Testament - Vol 1. RE:BiRTH

Resonance : The Final

"So that's a Chimera... I don't think I've ever seen one like that. Looks pretty... Humanoid?"

Guisei looked at the bubbling blob of ash and blood that his blade pierced. reiju crackled through the blade before dissipating into golden fireflies.

"You haven't seen one of those before. I thought you and Wrath's daughter would've encountered them when handling some missions for Lady Leviathan while traveling the Dark Continent," Akihiko said, smirking at the sight of Nabi.

Nabi's gaze dulled at the sound of Akihiko's voice. "We haven't, and it's Nabi, Pride."

Silence, Akihiko watched the girl's gaze darken, the irises of her eyes illuminating for the white pupils to reveal themselves more. He remembered a similar sight with a similar being, cracked skin, and an aura of pure rage surrounded him. A sigh escaped his lips, knowing that a battle like this had no worth...

"An honest mistake."

"A mistake that you won't repeat, I hope, young prince." Nabi replied in an equally polite tone to Akihiko's; a placed threat locked behind dead eyes.

"I... I don't know how to talk to you..."

Words didn't matter in Tara's eyes, her gaze trailing the beast's corpse, watching as reiju outside of its body trickled into it like black beetles eating away at a dead organism. She cringed behind her mask, knowing the battle wasn't over just yet, whether from the two who prolonged the chimera's regeneration or the chimera itself, something would need to die before the mask left her face.

A hollow chime filled the air. reiju and a lot of it expanded past the wasteland like a wave of the ocean, its pressure crawling across all four of their skins as they focused their gazes onto the chimera's body as it rose. Black lightning crackled around its body, as its skin grew, gaining form and mass. Ash-like winds swirled around its grotesque form, obscuring it from their sights.

Black winds swirled around it like a corrupt tornado, lifting its body into the black sky. The beast's eyes shone and its body expanded, growing wider and vaster. Like a doll attempting to find a purpose, its form shifted once more, from dragon to man to something entirely. The four watched as a hand gripped the edge of the speeding winds, its skin cut and bruised before returning to the same ash as before. From within its maelstrom of a prison came forth a giant beast.

Demonic horns and markings of steam covered its body.

Black beetles of reiju crawled across the chimera's body; from its arm to the palm of its hand, swirling around it and forming a giant sword similar to the one that cut its body in two. Guisei looked at the display as the chimera's eyes returned to their silver. He couldn't suppress the urge to say so, watching the stylized craftsmanship of the blade as if it had combined the experience of every Greed Curse Series user into one creation. A failure of a creation in Guisei's eyes as he felt the hollow at the sight of it. Regardless, the words left his lips.

"My...my brother."

Akihiko closed his eyes, feeling the reiju all around them, the way its pressure crawled beneath his skin, even the feeling of it expanding further and further through the land of Limbo infinitely. The young man straightened up, velvet flames flickering around him as he spoke.

"I take back what I said. It has a lot more reiju than you do, Tara."

"Be glad this mask hides my expressions then."

The young man shifted his gaze to the rest that were present. Guisei kept his eyes on the beast, watching its reiju carefully, his golden eyes shining brighter as he analyzed its form, looking for a way to take the titanic beast down. His eyes flickered to Nabi who met his gaze head on. Before he could speak, the words already left her lips.