Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit

"...okay, it's kinda pissing me off how easy that was for you," Frowned Lexia, as Aster stood over the corpse of the Fire Dragon.

Right after they encountered it, Tacitus got its attention before Aster snuck in close and unleashed his Telekinetic Zone Spell, getting the Monster's neck within the range of the Spell and then telekinetically crushed its throat.

It only took them about half a minute to kill the creature, and they'd done so unscathed...which dealt somewhat of a blow to Lexia's pride.

"Well, it's more a matter of compatibility...I mean, Assassins aren't suited to direct combat. In fact, you two are unusually high-skilled at direct combat for Assassins, so-...," Began Aster, in an effort to make her feel better.

"Spare me the sympathy," Huffed Lexia, before making her way towards the doorway.

"Come on, let's get the weapon in there and clear the final strength to the last remaining one," Remarked Tacitus, as he followed after her, along with Colt.

"Yeah, okay," Sighed Aster, before the four of them walked through the doorway and entered the room.

As they walked in, Aster approached the stone coffin, lifting the lid off telekinetically and placing it on the ground, before they all peered into the box curiously.

"Those look like gauntlets. Huh, do these really count as weapons? I mean, they're more like articles of armor, and I wouldn't call armor a weapon," Mused Lexia thoughtfully.

"Let's check out the description...'Impact, these gauntlets magnify the force of the wearer's strikes upon impact while also serving as a sturdy defense while being deceptively lightweight'. Huh, interesting, unlike the other Relic Armaments we've collected so far, these could work for almost any Template," Aster remarked as he picked up and read the text inscribed on stone tablet next to the gauntlets.

"They're pretty long, looks like they cover everything from the wearer's hands upto a little past their elbows. And yeah, they're really light despite how they look...what kind of metal is this? It's really tough even though it weighs practically nothing, and it's a lot more flexible than you'd think," Added Tacitus, as he lifted the gauntlets out of the coffin and inspected them, before putting some pressure on them to assess their durability.

"I bet these will suit Celia pretty well. Her skill with martial arts are fairly high level, but her strikes don't pack much power...and she can't use her Explosion Magic at close range without hurting herself in the process, so having a close-range, heavy hitting option would be great for her," Remarked Colt thoughtfully.

"Yes, I agree. I did consider giving them to Raven, but he has plenty of brute strength at his disposal as it is, so giving these to Celia would be a lot more practical," Surmised Aster with a nod.

"Speaking of those two, if they did end up landing below us after we got caught up in that trap, they've probably reached the lowest level by now. And that might not necessarily be a good thing...we should hurry and clear the remaining levels," Spoke up Lexia with a grimace.

"Aw, look at you, all worried and stuff, how sweet," Grinned Colt teasingly.

"Wh-wha-...n-no, it's not like I'm worried or whatever, I just, uh...I just want to get healed as soon as possible, my arms are killing me!" She responded with a defensive huff.

"Joking aside, I'm starting to get concerned about them myself. Raven's still pretty inexperienced, and Celia has trouble keeping her guard up sometimes...come on, let's go. Hopefully, our worries will be unfounded. For all we know, they might have already found the final Relic Armament and are now waiting for the rest of us to catch up."

Unbeknownst to the four of them, Raven and Celia were having a less-than-pleasant time down on the sixty-fifth level...

"I-I'll...I'll kill you!" Snarled Raven, as he swung open his jaws and unleashed another blazing wave of purple flames towards the Undead King.

"Weren't you listening? I'm not alive, so I can't be killed...and just to be clear, it's impossible for me to cease to exist in any manner. Even if you wipe out every last trace of me, I'll still come back in an instant...such is the power of my Undead Magic!" He exclaimed in response, as he raced across to evade the flames.

"I'll hang back and cover you," Said Celia, as she got back onto her feet and backed away several paces, as she thought to herself, "It's frustrating, but the most I can do right now is back him up from a distance...I want to fight alongside him, but I'll only get in the way, I'm nowhere near fast enough to keep up. No point in feeling sorry for myself about it though, so I might as well try to do the best I can within my current capabilities!"

Raven continued unleashing flames at the Undead King, along with firing out piercing beams from his eyes...most of his relentless attacks were landing, but the Undead King regenerated in the blink of an eye every time.

"Yes! This is what I've been craving for all these centuries! A real fight! Ever since I first discovered the true potential of my Undead Magic, there was no going back, nothing beats the pleasure of an intense battle!" He declared gleefully, before continuing as he raced across to evade a barrage of incoming fireballs, "You see, my Undead Magic can turn corpses in loyal servants that do my bidding, so I'd assumed it was only suited for support, I thought it made me useless in combat. But I was wrong!"

