A huge impact was heard echoing across the cave tunnels. In a room within the bottom level, a large crater was made against the wall and who was leaning against the crater was Kaijuno, now with an exposed face as the mask he was wearing shattered Immediately from the punch
Across the room, Rimuru was easing their fist. Immediately their expression of fury changed to one of regret as that punch was completely out of short time desperation
Nobody said a thing after Rimuru hit Kaijuno. Not Lavandra or Gobta who were servants of the two, not Yuuki or Kagali who were about to be attacked if Rimuru didn't stepped in, not even Milim as she understood the tension within the room
The first thing to occur was Kaijuno getting back up. He didn't look at anyone, he only slowly put his palm over the area where Rimurur's punch landed and immediately jolted in pain
He continued avoiding eye contact until he looked at Rimuru. He held a glare that shown shock and betrayal. It was as if Rimuru punching was worst than what he was about to do if there was no intervention
Kaijuno never said anything, he started speed walking towards a path entrance separate from the doors that they all passed through earlier
Rimuru was about to call out him but Kaijuno used his elemental manipulation too pry out a big chunk of minerals from the ground and threw it out Rimuru who casually reflected like it was a beach ball
Kaijuno began sprinting while now being followed by Rimuru. Once he reached hallway, he stomped on the ground which erupted a spike of rocks to block Rimuru. Kaijuno began to steadily close in the hallway as he continued to back way.
Rimuru started to use Beelzebub to quickly devour the rubble that was in the way until they willingly stopped, now just resting their hand on the rock wall. They lowered their head in defeat while everyone else was slowly approaching
The first to finally speak was Yuuki
" . . . Thanks for . . . the save Rimuru. I likely would've been torn to shreds if you hadn't stepped in"
Rimuru didn't even look back, they only continued to stare at the wall
Kagali was next to speak in reassurance
"We truly wouldn't have gotten out of that if-"
"Shut up"
Kagali was interupted by Lavandra who now held a furious expression alongside Gobta who was also clearly tensed
"Just . . . Shut up"
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Om the other side of the hallway, Kaijuno had just filled up the remainder of his path, now he was completely alone in a dead end room. Frantically stepping back from the wall, Kaijuno starred at it and seemingly started to regain some awareness
He stood still for moments that feel like forever only to become aggressive suddenly. He stomped at the ground and then punch the walls in a fury as he was yelling out curses
"FU- that idiot! Damn it! Why!? Why would they defend that bastard!? He was clearly involved in what had happened but yet they still gave him the benefit of a doubt!
Why is he worth it!? What makes him worth defending when he was the one who did the backstabbing! No good will happen if he's kept alive"
Kaijuno continued to punch the wall in frustration, now making are deep hole made from his fist
Taking a moment from his frustration, he looked down on his dusted hand, opening and closing the grasp of his palm
" I really did it . . . I actually took Greed for myself"
No longer full of rage, his expression was now more cold and unsatisfied. He walked over to the wall that he was watching and leaned his head against
Both Kaijuno and Rimuru wished they weren't in this situation, neither ended up being proud of what they did
Both could only mutter to themselves in their regrets
"I should not have done that"
Now taking a moment to process today's events, Kaijuno stepped back and briefly pondered on something else until he made a decision
"You know what, since I'm here, I might as well."
Now he held out his hand, an orb glowing in pink, blue, purple and white spawned on top of his hand, it was the chaos dragon core, now in a stable and contained state
"I already screwed up what was supposed to happen already, I should at least make sure this fella reunite with their friend as they're supposed to
You helped me big time into becoming as strong as I am today and I'd like to think I'm someone who returns the favor"
With his focus on the chaos dragon core, he turn around to view the room behind him. It was then he finally noticed his surroundings. It was spacious, even more than the room he escaped from. There were withered and cracked statues of what seemed to be a dragon. There were confusing features that didn't seemed to natural for dragons. On the head, it looked to have either hair or tentacles instead of horns and it seemed that the dragon has multiple tails but that wasn't a complete confirmation as what is supposed to be the tail had fallen off and shattered on the ground
But was biggest and what Kaijuno first noticed was the cave art that took up the entire wall across the room. Starting from the left was a head of a dragon that was revealed very minimally as most of it's head was covered in what looks to be white burning flames
Next was a different dragon visible from the neck up, it was bleeding from the cuts that surrounded it's body, showing a mighty and majestic beast in a state of agony and suffering. Closer to the middle was an eyeball shedding tears while seemingly shining like a star. There was a tree that had caught on fire, burning it's life from the destructive heat. Then there were figures in falling positions. With the extra features on the figures resembling wings, it looked to be angels falling from the heavens
And lasty on the far right seems to be a lone figure rising. It looked like it was trying to tell a story, but the details of that story are unfortunately not available
Kaijuno looked at the art in complete silence, it was as if all of the previous grievances he had prior had vanished. As he stared, his pupils grew, almost as big as they were back when he was in a transit state earlier. He started to walk over towards the art but halfway he almost tripped on a rock, the brief lost of balance knocked him out of his intense focus
After one more glance at the art, Kaijuno looked towards the side and saw a pillar that had it's statue completely fallen over. Kaijuno picked it up and put it in the center of the room. He then placed the chaos dragon core on top of the pillar, making it the prime focus for anyone that would enter this room
He walked back to the hallway the he just filled, he dug a bit of space but then stepped back. He began tapping his foot, pondering for his next course of action. Shaking his head, he made his decision
"Nevermind, I've done what I needed to do here. There's no point in sticking around"
Clenching his fist and pumping out his chest, he took a deep inhale. Relying on his Unqiue Skill Radioshack to help manipulate sound, Kaijuno roared with a great boom, even when he was surrounded by the earth, he could be heard even beyond the mountain.
