Chapter 96 - That Hurt.
Kurayami and Ophis flew to the top of a mountain where he was feeling an odd feeling in his body, it felt heavy, oppressive and yet comfortable. His senses of smell, sight, hearing, touch were far stronger than before and he felt that Ophis smelled much better than before.
She must have thought the same as him as she was sniffing him directly. Not that he didn't like the attention he was getting, but he had to focus. He focused on the aura he felt surging from every cell and then it was a strange black aura that was not the Infinite, but he felt it was extremely strong energy he could use.
"Hey Ophis, what is this energy?"
She looked at it and explained. "Dragon aura. Can be used for magic, body, and stuff."
He just looked at her oddly. He knew she was not interested in battle or getting stronger, but did she know that little about dragon aura that she just said 'can be used for stuff.' He sometimes forgot she was not a normal being.
As much as he treated her like a person she was just so much more than that and he may never fully understand her. He would try his best, but not all things might be possible.
"So you do not know what it can really do?"
She nodded. That made him worry and he looked at her oddly as she was a being who had the concept of the Infinite, but was not very strong. Well she could destroy this world, but she was not at all interested in doing that.
She did not train, experiment, or even try to get stronger so maybe she had much more untapped potential she could use in the future. Maybe he could show her ways she could use her own power and as she was the original holder of it she would be stronger than him.
"Ophis, how strong at full power are you? Don't just guess, take a minute to think about it."
She got this pondering look on her face which he called freeze mode. When he asked her a question she could not answer right away she would just stop and take time to think about what he would say.
He sat down on a rock and she sat on his lap. After his dragon body awoke she felt a much greater connection to him and she was certain he was her mate. However he had asked her such a question she did not think about so she was interested.
She pondered on the times in her life she had to fight seriously and the only times that happened were when she was trying to kick Great Red out of the dimensional gap, but he always won.
That may be the only times she felt annoyance, anger, and sadness that she could never defeat him. Kurayami wanted to defeat Great Red, but the more she spent with him she was conflicted.
Was her silence she so craved for all this time worth losing her friend and mate over. She had felt more alive and happy with him then being all alone in the Infinite and she did not know.
"I have fought Baka Red before. He won. I am strong, but he stronger."
Kurayami sighed as she only knew Great Red as a strong marker as he was stronger than her, but maybe that was not the case.
"Ophis, did you just attack him with pure energy attacks?"
She nodded. "Blasted him to kingdom come."
"PFFF" He almost broke out laughing as he never expected her to say something like that.
"Where did you learn that?"
Ophis looked up at him and tilted her head. "Movie."
That made him chuckle as she was quite impressed by things she found interesting. He guessed she began to watch movies in her free time and he only hoped she did not gain any weird traits.
"Well that is interesting, Ophis I got a weird request."
She looked up from his lap and tilted her head. "What is it?"
He looked her in the eyes and when she saw his eyes she felt he was perfect to be her mate. This was the first time in all her life she saw another being who could use her power and not only use it to make it his own.
Kurayami took a deep breath and smiled.
"I want you to attack me with one of your attacks, it is to check how my durability is compared to yours."
She still had a mostly blank look on her face, but her next words hurt more than anything he had ever felt.
"You lied, masochist."
He felt his heart bleed at that as he denied he was one and would never accept his father infecting him with his masochist tendencies. No matter what they said he was in no way a masochist.
"I am no masochist, how would I ever be one. Anyway, will you do this for me?"
She nodded. "I will try not to kill you."
He had a strange smile on his face as he was positive she could still kill him as easy as breathing. He looked at his shadow and sighed.
"Shin, you can come out now."
The large dog came out of the shadow and hid behind Kurayami. Shin may be a sacred gear and he was getting stronger right now from the dragon aura along with all of Kurayamis' pets he still did not want to die.
Ophis stood up and looked at Kurayami with a blank look. "Ready."
He nodded. "Go ahead."
He braced for impact and Ophis raised her hand where a light purple aura was powering up. Just from seeing it he knew it was going to be extremely strong and he was starting to regret this.
"Uhhh, I am not so su-"
He didn't even get to finish when his vision was filled with pure black purple energy that was zooming toward him with a massive roar of pure power.
'OH FUCK ME.' When it hit him he felt as if he just got hit with a nuclear bomb and he felt his dragon body hardening and repairing any damage he took, but it just was not enough.
