Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-466

Two projectiles of blazing dark flames were shot from Xedia's bow, each one flew towards a different direction.

Flash! Flash!

Kaguya's 'Overpowering Sun', which she learned from Kireina as a spell instead of a skill took the form of her blue and phantasmal flames.

One of the nightmarish arrows hit against the large sphere of blue flames at immense speed, detonating into an explosion of multiple blazes.

Boom!

"Oh? She managed to block with ease?" said Kaguya, excited.

Meanwhile, the other arrow directed itself towards Altani.

Altani raised her aura and lance and unleashed a series of consecutive techniques while using the golden feathers of her aura to enhance her attacks.

Flash! Flash! Flash!

The powers and colors collided into an explosion, Altani managed to destroy the arrow in time and held a small Aegis floating around her to protect her from most damage, but Xedia only stood there as more arrows came towards her opponents.

She was not a physical fighter neither good in close combat, she had amazing bow technique, and also capable of firing daggers, that is all.

And that is how she used her abilities and converged them with Geggoron's split soul, using the divinity to make her skills and technique advance through a new level of possibilities.

Her Nightmarish Blaze Aura kept generating arrows for her to launch using Hunting Technique and Bow Arts, its original power enhanced several times by using them alongside such abilities.

Altani and Kaguya flew through the battlefield while evading the arrows, but the arrows, instead of hitting the walls of the domain or the floor, followed them around, tracking them.

"If you're planning on only shooting arrows then you're done for! Emerald Wind Vortex! Starlight's Enhancement! Brilliant Star Lance's Onslaught!" shouted Altani, destroying the countless arrows coming her way by creating a vortex of golden wind converging with her lance techniques.

Flash! Slash!

Slicing and piercing winds enhanced by the 'Divinity Devouring' Skill destroyed and made the arrows dissipate into black dust, as she finally closed to her target.

Xedia glanced at Altani's face as she jumped from the ground, covering her feet with her blazing dark flames aura, forming long claws capable of destroying the ground and give her enough strength to jump to greater heights.

Flash!

Clash!

She evades Altani's attack and then glanced at her from above, in midair.

"Nightmarish Hell Blaze Arrow Barrage," she said, as countless arrows converged from the aura covering her body like a coat, and fired from her bow with immense precision and speed.

Each arrow then transformed into evil specters and began to attack Altani from all sides, she used her techniques and magic to fend them off, but as she did, more and more appeared. Xedia was still floating in midair while shotting, and even flying around and evading Kaguya's attacks.

"Ah, she's quite fast, isn't she?!" analyzed Kaguya, as she flew through the air by using the Levitate Spell.

"Starlight Emerald Windstorms Breath!" shouted Altani, opening her mouth as her Aura and Magi converged themselves inside of her body and then were split into a strong tornado from her mouth, the tornado carried thousands of specks of light that rotated and produced golden fire, everything engulfed the winds as thunder roared as well, hitting Xedia unaware!

Flash!

"Uugh!"

Xedia was hit by Altani's attack as Kaguya appeared from behind her, manipulating dozens of blue flames and firing them at immense speed towards her, making them detonate into blazing explosions.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Xedia managed to evade and intercept in time by manipulating the powers of her aura, creating her own Nightmare Barrier while hitting the spheres of fire to explode before they could hit her smaller body.

Her orange eyes shined in bright light, as her small complexion body covered in smooth and pale white skin and her scarlet hair waved through the winds and the explosions.

"I cannot die to the likes of you, I must… exert revenge, this rage inside of me, this frustration, I won't let you take away the opportunities from me!" she roared, her aura shaping itself like a dangerous and feral beast, covering her body, her arms and legs were covered in this dark flaming aura and shaped themselves as sharp claws. Meanwhile, a part of her aura covered her head with the appearance of a raging lioness made out of blazing dark flames.

"What is she talking about?" wondered Kaguya.

"I think I remember something said from Kireina-sama, this girl was betrayed by her father and had everything she cared about destroyed only to fulfill her father's ambitions…" said Altani.

"I see…" said Kaguya, comparing herself to Xedia, in a way they were quite similar, as Kireina killed Kaguya's progenitor, the Dark Squirrel Emperor, and also more than half of her siblings before enslaving her.

