The Twilight of Death Verse

“Teamwork, you say?” Suddenly, the one standing to where Lightzelle is supposed to be is the Fallen One, “You’re surprised?”

Instinctively, Crystl immediately strikes him with a slash, “Sword Style 7714: Reverse Cross!”

It is a direct hit with blood gushing out of Dark Guardia’s chest area. Backing off a few steps, Dark Guardia points at Crystl using his right hand. He points his index finger at him while his middle finger and thumb are pressed against each other ready for snapping.

“This is how your attack actually makes me feel,” Pointing at Crystl, Dark Guardia snaps his finger. “Reverse… Strike…”

*SNAP!*

Instantly, the wounds of Dark Guardia heals and as soon as his fingers snapped, Crystl is thrown backwards.

“Kuh,” Crystl feels extreme pain in his chest. “What the hell is this?”

“Your attack, basically,” Dark Guardia spreads his wings. “I just returned it back to you. Now, it is my turn to attack…”

In front of him, a dark orb of energy forms. It seems like the power is generated by his horns. Without warning, the orb shoots out towards Crystl. However, he immediately gains his footing back and dodges it.

“What am I supposed to do?” Crystl thinks carefully while dodging the orbs that Dark Guardia is shooting continuously. “If I attack him, he will return it back to me. Even if I dodge it, he will just heal back… but what if I continuously attack him to the point that he can’t find an opening to use it? That might work…”

“Oh… I’m impressed,” Dark Guardia stops shooting his orbs. “I thought you would attack me sooner, but I guessed that you’ve picked it up immediately, huh…”

“That’s because I use my brain,” Crystl turns his blade arms and legs into shock absorbing shields. He also turns his body shockproof. “Just in case you find an opening to attack me…”

“Bulk won’t save you from my power,” Dark Guardia spreads out his wings and zooms towards Crystl with a powerful punch, “I can also move fast!”

Crystl shields his punch with his left arm and quickly notices that the shielding is effective. With his free right arm, he poses to strike, “Fist Style 5423: Inert Punch!”

The attack connects, hitting Dark Guardia in the gut making him spit out blood. Not giving him an opening, Crystl changes his fighting stance. His fists turn into iron balls.

“Fist Style 465: Gatling Gun!”

“Switch~” the Fallen One grins at the Weaponair.

All of a sudden, Lightzelle appears in front of Crystl! With him unable to cancel his attack, Lightzelle, although surprised, instinctively blocks the flurry of punches coming from Crystl with her shield!

“Shit, I’m sorry!” Crystl diverts his punches away from her. Furious, he glares to where Dark Guardia is, “You damned cheater!”

“Crystl,” Lightzelle whispers to her. “We underestimated them. They might’ve come up with a strategy on a whim and it feels like they are communicating telepathically with each other…”

“It seems like we have to establish our own link,” Crystl clenches his fist. “G was right, they may be below Noiricca but their true powers lie within their own wits…”

“Hey,” Inverna calls them out. “We gave you time to rest for a bit! Shall we resume?!”

“Now,” Dark Guardia grins, “who should I switch to next?”

Chapter 8: Head-on Collision!

Inverna Ultiam, the strongest of all the demigods and demigoddesses in Sleep world and ranked as third in the entire roster of Sleep beings, is the Ultimate Slayer. As a magician, she specializes in Ancient magic known as the Slayer magic. With it, she is capable of slaying dragons, gods, titans, and demons. In Sleep world, it is normal to have multiple powers and the ones who are able to have a wide variety of them are those who have inherited blood from the gods. It is, sort of, a cheat but it does exist out there. However, the godly blood within those descendants chose to lay dormant and only activating very few chosen ones. However, with Inverna, she is the son of Xeel, himself, that is why she is a demigod and she can make use of a lot of power sources within Sleep world where she was born. She is stubborn, intimidating, and bossy.

Her next power is in the form of a Spirit partner. Her Spirit partner is the impure spirit of fire called Impurifire, while the Spirit partner of the eldest sister of Orchid is Purifire. Fun fact, Inverna Ultiam is actually the first demigoddess ever while Orchid Wednesday is the youngest demigoddess. The span of their ages could be thousands of years apart! So, a spiritual fire phoenix of desecration, Impurifire has the power to purge those who had powers with the sacred attribute and with the nature of its owner, Inverna, who was an evil goddess in the past, their tandem of misdeeds coincided.

Her final power source comes with the power to wield Mythical weapons. Mythical weapons is a Class X weapon that only very special individuals known as gods, demigods, and part gods can wield. These types of weapons are lower in rank than the Class Y weapons known as the Eternal weapons. Her Mythical weapon is a sword known only as the End of Time. It has the power to make its wielder faster and slow its enemy by down to 75%.

