"Listen to me, all your memories regarding Kuro have been altered, don't fight him, Shiro is the imposter!" Exclaimed Fuo, trying to convince them as I entered Lazarus Mode.

  "Come on, Fuo, there's no way everyone's memories except for yours were altered, it's way more likely that you're the only one whose memories have been altered!" Argued Rai, as his scythe crackled with lightning.

  "Mine were altered just like yours was, my past memories are of Shiro, not Kuro! But then Shiro tried to kill me when I realized that Atticus's memories didn't match mine and we confronted him about it!" She continued to argue, but to no avail.

  "You've been brainwashed, Fuo, he must have used his Cross on you!" Yelled Key, drawing out her sword while watching me warily.

  "No, you're wrong, I-!" She began to retort, before I interrupted her by placing a hand on her shoulder.

  "Don't waste your breath, calm down. They won't listen no matter what you say, after all, from a logical standpoint their argument actually makes more sense……the one factor that could sway that is something I literally can't talk about, so it's a moot point. It's pointless, I realized that talking wouldn't solve this even before I sealed my emotions," I remarked, before turning to the others and stepping forward, "This'll be my final warning. Get out of my way."

  "Why don't you make us!?" Snapped Persia, entering VamPanther Mode and zipping towards me at full speed using her Cross.

  Even now, her full speed was greater than mine in Lazarus Mode……but it doesn't matter, I can follow her movements easily. She closed in and swung her claws at my throat, wind swirling around them. I narrowly evaded her slash and blocked as she swung a punch at my head, her fist swirling with wind-enhanced red flames. My forearm absorbed the impact of the strike, and before she could slip away, I grabbed hold of her wrist.

  "Sorry," I blurted out without realizing it, before I fired out a sonic blast at her head from my mouth.

  She returned to her normal state and collapsed onto the ground with a groan……her hearing was better than most, which made my sonic blasts especially potent against her. I then fired out a spiderweb net over her to keep her restrained. Fuo then flew over me from behind in Vampire Mode and formed a couple of ice blades, blocking a strike from Rai as he swung his scythe towards me.

  Rai sprang back with a hesitant look on his face……since they all think she's brainwashed, they'll be reluctant to fight her. She then fired a Lunar Beam from her hand at Key, but it was weak. Unlike her Solar Beams, this used moonlight, and it didn't do any physical damage, it erases Mana when it strikes a target……but with this storm, there was barely any moonlight right now.

  "Guess it's upto me," Sighed Az, taking a couple of steps forward.

  "I would prefer not to fight you……you're strong, so holding back will be difficult," I warned, as I turned to face him.

  "If you think you can get away with underestimating me……be my guest, but I should warn you, you'll die."

  The raindrops all around me suddenly stopped, floating around me before stretching and freezing into sharp ice needles……how troublesome, this weather is perfect for him. As the ice needles shot towards me from every direction, I ignited my entire body in flames, one of the abilities of Firefoxes. I had chosen fire-resistant clothes so that I could use it without worry.

  I then raised my hand and formed a massive ball of flames, lightning and wind above me, rapidly expanding and increasing it's power and scale. When I modified the structure of my Mana circuits, I primary had to shift several of the circuits into my forehead in order to use Demonic Magic, and I'd also moved several Mana circuits to my palms……and now, my output was larger in scale and faster to generate.

  Az looked alarmed at the sight of my attack, swiftly putting up a thick wall of ice……this attack wasn't meant for him though. I dispelled the flames around my body and fired the massive sphere of lightning, wind and flames straight up at the sky……hm, based on my previous naming patterns, I would probably name this……Scarlet Incineration Nova.

  The sphere shot straight up and blew away the clouds as it went through, the sky appearing in sight as the storm got blown away, the downpour dissipating rapidly. There, Az should no longer be a threat. He then shattered the ice wall into several sharp shards, and as he began to launch them towards me, I formed an Absolute Defense barrier in front on myself, it materialized just in time to deflect all the ice projectiles.

  Meanwhile, with the moon clearly out now, Fuo's power was doubled. And she was charging up Lunar energy in her hands while evading Rai and Key, who were attacking relentlessly, Rai with lightning-coated fists and Key with the back of her blade.

  Fuo's current Vampire Mode was about as strong as mine was before the Vampires attacked the Rustlands, and she could now maintain it for two full minutes……so with the moon doubling her power, she was far too strong for them to handle. She flew up and fired powerful Lunar Beams at them, striking them both before they could evade. They collapsed onto their knees shakily……their Mana was likely completely wiped out by that.

  Az then sent a large wave of ice spikes barreling towards me, I swiftly flew up and swooped towards him rapidly, narrowly evading the barrage of large ice spikes as I closed in, before using Teleport to slip behind him, he immediately reacted by forming ice spikes from his heels, shooting up towards me.

  I burst out bone spikes from my body to crash onto the ice spikes shooting towards my torso, shattering them. One gashed through my right side, and another gashed my left shoulder. Webs won't be enough to restrain him, I need to knock him out……a sonic blast should do the trick.

  The instant I opened my mouth, he spun around and swiftly raised an angled vertical ice pillar, which was pointed towards himself, and grabbed onto the top of it, to rapidly send himself shooting away from me as the pillar formed and extended back at an angle. He then raised his hand and formed a large mass of ice in the shape of……a hammer, with the hammer part larger than a boulder.

  He swung it down towards me by swiftly dropping his arm, I responded by swirling fire and lightning around my fist and swinging it up as the hammer closed it, shattering it upon impact and slightly fracturing my knuckles……that's some impressively dense ice, considering how dense my skeleton is. But that said, it's barely even damage at all.

