Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-373

Megusan had used a large amount of his Divine Energy in creating a Mist Barrier with his own divinity, which managed to block Kireina's powerful blows and magic. Megusan was taken aback by her affinity with Chaos Attribute, her ability to unleash multiple weapon techniques without even holding weapons, and her ability to shapeshift her entire body into solidified limbs.

Megusan did remember having fought with shapeshifters before, but most of them weren't able to completely turn their shapeshifted limbs into solid and hard objects, such as scales and armor, and were usually Slime-like beings. However, Kireina was different, she was completely solid, and it was as if her own solid flesh was like a Slime.

Such a strong and unpredictable fighter was incredibly dangerous, without a hint of Doubt, he completely forgot about tracking the last piece of his Soul sealed in the Light Sphinx City and immediately expanded its Soul's Aura, broke out of its seal and without any previous alert took over his new vessel while using the thousands of Giant Snakes as materials to force evolution on its new vessel, so it could be as strong as he could to confront the challenge in front of him.

Megusan took over the soul of his vessels and assimilated them, and by using its Corrosive Aura, it dissolves their bodies and essences and merged them into a single existence in a matter of seconds, showing its amazing mastery over the manipulation of its powers.

A powerful Aura was unleashed from her new body conflicting with Kireina's domain, a dark and red force began to clash with an endless purple force.

Clash!

Megusan's new body floated in the sky as its skin was covered in a thin coating of her Venomous Divinity. Her body was that of a giantess, towering over fifty meters, her skin was pale purple, with the lower half of a giant purple scaled snake tail, covered in venomous spikes and with the tip of the head of a snake. Its upper body was that of an attractive mature woman, resembling the Giant Venomous Lamia's beauty.

A large and nude chest, slim belly, and eight arms, each one had large purple claws that could tear apart the sky, her face was that of a bewitchingly mischievous beauty. With two large crimson eyes and a purple third eye on her forehead, her hair was purple colored and long, ending in several giant snakes heads, she also had purple bat-like wings at her back, which had their own eyes as well, ominously glancing at Kireina.

Although its body was that of a mortal, its power was overwhelming, the Divinity of Megusan's soul had merged with this mortal body, exuding a powerful force that made nearby weak-minded beings quiver in fear.

This was the resurrected Demon Demi-God of Venomous and Long Critters, even though it was still a mortal, its power and presence was that of a God, a Divine Existence above all mortals.

"Admire my new form! Bwahahaha! Now prepare yourself to be dissolved into a puddle of flesh and blood!!! Become nourishment for my resurrected body!"

Kireina grimaced, as her wives on her back admired their enemy's power.

"It's a good thing that we left the children back there…" said Zehe.

"Indeed… Masta, let's do it!" said Rimuru.

"Alright! Sit tight!" roared Kireina, as her body shapeshifted into a sphere of flesh, eyes, mouths, tongues, tentacles, and countless layers of armor, absorbing the magic bubble where her wives were.

Megusan glanced at Kireina's strange movements.

"Are you trying to shapeshift again?! It's useless, the moment I have taken over this body, no mortal would be able to fight against me! I won't let you transform in front of me! Transcendental Venom; Mist of the Harbinger of Death!" roared Megusan as her Aura transformed into a dark mist that quickly rushed towards Kireina's position, its presence made any life surrounding it die down, even the air became toxic and dissolved, it was as if such attack broke the laws of what was existence itself for a moment.

Kireina's sphere-like body released a giant mass of flesh covered in armor and countless magic enchantments, a massive claw opened its large fingers that ended in sharp nails, a large mouth appeared with thousands of sharp fangs, and a playful and long sticky tongue, intercepting the mist as if it were nothing.

However, the moment the mist approached the giant flesh mass, it began to dissolve it as if it were ice, massive amounts of boiling juices rained over the desert as the mass of flesh seemed to be completely useless against the attack of a God.

"BWAHAHA! You utter fool! It's useless! You can't fight against the powers of a God; whose divinity is already part of the essence of existence! Perish! Mist! Devour her…!"

