Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster’s Power

These two Demons are extremely dangerous.

One of the major edges we had on the Nobles before was the fact of our overwhelming superior control over our Vibrations.

None of them could compare to us. They couldn’t even release their Vibrations outside of their bodies or soul swords.

The crescents of fire I threw from long range could obliterate our enemies the moment they entered our ether senses, and a single nick from Maria’s blade would spread cold ice tethered to her vibrations all throughout a Demon’s body and kill it nearly instantly.

Yet, the pair of High Nobles are able to do the same.

At the rate that my mental defenses are being broken through by its declaration for a fight, it feels like their strength somehow matches ours… or maybe it’s even stronger…

Despite being a tier below Royals, something feels stronger within them.

The Demons that take another step forward toward us have a fundamental understanding of their Vibrations that we do not… it is clear.

But this has never stopped us.

Fighting the first Noble in the Abyss was an eye-opening experience, allowing us to learn that Vibrations can be tethered to Celestial Energy to vastly improve its power.

Now, even as my mental defenses are shattering, and we jump out of the way to dodge a hot crescent of Celestial Light thrown from the leaner Demon’s blade, a smile creeps across my face.

This will be a real fight.

When we land again, the nerves from climbing and approaching this battle flood away. A full cycle pulses through us, and we take a synchronized deep breath. It is time for battle.

–

The Demons both run forward when they watch us dodge. I take advantage of this moment and send out a burst of red energy from my sword to test their defenses as well.

As this fiery slash leaves my blade, Maria’s cycle begins and she swings her blade down at the white floor. In order to counteract the waves of hot energy battering our mental defenses, she sends back an attack of her own.

The floor beneath us surges forward in a blue icy flash.

All of the stray fragments of black stone between us and the Demons start to float in the air and vibrate uncontrollably. The clashing auras make the air thick and filled with four minds burning with killing intent.

The white crescent from the Demon’s short sword crashes into the floor far behind us, flooding the background of my ether senses with an incredible amount of celestial energy. It almost pulls my attention away from the action, but less than a second later, my fiery slash collides with the same Demon’s axe.

It takes it head-on and swings upward, opening its mouth to let out a silent roar, but shows its sharp white teeth.

The fragment of my consciousness inside my attack widens my ether senses even further, yet it is severely limited on impact.

This is because it explodes into dozens of pieces.

The Demon’s heavy axe is sharp and strong enough to completely block my attack.

I can feel the fiery destructive power cutting through many layers of its defenses, but from such far range I can only do so much. Streaks of red fire burn into the blade of the axe, and the Demon has to brace itself to not be blown backward.

Yet, it’s come out completely unscathed. The streaks of fire in its axe all retract as its Celestial Energy self-repairs the damage and absorbs the residue.

The hammer-wielding Demon does not slow down. It continues running with a hundred-meter head start.

It is the first to step into the spreading aura of Maria’s sparkling icy Celestial Energy.

Its boots start to freeze, and veins of sparkling ice crack up its legs as it runs forward.

Yet, once in the center of this icy aura, the Demon holds its hammer with two hands again and slams it down onto the ground.

It’s entered our ether senses, meaning it’s less than half a kilometer away.

The surge of white energy that bursts through the floor is far more potent than its first strike.

I completely cut off my access to the remaining Celestial Fire in the air I was trying to salvage and feel Maria stop pushing her waves outward as well.

Both of us go on full defense to brace for this blast.

The hit makes all of the ice covering the floor crack and fly up into the air. Even the wave of moving ice I’ve watched instantly kill Noble Demons in the past, it shatters and falls off its legs like light snow.

Both Demons roar again, and I feel a second wave of High Noble intimidation making the gravity in the air heavier and heavier.

Both of them run forward, with confident strides and grins like the attacks we threw at them were jokes.

–

The pressure in the air only makes our Celestial Energy cycles speed up.

Every step closer the Demons take, and the stronger the pressure they exert, the more focused we become.

The tension that has been eating away at our minds through our journey in the ravine can finally be momentarily forgotten. If we don’t focus with everything we have, we’re going to die.

The air pressure around our bodies starts to vibrate faster and faster, and our ability to create mental defenses increases extremely quick.

We are finally in what feels like total synchronization again, a flow state.

I take the first step forward, and Maria takes the next. Every one, a cycle of Celestial Energy surges through us, and we speed up running forward faster and faster at the Demons.

We jump up in the air once we’re less than 100 meters away, and the dual-wielding Demon sends another wave of Celestial Energy at us with its short sword.

I know its strength after testing it, and don’t even consider running away this time.

My soul sword glows bright red, creating a bright crimson aura around me when I swing down at the incoming strike. A burst of fire comes out from my blade, and another explosion of white Celestial Energy fills the battlefield. It’s the Demon’s crescent exploding just like it blocked mine before.

The fiery crescent keeps flying forward as we follow its trajectory, and I swing my other arm forward to give Maria a better angle at the peak of her cycle to block another incoming attack.

The hammer-wielding Demon lunges forward and swings up at us with an uppercut.