He was pushed along like he was a ragdoll until his body was dragging along the ground while he tried to slow down, but it seems his body just could not do anything. His right arm was gone, his left leg, part of his face and a chunk of his chest was also gone.
He felt as if he was on fire and soon the blast dissipated and he was left in the smoldering pit with his body feeling like it was destroyed. He really regretted asking her this, but he felt his body already healing.
His arm and leg were being reformed and his burned and missing flesh was filling out again and less then a minute he was fully healed. He felt he was like Deadpool, but he felt that Ophis could just vaporize him and he could never heal again.
He dragged his aching body out of the pit and he realized that attack had dragged him for miles, but lucky for him Ophis had followed him and she was waiting outside of the pit.
When she saw he was fine she sighed in relief and he noticed it.
"Wait, were you not sure if I could survive?"
She looked away and he felt his back get cold sweat. He could have died if she used too much strength and he remembered his time training with her, she never attacked and only defended.
She looked at him and explained. "Bad at holding back. Got lucky."
He sighed as he did ask her to do this and he was in no way mad. He got out of the pit and noticed his shorts were gone so he just made a new pair.
"Well I know that I am a cockroach and most beings will not be able to kill me in a few attacks so that was a good thing to test out. If needed I can just tank an attack if needed, but I would like to avoid it if possible."
She tilted her head. "You liked it. Pervert."
He frowned and he was positive she was doing it on purpose. He thought it was progress as she was making jokes, but why did she have to joke with this.
"I did not enjoy that. It was agony my limbs were vaporized and not even the most hardcore of masochists could enjoy that. I mean who likes being vaporized."
She nodded, but Kurayami expected that she was not believing him. He sighed and he got out his wings and noticed that they were changing slightly. They were still black and feathered, but he felt that they were much stronger than before.
He didn't know what it was, but he had all the time to figure it out.
"Hey Ophis, do you want to stay here with me or go home."
She pointed at him. "Stay."
He nodded and he focused on his seals and he recreated many of them all over his body. This time it looked like he had a giant amount of tattoos all over his body, even his face, but he ignored that.
"It will get boring fast, Ophis, but your choice."
She just floated at his side and as he walked. He hoped that Tartarus was still a good place to train and if he could not train his body he would train his mind. He started to walk North and see what he found.
Now when she attacked him Esdeath, and Raynare who were her both focusing on the things they needed to work on. Raynare needed to be able to use her death magic more efficiently as her grandfather as he was still leagues from her level.
She also had to master Vritra's new sacred gears and to see when she could take it to the highest level. As for Esdeath she had to be able to control ice mana and overcome the ice demon in her soul.
If she failed she may one day fall to the demon, but as she was proving in this small amount of time she was nowhere close to falling to its influence. However both of them flinched when they felt the blast that Ophis used on Kurayami.
Raynare looked toward where it came from and had a feeling it was Kurayami. "What is that guy doing right now? He is either experimenting with the Infinite, or magic."
Around her was coiled Vrita and he looked toward where it came from. "I felt Ophis so I think she is here."
That made Raynare frown. "So he called his mate to help him while it was supposed to be single training."
Vritra shook his head. "I think that attack was used on Kurayami. Knowing that guy, he probably asked her to attack him to test his durability."
Raynare sighed as it sounded like something he would do. "I know my Kurayami like the back of my hand and as much as he denies being a masochists' he really does things only a masochist does. Now, let's go see him shall we."
She spread her wings and looking at them the difference between Kurayami and Raynare's wings was easy to see.
Kurayami's wings were like a bottomless abyss that devoured all light, but Raynare's were like the blackest shadow that blocked out the light. She began to fly toward Kurayami.
Esdeath had a similar idea as she was currently on top of a mountain of bones trying to subdue the most recent of Algors attempts to crush her spirit, but he was not succeeding at all.
All of his visions were broken, his attempts to get her to fear him were not working. He was becoming desperate as she was the one who could devour him and keep him from escaping his prison.
Sad to say his plan failed and Esdeath broke out of the illusion and got up and began to fly toward Kurayami as she wanted to see what he was up to, but they had no idea how long they would need to stay here before Azrael was happy.
However they were benefitting from being here, so it was not too bad. Now they just had to get lucky like Kurayami who managed to get even stronger then he was before. For now they would focus on what they had.