Akame Ga Kill - Split The Earth In Two, Quake

Chapter Fifty Four: Shol's Roar

Even though he's surrounded on all sides by his fellow Gods and those nearing their level, Shol stands firm, not afraid of those he believes are weaker than him. He looks around, looking for the perfect opportunity to strike before seeing one as Akame shifts her footing, preparing to strike at him again. As she rushes towards the monster, he focuses her down and sends his flaming arms at her. She slices through them, avoiding his attack, but the flames only reform behind her, taking the form of a long dragon that chases her down from behind. Esdeath calls out to the girl, saying, "You should really watch your back, Akame. You're showing far too many openings~", before sealing the flames away inside a tomb of ice, but it quickly melts when the flames make contact with its walls. "My flames can't be so easily contained, Befalla! You should know this by now, none of you have any hope of stopping me!!!", Shol exclaims as the flames head straight for Akame, who's broken away from her original objective to avoid the oncoming attack. As the dragon is about to consume her whole, Tatsumi steps in between them and slices the beast in half oncemore, temporarily delaying the attack. "We need to find some way to stop this before he burns us all to a crisp!", Tatsumi exclaims as he shifts his gaze to Shol, who's arms are now returning to his body. He draws his flamberg as he says, "You mortals don't seem to understand, you can't beat me!!" The God quickly charges at Akame, slashing wildly at the girl with his giant blade, but the assassin manages to barely block the attack with all her might. He leans over their blades to her, using his larger body to start pushing her back as he says, "But I must admit, you two mortals are truly strong, for bugs at least. I'll enjoy devouring your power!!" Akame quickly backs away from the clash and Tatsumi steps in, aiming to run the God through with his spear, but Shol manages to block the giant spear with his fire hands, causing an explosion to knock the blade out of the boy's hands before swinging down at the boy with his mighty flamberg. Esdeath and Budo both step in between them, Budo blocking the attack with his armored forearms as Esdeath runs the God's heart through with her blade. His body begins to freeze, but before it can be frozen solid, he lets out a massive wave of flames that erupt from the ground, engulfing them all in overwhelming heat. Budo manages to pull Esdeath back, only taking a few sever burns from the attack as Tatsumi saves Akame from the flames, his armor covered in multiple burns as he holds the assassin close, keeping the flames from getting to her. "You four, you have no hope of beating me! A couple of mortals and two half-rate Gods can't really think they have a chance of defeating the true God of this world!!! There's nothing stopping me from fulfilling my ultimate goal!", Shol proclaims as flames swirl around and slowly enter his body, causing it to glow with an intense heat like a small star. As he says this, there's a series of loud explosions quickly followed by a terrifying trembling through the ground, causing the ground under their feet to crack. They look over to Quake to see he's defeated the Emperor and is standing triumphantly over the machine with his Godly form still in tact. "What was that about us not having a chance?", Esdeath asks Shol mockingly as she looks over at the scene. Budo nods before adding, "It seems our odds just increased, Shol. Perhaps you should surrender before you meet the same fate as that dreadful machine." Shol only grins at the sight and says, "Oh well, I was looking forward to having that toy for myself, but since he's gone and broken it I'll just have to find another toy, or maybe a set of toys?"