  The shattered pierces of the hammer then turned sharp and began to shoot down towards me, I swiftly fired out a powerful sonic blast from my mouth to deflect them most of them away, one getting lodged in my right shoulder and another grazing my side.

  Time to end this fight. I used to Teleport to reappear inches in front of Az, who was still on top of the angled ice pillar. His eyes widened for an instant, before he gritted his teeth and send an ice spike shooting towards me from the pillar as I simultaneously fired a sonic blast straight at his face.

  The ice spike pierced my midsection but stopped before it reached my spine, as he lost consciousness and slipped off the end of the pillar and plummeted towards the ground. I shattered the ice spike and freed myself, before using Teleport to zip down and catch Az before he crashed onto the ground.

  I then lowered him down and lay him down, before firing a spidernet web over him……it won't hold him for long if he regains consciousness, but it will take him a moment to break free, so it will buy time at the very least.

  Hm, where is Shiro? I suppose he's hiding and waiting for me to use up my time limit while fighting my friends……but it's futile, I still have more than twenty minutes left in this form. And thanks to Diablo, my Mana capacity had increased five times over.

  I then leapt off to the side as I suddenly felt a spike of bloodlust behind me, Persia springing up and firing a flaming wind slash at me. Hm, she hasn't fully freed herself from my spiderweb, but she managed to burn holes in it for her limbs to pop out of, like sleeves……her hands and feet were severely burnt, she must have drastically heated up the water on the ground from the rain using her Fire Magic in order to weaken the webs.

  Her back was also quite badly burnt, and the webs around that spot were also weakened and torn, she must have done that so that her wings wouldn't be stuck in the web. She shot towards me and sprang up rapidly, and then swung her claws down at me. I stepped back to evade, as she landed on her hands and while standing upside down, swung a barrage of kicks at my chest and neck, which I evaded and blocked.

  I then sprang back and fired out a sonic blast from my mouth, she quickly fired Propulsion from her palms to shoot herself straight up into the air and evade my attack. Her movements were a little shaky, she's likely still dazed from earlier, her hearing is probably dulled as well.

  I evaded as she flung a wind-enhanced punch at my face and blocked with my forearm as she swung a high kick at the side of my head. I used Teleport to slip behind her, she immediately reacted by spinning around and firing a blast of wind from her mouth, striking my chest and causing me to stumble back, before springing forward and driving a compressed wind sphere towards my neck.

  I swiftly formed a layer of bone under the skin of my neck, just in time as her attack connected, the skin around my neck getting torn off but my throat remaining intact as the bone absorbed the impact……I can't constantly keep a layer of bone in my neck because that would compromise my flexibility, but I had made it so that there was some extra bone under my collarbone that I could use to almost-instantly put up an armor-like layer of bone just underneath the skin in my neck.

  She then whipped her tail up at my head while charging flames and wind around her claws, I deflected her tail by swiftly extending up a bone spike from my shoulder, before evading as she swung her claws at my face. She's faster than me right now, but my eyes can follow her movements easily, so it's just a matter of figuring out her timing……

  I continued to evade and block her strikes as she unleashed a barrage of slashes and kicks, her claws coated in flames and swirling wind, while also swinging her tail at me. Time to end this. I grabbed her wrists as she let out a roar and swung both hands at my head, and as she swung her tail up at me, I swiftly formed another arm from my left side and caught it.

  "Damn it, let go of me!" She growled, before opening her mouth, wind swirling in it.

  I swiftly formed a horn in the middle of my forehead, a power from the Unicorns which I got when I consumed the Beast King's life force, and then channeled my Mana into the horn, before firing out a rainbow-colored beamed straight at her……she flinched, before looking surprised as she felt no pain.

  Suddenly, she shuddered and her expression grew nauseous, I let go of her wrists and tail as she stumbled back with her hand over her mouth, collapsing onto her knees with a sick look on her face……the beam I fired does no physical damage, it simply makes the victim's Mana flow go temporarily berserk in a way that causes immense nausea and dizziness, but otherwise does no harm and has no lasting side effects or damage, I had already tested it out on Fuo to see how it worked.

  Additionally, with the Mana flow disrupted, the victim wouldn't be able to use any magic until the effects wear off, and considering how much I had hit her with, that should be at least ten minutes……but just in case, I'll make sure she won't attack me again. I stepped towards her, as she stared up at me with fear in her eyes……hm, even with my emotions sealed, that expression caused a slight ache in my chest.

  I opened my mouth and fired a sonic blast at her again, knocking her out. I then restraining her with webs again, adding an extra layer on each of her limbs. Now, then……where is Shiro?

  "Did you really have to use that stupid rainbow beam, it feels absolutely awful……I could have just used my Lunar Beam to wipe out her Mana too, you know," Remarked Fuo, walking up to me and nodding at Az.

  I see, so she had drained his Mana as well. I fired out webs at Rai and Key to restrain them as well, who had both lost consciousness since their Mana had been completely drained.

  "It doesn't matter. Did you check to see if they have Mana Orbs on them?" I inquired.

  "Of course I did, and none of them were carrying any."

  "Good……then no one should be left to get in my way while I fight him," I replied, turning my attention ahead of me as Shiro finally reappeared after I'd knocked him away.

  "You……how dare you hurt my friends, you'll pay for this," He remarked, though with no one conscious to hear him, his acting was pretty half-hearted, a triumphant smirk on his face, "It's time for you to die."

  "I should be the one saying that to you," I responded, before adding, "Oh, and I plan to make sure that you suffer before you die……"

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  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

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