Chapter 24: Chapter 23: SKY BREAKER

He never knew the exact moment he was born, as far as he could remember, and even before that, there was only darkness, just him floating in infinity, until he inadvertently went from just being able to exist to thinking.

From that moment, little by little, he understood and felt more and more.

His skin felt the liquid he floated in, and his ears began to listen.

"It looks like it's another failure". He heard someone speak. "Although he was able to develop two different abilities, the consumption of ethernano is too slow and the radius of effect too short; and although it seems that he is capable of devouring souls, he must first defeat the will of the soul before eating it or he will be who will be consumed". The voice said with a disappointed tone.

Time passed, and from one moment to another, the place where he rested was disturbed; his body slipped along with the water out of his tank, the air entered his lungs, his skin touched the cold ground, and light began to filter through his eyelids.

And lying there, naked and wet, his body twisted involuntarily, until after what seemed like an eternity, his trembling legs lifted him; in the distance, he heard screams, hundreds of them echoing at the same time, and when he came out and saw the outside world for the first time what greeted him was red, lots of red scattered throughout the place.

He saw what he would later know as humans scattered everywhere, running and screaming as their lives were snuffed out.

And at that moment he saw them too, they were like him, he wasn't sure why, but somehow he knew, his trembling legs took him to the closest one who was fighting with three humans simultaneously.

Dressed in torn clothes, expression mad while he blew up everything he touched, his dark blonde hair, catlike ears, and tail giving him a wild look.

"What's happening, what's happening, what's happening? This is all you can do?! Pitiful rubbish!" He yelled, grabbing one of the humans by the head, the next thing that happened was an explosion, and then the man's limp body fell to the ground.

But before he said anything else, the huge fist of another human hit him in the stomach, making him back as his feet dragged, but this lasted only a couple of seconds before the demon planted his feet on the ground and completely stopped the momentum.

"H-how is it possible? I-I hit you with all my strength". The human asked, a man of at least 2 meters with a body with muscles that seemed like steel.

The blond etherias smiled, showing his fangs as he showed that he had stopped the attack with one hand. "Ha, I wanted to see how strong your punches were, so I let you hit me, but you turned out to be just another disappointment, so let me show you what a real punch is". He said without letting go of the man's hand with one hand while the other formed a fist aimed directly at the wizard's stomach.

"Urgh!" The wizard croaked as he flew for several meters before crashing through a wall, causing it to crumble on top of him.

"YUTMA!" The last of the group, a woman with short black hair, yelled as she ran towards where the man had fallen, but before she finished taking three steps, the pile of rubble exploded.

"Don't look away!" The etherias cried out before launching at the woman, his hand raised towards her, ready to attack.

"!" The panic in the woman's expression was obvious when she raised her hands, and a slightly translucent purple wall appeared between her and the demon.

"Hahaha, it's useless!" The demon screamed when his fist collided with the barrier and filled it with cracks, only to light up and explode, sending the woman flying until she rolled on the finished floor a couple of meters from Eclinox.

"No matter how strong your barrier is, for someone like me-". The demon strutted as he walked calmly towards her until he stopped, and his eyes widened at the sight of him.

Neither he nor the blond demon said anything for a few seconds, and when he was about to speak, fascinated by the strength of a member of his race, the older demon gave him a look of disgust as if his very existence was unpleasant at his eyes.

"Ah, I-I"

"Shut up". He said with a voice that, although low, it also seemed full of disgust and anger.

Fear and the instinct of submission to someone far above him caused his mouth to snap shut and his body to freeze in place.

"A weak little shit like you being the same species as us? Just looking at you makes me sick!"

"N-no, I want to be of help; I want to fulfill my purpose". He said the task imprinted on him from the moment he began to exist; to finish his creator's life and grant him the eternal rest he longed for.

"Be of help?" He asked as a vein appeared on his temple. "Well, you serve us much more being dead!" He screamed as his palms hit the ground and a glowing circle of at least 20 meters with him in the center appeared on the ground.

The next thing that happened was a huge explosion that echoed through the place.

The power was so big that even some nearby houses wobbled before collapsing.

Seconds ticked by as the remaining sound of falling debris dissipated, and in the end, all fell silent.

"Have you finished Jackal?" A voice called out to the blonde demon from behind, who turned his head slightly before speaking. "Yeah, it's just that I saw something really gross". He replied before taking one last look at the rubble and spitting. "Useless little shit". He said before turning around and leaving.

####

His eyes widened little by little as he felt pain in almost his entire body; getting up a little, he looked around scared, only to notice that some debris had formed a small dome around him, close enough to make him feel a little enclosed, but still, he could move there with relative ease.

As he thought about how he could have saved himself from being crushed, a cough interrupted his train of thought, and when he turned, he saw the same woman the other demon had attacked.

Her body was full of cuts, wounds, and bruises, but even so, her chest still rose and fell, showing that she was alive.

"H-hey, you finally woke up, are you alright?" She asked him, opening one of her eyes slightly.

He didn't really know what to say, so he just stared at the woman in front of him as everything that had just happened flashed through his mind; he had been attacked; why? Why had someone of his kind attacked him? Why had he tried to kill him?

The very thought of that filled his mind with anger; he? Being killed just like that? Because he was weak? Would everyone else of his kind have seen him like this?

Yes, surely they would because he was weak, but he would grow up, grow up to fulfill his mission, and permanently shut up everyone else of his kind up, and to achieve that, the first thing he had to do was obvious.

His gaze moved to the human next to him before crawling towards her; thinking back to the explosion earlier, it was evident that the only reason he was still alive was the barrier, a defense capable of resisting a demon's attack would definitely be helpful to him.