However, their mindsets were different, Kaguya never had any attachment to these siblings or even her own father. And even became closer to the one who caused the death of all of them because she saw her as someone strong and benevolent, Kaguya was not originally a demi-human after all and was born as a small squirrel monster.

Meanwhile, Xedia had lived for many years than Kaguya, and developed several feelings of attachment to the people she met and wanted to protect. Their stories could be similar in some ways, but their mindsets and the details of each one greatly differed.

"Well, although it is tragic, we don't have anything to do with the story of her feelings. We all fight for our own interest or those of the ones we serve or love, it is inevitable to one day find someone that is doing the same as us," said Altani, preparing herself by enhancing her body with several buffing skills and spells.

"You're right, Altani-chan, we must prioritize what is important for us, if we end up caring about how she feels, it will be our loss at the end," said Kaguya, her body suddenly transformed, her hair became long and stiff like a porcupine, and her eyes became feral and savage. The claws in her feet and hands grew longer and she equipped the special gauntlets given to her by Kireina.

"Graaaaaaa!" she shouted, not resembling at all the humble mage she was, now looking like a beastly berserker.

"Oh? You are going all out? Well done, let us go!" said Altani, breaking her usually serious demeanor and becoming enthusiastic about the upcoming clash.

Xedia roared, her Aura covering her body generated two large arms that took over her bow, firing arrows as she rushed towards the two!

Even though she was normally a long-ranged fighter, by using the abilities granted to her by Geggoron's split soul, she was able to enhance her physical body to the point of being suited for fighting in close combat.

She mixed both fighting techniques into a unique system… however, inside of Xedia's mind, Geggoron's split soul still struggled to take control over her body…

"Ungh! Y-You! I should have never possessed you! Your mind… what kind of emotions are stirring inside of it for you to be able to suppress my authority?!"

"Silence, you're nothing but a tool for my revenge, I shall unleash it, no matter what," said Xedia, using her own grotesque mind to suppress Geggoron.

"Uungyaa! S-Stop! Y-You! You are actually going to devour my mind?! Impossible, you are a mere mortal! How is it…?! Ngh…! C-Could it be?!"

Xedia smiled.

After Xedia underwent terrible trauma and harbored immense hatred inside of her mind and soul, the color of her would slowly become darker to reflect this, and by slowly assimilating Geggoron's split soul, she managed to take a hold of his Nightmare Divinity Authority to a small extent.

Of course, such power could not be possible in a mere mortal… but because Xedia was given a Geggoron's split soul, she used its powers to her own advantage and to suppress it.

She was perhaps the only one that had been possessed by one of his Split Souls capable of doing such a thing, one could speculate that it was because of her 'Grotesque Mind' Skill, which gave her a large resistance towards mental corruption, which was what Geggoron did to 'devour' its host's minds.

"I shall exert revenge over anything else… not even a god will stop me… move aside, or be devoured!" she shouted through her mind, completely suppressing Geggoron's split soul will and then devouring it with her own mutated soul, which was already mixed in with Nightmare Divinity.

"Unnggyaaaaa…!"

As this happened, both Xedia, Altani, and Kaguya fought intensively.

Xedia roared like a lunatic, slashing and kicking with immense strength using her aura, while her floating bow, controlled by her aura as well, fired dozens of arrows all around, leaving little space to evade or think strategies carefully for Altani and Kaguya.

However, Kaguya was also letting go loose of her instincts, changing to her 'Feral Form' and attacking Xedia with immense speed. Her delicate hands had become sharp claws filled with silvery fur as hard as steel, while her feet were the same, her fangs grew in size as she bit on Xedia's arm, while kicking her head.

Xedia responded with a roar, raising her arm, and covering it in her aura, releasing a barrage of attacks towards Kaguya with immense precision.

Kaguya protected herself with the Aegis given to her by Kireina in a combination of her fire barrier but was forced to move backward.

Altani appeared behind Xedia as she slapped her with her thick and scaled tail.

Clash!

"Unngh!"

"Starlight Emerald Winds Storm! Thunder Shock! Thousand Blossoms and Thousand Thrusts!"

Golden winds, lightning and the phantom of her lance moving at immense speeds penetrating the air converged into a blast of pure magic energy, blasting Xedia through the air.