Dark Guardia, the third strongest of all the demigods and demigoddesses in Sleep world and ranked as the fifth strongest of all the Sleep beings, is the last of his winged race kind, the angels, in the ancient past (The angel race of the Sleep beings here is not the same as the angel race of the Creation beings, obviously). Dubbed as the Fallen One because of his sudden change of heart, he is the only one to have the Reverse magic as his power in all of Sleep world. The power of reverse can do a lot of things, just like the word having multiple different meanings. The most famous of which is his sudden turn from good to evil and signature skill called the Reverse Strike wherein he can return the damage he’s taken. In addition, if Crystl has the power of an outlaw or a lawbreaker that can break the natural laws and set laws of the world, Dark Guardia has the power to overturn them just like him.

Aside from Reverse magic, he also has Angelic magic which is unique to the angel race. This magic power is like a combination of Holy magic, Light magic, and Weapons magic which means when this magic power is used with Holy magic, Light magic, and/or Weapons magic, the power is doubled! Being an angel, he has the power to make his own weapons, just like Crystl, produce laser beams, and cast Holy spells. However, with Reverse magic in play, he can also tap into the powers to turn Holy magic to Evil magic, Light magic to Dark magic, and Angelic magic to the unique new power called Reversed Angelic magic or Fallen magic.

Finally, his last power source is wielding the Mythical weapon called Painful Past. It amplifies its power the more its wielder or the enemies delve into their dark pasts. The powers achieved by wielding the weapon ranges from causing enemies to have mental distractions to having delusions.

“The question though is… how come Inverna is the third strongest and not Dark Guardia who is the fifth strongest? The answer to that is because Inverna is simply irreversible. She can never be swayed regardless of the efforts put to her unless you defeat her. Although even if she were to be defeated, she will still be reluctant, she wants to be the most dominant being. Another is that you have to be a reincarnation of her very powerful father and that you have to prove that you are stronger than that powerful father… It’s complicated to be the reincarnation of Xeel the Supreme Sleep God, okay?! Anyway, let’s just move on with the battle!”

Dark Guardia swaps position with Crystl making him face Inverna!!!

“Impure Fiery Wing Slash!” With arms wide open, Inverna spins around creating fiery wings with her Spirit partner Impurifire.

Crystl immediately reacts to this and decides to back off while dodging the blazing blades of fire coming from Inverna. As an added precaution, Crystl also morphs his body making it heatproof.

“You cannot escape from me,” Inverna’s hand emits golden light as she aims at him. “Slayer magic: Killing Spear!”

A bolt of golden light in the shape of a spear pierces through Crystl dealing massive amounts of the damage that would immediately kill mortals. Crystl is thrown off into a nearby cliff causing landslide destroying half of it. Inverna, enjoying her easy victory, suddenly notices a warm feeling in her chest followed by a cold feeling as she looks at them. She sees five small holes encircling the area of her heart making her realize that Crystl somehow managed to strike unnoticed. She falls down in the ground, knees first. She then bends over to fall flat but her left-hand halts it from happening. The wounds start healing as she glares to where Crystl crashed.

Throwing away the debris that covered him when the landslide occurred, Crystl emerges from the wreck fully healed… amazingly, even his clothes are patched up. With her wounds completely healed up, Inverna sets her eyes on Crystl’s lance-like fingers with her blood smeared on it.

“I got you five times, lady,” Crystl grins at her. “Are you ready to switch with that blood head?”

“I might’ve underestimated you a bit,” Inverna patches up her dress. “It looks like you are dangerous.”

“I’m not done yet,” Crystl changes his stance and begins to morph. “Free Style: Outrage!”

In an instant, Inverna is hit by a flurry of blunt attacks followed by a massive kick empowered by boosters from Crystl’s leg throwing her off into the distance. Burying her arm to get a holding of the ground, she gets back up and gets fired up!

“DON’T MOCK ME, PLEBIAN!” She roars as she envelops herself in the desecrated flames of Impurifire. “PHOENIX DANCE FIGHTING STYLE: CLAWS OF IMMOLATION!”

Expecting her to dive in a head-on collision, Crystl turns both of his arms into numerous metallic blades that take the shape of wings and with the boosters within his transformed legs, he zooms for the collision.

A few moments ago…

“It seems like we have to establish our own link,” Crystl clenches his fist. “G was right, they may be below Noiricca but their true powers lie within their own wits…”

“I’ll sever their links as soon as they switch,” Lightzelle whispers while Inverna and Dark Guardia taunt them. “I still have my trump card…”

“So they can’t switch?” Crystl grins as he replies to her, “I’m up for that. I’m counting on you…”

“I’m counting on you too, but not on the LIKE level,” she giggles. “Let’s get ready…”

“No more switching, INVERNA!” Crystl spreads out his bladed wings by folding his arms.

Inverna yells back at him, “CREMATION!”