The dark mist crawled around the massive mass of flesh that was surging from within Kireina's spherical body as it dissolved it all like fire over a piece of butter. With great vigor the mist devoured everything, accompanied by Megusan's crazed laughter… however, it suddenly stopped moving.

"Devour her! Turn her into soup! Bwahaha- Eh?!"

As the mist turned the massive mass of flesh into soup, it suddenly began to lower its phase as the flesh itself which was being turned into soup revealed millions of tiny mouths, using a strange power that Megusan had never seen before, it began to devour the mist itself! To top it all, Kireina's Aura was constantly enhancing her own flesh with energy and magic.

"W-What the…?! Y-You're devouring my own attack?!"

"Behind you"

"HUH?! BUGEEEH!"

CLASH!

Suddenly a giant demonic arm covered in dark scales and countless jaws punched Megusan's back with incredible force, blowing it away like a meteor through the sky.

Kireina had awaited for Megusan's to start its offense and then extended a large mass of flesh to intercept the mist, giving it plenty of food to divert the Demon God attention as it divided a piece of its flesh and transformed it into a Demon Abyss Arm, which she covered in dozens of coatings of her Mirage Attribute Magic and Stealth Skill Traps.

As Megusan celebrated its victory, Kireina's mass of flesh which was used as a diversion began to retaliate back against the mist, devouring it with her Divinity Devouring Skill infused in her Aura and her own Uroboros Soul.

When Megusan was taken aback by this move, the large Abyss Demon Arm had already closed in through her back by using the stealth and Mirage Magic to be undetected even by the Demon God's Aura, releasing a powerful blow which concentrated countless of techniques together towards Megusan's spine, breaking it apart and sending it flying through the sky.

"I-Impossible…! How?! When?! Guueh! Aura!" Megusan shouted as she stopped her bleeding with her outstanding regeneration abilities and controlled her Aura like another mist of dissolving venom, attacking Kireina from her side.

However, the Abyss Demon Arm extended itself like a Snake, opening its jaws and shaping them into a ferocious dragon's head, then, it converted itself into a Phantom and ignored Megusan's Aura for a certain extent, converting back into a solid form and biting one of her arms, crushing it.

"GYAAH! T-THIS PAIN! Having a mortal Vessel is really troublesome…! UAGH!"

Megusan enhanced the rest of her arms with her divinity and slashed the Abyss Demon arm into pieces, but as it calmed down over the pain of having one of its arm torn apart and munched by sharp fangs, Kireinas body had already shapeshifted into a giant behemoth with eight arms, five heads, and sixteen wings. Five of her tails flew towards Megusan and tried to devour her, as she tried to call over her Black Mist to intercept it but discovered that it had suddenly disappeared.

"H-How can you!? T-That was a Transcendental Skill with Divinity infused on it! Y-You can't just…!"

Megusan was being constantly taken aback over Kireina's accomplishments in their battle, never on her entire life as she expected a mortal to have so many ridiculous aces bellow her sleeve. She had already expected her victory no matter what happened after she obtained a new physical vessel…

Five of Kireina's tails rushed in towards Megusan as they released powerful breaths that resembled beams of energy that were infused with the Divinity Devouring Skill effect, Megusan blocked them with her own Divine Aura as they left large cracks on it each time they were blocked.

Kireina's tails suddenly detached from her and continued their onslaught on their own while absorbing energy from her Aura. Meanwhile, Megusan couldn't do anything more than defend, unlike Kireina, she could not separate her mind into different consciousness nor had the power to shape her new body into slime-like flesh.

Kireina's main body then divided itself into three, each resembled a demon covered in ominous-looking armor, tentacles, wings, eyes, and fangs. Her split minds had divided themselves alongside her wives, into three groups each one infusing their Life and Magic Energy into the giant behemoths, Megusan was intercepted from left, right, and above.

Having no choice but to fight back, she released a powerful shock of her Aura, unleashing a venomous power capable of dissolving air itself for a few seconds, but these powers were intercepted by Kireina's tails, which expanded themselves as flesh membranes, taking the hit for the three her, they were quickly converted into boiling soup and fell over the sand.

