
"(Who do you think is the paranoid that transcends death?)" Eleanor complained silently by using the ‘pact channel’.
"(I'm complimenting you.)"
"(I will remember this!)"
“(Do whatever you want after this hell then.)”
"Don't think that you can escape from my hand by running into the belly of the dragon. I will still chase you and eat you. I will never give in to you from my dignity."
In the center surrounded by many humanoids, Velvet never showed the slightest timidity, but smiled evilly: "I will bring disaster to you immediately."
"If you have the ability, you can try it!" Tartarus smiled arrogantly, and the open palm was about to smash something to make a fist. The flesh around Velvet gave out a strong and dangerous light, and the flesh swelled quickly and "BOOM". It burst with a loud noise. Eleanor unfolded the magic defensive shield to withstand all the explosions, leaving them unharmed after the fierce explosion. However, when the smoke of the explosion dissipated, the next second Velvet realized that they were surrounded by a magical circle spreading across the sky, and at the same time the mana cannon was aimed at them in the center and fired together.
The mana of high-strength energy disintegrated all defenses, and directly touched the target causing astonishing damage and violent burns. Such an attack was not only one shot, but dozens of consecutive shots. Light and smoke robbed them of their vision and ability to move.
Tartarus stopped his simple and brutal attack, ready to see the ashes remaining after the explosion.
The mana dissipated after the explosion, and there was only one person standing there. It didn't look like she was injured by the explosion. She glowed with silver light all over her body, and her power had the aura of that forbidden Empyrean. The edges of the clothes are irregular shapes like flames, and the pupils are still golden as hot as flames. There are six light feathers spread out behind and the mana around it is overflowing with abundance. Tartarus’s gaze finally fell on the woman's left hand, the shape of a devil's claw was filled with divine brilliance.
"Since you regard me as your enemy, then you should be prepared to face disaster."
The mana and the holy flames turned into a whirlwind around her body, and finally gathered in her hands and turned into a giant sword. The blade formed a gorgeous dance under her swing.
Velvet drove the great sword to rotate her body, and meandered towards the center of the lake. Every time it rotates and accelerates, the power of the sword rises to a higher level, and the mana absorbed by the explosion is released, and the attack rises to another dimension of power.
Turning Eight all the way to sweep a large piece of human-shaped meat that was strengthened by Tartarus with mana, and cut the legs, waist, and head. The humanoids were destroyed one after another before launching the attack. Even if they launched a sneak attack behind Velvet, she wiped them out with a burst of flames. Velvet crushed wherever she goes. If the humanoids are alive and have flesh and blood, then this scene is like a river of blood and corpses all over the land, like a Devil in the slaughter.
The released flames spread wildly with Velvet as the center, burning everything around. Velvet is like the center of a storm, expanding its attack range a little bit by bit, controlling everything and destroying everything. The entire space is burned by her purifying flames.
Slashes ignore all obstacles or magic circles in front of it, it splits the thing in front of it into two halves. The surrounding fleshy wall is divided into several pieces. The humanoids were all cut to pieces in an instant, and Velvet had already arrived in front of ‘the true Tartarus’ to give the final blow.
In the end, Velvet changed to holding the sword in one hand, while the other hand was swiping up and down in front of her and drawing a horizontal line, as if she was praying.
"Return to nothingness!"
Tartarus smiled evilly and said confidently: "Still praying? You can't hurt me this time either...Huh?"
The giant sword cut into Tartarus's body smoothly. He looked incredulous, as if he didn't believe that he had been attacked, as if he could not have been attacked.
He looked at the thin white aperture in the middle of the sword with amazement, and carefully looked at the light marks on the upper part. The upper part was actually composed of three layers of light marks, one of which was a spatial transmission crack made by himself, but the rest layers are not his product.
"Do you think I would be that stupid to fall in the same trap twice?" Velvet said helplessly, making another air-drawing movement. This time the sword slashed from the left but appeared on the right. She didn't make it clear, but the other two layers were the portals she drew. They were specially drawn before and after Tartarus's door to confuse him and to prevent his portal from functioning.
"You dare use my own spells against me!"
"If you feel you have been teased, I am happy to continue to do this to you for everyone who has been ridiculed by you."
Next, she hacked Tartarus frantically and the other party failed to respond. Perhaps it was the objects behind him that made him do nothing even if he could avoid the attack--that was the core of the dragon. Perhaps the action of attacking all the surrounding environment made the dragon really hurt, and the scenery and center of gravity of the whole place became upside-down, as if the dragon was twisting its body in great pain.
The slashing didn't stop at the slightest. Even though the entire space was overturning, the dragon was in pain, and Velvet did not stop attacking. Tartarus finally lost to pain and disappeared, but Velvet felt that he was not dead, but just ran away.
After that, the armatization also uninstalled, but the space continued to turn around. The two of them couldn't grasp the center of gravity, and they all fell into the lake'. The tumbling space stopped rolling for a while under a huge shock.
The two of them were in direct contact with the lake water, and the vague external memories burst out of their minds for a moment, almost swallowing their consciousness. After several struggles, relying on determination and perseverance, Eleanor regained consciousness and quickly got up and pulled Velvet, who was still floating in the water, out of the lake and back to the shore.