Maria’s sword collides with it.

The outside of her body starts to sparkle with Source Resin, and a deep royal blue glow unlike any of our past battles.

On impact, a wave of Celestial Energy bursts out, tethered to Royal Vibrations so rigid and fine tuned, I can tell she’s completely focused and intending to kill.

The hammer coming up at us stops in mid-air, and the Demon’s glowing white muscles bulge and strain beneath its armor as it desperately tries to follow through with its attack.

The top of its hammer begins to glow an icy blue, and streaks of her Celestial Energy crawl down the hammer’s handle, into the hand and wrist of this Demon.

It feels its bones start to grow frail, and it starts to crack and bend at an awkward angle. Yet, just before the Demon’s arm shatters off, I see its eyes sharpen.

The careless eyes of a Demon having fun disappear, and it becomes serious. A completely different aura bursts through its body starting from the center of its forehead.

The air becomes even more chaotic, and the predictability of our flight path becomes harder to track. It’s like we’ve become even heavier instantly… even the particles of ambient energy and rock fragments in the air start to fall faster.

However, this sudden shift does not affect the upward momentum of the hammer.

It’s like we have slowed down, and the hammer below us is speeding up.

There’s no way to stop it. We fell right into a trap.

I thought we would just have to warm up a little… and the fact that we have Royal Vibrations over their High Noble waves would be enough to give us time to adapt.

Yet, as the flat face of this hammer collides with Maria, then me right after; and I feel a surge of pure raw power and superiority ripple through my entire being; I almost white out.

We’re both sent flying up in the air, and I feel the soul armor protecting both of us fracture all over. It is made from thousands of Noble Demon’s horns tethered together, yet one direct hit and both of us are feeling the full force of this Demon’s blow.

I watch the second Demon block my measly fiery crescent with the flat side of its axe.

There isn’t even an explosion this time, it is just entirely absorbed into its Celestial energy pool.

It then throws the axe over its shoulder in a resting stance, and sets its short sword in a neutral position, as if it knows the battle is over.

The Demon with its hammer bends its knees, then launches itself upward, jumping up over a hundred meters in the air to follow us. It’s looking to finish this fight before we even hit the ground.

I grit my teeth, and feel Maria become equally desperate.

We felt so confident for a moment, but killing weaklings for 2 years straight may have given us a warped view of our true strength. Maybe vibrations aren’t everything… they are just a piece of the whole.

Our fast cycling of Celestial energy back and forth slows as our perfect synchronicity wavers.

The Demon that’s jumped upward passes us, flying through the air even faster than we are.

It gets above us, and steps off the air with a precise and practiced movement. The air around its being is clouded in a white fog, and it wavers as reality bends to catch up with this strange new ability it’s activated.

I see so many layers of High Noble Vibrations stacking and tethering around its hammer, I lose count after it passes 200. The amount of power we’re about to be hit with will shatter all of our armor, and probably every single bone in our bodies before we even hit the ground below.

It swings downward, and for a split second I feel my connection with Maria completely sever. It’s at the instant her Soul Energy Core retracts, and her chest pulses with a black energy as dark and unreadable as the void outside my senses.

The moment she does, and swings her blade upward at the incoming hammer; a blinding white and blue light surges out from her body. The vibrations that fill the air instantly negate the Demon’s suppressive aura… and for a second, I even feel like I’m being suppressed myself.

Her blade, and the waves of pure celestial ice that flood out of it stop the incoming hammer’s full power. The entire sky in my senses becomes pure white and blue.

We’re frozen in the air for almost a full second, before we’re sent flying downward; but in a controlled movement without a single broken bone.

I feel Maria link back up to our celestial energy circuit, but her mind and body feel drained…

The intense aura is gone, and we’re falling back toward the other Demon.

After this bright flash in the sky, it raises its sword and readies its axe again.

Its eyes become serious, and a sharp pressure fills the air below.

Every meter closer down we fall, the more it feels like we’re swimming through a sea of pins and needles.

It’s making all of my battle instincts yell at me to put up defenses or even curl up and cover my vitals. Yet, I know I can’t do that. It’s just as strong as the Demon that almost killed us in the sky.

The moment we fall within its attacking range, it’s going to swing at us with a strike we won’t be able to block or escape from in this sharp domain it’s created.

I grit my teeth, as I can tell Maria needs a moment to rest… whatever she just did to save our lives is not easily repeatable.

The Demon stretches out its short sword at us like it’s waiting for us to fall on it hopelessly ourselves.

There is a white foggy presence that surrounds its whole body, just like the Bulky Demon above; making it feel like its defenses have just risen by tens of times. The sharpness of that blade continues to be stacked by hundreds of layers of High Noble Vibrations, far more deadly than anything I’ve ever seen.

No normal attack or movement technique is going to get us out of this, so I do the only thing I have left that I’m certain will work.

I’m the one to sever our energy cycling connection for a moment as we fall closer and closer to the ground.

I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and focus on the power trapped within my Demon’s Core.