"What's wrong? Why don't you say n-!?" The woman's words couldn't get out when a weight fell on her chest, and relatively small hands tightened around her neck.

"W-wh-gah!" The woman tried to speak as she writhed, still lying in her place, her wounded arms raised and grabbed the ones that prevented her from breathing, trying to remove them, hitting her attacker's face, and digging her nails into his flesh.

But her body was so hurt and exhausted by what had just happened that nothing she did reduce the pressure on her neck.

With eyes shedding tears, a terrified expression, and her mouth open, making gasping sounds from time to time in a futile attempt to force air into her lungs, the woman writhed for a few more seconds under a blank stare of Eclinox before the sound of something breaking silenced everyone else.

Her limbs and the rest of the woman's body stopped writhing, her expression frozen in a silent scream of fear and despair.

Seeing the inert body of the woman, Eclinox's blank expression did not change until, from one moment to another, something entered his being, and a voice equal to that of the woman spoke.

'I don't want to die; I'm scared; someone help me, please; why did this have to happen to us?'

The weak, fear-filled voice echoed in Eclinox's mind, but the fury he still felt against members of his kind soon took it upon himself to squelch the voice until it completely faded into nothing.

Then a torrent of energy flooded his body, and even in his battered state, he felt his body greatly strengthened along with his abilities.

On top of that, the knowledge of how to use the same magic that the human had was imprinted on his mind; it wasn't simple barrier magic, it was a magic that could isolate things, magic that a miserable human could never take advantage of, and as if his body knew what to do, his hand went up, and he projected a purple barrier that pushed the rubble to create an exit.

Leaving the place without glancing at the woman's inert body, Eclinox smiled; he didn't need the other members of his race; he would grow on his own until he was strong enough to reach his goal, but not before crushing the other Etherias.

And to achieve this, he only needed to continue eating, using the cattle that populated the world.

In that way, he would be strong enough to fulfill his objective sooner or later.

#####

It had all happened extremely fast; for a moment, she believed that although it would definitely be more challenging than anything they had done before, they would be able to take down the demon called Eclinox, but when he transformed, everything changed.

Her eyes could barely notice how the demon moved, perceiving it as just a blurred figure, and the next thing she knew was that Jean had gone flying until he crashed into a wall.

Instinctively her body wanted to move toward him, but before taking a single step, the alarms in her mind screamed like never before, and she covered her entire body with a layer of magical energy to protect herself.

The amount of energy was enormous, by far the biggest she had used until now, probably equivalent to a full recharge of her magic power, but even so, the kick she received in the stomach hurt, hurt to the point that as she was sent flying, tears spilled out involuntarily along with the choked sounds in search of oxygen.

Her vision flickered as unconsciousness tentatively embraced her; it took only a flicker when she saw Eclinox in front of her, his fist raised and ready to strike her once more.

And while she was still trying to breathe, she could not strengthen her body, so it was obvious to her that she would not resist the attack this time.

But before she was hit, another fist, one armored and that seemed to emit a golden glow, hit the demon's cheek, pushing his body enough so that the fist that would hit her face missed by little more than a meter.

"AAAAHHHHH!" Jean yelled as his fist, still connected to Eclinox's face, transformed into a cannon that fired a huge bolt of energy at the demon's face.

The torrent of energy, at least 2 meters in diameter, caused gusts of wind that blew debris and rocks of considerable size until an arm came out from within that torrent, grabbing Jean by the neck, lifting him, and interrupting his attack.

"Did you think you were strong?! Did you think you were different from the rest? That you were special? That you had the right to be more than mere cattle?! Useless little shit". Eclinox spat out angrily as the collar of Jean's armor made a cracking sound and cracks spread; even with his body coated in the aura of touki, he was only gaining a few seconds before his armor shattered and his neck snapped.

When Lucy forced her body to get up, she felt how the place that had received the demon's kick burned with pain, but she ignored it; her clothing changed once again using the Taurus Star Dress at the same time that her bracelet transformed into a metallic glove that covered her fist.

Magical energy far greater than the one she had used against Phantom's fire mage was concentrated in that blow.

Her legs propelled her with all the strength she could muster, and her arm swung at the demon's slightly burned face.

"SUPER PUNCH!" She screamed as she hit her target.

Maybe it was because he hadn't paid attention to her, maybe it was because she was aiming for a sensitive place like the nose or because the energy in her punch was actually much more than she thought, but that blow managed to make Eclinox let go of Jean and take a step back as he put a hand to his face.

And she didn't waste a single second; she took Jean with one arm while in the other the glove changed to its whip shape, clenching her teeth to endure the sharp pain and numbness in her right arm from the super punch she had thrown, Lucy ran to the edge of the bridge and jumped as she swung her whip until the tip wrapped around one of the bridges above them.

"We have to get out of here, now". She told Jean as they took to the air.

He coughed several times and cleared his throat before speaking in a slightly hoarser voice than usual. "I know; give me a moment; I left something that will stop him for a few seconds". He replied before falling silent for a few seconds, but while she expected them to teleport at any second, in the end, that moment didn't come.

"This can't be possible; I can't teleport". Jean said in a shocked voice as several explosions below drew their attention.

"He blocked my teleportation somehow; we can't get out of here! And there he comes, don't stop Lucy, win every second you can!" He said before falling silent again.

For a moment, Lucy didn't know what he was doing, but when she felt a familiar sensation coming from him, she had a pretty good idea of his plan, so she kept walking away as fast as she could.

"THROW ME, NOW!" The brunette yelled at the moment that Eclinox's huge figure was about to reach them.

So she moved her whip, propelling herself to the reverse side of one of the bridges, being upside down and causing several cracks to spread where her feet had landed.