As Quake takes off into the sky, he easily senses Shol's unique aura raging through the battlefield as he thinks, "His aura, it's spewing all over the City. He must have infused his undead soldiers with his energy to make them stronger. No matter. I'll just pinpoint the largest source of his aura and find him that way. He's never been one to be subtle about things." He easily finds Shol's location before diving down to the battlefield, joining his fellow Gods and friends in the fight against Shol. "Ah, so you've finally joined the party, Quake? I thought I could have been done with you thanks to that boy, but it seems he's just as useless as all these other mortals on this useless planet.", Shol says to the much larger God as he glares down at him. Quake only looks down at the God of Flames with a stern glare and with a quick twitch of his claw, the ground under the God's feet turns into dragon claws made of sand and stone that try to capture him, but Shol is too quick and manages to escape. "You think a simple trick like that will-", Shol begins to say before Quake starts charging his beam attack. Shol's relaxed and cocky tone quickly shifts to a more serious, focused look as he elegantly dodges past the claws and rushes towards Quake. With a single slash of his blade, he cuts through the ball of energy, causing the energy to spew out as he goes for another attack. He goes to stab his flamberg into Quake's skull, but the dragon quickly shifts its head and bites down into the blade, shattering it into tiny pieces of metal. As the shards of his blade go flying past him, Shol notices cracks in the dragon's scales and grins eagerly as he launches himself back with his flames. "To think he'd be in such a weakened state after just one fight! I knew I should have taken that Supreme meal for myself!!", Shol thinks to himself as he dodges an onslaught of attacks from Esdeath and Budo, who are unleashing their lightning and ice attacks upon him to help Quake. Shol lets out a hearty laugh before mocking the God, saying, "You almost had me there, Quake. I thought you'd actually ascended to your perfect form before I did. But I know you better than anyone here. The scales of the Great Earth Dragon don't crack so easily." As the others hear this, they see the small pieces of stone crumbling apart as they fall off Quake's new body. "So you've noticed. It's of little concern to you, since you will be leaving this world very soon.", Quake replies coldly as his stern glare continues to burn a hole into Shol's very soul. "You're in just a bad of shape as the others, how perfect. If that's the case, then I have nothing to fear from a few Mortals and these broken Gods!!", Shol exclaims as he forms two swords of flames, one in each fire hand, before charging at the group. Quake goes to attack, but before he can intercept it, Run flies down and blocks the attack with his wings. "R-Run!? You're here!!", Tatsumi happily exclaims, to which the God smiles and replies, "Yes, but I'm not alone." As he says this, they hear the sound of a small army marching through the street, and when they look to see who it is, they see Najenda with her band of Imperial Arm users. "So this is the only enemy left, huh? Should be easy with all of us here.", one of the Imperial Arm users suggests, to which Lubbock suggest, "How about you don't underestimate the enemy? There's a reason why they're the only one left so far, you'd do good to remember that." The girl quickly rolls her eyes at the boy before resting her ax on her shoulder and saying, "Whatever. What's the plan, General?" Najenda quickly analyzes the situation before saying, "We need to provide support from the back right now. All ranged Imperial Arms, to the front! Aim for General Hitzugaea!!" "Yes Ma'am!!", the soldiers exclaim as they take their positions, four of the soldier make up the front line. Shol looks befuddled by this and simply asks, "You think a few mortals will help tilt the balance in our powers? You're all mad! Let me show you, I'll show you the true differences in our power!! This is the power of one who deserves the title of the One True God!!!" The God lifts his hand up into the air and with his flaming hand wide open, the undead soldiers he once commanded along with the many soldiers he's slain so far explode with red aura leaving their bodies as they hit the ground and return to the earth. The aura starts to flow through the air like a powerful breeze that flows through the streets until eventually swirling around Shol as all of the members of the Rebel army watch on in disbelief. "W-what is this!? This aura, it's definitely General Hitzugaea, but-", one of the soldiers begins to ask as she looks on in disbelief. "Be on your guard!! We don't know what'll happen!!!", Najenda orders, to which the soldiers all take defensive positions as the aura begins to flow into Shol's body. Shol just chuckles before saying, "I've stored up energy for over a week in these vessels, storing their very souls into a well of energy. And now I can take all this power in all at once to show you what a real God look