Crystl collides with Inverna with much force that it causes a great explosion coursing throughout the dimension reaching its furthest depths. Meanwhile, Lightzelle and Dark Guardia feel the impact of the explosion.

“Holy shit!” Dark Guardia, filled with wounds from Lightzelle’s shield bashing and unable to use his skill, blocks the impact by using his black wings. He glares at Lightzelle while thinking, “She can cancel out my skills, what am I going to do to be able to use them again? Should I use my Legendary weapon?”

Seemingly anticipating his next move, Lightzelle locks eyes with Dark Guardia. “Are you going to use it, your Legendary weapon?”

“I don’t have a choice, do I?” Losing his composure, Dark Guardia prepares his counterattack, “The pulsing aura that you are emitting is probably silencing my skills. I didn’t think you were capable of this feat the last time I encountered you… nullifying my powers. Now, I have to rely on my Legendary weapon and I’ll make you regret this. Shackled by memories, bound by tragedies. Unleash as much despair as you please: Painful Past!”

“Probably,” Lightzelle prepares to summon her Legendary weapon as well. “Cleanse the blight, turn darkness into light,” she raises her short sword, “protect thy wielder with all thy might: Immaculate Flare!”

Enveloping herself in radiance, Lightzelle’s weapons changed. The once short sword turned into an elegant orange sword with red flames etched on its blade. At the same time covered in darkness, Dark Guardia summons his Legendary weapon. His arms are now covered with spiked gauntlets while holding a very long and thin blade that emits an eerie aura to its surroundings.

“This is interesting,” Dark Guardia focuses his full attention to her. “Now I know why Inverna lost to you…”

“Is that a compliment?” Lightzelle raises up her shield. “Either way, I’m not letting you use your reverse powers.”

“I’m just saying… she made the wrong move,” Dark Guardia grips the Painful Past and charges at her, “but I won’t…”

“Maybe,” she blocks the attack with her shield, “you will!”

“It’s impressive to see you still standing despite losing your arms and legs during the clash,” Crystl repairs his wounds from the collision. “If I wasn’t awakened, I would’ve died too…”

“I won that clash,” Inverna replaces her lost limbs with Impurifire’s flames. “What’s impressive about you is your instantaneous regenerative powers. As you can see, it will take a few more minutes before I fully regrow my lost limbs, so I’m using Impurifire. I was so sure that I turned the upper half of your body into ashes, I guess that you are more than what I thought you’d be.”

“I’ll wait while you recover,” Crystl repairs his clothing. “Huh?”

“You felt it too, don’t you?” she gazes at him. “It looks like Dark Guardia is forced to use his Legendary weapon. I’m going to use mine too…”

“I won’t use my Eternal weapon,” Crystl toughens his body into that of an armor. “I’m already a weapon, myself.”

“Your funeral,” Inverna finishes healing her body. “The end is near, you’ll have to fear. Your time is up, it all ends here: End of Time!”

A sword of magnificence appears clad with the colors of the rainbow of the inverse spectrum of colors. Inverna’s powers and abilities heightened exponentially. She fearlessly points her sword at Crystl. Realizing the extent of her powers just by using the Legendary weapon, Crystl instinctively raises his guard up.

“This will pose more challenge to me then,” Crystl sighs deeply.

“Last chance, Death being, summon your Eternal weapon.” Inverna repays him the time she was given to heal her wounds. “One clean hit from my blade will end your very existence. I’ll wait while you think about it.”

“The last time I use my Eternal weapon, I killed the royal prince. But if you give me no choice then,” Crystl raises his left hand up. “Lend me your power, Trinity-X-Calibur…”

The pitch-black majestic blade, although unstable and irregular, pulses throughout the entire dimension. Crystl sighs as he grips the crucifix-like handle tight.

“As powerful as that may be, I would not let you underestimate End of Time,” Inverna disappears from Crystl’s senses for a few seconds.

Luckily, Crystl evades the stealth strike done by Inverna in a hair’s breadth. Inverna follows up her attack again and this time Crystl decides to block it with his morphed arm. However, Crystl catches a glimpse of a vision sent to him by Trinity-X-Calibur. The vision… involves having his arm cut off as her blade passes towards his face.

“Holy-” Crystl, realizing it, blocks the strike with his Eternal weapon! He backs off for a bit, “That was close!”

“That was interesting,” Inverna moves back as well. “I saw you about to use your arm but you switched to your weapon, is that your weapon’s ability?”

“Its ability?”

“You don’t know?”

“I just imagined if I used my arm, I would’ve lost the match already,” Crystl changes his stance. “Either way, I needed to be careful…”

“I was meaning to fight again against Lightzelle,” Inverna sighs, “but you’re not a bad opponent. Ready for the final round?”