And taking advantage of the short second before the gravity affected her again, she grabbed Jean by his hip and then threw him towards Eclinox with all the strength she could muster.

The demon's expression of surprise was clear to Jean as he flew towards him at full speed, and clenching the right fist of his armor; which was now covered by three different energies, his touki at maximum power, the most potent holy aura he could give to that part of his armor in the short time he had, and also a layer of natural energy; he threw the strongest punch he could.

Even before they collided, Eclinox felt the danger that Jean's fist represented; the same energy that he disliked so much and had burned him earlier was overflowing from the armored boy's fist, and along with it and the energy that normally coursed through his body, had another thing that also gave him a sense of danger.

At speed they were both going, Eclinox wasn't going to be able to dodge it, so he crossed his arms in x a moment before the impact while a thin semi-transparent purple layer covered his entire body.

BOOM!

And when Jean's fist hit Eclinox's arms, an explosion engulfed them both.

A couple of seconds later, a figure came out of the cloud of the black cloud resulting from the explosion falling into the void, while on the other side, a blade connected to a chain embedded itself in one of the bridges and then began to retract, revealing the figure of Jean.

His armor was full of cracks in several parts that slowly began to be repaired except for his right arm, where the armor had wholly disappeared, showing a bleeding arm full of cuts and some purple spots.

"Dammit". The brunette complained, holding his arm and kneeling after reaching a bridge where Lucy was.

"What was that? Why did your arm explode?!" She asked, quite surprised.

"That punch alone wasn't going to do enough damage, I had to make him take the most damage with the holy and natural energy, so I blew up this part of my armor after overloading it with the energy from my necklace.

"And so that I wouldn't lose the arm, I concentrated all the touki I could to protect myself and not to attack, but". He said, giving another look at his arm. "It still hurts a lot." He groaned before getting up and moving. "We must move and get out of here soon"

Starting to run towards the exit, they both stopped when the whole place began to shake.

"What's going on?!" Jean asked as he slowed down a bit so as not to lose his balance.

"It's earth magic! He is destroying the bridges!" Lucy answered when the bridge where they were and the others began to break.

"That bridge is not breaking, jump!" Jean said as they both jumped as high as they could as a whip and a sword attached to a chain stabbed into the appointed place, retracting and carrying them to an x-shaped bridge that was much larger and thicker than the others.

"This is not good". Jean said, pointing to the passage through which they had arrived, there, the entrance had collapsed entirely under hundreds of rubble, so it would be impossible to get out the same way they had entered.

"And it gets worse". Lucy added as a tentacle latched onto the bridge before Eclinox landed in front of them both.

His arms had burns from the wrists to the elbows that left the skin charcoal black, but other than that, he seemed fine and very upset.

"If you have any plans, I'd like to hear them". Lucy said without looking away from Eclinox; she knew that if she was careless and received a couple of blows as strong as the first, she would most likely be knocked out.

"Well, looking at the situation, I only have one". Jean said as his armor covered his injured arm again, and a sword appeared in his hand before the blade exploded in a cloud of black smoke covering them both.

"Hit hard and fast!" He yelled, jumping out of the smokescreen after a few seconds, speeding straight at Eclinox as he threw two daggers at his shadow.

A swift downward slash fell toward the etherias, but as he ignored the paralysis the daggers in his shadow must have caused, the demon's bare palm met Jean's attack, halting the sword's advance.

Jean's movements stopped for a second, most likely from surprise, which he abandoned when he dropped the gun before taking a step back.

And in the next moment, the sword disintegrated and emitted an electric current that enveloped the body of the etherias.

Jean flexed his legs to the fullest and jumped with his knee up, pointing at the demon's chest.

But it was Eclinox's other palm that took the hit, stopping it without showing much effort.

Jean decided to push even harder when both of his hands landed on the one of the demon holding his knee, using it as a fulcrum and launching a kick towards the etherias temple.

Only for Eclinox to snap its head around and smack his forehead with the armor's metal boot.

The sound of breaking metal was clear to everyone in the cavern as Jean fell while holding his foot; the entire exchange, from Jean walking out of the cloud of smoke to that last blow, lasted only a few seconds, but it was all it took to show Eclinox's superiority over Jean.

At that moment, the huge black cloud of smoke began to move, rapidly approaching their direction; Eclinox just watched this with a bored expression as he slowly advanced, ignoring Jean, who was on the ground still holding his injured leg.

"Pathetic". He said with disinterest as his arm transformed into a twisted red spear full of spikes pointing in different directions.

A single thrust from the spear was enough for the resulting air current to dissipate the cloud of smoke as the tip of the weapon pierced through the body holding the object from which the black substance came.

Equinox's eyes widened when he noticed that what he had just stabbed was a figure made of earth, of rough and careless design; it would never fool anyone if it tried to pass itself off as a person.

But as a barely distinguishable silhouette in the middle of a cloud of smoke? Hardly anyone could figure out the trick.

And when he turned around, he saw the armor showing him the middle finger before falling apart, revealing a figure made of earth, similar to the one he had just stabbed.

BOOM!

At that moment, a loud explosion originated at the top of the cavern.

Squinting his eyes, Eclinox could see both Jean and Lucy standing on a rock formation, the first one covered in his touki and with his fist still raised after hitting a barrier that covered the only remaining exit, and the second looking at him while she was wearing a maid outfit.

Veins bulged throughout Eclinox's body as his teeth gnashed against each other from the force applied to them.

Six wings that seemed to belong to an insect emerged from his back and shook violently, raising the demon at full speed towards where the two humans were.