like!! Behold, the power of the One True God!!!!" As the God clenches his flaming hand into a fist, the aura around him ignites into an uncontrollable flame that shoots up into the sky as he exclaims, "Mugen Jigoku!!!" The sky suddenly gets engulfed in flames, all signs of clouds and rain are gone and the temperature shoots up to one hundred and ten degrees Fahrenheit. The flames that rage across the sky cover the entire continent, plunging the entire Empire into a living Hell. As the soldiers and Gods look on in horror, Shol only laughs maniacally to the sky as he monologues, saying, "This has been my plan for so many year!!! Your faces are perfect!! You finally see the difference in our powers!!! This is the power of the True God of this world!!! Do you understand!?!?" "You're crazy!!! Not even you can withstand this Hell!!!", Esdeath exclaims as she drops to her knees, weakened by the overwhelming heat. Shol just laughs her comment off before saying, "Of course I can, this is my preferred environment after all. This reminds me of those old days back long ago. Does it do the same for you, Quake!? Do you remember the times you'd lock me away below the earth, hoping to protect this damned world and these pathetic mortals that sprung up from it!?! Do you!?!" "Be silent, you demon!!!", Budo exclaims as he tries to call down lightning from the sky to strike Shol down, but nothing happens. Shol just laughs and explains, saying, "Your lightning won't answer your call!! It's being overtaken by my Mugen Jigoku!! You're just as helpless now as those damned mortals over there!! You can burn to death with them as well!!!" As he says this, dark clouds form in the sky and fire begins to rain down from above, scorching the land with a hellish flame. "This is the end for everything!! You should all just die!!!", Shol happily exclaims before bursting out into uncontrollable laughter. Quake rushes in to attack him, but Shol manages to dodge his giant claw attack. "He's the one who's controlling this storm!! If we stop him, we can stop the hellfire!!! Come on, everyone!!! CHARGE!!!", the soldier exclaims with her ax drawn as she and three other soldiers charge in after Shol. "No, don't go foolishly charging in!!!", Budo exclaims, but it's too late. With only a glance, the small flames around them grow into a raging, destructive forest fire that engulf them all in an instant, burning them alive. As they scream out in pain, Shol grabs the girl by the throat and tells her, "To do such a foolish thing as challenging a God, you mortals are truly foolish." He rips the ax out of her crumbling hands as her body begins to break down into nothing but ashes, and as he holds the ax in his hands he says, "I should really be thanking you, Quake. You've brought me quite the feast here. Nearly every Imperial Arm is on this battlefield, and I'll enjoy absorbing every last one of them into my new body when the time comes!" With a clench of his fist, the ax shatters and a gem falls to the ground as it glows mystically. "With every heart I take in, I'll grow stronger. And as we fight, you'll only get weaker. All of you should simply give up and forfeit your lives to me. If you do, I might just make your deaths quick and painless.", Shol gloats as he crushes the gem and the green aura that escapes it gets absorbed into his body. He turns his attention back to Quake, who's only gritting his teeth in frustration as his body continues to crumble apart in this harsh weather. "You're still fighting? Very well, but I'm going to make sure I get my payback for all those years you locked me away, Quake.", Shol says as he starts to walk towards Quake, preparing to fight. His path is quickly blocked by a blast of metal feathers as Run shouts out, "I won't let you do that!!!" "Ah, where are my manors? I almost forgot you were here, Akatsu. I'm surprised you even chose a side. You always stood off on the sidelines, preferring to stay out of these sort of issues. Why stick your nose in this now!?", Shol growls as he glares over at Run. Run simply glares back at him before sternly replying, "I'm doing this because I believe in Minazuki, and in Quake. They want to make this world a better place and bring peace to this world!!! We can't do that with you in it, Shol!! We must purge you from this realm!!!" Shol coats himself in flames, but a strong wind begins to blow around him before he's suddenly locked inside the center of a vortex of air. "Your attacks are all fire based!! Fire requires air to keep burning, so if I lock you inside this vortex, you can't conjure your flames!! And if your body gives out on you, you can't control these flames anymore!!!", Run exclaims as the vortex around Shol intensifies, killing the flames all around him. Shol just smirks at this before a blade-shaped bone goes flying out of the vortex, slashing Run across his cheek as he dodges the attack. The vortex suddenly dies down and Shol emerges unscathed. "That was clever, but I'm afraid I have a few more tricks up my sleeves, Akatsu.", Shol says as he creates a large two-handed sword made of his own extended bones.