"I don't care, so shut the fuck up!" Snapped Raven with a deep, feral snarl, as he spread out his wings and shot towards the Undead King with immense speed, extending out his claws as he wrapped intense, crackling lightning around his entire body.

"Shush, don't tell me what to do, and don't interrupt me when I'm speaking," Frowned the Undead King, as Raven closed in on him and swung his claws across, severing the Undead King's right arm as he shuffled across to the left, before continuing as his arm rapidly grew back while the severed arm simultaneously turned to smoke and disappeared, "You see, during a certain battle, I found myself on the verge of death, so I used my Undead Magic on myself, gaining immense power at the measly cost of my humanity...and that's how I became the Immortal Undead King! I was-...!"

"Like I said...I DON'T CARE!!!" Roared Raven, as he slammed his fist onto the Undead King's back and unleashed a fierce burst of lightning, blasting a hole through his torso, before Raven's eyes widened in alarm as the Undead King's foot swung back, slamming onto his stomach and sending him flying back.

Raven extended out his claws and jammed them into the ground to halt himself, while the Undead King raced across to evade a barrage of incoming explosions.

"I won't warn you again, don't interrupt me. Now, as I was saying...once I turned myself Undead, not only did it make me immortal, but it gave me beyond superhuman strength and speed, as well as immensely heightening my senses, which allowed me to perceive things that normal humans can't," He explained as he evaded Celia's explosions, before continuing as he lifted and chucked a large chunk of rubble towards Raven, "I then conquered the region you call the Death Zone, before I was defeated and captured by the first Homunculus, the ruler of Persona at the time."

"Shut up and DIE ALREADY!!!" Snarled Raven viciously, as he smashed the large, incoming chunk of rubble with a powerful punch, before unleashing a deafening roar towards the Undead King.

"Damn, that's loud...but such an attack isn't going to be too effective against me. Now, where was I? Right, my defeat to the first Homunculus. That bastard trapped me down here, this collar keeps me bound to this area, it teleports me back to this spot if I venture out of the sixty-fifth level, and it's impossible to destroy. Even if my body is completely wiped out, I'll reform with this accursed collar around my neck!" He exclaimed furiously as he sprang up to evade a flurry of fireballs from in front of him and a barrage of explosions from behind him, adding as the attacks crashed onto the spot where he'd been standing, "Do you have any idea how frustrating it is!? I've let countless Monsters attack me, in the hope that they might be able to destroy this collar and free me, but it never worked! I've tried slicing off my own head to try and remove the collar, but it just teleports back around my neck every time I try that!"

He then turned his gaze across as Raven flew up and came charging towards him, his entire body intensely sparking and crackling with lightning as he flapped his wings in a rapid blur, closing in on the Undead King and driving his claws into his sides.

The Undead King's skin started to get charred black as Raven's lightning flowed into his body, before he slammed his fist onto the middle of Raven's stomach, eliciting a sharp gasp from him before he got sent hurtling down towards the ground, a loud crash echoing out as his body crashed onto the ground with an intense impact

.

"Ah, it feels good to have vented out my centuries-worth of built-up frustration like that. Enough about me...let's talk about you now, shall we?" Smirked the Undead King, as a wave of flames came shooting up towards him from below, before glancing back as a large explosive sphere came barreling up from behind.

The sphere slammed onto his back, before erupting fiercely and blowing his body to bits, the flames engulfing the chunks of his body and setting them ablaze, turning them to ash in a matter of seconds.

The collar plummeted and hit the ground with a clatter, without so much as a scratch on it, before it suddenly disappeared as the Undead King's body rapidly formed again, the collar appearing around his neck.

"See what I mean? No matter what I try, I just can't seem to get rid of this thing," He sighed, before turning to his left as Raven came charging towards him.

Raven slashed at his head with his claws as he closed in, before the Undead King grabbed his wrist, halting the swing of his arm before his claws could reach him.

"Damn you...!" Growled Raven, starting to open his jaws before the Undead King swiftly drove his knee up, slamming it against Raven's chin and snapping his mouth shut, wisps of flames bursting out the sides of Raven's jaws before the Undead King slammed his palm onto his chest, sending Raven flying back several meters as he let out a gasp of pain.

He twisted his body across in mid-air to reduce the momentum, before sharply spreading out his wings to halt himself, the lightning around his body intensifying as he growled in anger.