######

"It's useless, I hit it with all my strength, and I couldn't leave a single crack in it". Jean said as the armor covering his arm vanished.

"Here he comes; if we can't escape, what do we do?" Lucy asked nervously as the demon approached.

"If we can't escape". Jean said as he raised his right arm, a short sword appeared between his hands and began to emit a golden light that increased its brilliance with each second. "Then all that remains is fight!" He screamed before throwing the weapon.

'The holy energy has damaged him the most until now, so let's fill him with it'. Jean thought, following the path of his weapon and Eclinox; he supposed that the demon would avoid it.

So when he dodged it for a few meters, Jean closed his fist, and the blade glowed even more before exploding, sending waves of holy energy and metal shards filled with more holy energy in all directions.

Eclinox grunted in pain as the small metal shards dug into his flesh, burning him and slowing him down as 2 of his wings were destroyed and the remaining four damaged.

A guttural scream full of anger came from his throat when several of the souls he kept inside him were consumed, swelling his muscles, expelling the metal shards from his body, closing the wounds on his wings, and pressing them to move faster, surpassing even the speed he had before he was injured.

His arm retracted, and his fist hit where the two humans were, destroying the rock formation and causing both Jean and Lucy to jump to avoid being damaged by the impact of the blow or the rocks.

"He got faster?! Shouldn't be injured from that last attack?!" Lucy asked as she fell and used the tip of her whip to pin herself to the wall and swing, breaking her fall.

Jean had his eyes open in surprise until the words that Eclinox had said before transforming were reproduced in his mind.

"He is using the souls he consumed to become stronger! That's what he said before he transformed!" The brunette answered as he stuck a short sword into the wall to slide down.

'The worst thing is that I don't even know how his ability really works; if that increase in strength is consuming many souls, few, or how many he has eaten in all the time this place has existed'. He thought as his mind worked at full speed and his armor covered him again, his ultimate armor could not manifest indefinitely, and although he could maintain it for a considerable time, it was also true that even with that and his touki, Eclinox's blows could put him in a dangerous situation if he took too many.

"I'll fight head-on; focus on getting me as many openings to attack as you can". Jean said before jumping straight into the fight.

A huge jagged claymore formed in his hands and swung towards the demon's shoulder in his hands.

Only to snap when it collided with Eclinox's forearm, leaving a small cut on the Etherias's skin.

Jean was grabbed by the neck and dragged through the air until he crashed into a wall and was dragged along it.

When from one moment to another, he disappeared, escaping from Eclinox's grip, reappearing on top of him and nailing his fist into the demon's cheek.

Eclinox recoiled for a second before his wings began to move to counter the thrust of the blow, but before he gained enough momentum to rise, Jean used etherias's face as a foothold, spinning around, nailing his other elbow on the demon's cheek as transforming his hand into a cannon, shooting out a huge amount of energy which he used as momentum, managing to push Eclinox down until they both crashed into the huge x-shaped bridge once more.

In the process, he also realized how before his elbow hit the cheek of the demon, a thin purple layer surrounded the body of his opponent at the same time that the barrier that blocked the exit disappeared.

Seeing his enemy lying on the ground, a new sword, black and made up of hundreds of vibrating small blades, appeared in Jean's hands in a try to stab Eclinox.

But before his arm could finish lowering the weapon, Jean's chest was struck by the sole of Eclinox's foot, lifting him at least 5 meters into the air as his armor cracked at the point of impact, blood spraying from his mouth and slipping through the openings of his helmet.

"DIE!" The demon yelled as his arm transformed into a grotesque and misshapen ax, which despite being swung at full speed, from Jean's point of view, everything moved in slow motion while his blurred vision could barely make out how the weapon got close to his face.

Until Eclinox felt a pair of hands grab his forearm, redirecting his momentum and slamming his back to the ground in one motion.

Jean's vision flickered between blurry and clear as his ears rang, but even so, the figure that saved him from the attack that could have killed him was familiar enough never to mistake it.

Capricorn used an arm to grab him before his body hit the ground and help him land as smoothly as he could, considering their situation.

With one knee and one hand on the ground, Jean squeezed his eyelids a couple of times until his vision cleared, and he stood up again; in the corner of his vision, he could see Lucy still with the golden key of Capricorn pointed to him.

"Thank you, Capricorn". He said, looking at Eclinox, who did not take more than a couple of seconds to get back on his feet; the wings on his back flapped, his fangs, claws, and horns grew even more while a reptilian-looking tail emerged from his back giving him a misshapen and bestial appearance.

The grunting and saliva came out of his mouth as his hands moved towards his head, scratching it so hard that blood began to flow down his face and neck.

"ARG! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" He screamed as his fist repeatedly struck his head until his forehead emitted a clear cracking sound.

Neither Capricorn nor Jean moved, just looking at everything with a surprised expression.

Eclinox's breathing slowly slowed to normal, his arms fell dangle at his sides, and his back was straight once more, but when he looked up, his eyes held nothing but savagery and anger.

From one second to another, Jean's already tired senses lost sight of Eclinox while at the same time, Capricornio's hand pushed him to one side while he moved to the other, both avoiding by just a few centimeters the cut of the hand transformed into an ax of Eclinox.

And similar to before, when the second before receiving the demon's attack slowed down, this time, from Jean's point of view, everything began to move faster and faster, being unable to stabilize, and seeing as Eclinox pointed his free hand now transformed into a spear at him.

In Jean's hand, a small dagger materialized and was thrown towards the demon's face, but, contrary to what one would expect, the small dagger didn't even come close to its apparent target, passing the side of the Etherias' face.

And when the tip of the deformed spear was about to pierce his eye, Jean disappeared, reappearing holding the dagger behind Eclinox.