Shol focuses his cold glance on the blood dripping from Run's face and thinks, "So Akatsu is still alive. Then perhaps Murasame would work on her? It would make absorbing her powers much easier." He readies his blade and launches himself straight at Run, who goes to block the attack with his wings. Shol, however, changes his path right before hitting the boy, shifting his aim to Akame, who barely manages to deflect his oncoming attack. Much to her surprise, he places his open palm right in her face and fires a powerful blast of fire at her, scorching everything in front of him with hellfire. Instead of smiling happily, however, he only growls and mutters, "You're such a pest, especially for a human." He slashes down with his sword and Tatsumi manages to block it with his spear-head as he holds Akame, his body still on fire. "Tatsumi, you-", Akame begins to mutter before Tatsumi coughs up a bit of blood and drops to his knees in pain. "I should have expected as much from you, Tyrant. You're going as strong as usual, though that carcass looks terrible on you.", Shol notes as he lifts his free hand up into the air. He begins to charge a powerful blast of energy, but before he can unleash it upon the two, Tatsumi quickly turns around and unleashes a powerful punch to the God's chest, shattering every one of his ribs and sending him skidding across the ground before finally coming to a stop. "Tatsumi, are you-", Esdeath begins to ask him as she desperately tries to stand, but falls to back to her knees as he lets out a blood chilling roar. The armor around his body begins to change, growing dramatically in size and its aura whirling and rampaging around him. The armor quickly morphs into the form of a powerful dragon, smaller than Quake, but still threatening to say the least. As the beast lets out a threatening roar, the very ground trembles and Najenda and her soldiers are pushed back by the raw force behind the roar. It rushes towards Shol, lashing out wildly with powerful punches and blasts of energy. Much to the God's surprise, Tyrant's raw power is equal to his current power. Shol is quickly sent crashing into the ground, coughing up blood as Tyrant's mighty fist crashes down into him. "Tatsumi!!!", Akame exclaims at the top of her lungs at the behemoth continues to wail away at the broken God. "You promised me... You promised you'd come back alive!! You still need to come back to mine, so don't disappear now!! Tatsumi!!!", Akame continues calling out to the boy, seeming to gain the beast's attention. It turns to her and a voice similar to Tatsumi's, but slightly warped, slowly mutters, "Mine...Mine..! MINE!!!" "Have to stop...this heat...Mine is probably mad... She hates the heat... Before I disappear...have to...help them...before he takes over completely!!!", Tatsumi manages to say as he fights Tyrant for control. As he does this, Shol just stands up from the crater sized hole in the ground as he says, "That's what I was expecting. You've always been quite the powerhouse, Tyrant. But I'm afraid this isn't enough to stop me." When they see Shol's broken body, they see fire is starting to spew out of the cracks in his flesh and from his now open eye socket. "Unlike you, Quake, I've been preparing for this very moment for years, so I know exactly what to do now.", Shol explains as his body begins to glow with an ominous light. His flesh suddenly erupts into a giant pillar of flames, forcing Tatsumi back as he blocks the flames with his crossed forearms. Tatsumi and Quake both throw a punch into the flames, but two claws suddenly emerge from the flames and catch their attacks, causing Quake's eyes to widen in disbelief. "You were a fool to waste your energy to fight that useless mortal in that pathetic mortal body, Quake. All you did was waste your energy, energy you could have put into your new body. That's why you're falling apart at the seems right now. I bet you're using all your might just trying to hold yourself together, aren't you?", Shol mocks Quake as the flames around him start to die down. This reveals his new form, a dragon with red and black scales that radiate with an unbelievable amount of heat. "Now there's no living thing on this planet that can challenge me. This is the end of everything.", Shol confidently gloats in his new form.