"You damned shapeshifter, so troublesome!" roared Megusan, using the powers from within her Soul as she activated the Divine Energy that she had saved to unleash another wave of venomous force towards the nearest of Kireina's separate bodies.

However, the voice of Rimuru resonated from within that giant being, as a large beam of different colors was released from Kireina's clone torso, which had the form of a raging dragon.

"Transcendental Magic; Nine Spirits Requiem!"

Flash!

The Beam of pure magical energy clashed over the venomous force of Megusan, as she infused more of her energy to intercept such an attack, she grimaced the words that were released from within the monster that Kireina had split into.

"Transcendental Magic?! Is she a Goddess?! How can a Mortal use Transcendental Magic?!"

"Don't lose your focus!" said another voice, Brontes, who enhanced the giant where she was with the powers of Thunder, covering its ominous-looking armor with a golden luster as it used its eight fists to release a barrage of attacks towards Megusan's back. Thunderous sounds filled the dungeon as cracks appeared on Megusan's defensive shield.

"GRR! I-Its useless…!" roared Megusan as she opened her large gaping mouth and released her whip-like tongue covered in venomous slime, intercepting the Giant Kireina where Brontes was, the blows of her tongue were strong enough to stop Bronte's punches, but that quickly changed when another voice resonated from the left.

"Psychic Eyes Arts; Telekinetic Hammer!" shouted the voice of Nanako, as she manipulated the forces of her eyes into a Telekinetic and formless power that rushed towards Megusan from its left. At the same time, Nesiphae's voice was heard from within the Giant Kireina where Brontes resided, at the right of Megusan, a giant Battle-Axe appeared out of the Giant Kireina's body and unleashed a powerful barrage of slicing attacks.

Rimuru's voice was heard again alongside Zehe's voice, the two conjured a powerful combined magic spell, summoning a black hole over Megusan.

"Space Magic?! Tch! Get off me!" roared the Demon God as she moved her tongue and claws towards the Giant Kireina at her right, where Nesiphae and Brontes resided, unleashing a powerful barrage of attacks that sent the giant flying for a few moments, enough time to use another venomous shockwave to intercept Rimuru and Zehe's upcoming attack over her head.

"It's useless! There is only despair for you Mortals, Aura! Eh? A-Aura! Aura! WHAT?!" Megusan roared as she realized that her ability to manipulate her own Aura was suddenly blocked by a strange force, she felt the energy being drained from her very soul… Alongside this, the Giant Kireina where Nanako resided used a powerful arm-shaped Telekinetic force to grab on Megusan's arms and crushed them like mere branches.

CRACK!

"UGYAAAAAH!!! This pain! Ugghh…! Black Mist…!" shouted Megusan, as she summoned a powerful Black Mist that surrounded her like a coat, all three of the Giant Kireinas decided to fall back as she tried to use this to attack and dissolve their bodies.

But Megusan forgot about something.

A giant Claymore appeared over her head, it was decorated with countless of colors and covered in undying darkness, with its immense weight and magic energy, it impaled Megusan's head, slicing apart her physical vessel from head to tail.

SLASH!

"GYAAAAAAH!!!"

A sharp pain crossed Megusan's entire mind as she felt her very soul having been sliced. However, she was still a God and tried to reattach itself by releasing countless Soul and Flesh tentacles from within the inside of its body.

"Ugh… Ugeh…! I-I can't die to you…! A mere… mortal…!"

And from within Megusan's mind, Kireina's voice resonated.

"You dared to interrupt what would have been a nice and relaxing trip through the dungeon with my beloved family, Megusan"

"HUH?! Y-You! How can you infiltrate the mind of a God?!" protested Megusan's inner voice.

"I told you that I would crush and devour you, didn't I? It's only logical to do what I said I would do…"

Megusan suddenly realized that inside of his soul there were millions of small living creatures… bacteria. They were no ordinary bacteria as they possessed a phantasmagoric form and were infused with a powerful Skill capable of eating Gods, Divinity Devouring, alongside other Skills such as Soul Parasite and Phantasmal Symbiosis.

The Bacteria were both parasitizing Megusan's soul, becoming part of it, and also eating it… Such power shouldn't even exist, but it did.

