Arpious of the Planes

Their laughs had slightly slowed down as I reached the blades of my scythe towards the gargoyle leader's throat.

SHING

I had successfully swung my scythe, but for some reason, I felt it stop in its tracks.

And then, in the next second, all the gargoyles around me split up, seemingly running away from me.

"Huh? Are you scared to die-"

ROOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAR

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I mutter after seeing the gargoyle leader quickly expand and grow 3- no 4- no 9- no 12 times larger- no… it just kept on growing without any signs of stopping.

ROOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAR

After only a few more seconds, it finally stopped growing, but it was so much taller than ceiling height, forcing it to bend over just to fit in the room.

A gray giant gargoyle which took a more humanoid appearance, had appeared in the room, slightly frightening my maids and even the gargoyles.

I thought they were following orders from the leader, but it seems they were just as scared of him as my maids were before taking another glance at my morale-raising flag.

"HEY GIRLS! YOU DEAL WITH ANY OF THE LINGERING GARGOYLES! I'LL TAKE CARE OF THIS GIANT!" I shout after taking the golden flag out of my mouth and then putting it back in.

As I stared at the massive giant before inspecting it and checking my status to see if I was running dry on mana.

[HP: 481/700  MP: 67/500  SP: 397/500]

[Gargoyler]

[This is the evolved form of a gargoyle and the final form within its evolution path. This monster promotes from just a guard of a certain area to the guardian of an even bigger area.

It can also summon its own gargoyles and take any gargoyle it defeats or injures under its reign of tyranny.]

My mana is running extremely low, so I need to end this fast… but I don't think that's possible as I don't know its weakness.

FWOOSH

I blasted a cannon-like shot of gray mist towards the giant gargoyle, which completely enveloped it, but as soon as the gray mist came in contact with the stone, it dissipated as if it was erased from existence.

My jaw dropped at how my all-powerful attack was canceled out, but I didn't have much more time to gawk as the gargoylers massive fist came flying towards me.

BAM

I just barely managed to block it with my weapons in an X shape block. And before I used any more useless mana, I deactivated [Divinity Domain] and [Forbidden Magic: Medusa].

My original appearance was back, and the slight boost in power divinity domain gave me was gone, so I struggled to push back the massive stone hand.

"ARGHHHHHHH!" I shout, but the golden handle muffled my mouth.

SHING SHING

I had succeeded in deflecting back the gargoylers stone hand.

Its red eyes glowed in the dark as the sunlight didn't reach the top of the dome, creating an eerie and creepy appearance that blocked half the room.

"HUFF HUFF HUFF… huh? What is it doing?" I mutter through my golden flag.

The gargoyler seemed to be slowly disappearing into the floor, and the calm face that it had a second earlier now turned into a sadistic and eerie smile that enhanced its devil-like appearance.

KEKEKEKEKEKE

The laughing off the side-lined gargoyles erupted once again before charging towards me, but my maids interrupted them mid-air while parrying all of the attacks and retaliating right after.

As soon as I adjusted my eyes back to the massive titan that sat in the room, I saw that only its pointy head was left, which was slowly sinking into the floor below.

"Ah shit… is it going to swim in the walls like the previous gargoyles?" I mutter through the flag handle.

But even as slight worry started to sink in, I dashed towards the sinking head as I noticed it was defenseless. Its arms and legs were gone, so I assumed it was standing straight up within the floor.

SHING SHING

I ripped my weapons through the air so hard that you could even hear the air splitting as I brought my scythe and katana down towards the gargoylers head.

BAM

Suddenly a massive stone foot kicked me from below, knocking the wind out of me and smashing me against the ceiling.

"Ack… *cough* *cough*-"

BAM

The foot slammed my body against the ceiling once more, causing my consciousness to waver before returning slightly.

BAM

I had just barely moved out of the way by flapping my clearly broken wings once, causing the same foot to just barely miss crushing my right arm and leg.

Suddenly, my wings stiffened up, causing me to plummet to the ground. I immediately entered a guard position, waiting for another attack to come from below, but nothing came even as I crashed down into the ground.

"MISTRESS!" I hear my maids shout from across the room, but I ignore them and try to flip my body over from the face-planted position I was currently in.

BAM

As soon as I turned my head to see the ceiling, a massive gray foot came crashing down onto my body once again, causing me to cough up even more blood.

I gasped for air as all the oxygen had been knocked out of my lungs, but I didn't even get the chance to get a full breath of air as two fists came from the side of the room, sandwiching me between their knuckles.

"Ack… *cough* *cough* *cough* *cough* *cough* *cough*-"

I tried to gasp for air once more, but a stone foot came from under me once again, smashing me into the ceiling.

Shit… Think… I need to think; otherwise, I'm going to die here pathetically… think… think… think… think… think think think think think think think think think think think think think think…

Wait, maybe-

BAM

A stone hand came from the ceiling, plummeting towards my already limp body before slamming me into the floor below.

My ears were ringing, and my vision was blurry, but I had to proceed with my plan if I wanted to live for even just a split second more.

[Weak Celestial Bone Dive]

It was a gamble, but I thought it might've worked as I got it from gargoyles who could swim through the walls as if it was water.

Suddenly my body started to sink into the floor below, causing me to just narrowly miss a stone foot to the back, which seemed to have the intent of giving a final blow.

BOOM

The foot crashed into the stone above me, surprisingly creating a slight dent in what I assumed to be in the invincible stone.

I'm sinking.

My last peak of sight that came from the dent in the ground disappeared as I started to sink into darkness.

I couldn't see at all, and it felt like I was literally drowning in water. I felt if I opened my mouth, the liquid would come flowing in and drown me.

It's so dark… but I want to rest… maybe this is a good spot to die…

My golden flag had fallen out of my mouth ages ago and disappeared upon contact with the floor, and my soul equipment had been shattered except for Araes dress, which of course, included my new scythe.

Heh… wasn't that thing supposed to be threatening to the great spirits? How did it break from this… unless it has the potential to grow into a great spirit threatening weapon… uh… I can't… too exhausted- ah, is this my life flashing before my eyes.

Images of my second life began to flash through my mind, but I didn't feel anything. No anger. No sadness. No disgust at how I acted. I just felt calm. Almost relaxed.

Images of my wives, children, servants, subordinates, maids, pets and even citizens flashed through my mind. All the good times I had with them all the way up from where I first met Kumo in the dark cave.

And even the bad times where I almost died fighting myself, where I missed two of my wives giving birth, and even realizing how heartless I was. How much of a monster I was.

But I wasn't angry anymore and decided to accept my past. Depending on who you ask, I might've given different answers as I became more aware of others' feelings while also becoming more psychotic.

Heh… isn't this supposed to be when a character remembers their family, and then they get an amazing power-up that carries them through the rest of the fight…

Suddenly a thick liquid entered my throat and lungs, but even as I choked, I couldn't help but laugh at my pitiful fate.

How funny…

Finally, the last image flashed through my mind, and I saw my child self once again. The face was darkened out by what seemed to be a shadow of something, but I could still tell it was me… it was just a feeling.

He smirked at me, and I only smirked back before everything went dark.

[Grand Mind Magic has been activated]

[Inner demon has been released]