Chapter 88 - Rise of [∅]

"W-What the hell is this?!!"

Looking at the symbol that appeared on the back of my left hand--a small circle with a long slanted line running through its center--my whole body was suffused with an overwhelming mixture of shock, confusion, and wonder from the power emanating from it.

This symbol...

When it glowed, all the eyeballs flying towards us got 'sucked' by my left hand. I don't know where did they go after that but I felt a slight increase in my body temperature shortly after it happened, making me think that they turned into energy instead of going somewhere.

This ability...when and where did I get this from?

"Ren, what is that...?" Miss Lerish asked, visibly feeling worried.

"I...I don't know..."

I quickly glanced at Argus, who's also as confused as we are. Seeing some of his precious 'babies' completely disappearing, his handsome face froze in a silent rage, his amber eyes flashing a fiery gaze back at us.

"Though I have no idea how all of this happened, there's one thing I'm sure of: looks like he doesn't want his babies to just go out without a bang," I muttered to Miss Lerish.

"Ren, be careful with him. If you provoke him too much..."

"What do you mean by that, Miss Lerish? Haven't we provoked him enough yet?"

Strange enough, he haven't made an advance yet after what happened. His killing intent is off the charts, but he still tries to maintain his calm in front of Miss Lerish. I'm not sure if that's because of his desire for her, but I think it's because he doesn't want his precious prize to be damaged before he could harvest them.

I think we can use that reluctance of his to our advantage.

"Say, do you have any weapons in your possession right now, Miss Lerish?"

"Eh? U-Um, I had a small dagger under my wedding gown, but I lost it somewhere while on the way here. Hehe~" she let out a dry chuckle.

"What? You came here empty-handed?!"

"B-But Miss Aoi gave me a slingshot!" Miss Lerish said frantically.

"Is that so? Then--"

"Unfortunately however, Argus took it away from me. I need to retrieve it from the other side of the hall first."

Wait a minute--did you just said that Aoi told you to get back here?! Hrgh, that girl...

Ah, this is bad. Like, really bad. Without any ability or weapon in hand, Miss Lerish's presence here will become a disadvantage for me instead of the other way around.

I don't want to think of her as a burden or anything, but...

Maximizing my patience as much as I can, I said to her: "Okay. Try to get it back as quick as possible. I'll keep that guy in check while you're doing it, and also keep those flying eyeballs away from you."

Hearing that order coming from me, I expected her to show hesitation or fear. But instead--

"Understood. I'll do the best that I can."

Meanwhile Argus, who stood waiting at the other side of the hall, grew impatient by the second as it appears to him that we're completely ignoring his presence. Unable to hold back, he spoke: "Aren't you enjoying his company too much, Your Highness? It seems that you can't hide your smile anymore now that you're beside him again."

"H-Huh? W-What do you mean by tha--"

"He's just jealous, Miss Lerish. Don't mind him," I interrupted her mid-sentence.

'What?!' Both of them stared at me in shock. To spite Argus even further, I held both of Miss Lerish's hands and pulled her closer to me.

"He's jealous, because he knows that he won't get to be close to you like this."

"E-Eh? EEHHH?!!"

"Y-You bas--"

As soon as I said that I began spinning my body while still holding Miss Lerish's hands, gaining as much momentum as possible, then with all my might tossed her to the place where the slingshot is.

I'm sorry Miss Lerish, but this is the quickest way for you to get there. I hope you won't get mad at me for this.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--?!!!!"

"You think I'll let you have that thing again?! I'll make sure you--"

"I won't let you hurt her either!!!" I yelled as I try to divert his attention away from her.

Kicking the ground underneath my feet, I leaped a great distance towards him with my leg extended, aiming to land a flying kick on his face. He easily dodged my attack and countered by seizing me by the foot, but I also countered his counter by activating my Arcana.

"[Petrify]!"

"Uguu--?!"

With the help of the [Death] Arcana I managed to completely stop his movements, therefore freeing myself from his hold. Taking advantage of his condition, I released a flurry of punches and kicks on his face and body, knocking him back.

"Kuh..." Argus grinned after the effect of the curse on his body ended. "What a powerful ability, Ren Mortel. You managed to land a hit on my handsome face, no one has done that before."

"Handsome, you say? You're right, that face will get these hands for real," I replied.

"Heh. We'll see about that. Uuuuuuoooooohhhhh!!!"

With a roar he appeared right in front of me in a blink of an eye, then he tackled me down and we both tumbled on the ground.

"You know that in terms of physical strength, you can't defeat me, right?" he said while trying to choke me with his powerful grip.

"G-Guoohhh..."

In order to loosen his grip on my neck, I wedged my chin against his hand as hard as I could. As both of my hands are also gripping his neck, I tried to use [Petrify] again but Argus, not letting himself fall for the same trick again, kept his eyes closed while in the melee.

"You've entertained me quite enough, Ren Mortel. Time for you to dieeeee!!!!"

With his choke grip becoming stronger and stronger, my own strength slowly began to falter. Letting go of his neck, I instead tried punching his face, but he merely laughed at my struggle.

"Ar...gus..."

When my airway are about to get crushed, the eye symbol on my left hand glowed with a fiery red light. Argus, sensing something ominous coming from the symbol, hurriedly let go of me and--

Pshiw--BBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

At that instant, a small red magic circle appeared on my palm which spewed out all the eyeballs that I absorbed like a machine gun, hitting Argus multiple times on his chest and torso. The explosions knocked him a few meters away from me, his body crashing against a partially destroyed wall.