The moment Megusan used her own Soul coupled with her Divinity and Aura to attack, is when Kireina began to release millions of these Bacteria enchanted with her powers towards Megusan.

Megusan always coated her entire body in her own Soul, as this was a technique she learned since she was a mortal thousand of years ago. Because her soul was a Venomous substance that could dissolve everything, she never thought that Kireina could somehow damage her through it.

However, there was a great weakness on Megusan's Venomous Soul, as it could not dissolve Phantasmal creatures as easily. This was already showcased when one of Kireina's Abyss Demon Arms transformed into a phantom to evade most of Megusan's shockwave damage and crush one of her arms.

However, Kireina may have not been able to do such a technique if her Soul hadn't mutated into a Rank 6 Self-Devouring Uroboros Soul. She used her bacteria, which had a piece of her soul and aura on them to parasitize Megusan's soul, become part of it, and then devour themselves with Divinity Devouring and Uroboros. Much like the Demon God, she used her own soul as a weapon.

"It can't be…! I cannot die…! I am a God! I am supposed to triumph over mortals, trample over them and devour their flesh…! Y-You!"

"Stop acting like a cliché villain, you already make me want to puke… are all gods like this…? Sigh, just die already! I got other things to do right now!" roared Kireina as her original soul, which was separated into three in each of her clones used large quantities of Soul Energy and Magic Energy, enhancing her bacteria which voraciously merged themselves with Megusan's soul and then ate themselves endlessly, quickly diminishing the weakened God soul… this time not into pieces, but making it completely disappear.

Megusan was engulfed in despair, her existence began to fade as she tried to use all of her leftover power that she would fathom to cleanse her soul from the small bacteria, but because they became part of her, they wouldn't die unless she dared to cut her soul into pieces willingly.

And because her mind worked with the instincts that she always had as a monster back then, damaging herself wasn't within her mentality, no matter how much she desired to cut herself into pieces to perhaps gain a little bit more of time, she couldn't do it.

"Wait…! You win…! I recognize you, mortal… no, Kirei… Kireina-sama…! P-Please, spare me! I beg of you! I will become your pet, anything!"

"My pet…? That sound tempting, I would gladly play around with your body, Megusan… But time's over… thanks for the meal!"

"HUH?! Ugh! No! I'm fading…! T-This…! I cannot… die…"

Megusan felt her own existence fade away as if turning into dust, her powerful and vigorous purple-colored soul that created an ominous presence became dimmer and dimmer, and its physical body stopped moving… on its last moments, a tiny piece of its soul moved somewhere else, Kireina's split consciousness that was inside of her bacteria disappeared and was not able to detect this.

The sliced corpse fell over the ground, creating a slight tremor.

Kireina's split souls in the Bacteria that merged with Megusan soul and then ate themselves quickly came back to Kireina's main Soul, as the three giants merged into one.

Kireina felt her soul trembling, gaining a new power, she devoured the Soul of a Demi-God after all, no matter how weakened it was, eating such a massive amount of Divine Energy would kill her.

However, she devoured those pieces of her soul that trembled with her own soul, creating an endless cycle of digestion, coupled it Divinity Devouring, she finally managed to appease the powers that flew through her Soul.

She felt her soul reawakening and strengthening beyond what she was before.

She was now clearly not in the Realm of Mortals…

"T-This… I feel… anew"

Kireina's family which were inside of her body received a surge of power as well as if she shared a piece of such power with all of them.

Meanwhile, a small white egg was released from within Megusan's physical vessel, which was now a corpse. The small, tiny piece of its soul that managed to survive rested inside of it.

"One day…! I will… come back… Kireina…! I will crawl… I will drag myself… And I will come…! For your life…"

Megusan's mind was twisted as most of is original memories mixed chaotically, the amount of mental fatigue inflicted upon such a small piece of a soul, even that of a god, was arduous, making its mind blacked out… if it would even remember its original name or not depended on its recovery, but it was clear that her last statement was impregnated in her very soul.

The small white egg was engulfed in the endless dunes as the strong wind moved it through the Desert… its life presence was incredibly faint, making it unnoticeable.