His free hand, now transformed into a cannon, aimed at the nape of the demon's head before firing a sphere of energy that exploded behind Eclinox's head, pushing him far enough to knock him off balance momentarily.

The demon's right leg stomped down, preventing him from falling forward as he turned his head to look directly at Jean, but before he could attack, a foot hit him behind the knee-knocking him off balance once more, this time enough for both knees to hit the ground.

"You are not fighting only with Jean-sama". Capricorn said, stepping away just after hitting Eclinox, aware that he probably couldn't take more than one hit if Lucy, with Taurus power, and even Jean wearing his armor had been so injured after receiving the demon's attacks.

"One after another, ONE AFTER ANOTHER!" Eclinox yelled as he slammed his palms into the ground while using earth magic, causing stone spikes to emerge from all over the ground around him.

Capricorn took some distance by jumping back and holding on to a crack in the wall while Jean cut through the stakes using the same vibrant black sword he had tried to attack Eclinox with earlier.

"Damn nosy cockroaches". The demon growled, looking at the spirit that had saved Jean twice in a row before looking at the human who had summoned it.

"DIEEEE!" He cried out when he saw her in the distance watching him, his mouth fell open, and a crimson red sphere flew at full speed in her direction.

But even as she jumped and avoided the sphere by a few meters, Lucy was pushed back by the huge explosion caused by the tennis ball-sized sphere.

"Lucy-sama!" Capricorn yelled in alarm.

And while she tried to stabilize herself in the air with the help of her whip, she could see how a stone stake moved at full speed to intercept her in mid-air.

Lucy's mind worked at full speed, Capricornio would not reach her in time, and Jean was still moving as he cut the stakes emerging from the ground.

So, seeing no other options, her hand let go of the handle of her whip, letting herself fall into the void and avoiding by a minimum margin that the stone stake pierced her stomach.

"Tch". Eclinox clicked his tongue, and seeing how the human's changing weapon moved towards her as if it had a mind of its own; he prepared more stakes to hit her before she recovered her medium to prevent the fall from killing her.

But before launching them, he saw both Jean and Capricorn lunging at him from both sides.

Again, one of Eclinox's arms transformed into a blade to stop Jean's slash as his leg rose to block the spirit's kick.

But the moment he stopped both blows, the demon felt a strong headache; inside him, hundreds of voices screamed, crying and suffering, asking to escape from the torture to which they had been subjected even after death.

And it was those same voices that allowed Jean and Capricorn to attack again, the first launching a thrust at the Etherias's chest while the second jumped, taking the horns of the demon's head to propel himself to nail his knee into the devil's nose.

The edge of Jean's sword was stopped by Eclinox's hand after sinking just a couple of centimeters into the demon's skin while Capricorn grunted in pain when the demon jerked his head forward, smashing his forehead against the spirit's knee.

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Not giving them a chance to attempt a second attack, the demon shook off Jean and Capricorn before reaching out with his palms, intending to strike both the spirit's and the human's chest.

Capricorn gave Jean a fleeting look, and even when his dark glasses blocked his eyes, they both knew what move to make.

Stretching their legs and hitting the soles of their feet, both of them propelled each other in opposite directions avoiding taking the hit squarely but still being fired at full speed by the force of the attack.

At that moment, taking the demon by surprise, Lucy jumped from behind Capricorn, wearing the Taurus Star Dress, with her whip in her hand and Taurus himself at her side.

Swinging her weapon, the whip's tip snaked around Eclinox to wrap around his arm.

Capricorn's feet dug into the ground, stopping his advance, and together with Lucy, who reinforced his body to the maximum, and Taurus, they pulled the whip trying to pull Eclinox.

Veins stood out on Eclinox's and Lucy's foreheads while both sides used all their strength.

But even with the spirit with the biggest strength among the 12 of the zodiac, a wizard wearing the star dress of that spirit while also strengthening her physical abilities to the limit, and another spirit that was far ahead in strength than most wizards, the demon started to take the lead.

That until his feet, previously planted firmly on the ground, were thrown off balance as the figure of a pink-haired maid emerged from the ground and wrapped her chains around his legs.

Eclinox's mouth opened as if it were going to dislocate, and in the middle of it, the energy swirled, giving rise to a bright red sphere, pulsing with a dangerous amount of energy that aimed directly at Virgo.

Unable to move from her position, or at least not if she didn't want her summoner and companions to be dragged away by the demon's enormous force, Virgo could only watch as the energy sphere approached her.

But before it could touch her, a dagger intercepted the attack, making the red sphere disappear.

The etherias's eyes widened, and his neck snapped around when he heard the ground creak behind him.

And what he saw was Jean, the ground under his foot cracking, and in front of his left fist was the ball of energy that he had just fired.

"AHHH!" The chestnut cried out as his blow crashed squarely into Eclinox's face a second after his entire body was covered in the same purple layer as before.

BOOM!

A new explosion, much bigger than all the previous ones, resounded in the temple's depths, making the whole place vibrate and sending Virgo flying, who luckily was caught by Taurus.

The cloud of dust was huge, and while the X-shaped bridge crumbled into large chunks of rocks, Lucy could see the figures of Jean and Eclinox falling into the void with them.

"JEAN!" Lucy jumped into the void while her three spirits dematerialized to reduce at least a little of the tension in her already quite wounded body.

As she fell, the blonde managed to grab Jean by his arm while the tip of her whip turned into a blade and stabbed into the wall to break their fall.

Her feet hit the ground with such force that she felt like an electric current ran through her back for a few seconds.

Doing her best to ignore the sensation, she pressed her and Jean's body against the wall avoiding the shower of debris that ended up burying Eclinox.

