Chapter 363: The Rampaging Mad Esper

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Blood and innards splattered across the broken ground, turning the soil red as the surviving soldiers desperately scattered in every direction. Yet the Esper continued attacking without hesitation, unable to distinguish his captors from those who had come to save him.

"QUETZALCOATL! STOP!!!"

Ignias roared as her aura surged outward, stretching toward the enormous bird in another attempt to reach his mind. For a single instant, her flames touched the emerald winds surrounding him.

However...

SLAAASH!

"Ugh?!"

Her spiritual body was rapidly cut apart, its blazing form splitting into countless fragments. Her eyes widened as Quetzalcoatl glared back at her with furious anger, seeing her not as another spiritual being, but as yet another enemy trying to restrain him.

"GRAAAAAAHHHHH!"

With a furious roar, the monstrous bird folded his wings and descended toward Riven and Ignias. His entire body was encompassed by beautiful emerald winds that cut through everything in his path.

RUMBLE!

The ruined walls split open beneath him, and long scars were carved across the floor before his claws had even reached them. Despite the madness consuming him, Quetzalcoatl’s movements remained terrifyingly fast and precise, guided by instincts sharpened over countless years.

Even after having most of his power drained away, what remained inside that broken "husk" was still this overwhelming. The machines had stolen his strength and reduced his mind to madness, yet they had failed to erase the might held within his flesh. Riven could only imagine how powerful the King of the Skies had been before Claymore captured him.

Truly, he was an SSS-Rank being!

CLAAAASH!

His sharp, raptorial claws were caught by Riven’s Fenrir Fang, the impact shaking the entire chamber as the young man’s eyes gleamed. His transformations stacked one after another before Quetzalcoatl could overpower him. The Heavenly Poison Body spread across his flesh, followed by the Asura Gene and many more abilities awakening together.

His body rapidly expanded, transforming him into a giant, multi-armed hybrid of spirits, aliens, dragons, titans, and other beings whose powers he had absorbed. Each arm pressed against the blade or gathered energy, forcing the massive claws back little by little.

All of those forms harmonized within him, giving his transformed body an ethereal, almost ephemeral appearance despite its enormous size. Veins of shifting color spread across his arms as wings, horns, scales, and spiritual markings emerged together without interfering with one another.

Riven thrust his sword forward and channeled Poison, Blood, Ice, Shadow, and Ki through Fenrir Fang at once. The energies twisted around the blade, unstable but obedient to his will, as he aimed directly at the emerald winds protecting Quetzalcoatl’s chest.

However, before he could deliver the attack...

"Wait, Riven! We can still reason with him, just like you did with me!" Ignias begged, reaching for him through their spiritual connection. "Please, give me another chance! There must be something left inside him!"

"You and he are different cases. You were linked to a Dungeon, but he isn’t..." Riven answered, keeping Fenrir Fang raised even as his expression filled with regret. "I’m sorry, Ignias. But we have to put him out of his misery. Can’t you feel it? Look past his power and search for his soul."

"?!" Ignias focused, and at last she felt what remained within Quetzalcoatl. His spiritual soul had been almost completely drained, stripped apart piece by piece until only a hollow core remained. The fragments still clinging to that empty husk were filled with endless pain, trapped beneath the madness controlling his body, amidst the rage born from hatred within him, there was also fear, confusion and... the desperate desire for everything to end.

"Please...!"

And then came a voice, faint and broken, one that only those with psychic capabilities could hear. It struggled to emerge from beneath Quetzalcoatl’s screams, repeating the same plea as his body continued attacking against his will.

"Please... kill me...! Kill... me...! Before I... hurt anyone else..."

Quetzalcoatl had once been a gentle and wise ruler of his realm, respected by the spirits who lived beneath his skies.

He would never have wished to become the monster humans now feared him to be, a bloodthirsty beast that took lives without mercy. He had protected those weaker than himself and guided them with patience, never using his strength simply because he could.

To him, every life he took while consumed by madness brought unbearable suffering. He could see what his claws destroyed and feel the blood staining his body, yet he could no longer stop himself. Claymore Labs had left him conscious enough to understand his actions, but too broken to control them or himself.

What little remained of him within that husk begged Riven to kill him and end his suffering before more lives were lost, it was perhaps the final request of a proud guardian who refused to let his ruined body continue slaughtering the innocent.

Even knowing what they’d done to him, Quetzalcoatl didn’t want to harm anybody.

"Unfortunately, I never had the chance to meet you or know you. I have only read about you among the many great beings’ humanity once admired," Riven sighed, tightening his grip on Fenrir Fang. For a moment, anger toward Claymore, toward his family, burned through him, but he forced it down and fixed his gaze upon the suffering Esper. "But I hear your wish now. I shall free you from this suffering, Quetzalcoatl!" he roared.

Riven leaped forward and pushed the massive bird back, forcing Quetzalcoatl’s claws away from Ignias. The giant beast immediately swung his enormous wings at him. Sharp talons hidden beneath his electrified feathers slashed at Riven’s body in rapid succession, each strike carrying emerald winds that tore through his defenses. Riven raised Fenrir Fang to block, but the attacks came from too many directions at once.

SLASH!

SLASH!

SLASH!

SLASH!

"Nngh!"

Riven clenched his teeth as sharp, deep wounds opened across his body, spilling blood from his shoulders, chest, and arms. He refused to retreat. Instead, he focused on the blood flowing from his wounds and pulled it away from his skin before it could fall. Every crimson stream gathered above his palm, compressing into a small sphere that rotated faster with each passing second.

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