Chapter 179 - #178 Fusion of 2 (1/2)

'My territory is being forcefully transformed...I have to absorb the remaining ice to recover at least some of my energy.' Esdeath thought with narrowed eyes as she started absorbing the remaining chunks of ice that were being melted by the magma, however, this action allowed her to recover only a quarter of her energy.

'This is bad...I can feel that he is about to do something significant. If I want to have a chance at winning, I have to release all of my remaining energy at once in one attack.' Esdeath thought as she flew to the air to save her stamina from having to constantly dodge magma bursting out of the ground.

---On the hill---

Kurome and Mera were currently stunned by Akashi's change and although Mera already knew this would have happened, she was still dumbfounded how both Akashi and Esdeath could change the entire terrain with their powers.

The changes in terrain helped in melting the ice prison but even that was going very slowly since Akashi limited the changes on the hill so girls wouldn't have to be in danger. Both Mera and Kurome helped Poney break the ice prison and by constantly pummeling the ice prison from within and from the outside made it crack very quickly.

”Thanks, let's go help Taeko” Poney said while getting rid of a few pieces of ice stuck in her hair with an irritated expression.

”No need to...” Mera said and both Kurome and Poney looked at her with questioning gaze and instead of explaining, Mera pointed towards the last remaining ice prison.

They looked towards it and saw numerous flashes all around the prison before the prison crumbled into pieces, revealing Taeko's figure holding her katana in both hands.

*huff* *huff* Taeko supported her body with her katana.

”Are you alright?” Mera asked with a teasing smile.

”*huff* Y-Yes, thanks for not helping me...” Taeko replied with a faint smile which slightly confused Poney and Kurome.

”*That's called being competitive.*” Mera leaned towards Kurome and Poney and whispered with a playful smile.

”What is happening?” Taeko muttered when she noticed the drastic changes in terrain and the large pillar of flowing magma in the middle with Esdeath floating in front of it.

”That's what he told me about...He told me that he hopes you won't start fearing him after seeing him.” Mera took a few steps forward before saying.

”What do you exactly mean by that?” Poney asked while looking at Mera's back with a confused expression.

”I don't know, that's everything he told me, even I have no idea what will happen from now on” Mera replied without turning around at them but just her serious tone made them worry. She held her hands behind her back while watching the battle with a slightly concerned look in her eyes.

---Back to the battle---

Esdeath was floating in front of the magma pillar, ready for anything that's about to come out of it still with a smile across her face, however, when the pillar suddenly got absorbed by Akashi, finally revealing his figure, Esdeath's eyes widened.

”Is that really you, Akashi?” Esdeath muttered while her eyes were shaking as she was looking at an almost completely new person.

Akashi actually no longer had that black shirt therefore his entire upper body was revealed. His lower part of the legs was actually covered by black scales with short claws instead of his toes. The next were his hands that were also completely covered in black scales with something like orange veins between the scales, the black scales were covering his entire forearm and black sharp bone was sticking out of his elbow. Even his fingers were covered in scales with a pointy sharp end instead of nails.

However, the most shocking change of all changes was the hole in his heart's location. The hole was through his entire body however his heart was still there but it looked very different from the usual one. His heart actually turned black with orange veins on it. Black scales were covering even his skin near that hole.

His upper face, from his nose, was covered by a black mask with the 2 horns slightly pointing backward, however it was unknown if those horns were attached to the mask or to his head since the entire mask looked like it was part of his face. And even his back hair grew up to his waist with black and orange shades at the end.

[Health: 2000/2000]

[Energy: 3450/5000]

<Stats>

[Strength: 47 (105)]

[Agility: 50 (106)]

[Intelligence: 50 (119)]

[Constitution: 48 (108)]

[Charisma: 40 (166)]

Akashi had his eyes closed the entire time and when he opened them, his sclerae turned black and his left eye's iris turned orange while his right eye's iris remained red.

'His wings made of the flames changed to blackish orange color...however, is this really Akashi?' Esdeath thought.

”What had happened to you?” Esdeath couldn't help but ask for an explanation since this change was truly bizarre, it was on the borders of transformation to some kind of Danger Beast.

”I fused with my 'Teigu'” Akashi replied shortly and his voice was still normal but behind it was a slightly deeper and creepy voice as if it was saying together with him.

'Fused with his Teigu-?' Esdeath thought with a shocked expression.

”Let's resume our fight, it's dragging out for too long” Akashi said with his strange voice and suddenly disappeared.

'?!' Esdeath just saw a hand covered in black scales in front of her eyes and before she managed to do anything else, she was thrown towards the ground at great speed.

'Tch! What was up with that speed?!' Esdeath thought and formed ice on her back while gritting her teeth.

*BANG!* When her body hit the ground, a big crater was created but Esdeath herself received only a few bruises thanks to covering herself in ice.

'Previously, I was able to predict where he would appear but this time I was only able to see his hand before he threw me away like garbage. This is...' Esdeath thought with a pained expression, no longer wearing her crazy smile since even she felt helpless in front of that previous attack.