BXBX NOVEL Chapter 176 - Setting The Stage
Chapter 176: Setting The Stage
Moby looked at Jason who was tightly grasped in between the 5 crushing fingers of his right, green and purple glowing hand, his skin all shrivelled and old, his red hair that was over the top and spikey now barely even able to be seen as there was almost nothing left on his head.
"This should be enough," Moby muttered with a smirk on his face, the glow from his hands fading away before he threw Jason to the side in a gentle yet harsh manner.
He was now somewhere in the forest, looking straight into the sky with gray, dead eyes.
Ever since he completed the quest for defeating Damian Nier, the person who had recklessly challenged him during the Griffith family party, he levelled up his drain skill, which made it a lot more effective than before.
Due to that fact, despite Jason\'s critical condition, Moby\'s health and energy were now almost full, putting him into a better position than he was before.
When Moby saw Jason suddenly and abruptly fall, it was like he saw his life flash before his eyes. He was really confused about what had happened, but he was scared that he had suddenly died which would have not allowed him to use "drain" on him along with his other plan. He thought that it was the final nail in the coffin, the final "Fuck you" from lady luck telling him that she doesn\'t want to be friends and had rejected his offer.
However, when he scrambled in the water to check on Jason\'s state, he was glad to know that his assumptions were wrong and he was still unconscious and alive, barely, making Moby sigh a sigh of relief that his plans were not halted and that his relationship with lady luck could still be salvaged.
The only thing he didn\'t like was that Jason was not conscious to feel the wrath of what he was about to do to him. But, that couldn\'t be helped so he decided to not dwell on the matter for too long as he now had much bigger, yet smaller things to worry about.
"It seems like that big blubbering buffoon took on more than he could chew, his arrogant and reckless behaviour led to his downfall… I was looking forward to seeing what his spirit mode could do but I guess I\'ll never find out since dead men don\'t talk,"
A familiar voice came from above, followed by immense laughter.
When Moby looked up to see who it was, he saw none-other than Nags who he had already assumed had been spectating their entire fight. He had knowingly used his drain skill in front of him since it was essential and since there was no real way to hide.
With a smile on his face, Nags swiftly and elegantly jumped out of the thick tree branch supporting him and landed on the ground right outside where the river started, a good few meters away from Moby\'s position who was still thigh-high in water, putting them at almost eye level from each other.
\'From the way he was talking, it almost sounded like he also had a spirit mode… Eh, who am I kidding of course he does! If he\'s going to act arrogant like the other guy then I\'ll just transform before him and take him out before he gets the chance to transform,\' Moby thought, paying close attention to Nags\'s words.
"That was an excellent fight! I could not follow or understand any of your strategies but after the fact, I was able to fully grasp the meaning behind everything… I am starting to actually admire you. No wonder the boss wanted you so badly!" Nags added, his smile growing even wider which made Moby really confused and ponder over his words.
\'His boss wanted me so badly? How badly is so badly? What do they know? Did they figure me out?\'
"However, before we get started, I have a few questions to ask you… How the fuck were you able to suck off Jason\'s life energy like a mosquito? And how were you able to use ice… From the looks of it, it\'s almost like you have 2, or maybe even 3 abilities…" Nags continued, his friendly smile fading away into something more ominous.
"Well, I\'m sorry to burst your bubble but I am only able to use 1 ability just like everyone else," Moby confidently replied, technically telling the truth.
"Hehe, We\'ll see about that when I\'m done with you. Now that that big disgrace of an idiot is out of my hair, it means that you might be strong enough to pose somewhat of a challenge to me. But, from what I\'ve seen from you, I still doubt that you would be able to burst any of my bubbles. I hope that you can give me some entertainment…" Nags retorted, his ominous smile becoming something more disturbing.
Just from observing Nag\'s actions, he could immediately tell that he was not at all what most would call normal, even in this deranged world filled with less than good people.
He had just killed his ally right in front of him and he seemed to be completely unfazed and indifferent. If anything, he seemed to be... happy?
"From spectating you, I would say that I got a fairly accurate read of your fighting ability so far. But I\'m not sure what other kinds of powers you are just gonna whip out your ass so I won\'t be taking any chances. Not many outsiders have seen me use this form and lived to tell the tale, but lucky for you, you\'re not going to be an outsider for long since I\'m forcing you in. When I beat you, I\'ll prove to the boss that I\'m greater than you and more worthy of the 3rd seat. So, then you would be bumped down to the 4th seat and take Jason\'s spot as my lackey!" Nags announced with an amused laugh, spreading his arms out wide like he was embracing the moonlight that was shining down and reflecting off his armour.
\'Well, fuck, there goes my plan of catching him off guard with sin-mode while he\'s toying with me to gauge my strength… He\'s going all out right from the start... He\'s smarter than he looks,\' Moby inwardly thought as he stared at the blinding yellow light that appeared from Nags\'s direction.
Instead of attacking him during his transformation as he was not sure if it would be blocked by a barrier, he decided to use the opportunity to counter his transformation with a transformation of his own.
Moby closed his eyes and calmed his nerves, focusing his energy into an empty spot in his head, different from the one used for evolution.
As he filled that hole, his body began to mimic the filling by transforming.
A raging, purple and red aura began to consume and swirl around his body before a small amount of light blue, almost white energy was added to it, causing his wide, expansive aura to have 4 colours yet was mostly black as it began to grow even more, destroying all life around it.
The ground underneath his feet began to tremble and crack as large waves and ripples began to form in the shallow river under him, the waterfall shaking like crazy as it was also affected and consumed by Moby\'s aura.
Suddenly, 2 black, small, scaly horns sprouted out of Moby\'s head that looked like a mixture between dragon and devil horns.
They looked slightly bigger than before with small, subtle blue icy lines added onto them.
His hair that was mostly black was now redder than ever before as the few streaks of red in his hair began to conquer more territory on his head.
Shadowy black lines of ominous energy ravaged throughout his entire body, creating patterns that spread all the way up to his face and under his eyes that were glowing purple with a more complex structure than before, red pupils that looked like that of a viper.
Red, icy blue, but mostly black wings began growing out his back, forming cracks at the back of his armour as it crushed through it and spread out wide in the open. His wingspan was around 2 meter in length which was around half the length of Avilia\'s. Yet, unlike Avilia\'s wings that looked like pure demon or devil wings, he looked like a cross between a dragon\'s and a demon\'s wings.
When Moby opened his eyes, the first things he noticed were the large, protruding wings in his peripheral vision, catching him extremely off guard as that did not happen the last time he transformed.
He also felt like he somehow received an even greater power boost than when he was using it now than when did against Natalia. And to his knowledge, he had yet to see a notification telling him that his sin-mode was levelled up or upgraded in any way.
Shaking his head to forget and throw that information to the back of his head as he had much bigger, and more pertinent things to worry about.
When he looked in front of him, he Nags, in the same stance he had before, laughing his ass off with his arms spread wide, white light surrounding his body that caused cracks and a small crater under him, the grass around him being pushed but what seemed like heavy wind coming from the aura surrounding him.
Yellow energy was already forming around his body in the shape of an animal but it was still too early to tell what animal or beast it was meant to be.
Since Moby had finished his transformation before Nags, he decided to use the opportunity to attack and interrupt his transformation as he put out his hands in front of him and was about to blast direct demon energy at his still transforming opponent.
However, before he even got the chance, a blinding flash of light coming from his direction engulfed his entire vision, making him instinctively lift up his hand to block the light, not allowing him to do what he wanted to do as it all happened at the least opportune time.