When the rocks finally stopped falling, she carefully lowered the wounded Jean and couldn't help but grimace when she saw his body's state.

Blood was pouring from the back of his head, his entire torso had cuts that were still bleeding along with two large dark bruises, one in the center of his chest and one in the lower right part of his stomach, and worst of all were his arms.

The right one was full of cuts that were still bleeding and with purple spots in some places, while the left had almost all the skin up to the elbow burned in reddish-pink color and also was full of wounds.

"Jean! Are you ok? Wake up!" She said, shaking his head a bit until his cloudy eyes regained some clarity.

"L-Lucy?" He asked before his eyes widened, and he got up even with the lingering pain. "We have to move! He… that attack didn't beat him!" He said, remembering what he saw a second before the explosion, the smile filled with bloodlust and the killing intent the demon directed at him even when he fully received that attack.

"C-calm down; even if that didn't beat him, he must be hurt, and if we continue, we can still..." Lucy was sure that somehow both of them would overcome this desperate situation until Jean interrupted her.

"You have to get out of here, NOW." Jean said, looking down and clenching her already injured fists. "I... I don't know if I can win". He said quietly, as if admitting it hurt and embarrassed him.

"I don't know how much more my body resists, but". He paused for a second as if he was hesitating before continuing. "But you can run away; the barrier that covers the place disappears when it is protected from a powerful attack; I can do it; I can definitely force him to do it one more time, take that chance and run away." He said when the ground began to shake, and a corrupted purple aura emerged from the rubble.

Sensing that Eclinox would emerge from the rubble at any moment, Jean began to walk away, ignoring Lucy.

As if he expected her just to obey and do as he told her.

Why did he do this? Why had he been so determined to face this alone?

The answer was simple.

Jean was afraid; one of his biggest fears was the fear of death, but that was not his biggest fear.

The thought of someone dying because of him, someone he cared about, terrified him, the same way it did it when he thought his mother might meet Jack if he wasn't quick enough.

Jean was afraid to die, but he would bet his life to follow his ideals if necessary.

What he would never dare to do would be to bet with someone else's life.

That was why he was fine with the idea of coming to the anti-wizard forest, even if he knew it would be extremely dangerous.

So even though he knew he might die if he stayed, and it scared him, he was willing to bet his life on this fight.

He accepted that it would be his fault if he fought and lost.

But he would never accept that Lucy was dragged with him into the abyss because of his weakness.

That's why he wanted Lucy to leave him and run away.

But, he didn't consider that he was trying to order someone never to accept such a selfish idea.

Lucy's feet lifted her and carried her forward until she took Jean by the shoulder, turned him around, and did something she'd never done before, slap him in the face with honest and total annoyance.

The blow was barely strong enough to move Jean's face a little, but the action itself surprised him so much that his attention was diverted from the huge shaking pile of rubble to Lucy's frown.

"How can you ask me to do something like that? You really don't get it? The reason why I came, why I'm here? That was my decision, I decided that it would be selfish, and no one, not even you, would force me to leave you behind"

"I…" Jean was about to object, but before he said anything else, Lucy's hands crushed his cheeks, preventing him from speaking further.

"We can do it; I know we can... but only if we do it together." She said, and contrary to before, Lucy's eyes were the ones that sparkled this time.

Feeling his resistance crumble at that gaze, Jean could only slowly nod. "S-so what do you want us to do?" He asked her, still in a daze.

"After seeing you two fight, I understood; I know how we can beat him; we have to..."

#####

'It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, IT HURTS!' The word did not stop repeating in his mind; he had never been so injured, so hurt, so cornered, and he hated it.

He hated the pain they had caused him; he hated not having been able to take every opportunity he had to assassinate the humans who had challenged him.

He hated that of the more of the 1400 souls he had collected throughout all this time; he had just over 500 left; the idea of losing against beings like these humans was enough for the voices that sounded loudly in his head to be silenced by his hatred and frustration.

Those humans had mocked him, and the thought that he might lose to that miserable human turned his vision red with rage, so as he used his feelings as fuel and his back slowly pushed away the massive amount of debris that had buried him, a bestial scream came from his throat.

#####

When Jean finished listening to his friend's plan, he couldn't help but speak with a slightly amused and skeptical tone. "Lucy, that's a very crazy and risky plan; if for some reason I don't make it and he notices you, or I can't damage his barrier enough, we'll both be finished"

And the answer he received was a confident smile. "That's why I know you'll make it." She said without a hint of hesitation.

Seeing the trust that was being placed in him, Jean knew there was only one way to answer. "Then I have no choice but to meet those expectations, but 15 seconds is all I can give you; I can't last longer than that if you want me to be able to move later"

"How are you going to…" She was saying when Jean interrupted her.

"A moment ago, you asked me to trust you; now I ask you the same, trust; now go, even if I refuse to give up even I have limits, but rest assured that he won't even have time to look at you, so take advantage of every second that I can offer"

"I will". She answered confidently before walking away using her whip.

"Then say no more". Jean spoke to himself before expelling his touki; the trail of semi-transparent light fluttered wilder than ever.

"ULTIMATE ARMOR!"

And with his cry, the metal covered his body again; behind the helmet, Jean gritted her teeth as the veins in his temples, arms, and neck bulged, throbbing with the pressure of what he was about to do, his irises narrowing, while the blood vessels in his sclerae were marked.

He involuntarily remembered what he had said to the unconscious Layla. 'And if all else fails, I've one last trick up my sleeve, though if I use it I'll probably end up a rag doll later'

And at that moment, the debris in front of him exploded, revealing Eclinox with one of his horns broken off, part of his face and chest burned, blood running from his forehead, and a clearly upset expression.

