Danmachi: the Great Devourer

C157: Battle between Spartans.

Alt Title Teaser: Falsehood

Overall Word count = 2501 on 11/7/2024. 

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The stab wound and subsequent punch to Alaya would have typically been enough to put down any inferior foe but after allowing the katana stabbed into her lungs to be pulled out by her, her condition began to rapidly change to how it was before. When she was still unharmed, yet Axel can tell as he reforms back into his full sized body, that her energy signature dropped heavily. Just a few more injuries like this as she would be completely defenseless.

There is just one small problem, he is not likely to get such a sneak attack chance again. As such, he has to innovate in some other manner or simply overwhelm her. He observes how she reorganizes herself before extending both her hands to summon two different trinkets. Axel prepares himself for what comes next. Yet what happens next is beyond his understanding as a suit of armor is formed around Alaya.

That suit of armor is made of a pure black body suit with chunks of armor covering the legs in remote sections with a few spikes spread out. Her arms bear a similar situation yet with a predominant mane behind her back and a sun eye made of metal hanging on the mane by her left shoulder. On her chest is a bit of white with a pure red gem hanging like an amulet. Suddenly the entire suit of armor bursts into flames.

Those flames condense into an illusionary flaming eye just above her head as she releases the chant.

"O nomen perditum, invoco genus tuum. Solem vi testor. (oh forsaken name, I call upon your lineage. Witness the power of the sun.)"

Vasavi Shakti!!!

With the chant completed, The flaming eye bursts into flames again, only to condense into a dense into a swirling red energy spear that Alaya points towards Axel. With the appearance of the spear, intense flames begin to be emitted from it as starting from the land that Alaya was standing on, the flames melt the very ground and rapidly spread out. Axel can tell that the current fires can shatter his draconic scales with ease, as if the flames have the capability to destroy that which is divine in nature. As such he takes on an odd stance as [Raphael] reveals to him a fatal flaw in the skill or rather all skills that Alaya is unleashing upon him. 

This flaw showcases that her trinkets are fully reliant on the actual immortal being 'available' to her for synchronicity and using their abilities. Which is why he stands still and even summons a bland spear to lean against as he watches how the flames approach him before suddenly vanishing as the energy spear in her hand begins to fade into nothingness.

To explain this situation, we have to go back to a few moments ago. 

Previously, he had released a [Doppelganger] underground earlier when he teleported away earlier to dodge Ibarakis flame pillars. In the previous squatting position, he had released a slime version of his clone to retreat to the camp. (This was the second aspect of 'sneaky sneaky' from the alt title)

Due to this, Axel (clone) now finds a reasonably handsome immortal with white hair by the name of Karna on his back on the floor. There are a few civilians huddled around him, trying to help them but he just lets out a grunt as he plain faced states, "Such a situation is of no concern to any of you, leave me be." The stoic hero who was previously trapped within Orario shows no reaction to his current situation other than the occasional grunt. Yet that soon stops as Axel approaches and swipes his hand at him, making him disappear and reappear within his territory. 

(Art of original skill owner here)

The glow around the aged hero disappears as his status returns to normal. His next course of action is to analyze his current surroundings but he only finds that he is at the edge of a rural village outskirts. Yet strangely there is a magical presence around him and when he looks up, he finds that there are two tablets facing down. They offer differing viewpoints. One Karna recognizes as the ruins of the now Orario as well as Alaya whom Axel is facing. The dissipating energy lance a clear indicator to the long sealed hero of the cause of his ailment. He rushes to the center to get a better view. 

Whilst doing so, he spots the second screen that shows the location he was just lying down at and the reaction of the villages who seem to calm down at the viewpoint owners words about Karna getting better.

"Alaya, what scheme of yours is this now??!!" Karna speaks out loud which surprises Raikou who is sitting on a sofa with her now refilled smoothie, enjoying the show. 

"Oh hi Karna, come join me, Axel was able to both punch and stab Alaya. It's quite therapeutic." Her tone exemplifies how at ease she feels. A chair actually appears beside her (still at least 5 ft away from her tho) with an alcoholic beverage in its slot. (like those folding camp chairs made of plastic). Karna offers no words as he takes a seat in the lesser quality chair as he leans back to 'enjoy the view' as Raikou quotes it.

Back on the battlefield.

Alaya is quite baffled that her essentially surefire method to finally take Axel down was simply extinguished, she surmised that Axel did something but doesnt jump to any specific assumption as such, she attempts to bring back Ibarakis sword but the trinket blade only appears in her hand for a second before dissipating like it did with Karna's ability. 

She finally extends her senses to the local immortals and finds that one by one, they are disappearing from her senses, but she does pick up on something that has the same aura as Axel, something that is foreign to her. She quickly surmises that Axel had sent out a clone or puppet to collect the immortals to stop her from using their power. 

Understanding that her greatest source of power is being taken away, she can only take on a drastic action. 

Meanwhile, Axel notices that she is stunned from the multiple revelations or the possible backlash of this ability of hers to copy others. He dashes in with [Innate Speed], the movement technique variant of [war gods strike] and his fist is about to come into contact with her face again when she snaps out of her contemplation and shoves forward the trinket in her other hand that she had summoned at the same time as Karnas but kept on the backseat. 

"o dignus bellator, profer clypeum et hastam tuam! Thermopylae Enomotia" (oh worthy warrior, Bring forth thy shield and spear! Thermopylae Enomotia) She hurriedly chants as a firm glow covers her, ghosts of many barely clothed soldiers wielding their shields in front of them take a defensive stance. A barrier forms that blocks Axel's attack but he is now the one being shocked. 

Not through any sort of attack but rather through the old memories of one of the two gods of his soul. Kratos, the ghost of Sparta. Seeing the very lookalike soldiers standing before him, defending against him. An uncalled for rage sparks within Axel as a pair of chain blades are summoned upon him through his [Spirit Energy] transformation. 