“Velvet, wake up!” Eleanor shakes her pact-former immediately once she pulls Velvet back to the shore, afraids those strange memories directly affect her pact-former.
Velvet lay slumped on the shore, opened her eyes with difficulty and looked at the top of the space with distracted vision, and she was different from her who had suppressed Tartarus just now.
"Ay, you force yourself too hard." Eleanor blamed Velvet, but her face showed a worried look.
Eleanor, who shares her body with Velvet, knows that Velvet has been trying to force her exhausted body just now, and Velvet has always been tolerating. She imitated her past therion claws and ate the opponent's aggressive mana, but she didn’t eat it without harm. In fact, she had withstood the aggressiveness of the mana and released the mana. While using mana to strengthen the attack and strengthen the body to the extreme in an instant, she beat the enemy on the ground. In the state that her physical strength and mana is almost exhausted, she has lost the reinforcement and become so fragile. If the situation just prolongs for a long time, the battle situation may be reversed, so Velvet will not show pain and weakness in front of Tartarus.
Knowing that’s her own fault, Velvet couldn't respond, and could only give a wry smile.
After a while, she sat up against the pillar behind her and changed the subject abruptly: "...Tartarus is fused with the dragon, we are in the enemy's belly, and this seems to be the core of the enemy."
"The final battle with the Innominat was also in the body of the Empyrean, but it was much more beautiful than here."
"I don't know that you are interested in exploring other people's bodies." Velvet smirked and responded mischievously.
"I don't have this kind of interest, okay?!" Eleanor also seemed to associate the topic with the dirty direction in her heart, and shyly denied Velvet's accusation.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever...but we have to figure out what this place is now."
Velvet then looks at the surrounding environment carefully to make a reference for the next judgment.
The soft environment inside the dragon eliminated the sound of footsteps, so neither Velvet nor Eleanor could notice that anyone else was coming nearby. At this moment, she heard the calls of others.
"I found them! They are there, they are both together."
It was the voice of the boy that Velvet was familiar with, and she is very happy to find their location. She thought it may be the auditory hallucinations caused by herself being too tired as she heard the voice of the young Shepherd, but Velvet still followed the direction of the voice. Two figures, one tall and one short, loomed between the silver tongues of fire. The tails of the three wide and long cloaks fluttered with the tongues of fire. Next to them was the iconic figure holding an umbrella. Velvet only knew who came by the shadow.
"Oh, both of them are in a fine piece. Although it is a matter of course, it would be great if nothing happened."The seraph beside the young man said this, concealing her happy feelings, but kept watching the person who ran into the dragon's stomach.
The two jumped across the lake and came to the "shore" of the center of the lake.
Under the shining of this "cavity" full of purifying flames and the mysterious light "lake surface", even Velvet, who was wearing a black suit, became brighter. The golden eyes that firmly believed and the micro expression of a quiet smile became easy to detect.
"You have come to me."
When Velvet saw the arrival of the two, the corners of her mouth raised unconsciously, unable to conceal her joy at the moment. She believes that they will come to her, and she has been waiting, keeping the purifying flames burning on the road.
"Well, no matter where you are, I will come to you."
Sorey responded with a smile, as if it were a matter of course. In every difficult moment of her life, he hopes to face the predicament together by her side.
Facing the boy's outspoken speech, the girl couldn't help feeling shy. After all, it sounded like a lifelong vow. Every time she confronted Sorey's words and deeds, Velvet seemed to be caring and a little moved unconsciously, but at the same time she was trying her best to avoid recognizing her feelings.
The girl who regards herself as a sinner does not feel that she is worth it. Once she realizes the feelings, she reflexively refuses, because she feels that she will become greedy. As a sinner, it is a mistake to have expectations of others.
So she chose to refuse sensibly.
"Thank you, I'm glad, but I will misunderstand you if you say it like that."
Sorey, who received this response, made a puzzled noise, tilted his head, and then said, "But I'm serious."
He didn't understand Velvet's unspoken troubles, but he vaguely sensed that she trapped herself in the prison of the heart.
"...You don't understand..." Velvet murmured in a very low voice. She was distressed about whether she should refuse more categorically, and at the same time there was a kind of hesitation and fear that she did not want to change the situation.
The two seraphim on the side thought to themselves: ‘(It’s you who don’t understand.)’, but in reality they just sighed.
Velvet was unexpectedly emotionally procrastinated or even dull. Although Sorey was also very dull at the same time, such a delay would inevitably hurt the relationship. Edna originally wanted to teach Velvet a lesson, but in this case she gave it up first, because there are too many things to discuss with Velvet, so only this time she will follow Velvet's mind and change the subject.
"Let's sort out the situation first."
-------------------------TBC-----------------------
A.N.
I wanted to write this to the end but too many things involved, the chapter almost becomes a Velvet solo chapter plus some Velvet/Eleanor I think? I hope you like it.
The later battle took reference from Katekyo Hitman Reborn: Chapter of succession - Hibari Kyoya VS Adelheid Suzuki.
Also, the forbidden drug and the strong acid are still in Velvet’s pocket and I am still thinking about whether to let Eternal come along with Edna and also the origin of this giant dragon……so many to plan huh….
ns3.20.238.29da2