Its powers were enhanced with Divinity Devouring, directly affecting Xedia's soul, which had large amounts of Divinity eaten by her from Geggoron's Split Soul.

"Uuggh… those attacks are directly affecting my soul… ugh, this pain… No, it is nothing! Nothing is compared to that pain! DIE!" shouted Xedia, unleashing all of her strength by converging it into her Aura, giant claws rained over Altani and Kaguya from all sides, but the two girls stopped her with their powers and techniques, clashing against each other with an explosion of different colors. The entire buildings in the surrounding area were destroyed into debris and flattened.

Boom!

"What?!"

However, Kaguya's body suddenly turned into pure flames as it exploded! Inflicting large amounts of damage to the unaware Xedia, meanwhile, the real Kaguya appeared from her backside, enhancing the claws of her feet and legs with her blazing Aura, unleashing large slashes of fire that pierced Xedia's defenses and damaged her soul directly!

Slash! Slash! Slash!

"Impossible, how?! Ungh…!"

Kaguya had created a clone made out of the fire by using her unique set of spells and successfully tricked Xedia into thinking that it was the real her.

Coating herself in transparent flames made by mixing them with phantasmal magic, Kaguya appeared from her sides, surprising her and attacking her!

Xedia was surprised, as she vomited blood, her soul began to reveal serious cracks, and even small pieces began to fall off her body as if they were dark-colored glass.

"Agh…! N-No, my revenge… I must!"

Flash!

At the moment that Xedia was distracted, a sharp lance enhanced with golden winds pierced her chest!

Crash!

"Gyaaaaaa!"

Altani had taken this opportunity to inflict a deadly wound in her chest, piercing her with her lance and then releasing shocks of lightning inside of her open flesh!

Zap! Zap! Zap!

"N-Nooo! Unnggyaaaa!"

Xedia roared in pain as her entire Aura convulsed in agony.

"N-No! This pain, it is nothing! Nothingggg! RAAAAA!"

She suddenly took a hold of herself and tried to use her Aura to slash Altani in half while she was busy keeping her lance inside of her flesh, so she could not easily recover.

"Blazing Hellish Claws!" shouted Kaguya, coming from the sides and slashing the Aura out of Xedia's. Her aura was pierced by her attack due to the 'Divinity Devouring' effect and the charged divine energy that Kaguya obtained some days ago by consuming an elixir gifted to her by Kireina, which she obtained after completing an Empire (Kingdom) System task.

Her Aura stopped expanding as a large chunk was sliced off, this chunk became dark dust immediately after separating itself from Xedia's.

"Aaagghh! N-Noooo! I will… I must triumph… for my revenge!!!" shouted Xedia, her scarlet eyes gleaming in a desperate last struggle for survival… however, her soul was already torn into pieces.

"She keeps fighting, even after her soul is already cracked into pieces…" muttered Altani.

"I will finish her off!" shouted Kaguya, enhancing her body with all the flames she could muster and flying towards the berserk Xedia.

"Raaaaa! Purgatory's Divine Punishment!" she shouted, as her entire body was engulfed in endless blue flames, resembling a demonic god, and clashing against Xedia's.

FLASH!

"N-Nooo! Aaaaahh! Gyaaaaaa…!"

Xedia's body was burned into charcoal and her soul finally cracked completely, becoming something similar to dark glass and falling to the ground into pieces.

Kaguya fell to the ground as well, exhausted.

"Haaahhh…"

Her body slowly taking her original form, her sharp claws retracted, and her excess fur disappeared into silver dust.

Altani flew to her side to check her state.

"Kaguya, well done," she said.

"Haah… that was… I really went all out! I never imagined I could create so much fire… it was as if I had become a sun itself…" muttered Kaguya.

"You really did… let's collect the pieces of divinity for now…" said Altani, going back to her composed and serious demeanor, often called 'boring' by other girls, but Kaguya didn't mind her like this, and liked her calmness.

"Alright, Altani-chan~," said Kaguya, cleaning her clothes and begging to put hands into work.

Xedia and her medium-sized Geggoron's Split Soul: deceased.

Cause of Death; Had her soul pierced several times by Altani's lance and then was burnt to a crisp by Kaguya's all-out attack.