Just in front of Alaya, a shadow of the original who casts this skill appears as he is the center of the defensive formation, facing down Axel with a steady gaze with his spear reared back, just waiting for the right opportunity.

(Leonidas pic here, looks cooler with helmet from stage 1 & 2)

"Spartans!!!" Axel calls out to them, Alaya is confused by his shout as there is no such thing as Sparta in this land but unknown to her, before she had been born to the 'sacred' duty of being the Spirit of Humanity. The army of 300 was secretly called Spartans by it's very leader as a call to arms. The name was only ever shouted before monster hordes from time memorial, as such no other human except the sole Immortal knows this name. He had taken measures to cover parts of his mind in protective seals as a form of protection against hostile immortals but this had also prevented Alaya from reading his mind. 

As such, when Axel calls out to the ghosts like this, they shimmer as if they can comprehend his words, yet they remain stoic from their training but Axel continues speaking, 

"Spartans, gaze upon yourself and your brothers. Am 'I' the enemy you should face? Am 'I' the greater danger to your home and brothers? Is your leader the one really in front of you? I can only tell you this. You….have won. Your sacrifice had meaning, You remain the steadfast pillar of security. I grant you the privilege of rest. Respect my words for I am the Ghost of the God of Sparta." His voice calms down from a shout to now more than a whisper after asking the third question. The soldiers seem moved when they hear they won but can only continue to support Leonidas in front of them. Their loyalty to him steadfast.

Axel raises the twin chain blades with a grunt as if the blades are heavy, yet the case is that he is gripping them tightly as the full essence of the [Rage of Sparta], a skill that he did not actually lose since before his final transformation to 'Level 10', he had made a copy of all his skills at that time. As such, he calls upon those skills for a single raging blast whilst still stacking on top [War gods Rage] as well as his own self made magic skill, FireStorm. 

The blades soon come down just in front of the barrier of 300. They tense up in response to his attack but nobody could have expected this level of destruction. The rage of sparta and the mixed skill war gods strike were infused into the Fire Storm. Thus introducing the concept of a nuke to the ancient people as Axel actually didn't stop there, he siphoned the heat of the earth at the spot his blades connected to heighten it's power and the explosive force as a volcanic eruption is. The appearance of the fire makes it a match for the earlier 'Vasavi Shakti'.

With Axel as the center, the fire and lava spreads out in all directions but is primarily focused in front of him towards the spartans. The barrier stands strong in the beginning but one by one, the various soldiers inside dissipate until there is only the shadow of Leonidas himself left. The wall collapses soon enough but so does the explosion end. 

The spartan general finally thrusts his spear forward. The spear wields a large amount of power but with all but himself gone, the power is more limited, afterall, Thermopylae Enomotia is stronger the more soldiers survive the oncoming attack. 

Axel rises from his attack as he anticipates the incoming counterattack but the ghost in front of him has barely any strength he himself possesses without his actual body. Axel moves forward, rising the twin blades in a 'V' shape to catch the spear in between and then he slid forward, slashing out with an 'X' shape over his chest which causes him to dissipate as Axel continues with another "V' shape attack that properly cuts off both of Alaya's arms.

While Axel was dealing with the barrier, Alaya had been summoning her final trump card. One that even she herself could not actually wield as the weapon was far too sentient, even a copy would recognize that Alaya is not 'worthy' of using it.

After having her arms cut off, she dashes towards where her right hand is but before she can recover her arms, the trinket in hand lands on the ground and begins to personally link with the main body but due to the slight stolen mana, it's aura tainted. 

Before the two of them, a black pillar of light stands up a solid meter up down. Black lights begin to come down, wrapping around said spear of black light as winds begin to swirl around it. 

Alaya finally recovers her arms as she attempts to take control of the spear of black light by saying the chant, "Sancta hasta, lux maxima. Nemo enim gloriam tuam intelligere potest. signacula tua effunde et da misericordiam Rhongo-Myniad" (Oh Holy spear, revel in the greatest light. For none can understand thy glory. Shed thy seals and grant mercy Rhongo-Myniad)

Yet Alayas thoughts are shattered by two revelations. The first is that Axel's clone had just stored away Artoria and her family but strangely enough, the original spear had not entered the internal world like planned. What happens now is that the solidary spear sits embedded in the ground, glowing in holy light in response to Alayas altered dark spear. 

Both spears gather light and energy from the surroundings before shooting up a beam of energy into the sky. The sky is split between a golden light and a dark one. But there is a small area where they meet that becomes gray light.

Alaya falls to her knees as without Artoria out, the spear only consumes her own magical energy but this in turn begins to make her own body dissipate as her magical energy IS her body. 

Axel had stopped moving forward as he was conferring with [Raphael] on how to proceed as with his clones senses, he can physically see the original spear but with his main body, sense the holy aura.

["The combination of the contrasting affinities will soon explode, while it might look stable, it is farthest from it. You have to take these steps if you want this world to survive at all: …."] Axel almost trips on nothing as he is shocked at the revelation of what he has to do since he is not certain of his own survival if he follows through. 

Axel sighs as he watches Alaya turn to dust, her face an expression of unwillingness and agony as the spirit of humanity falls to the fake pillar of the world itself. He closes the viewing screens inside his territory as he teleports next to his clone which was standing near the holy spear. Axel absorbs the clone and empowers himself as much as he can before leaping high into the sky. Right in the center of the mixed energies. He activates [Great Devourer] to the fullest but he can't absorb any one thing at this time but he has to take in everything at once.

BOOOOMMMM

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Alt Title: Hiding the immortals, "Ghost of a god of Sparta". Fake/altered Rhongomyniad