"DAMN WORMS, THIS TIME I'M GOING TO CRUSH YOU!". He roared in anger as his gaze settled on Jean before launching himself at him at full speed.

"PALADIN MODE!" The boy yelled as his armor gave off a blinding glow.

A second later, and interrupting Eclinox's onslaught, a cannon appeared in front of his face and fired a beam of concentrated energy that pushed him back several meters, the ground cracking under the demon's feet as he was pushed back, his arms crusaders in an attempt to stop the attack, until his hands finally ripped the attack apart.

15

Going through the cloud of dust that caused the shot was Jean, his armor completely different from the one he used before; this time, the small swords that formed the armor were further compressed and pressed against his body like a second skin giving him a more agile appearance, on his back a cape that was black on the outside and white on the inside fluttered and stamped on it was a sword pointing down.

On his right side a gleaming sword originated where his hand should be, and on his left side he carried a cannon from which smoke was still billowing.

14

Without wasting any more time, Jean moved at full speed toward Eclinox with her sword raised, but the demon transformed his arm into a blade blocking the cut.

Eclinox's expression showed his clear effort to stop the human's attack; the ground under his feet cracked and began to break, sinking the etherias at least 15 centimeters due to the enormous force that contained the attack.

13

"I AM NOT GOING TO BE DEFEATED BY A MISERABLE HUMAN!" The demon yelled before his left leg launched a perfect kick to Jean's jaw.

12

Blood flew through the air as Jean was shot up like a cannonball, followed by Eclinox, who had just jumped to follow him; it wasn't wrong to say that if it weren't for the hardness of the armor, his head would have been severed from his body.

But with it protecting him, Jean could not only stay conscious and endure pain, but his left arm pointed to the sky, and once again, an energy attack shot out of the cannon.

11

The power of that attack halted Jean's advance and propelled him back down, spinning in the air and driving his heel into Eclinox's head and sending him crashing to the ground.

10

A small crimson red line fell across the demon's face as he held his head with a clear expression of pain until his eyes widened as he sensed danger, his sight lifted, and he jumped to the side, dodging the attack that almost cut him in half.

9

A small cut was left on his chest, one that perhaps even a child would ignore, but the pain that coursed through Eclinox's body was the same as any human would feel if marked with a burning metal rod.

8

His teeth clenched, his fist curled, and he threw a punch that contained all the anger and pain he was feeling, but the cannon that was in Jean's hand vanished into a multitude of particles, and his hand caught Eclinox's blow.

7

Being restrained and unable to break free, Jean's sword was lowered towards the etherias; for his part, the demon transformed his free arm into a sword and blocked the blow; both pressed with all their strength trying to gain ground, but they met in a clear impasse.

6

Jean felt how little by little the pressure of that form began to make his body give way.

'A little more, just bear it for a little more'. He told himself in an attempt to keep up with his enemy.

"You... are just... a miserable human... you're not going to beat... a demo-!" Eclinox was saying when Jean's helmet slammed into his nose, knocking him back and breaking the deadlock.

5

'NOW!' Jean yelled in his mind as his armor detached from his body and transformed into several dozen swords that surrounded Eclinox, each imbued with all the holy power Jean could grant them.

4

Jean extended his hands to the front and then collided them as if he was crushing something, and with that movement, all the swords in the air flew towards the etherias.

3

Seeing how the dangerous weapons flew at full speed toward him, Eclinox once again used his most powerful defensive ability, and the purple barrier surrounded him, protecting him from the swords that threatened to impale him.

And at the moment of the clash, each sword overloaded to the limit with holy energy exploded, vibrating the barrier and filling it with hundreds of cracks.

2

The explosions kept coming and the cracks growing when Jean slightly turned his neck and saw Lucy nodding and showing that everything was ready.

1

With the end of the rain of swords, the smoke caused by the explosions began to dissipate, and from behind the barrier, Eclinox could see something that he did not expect.

There, being propelled towards him at full speed, were Lucy and Jean.

#####

"Take advantage of every second that I can offer". He said, and after answering him, I jumped back to take distance, and along with the debris that flew, I heard Jean summon his armor once again; I knew I had to hurry; because now our lives depended on this plan working.

And a second later, Eclinox's voice full of anger was present in the whole place; I felt that even if I was outside the temple and away from him, that voice still would freeze my blood, but after that...

"PALADIN MODE!" Jean's voice overlapped, and along with a bright light that almost forced me to cover my eyes, a pressure much greater than anything I had felt before came, but my concentration did not waver; I kept concentrating little by little on the energy I had on my bracelet.

Then I saw it, along with the clear sound of an explosion; I could see Eclinox recoil with a genuine expression of pain, which hadn't happened once since he transformed.

And without letting him fully recover, Jean attacked him once more while wearing a completely different armor to the one I knew, adjusted to his body like a second skin; where his right hand should be, there was a sword that seemed to radiate a golden glow and in his left a cannon in the shape of the jaws of a beast.

The fight I saw after that, although short, could not be described in another word but incredible; it was like watching two natural disasters collide, untameable before any man or wizard.

Jean didn't back down an inch against the force that seemed to overwhelm him before, received blows that made him bleed, but unlike before, Eclinox's face showed that he was being pushed to his absolute limit, and even so, Jean seemed to be slightly above the demon.

I had always known it, that Jean was incredible, overcoming walls that seemed impossible, striving to meet his goals; I wanted to be like him; I also wanted to have that indomitable sparkle in my eyes, not the decision to be better than others, but so that I could be better than I had been before.