"That was amazing, Ren!" Miss Lerish exclaimed.

"H-Heh? Ah, ehehe..." I felt a bit flattered from her words.

When I looked at my left hand, I noticed that the eyeball symbol was already gone, with the original symbol taking its place back.

The power to absorb things, and release them. I have only used each side once, but I can confidently say that this ability will be a good addition to my skillset.

"Miss Lerish, have you already got your slingshot back?"

"Ah, yes! With this I'll be able to..."

'H-Huh...?' her face suddenly froze as she looked at me. Confused, I looked over my shoulder and to my surprise--

"REN MORTEEELLLLL!!!!!"

"Kuh--"

"NO!!!" Miss Lerish shrieked in panic. She hurriedly grabbed her slingshot and fired a small stone aimed at Argus, who's about to stab me with his hand. He easily dodged the shot, but the stone hit an eyeball with a red iris floating several meters away instead, causing it to burst into black flames.

With her missing the shot, I felt myself falling quickly into despair for a moment, until Argus--

"W-What--GAAAAAAAAHHHHHH?!!!!"

All of a sudden, Argus roared in pain as he staggered away from me, pressing his hand against his right eye. Watching him writhe in pain, I asked her: "Miss Lerish, what's going on..."

"I am not sure about it," she looked at me with a sullen look on her face. "But it seems that his own eyes are also included in his collection."

"What?!" I exclaimed.

"Nn. He told me once about it, about his eyeball collection. He said that the ones that are in his eye sockets right now came from a powerful being that he defeated a long time ago, granting him the being's strength alongside the pair."

I looked around, and saw a strange looking eyeball with the same eye color as the one Miss Lerish destroyed, among the other colored ones. The eyeballs seem to know that one of Argus' original eyes was destroyed, that's why all of them started to surround and protect the remaining one.

"Miss Lerish..." I sighed again and said, "why did you not told that to me sooner? Had I knew about it beforehand..."

"Even if you know it, it'll be useless."

"Hm? Why?"

"Because...--"

GGGGRRRRAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Before Miss Lerish could even complete her sentence, Argus roared with an ear-shattering intensity as he stood in the middle of the hall, looking up the hole in the ceiling. Rich ichor flowed from his right eye socket, creating a pool of red liquid against the white marble underneath his feet. He screamed and screamed in frightening agony for a few seconds, until a strange light formed from his right eye socket.

"This...this is bad..."

PSSHHHHIIIIIIIIIIWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!

A few seconds later, a large pillar of crimson light came out of his eye socket and shot up to the sky, painting the surroundings a deep blood red. At the same time, the eyeballs floating around us started to fly erratically in circles around the red light, before getting sucked by it.

Unable to hold out my impatience, I grabbed her shoulders and asked, "Miss Lerish! Tell me, what's going on?!"

Looking at Argus with a face full of despair, she softly said--

"The being that he 'defeated'...it's starting to take over his body."

DOOOOGGUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNN!!!!!

Then, without any warning--a strong shockwave coming from him razed the entire hall, blowing away both Miss Lerish and I off the ground. The shockwave completely leveled the whole building and toppled down the trees in a large radius, even causing damage to the palace not too far away from the area.

"Miss Lerish! Are you okay?!" I asked her as my arms wrapped around her body, protecting her from any debris that might hit her.

"Y-Yes. I'm alright," she answered, her cheeks blushing for a bit.

"But that guy--how strong was the being inside him for it to take control of his body? Isn't he a god himself?"

"After he told me that story, and the events transpiring as of late, I started to have a suspicion that Argus himself is in fact, a weak one among the gods, and he merely made up the story about him defeating a strong being."

"So you're saying, instead of defeating it, he let the being reside in his body for as long as it wanted, in exchange for more power?"

"Nn. That's exactly what I had in mind," she nodded.

"Argus..."

If what Miss Lerish told me was true, then all this time we're just fighting only a small fraction of his 'actual' power. Everything that happened so far, are nothing compared to what will happen next.

"Ren, I'm afraid..." Miss Lerish muttered as she grasped my right hand.

Her hands...they're cold and slightly trembling because of fear. After all, it's her first time to see such a horrendous sight going on in front of her.

"I'm afraid, but I promised to Miss Aoi that I'll deal the finishing blow to this crisis I myself has caused. I have decided, that I'll see through this battle until the end."

"Miss Lerish..."

"That's why help me, Ren Mortel. Help me defeat Argus, and the evil awakening inside him."

As she spoke, her green eyes flash with resolve and confidence. Unlike the woman that fell into my arms, this woman emanates a spirit that doesn't waver even in front of danger itself.

Seeing her like that, I can't help but to respect this lady's wishes.

"Understood, Your Highness," I replied to her as I gave her ha d a light squeeze. "Your wish--is my command."

GUUUUOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Meanwhile, Argus--after several second of seemingly incessant screaming--finally fell into silence. The red pillar of light also subsided, leaving behind a pair of red lights under the guise of the dark.

"R-Ren? Is there something wrong?"

While Miss Lerish looked at me with a concerned face, I on the other hand--

"Y...Y-You..."

Letting go of Miss Lerish's hand, I slowly walked towards Argus.

"Ren, what are you doing?!"

"You..." I kept on walking towards him despite Miss Lerish's warnings.

Argus--or rather the one that was once called Argus Plume--stood proudly as he looked at me. His blood-red eyes shined ominously, and his aura is thicker than any other person I've met in my life.

This entity that took control of Argus' body--

"This time, I won't run away--demon!!!"