"Let me enlighten you on your abilities, you hardly seem to know anything about them...you see, the Homunculus Ritual makes your subconscious stronger, as a sort of defense mechanism. After all, that ritual bestows a tremendous amount of power to its vessel, power that takes a lot of time and effort to learn how to fully control. In situations where your emotions go out of control or you're in serious danger, your subconscious will take over to protect you," The Undead King informed him, as he turned his body across to evade a rapid, slashing wave of flames.

"Despite saying he was done talking earlier, he sure is running his mouth now, huh?" Celia thought to herself with a grimace, as Raven unleashed a sharp sonic screech towards him.

"The core of your emotions lie in your subconscious, that's why you're more aggressive and emotionally volatile when you're in this state. Things you would normally keep bottled in, like violent impulses and dark thoughts, come closer to the surface in this state...you're consumed by those strong emotions, unable to think clearly. Although...seeing as you can still speak and haven't gone completely feral, it seems you're restraining your subconscious from completely taking over," Realized the Undead King, before adding while he raced across to evade the sonic screech, "If I had to guess, you're not in full control of your actions right now...you're conscious of everything that's happening, but it's like your body is moving on its own for the most part, am I wrong?"

"Shut up, don't act like you know me!" Shot back Raven, as he opened his mouth and unleashed a barrage of intense fireballs in rapid succession, as Celia followed his lead and unleashed several rapid explosive projectiles towards the Undead King.

"You should know, you can't maintain this state for long...it'll wear off before long, since this amount of power is beyond what you're currently capable of controlling. And with your conscious mind currently battling your subconscious mind to restrain it from taking full control, staying in this state for too long will irreversibly damage your conscious mind. At worst, you could end up completely brain dead...before that happens, your body will automatically recede your power boost to prevent that. It should happen any minute now," Chuckled the Undead King, before he shot towards Raven, letting his fireballs hit him, severely burning his body only to recover from the burns near-instantly.

"Sh-shit...I think he's right, it's starting to feel like something inside my head is slipping, and it feels like I'm moving slower than I was just a moment ago," Raven thought to himself with a grimace, a hint of clarity returning to his mind as his current state began to waver.

He then extended out his claws and shot towards the Undead King, slashing at him ceaselessly, but his attacks weren't landing, his speed steadily starting to wane.

"It's unfortunate...at your current level, I won't get to face your full power. I'd say you were accessing somewhere between thirty to forty percent of your full power, and without the power boost, you were probably at around fifteen percent, maybe twenty at most. Restraining your subconscious from taking control is what's keeping you from unleashing a hundred percent of your potential...of course, you'll lose control and turn into a mindless, rampaging beast, but as a tradeoff, you'll be much, much, MUCH more powerful," Smirked the Undead King as he evaded the slashes of Raven's claws with increasing ease, trying to goad him into giving in to his subconscious.

But Raven had no intention of doing so...he knew that he could end up hurting Celia, or worse, if he lost control. But he was also now painfully aware of the fact that he couldn't defeat this being, only one option left in his mind...

"Get out of here, now! I'll hold him off!" Raven yelled at Celia.

"No fucking way I'm escaping by myself!" She shot back without hesitation, starting to take aim at the Undead King with another Explosion Spell, before stopping with a grimace as she thought to herself, "Damn it...I can't get a clear shot, if I fire right now, I'll hit Raven too!"

"Please, I'm not letting either of you two escape me, don't even bother trying. Now, then, there's one last thing I'll say...well, telling you this is pointless since you're about to die soon, but I suppose there's no harm. The only reason you're able to resist and restrain your subconscious from fully taking over is because your mastery over your Magic Power is still fairly low...but the more of it you master, and the stronger the pressure of your Aura becomes, the harder it'll get to restrain your subconscious in situations like this," Laughed the Undead King, as he ducked under the slash of Raven's claws before slamming his fist onto the middle of his face, breaking his nose.

"You bastard...!" Growled Raven through gritted teeth, as blood poured out of his nostrils, before he quickly sprang back as the Undead King reached out towards his neck.

"Although, once you've mastered more than around eighty percent or so of your Magic Power, this defense mechanism will turn dormant, as it won't give you much of a power boost anymore at that point. Right, that's everything I know regarding Homunculi...at the very least, you won't have to die while being completely clueless about your powers, so, you know...you're welcome," Gloated the Undead King with a malevolent chuckle, as he took a step towards Raven with a dark gleam in his eyes...