My arm started to burn from the amount of magic power concentrated in my bracelet that didn't stop glowing, the veins in my hand were marked, I felt that my fingers were burning, and my nails would be pulled out, but I didn't care, I would too, I would also give my all to overcome this invincible obstacle.

And when I saw the rain of weapons sent towards the demon that summoned his barrier, I knew that my time was about to run out.

My concentration multiplied, and the amount of energy rose to the point where I could barely maintain control over it, Jean's face turned to see me, and I nodded to give him the signal.

He took a single leap back to catch up with me as he took off his necklace and held it in his left hand; he quickly created a pair of swords linked at the handles with elastic chains before nailing both to the walls and standing next to me passing the chain behind us, fitting on our backs.

We both knew what we had to do; we circled each other's torso before pulling back using the chains of the swords as if they were slingshots.

His necklace began to emit a glow while the smoke still covered the place where Eclinox had been and when the smoke cleared enough to see a part of the barrier, the elastic chains propelled us forward.

My bracelet and his necklace reached their full brightness and came together, covering our hands as we both pointed forward.

There was no consensus, we never agreed on a name, and yet, while our energies joined and the drill covered our hands, a name appeared in my mind, so I shouted it without hesitation.

"SKY BREAKEEEEEEEER!" And as we both shouted the name of the newly created technique, the golden drill collided with Eclinox's barrier.

######

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Three different voices shouted at the top of their voices as a golden drill collided with all its power against a purple barrier.

246

The energies clashed, trying to outdo each other while giving rise to a huge golden pillar that expanded until it surpassed the black clouds and painted the sky the same color.

229

Eclinox's hands moved forward as the cracks in his barrier widened.

215

His hands began to bleed, his claws cracked from the pressure of the attack, and he felt the number of souls he had consumed in all this time decrease alarmingly.

172

And in the midst of all this, his mind was filled with insecurities; it was not possible; this could not be happening to him, all these years, increasing his strength, gathering drop by drop the power he would need to fulfill his objective, and now that it was within reach from his hand, now that in front of him there was a body with which he could uproot and destroy the soul of his creator.

118

His teeth clenched in such frustration that even there cracks began to form.

His entire reason for existing in the hands of a couple of mere humans? Beings that were born without power, beings that even he, who at the time of his creation was named as the weakest of the Etherias, had been able to crush until now with the same ease and despise that they would crush an insect.

77

More cracks covered his strongest protection.

It was ironic that he wanted to show all the other Etherias that even being weak, he would overcome them all and accomplish their goal without waiting for someone who would never come.

28

And now, the beings he saw as inferiors rose to surpass him at his best, proving that it didn't matter how inferior they were, to begin with, or what he thought about humanity.

12

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!" But even so, his screams did not stop, and his body never stopped fighting for the chance of victory while he looked into the eyes of the humans who had challenged him.

3

The cracks continued to spread, and in the end...

1

*CRASH

The barrier broke completely, letting through the attack that went directly towards his chest.

---

Ultimate Armor - Paladin Mode: The culmination and crystallization of all the efforts, blood, sweat, and tears that Jean shed during years of training to perfect all his skills.

If the ultimate armor pushes Jean's abilities to the limit, the Paladin Mode overwhelmingly surpasses all of those limits, however, doing this has repercussions on Jean's body and can only be used thanks to a combination of multiple factors.

-The Multi-Use Sword Necklace: This item works like a battery, supplying the armor with enough energy to materialize it.

-Touki: The entirety of Jean's touki is used solely to reinforce his body in an attempt to protect him from the physical pressure this state puts on his body, however even with this the pressure is enough to damage him the longer he uses the armor.

-Water Sword Necklace: Activating this artifact the [Divine Protection of the Water Spirits] begins the healing of the injuries that the armor inflicts on Jean's body, however even with the touki protecting his body and with the blessing constantly regenerating him, the speed at which he is injured is higher, so both things only delay the self-destruction of Jean's body.

If one of these factors fails then Jean won't be able to wear the armor, and even if he somehow manages to summon it, the pressure will damage his body in such a way that he will be out of action just 1 second after wearing it.

Being in a completely healthy state and without injuries, the period of time of use of the armor is as follows:

From 0 to 45 seconds of use: Does not cause major injuries to the body other than muscle cramps after wearing the armor.

From 46 to 75 seconds of use: The body begins to suffer muscle fatigue along with small tears, in addition, its blood vessels will be damaged, which will require considerable rest time after wearing the armor, preferably in a place with water to decrease the pain and the time needed to heal.

From 76 to 95 seconds of use: Jean's body will begin to suffer muscle tears in various parts of the body and his various blood vessels will begin to blow up.

From 96 to 110 seconds of use: Jean's body will suffer massive muscle tears, there will be ocular and nasal blood and even his joints, bones and internal organs will start to be affected.

From 111 to 120 seconds of use: At some point in these 10 seconds Jean's body will receive so much damage that his brain will send the order to faint in an attempt to avoid further injuries, if it reaches this point, Jean's body will be damaged to such an extent that the only way for him to survive is if he is immediately put in contact with the water or advanced healing magic.

---

Alright, chapter 23, we're so close to the end of this volume that I can almost taste it.

This new armor form is Jean's most powerful form, and it is obviously based on the appearance of my favorite digimon, Omegamon, and to a lesser extent on the second evolution of Incursio, the one that Tatsumi uses during the fight with Esdeath to resist her cold and her time-stop.

The symbol on his cape is the same as the one on the cover of this story.

And about Lucy and Jean's final attack, it's something similar to Unison Raid, and it's clearly inspired by TTGL.

How strong do you think Lucy is compared to the rest of the cast and her canon version?

That's all for now, Ciao.

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