“Yeah,” Crystl prepares to use the Requiem, the skill that killed Caine, again. “Let’s get this over with…”

As Crystl begins to swing his blade at Inverna, his movements suddenly become very slow. Knowing that it could be her skill, Crystl charges forward ignoring his slowed movements.

“God Slaying Technique,” Inverna comes up at him for the inevitable finish, “Coup de grace!”

“Not quite yet!” Crystl activates the Law Breaker aka the Outlaw to deliver his counterattack. “ERASURE!”

“You’re awake,” G stands up and heads to the door. “We were just talking about your match. You did well despite your loss, daughter. That’s what the original Xeel would probably say.”

Inverna realizes that G has been sitting beside her bed waiting for her to awaken. “… … … I still lost, father. I’d probably tell him that if it were him originally.”

“How’d you grade that match?”

“If it were you, G, you’d probably received some critical damage,” Inverna sits back up. “What happened to Dark G?”

“He surrendered,” he opens the door. “Lightzelle proved to be the better woman. I’m heading out first…”

“I’d say that was pretty well done despite a lack of teamwork. I have a question before you go, are we the first ones to finish?”

“I don’t know,” G shrugs his shoulders. “Probably the third… I went out for a while. You should probably ask Suzana.”

“I’m not that close with the Supreme Temporal being,” Inverna sighs. “What are you on to anyway?”

“Nothing serious… just bringing peace to the Verse…” G leaves Inverna, closing the door behind him.

“Sociopath…”

“This Eternal blade is a cheating weapon,” Crystl hands the blade to G. “I need to get stronger without relying on any weapon.”

“I don’t own that blade,” G refuses to touch the blade. “I might not be a worthy wielder of that weapon.”

“As a human, what are your powers, G?”

“I have plenty,” G sighs. “It’s complicated…”

“I know that magic does not exist in Death Verse, but I believe that there are others aside from magic and these weapons that I could learn… if I have the capacity…”

“You might’ve been using magic before,” G browses Crystl’s biography. “Ah, you did… it was given to you by my...Xeel’s twin sister Waxe.”

“You meant the way I manifest weapons when Lady Waxe nerfed down my original power.” He looks at his palms, “I was told by Queen Cycloe.”

“That could’ve been Weapons magic,” G gains interest of the matter. “Would you like to relearn it?”

“Well,” Crystl tries to recall the days that he used weapons. “My memories are still in shambles, but I kind of missed creating weapons from my hands… and not turning my hands into weapons…”

“I am also a user of the Weapons magic,” G shows him his magical power. “I specialize in Swords magic. Magic alone can only allow you to create magical weapons, but have you tried magically controlling your weapons even without touching them?”

“You can do that?” Crystl grins, “wicked…”

“You can also use real weapons with this kind of magic,” G shows him his weapons imbued with Swords magic. “Manifested weapons are only magical-looking but when you collect weapons and manifest them? That’s a whole different level…”

“Teach me,” Crystl grips his own fists. “I want to know more about it…”

“I saw your match and I like the wing of blades,” G shows him the clip of the part where Crystl morphed his arms into winged blades. “Imagine if you have that magic, the wing blades could expand larger seemingly levitating and revolving around you like chainsaws, razors, or something else.”

“That would be epic…”

“I’m going to check on the others,” G glances at Lightzelle peering into the balcony of the mansion. “Crystl, you should probably go and celebrate your victory with your partner… you might learn a lot from her as well especially her nullifying skills that can also beat you…”

“It’s always nighttime here,” Crystl gazes at the stars in the sky at the balcony as he approaches Lightzelle. “Congratulations to the both of us, by the way…”

“I don’t consider that a win,” Lightzelle sighs feeling melancholic. “I was told that we lacked teamwork and that we relied mostly on our weapons…”

“Yeah,” Crystl sits down on a pillar. “I, having an Eternal weapon, feel like I’m cheating. But having limited powers, I’ve got no other choice and then… G told me that I can use magic.”

Lightzelle touches his forehead, “You indeed have a magical affinity, I can assure you that. There are different kinds of magic, what did he tell you to learn?”

“G told me that he’ll be teaching me Weapons magic,” Crystl gazes at her. “What are your powers?”

“There’s a bunch of it,” she explains. “We call them power sources… I can use magic, I can use gifts, I can use a spirit partner and a bunch of familiars, and finally, I can bring forth my Legendary weapon.”

“You can defeat me, can’t you?”

“Maybe,” Lightzelle shrugs her shoulders, “it depends…”

Crystl sighs.

“Don’t tell me that you wish you were created in here instead of out there,” Lightzelle chuckles. “Having a lot of power sources is not the basis for true power anyway…”

“I’m just jealous,” Crystl stands back up. “Let’s go down and train… we’ll probably get to create a team strategy…”

“Not a bad offer,” she grins. “Alright, Crystl, let us train…”