He started to direct the sound through the hallway to make sure it would at least catch milim's attention. With the intensity beginning to be within a linear area of range, a ripple started to conjure in feont of him. From a ripple, a hole started form from his yells. The hole continued to expand until it clear what Kaijuno had jist done.
On the other side of that hole was recognized to be the demon realm. Kaijuno had screamed hard enough that he can open a hole in between dimensions. This was unplanned and unnecessary since Kaijuno had planned to get the other's attention to lure them here and open up a gate to leave before they arrive. But he'll choose to go back to the demon realm anyways, it was his plan to get back when his own matter with Mariabelle was finished
He walked through with the dimensional hole closing right after
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With the last ounce of dirt dug up from the now emptied hall, Rimuru and Milim entered the room that Kaijuno was previously in. As Kaijuno had planned, the two first took notice of the dragon core im the middle. Milim had her complete focus on the chaos dragon core as she had no idea how it got there. Rimuru briefly focused on the core until looking at the large cave art behind it. The part that was specifically eye catching was the bleeding dragon, Rimuru wasn't familiar with what the art is trying to convey but the sight of a suffering dragon had made uneasy.
That unknown concern had evaporated when Milim began dragging Rimuru towards the chaos dragon core, asking for assistance. Fortunately, Rimuru already had an artificial soul to properly contain the core and with a name given by Milim, the chaos dragon core transformed to an egg.
In spite of the influence that altered the road to reach this conclusion, Gaia has been set to be brought into this world as theu were meant to be
Speaking of said influence
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In a barren corner of the demon realm, Diablo had been traversing along while beign followed by Jaune and Violet, much to his desire for sanity. The demon subordinates that were recruited by Kaijuno had been left at Violet's domain while the three primordials are currently about the reach of borders of Blanc's domain
Diablo never invited the yellow and purple pair, they just followed and caught up as they were interested in what is to come
As they were about to reach the border of Blanc's domain, a loud howl could easily be heard and caught the attention of all three. They glanced around and noticed a spatial hole had erupted out of nowhere. Once the sound had subsided, Kaijuno stepped out of the hole before it closed.
While the purple and yellow duo were ecstatic for this sudden suprise, the already hapless Diablo now changed his expression to a complete grouch as all three of them flew down to meet up with Kaijuno who uncharacteristically worn no mask over his face
They were expecting Kaijuno to say something quirky as he has given the impression but he appeared to be short tempered
He didn't look at either three of the primordial demons, he walked past them and only said
"Diablo, I don't want to hear about your Rimuru ranting. Point me towards Blanc's direction and let's get this over with"
He then just carried on without waiting for an answer
Diablo actually frozed up and then started towards Diablo. He was genuinely conflicted about what Kaijuno suddenly said and whether or not he should feel offended by the dismissal of his praises for Rimuru or relieved that Kaijuno has no interest. He briefly considered what made Kaijuno out to be like this but immediately brushed it off and not question it
Maybe there are some questions you're better off not asking
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After Kaijuno had consumed Mariabelle, the Unique Skill Greed came under arsenal of the rampaging demon lord. As a package deal, the ego of Valentine was consumed as well. In spite of the chaotic situation currently occurring outside, Twilight Valentine appeared to be composed given his sudden change of living arrangements.
In truth he wasn't expecting to be forcibly taken from Mariabelle, infact he did had a way to transfer the entire skill to another user if they were proven to be more worthy of it but it seemed he didn't had a say on worthy his new host was worthy of Greed
But regardless, the ancestor now has to reconsider his next course of actions to take
"I guess Mariabelle is now out of the picture. It's a shame I lost my connection the Rosso's influence, although Granbelle was more of a heavy hitter than Mariabelle so I was getting things by secondhand to begin with, plus He already cut things off with Luminous.
But yet again this is another demon lord, so it would be safe to assume he had more direct contact with Luminous than Mariabelle could've ever had. Hope they wouldn't mind me looking into their memories for the details but yet again, I doubt they will even notice I'm here just like Mariabelle"
Twilight hold out his hand, seemingly trying to perform some kind of ritual. He held it out for a solid moment only to realize nothing is happening. Astonished by this unexpected turn, he shove his hand out, trying to force access of Kaijuno's memories but nothing had occurred once again
Now from his previously calm posture. Twilight appeared to be more frantic about his new restrictions. It was easy for him to do as he pleased with Mariabelle but here, it's lile something was preventing him from doing anything
"W-what!? How! Even if he's a demon lord, I should still be able to at least have access to his mind"
A pause had passed as Twilight suddenly had another revelation
"Outside . . . I can't sense what's going on outside of this! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!?"
The slow realization of his current situation was beginning to get to him. Despite openly asking for answer, he wasn't expecting there to be anyone to provide any and yet, an answer came
"Answer, Ultimate Skill Humility King Mikael prevents the effects of mental domination over the user"
Hearing this made Twilight froze, his pupils shrunken from shock. It was one thing that he didn't held any authority but also he heard someone else in what was supposed to in isolation
He wasn't alone here
This wasn't a scenerio he was prepared for. He heard the voice but he can't see nor sense who the voice came from. He stared from his left to right but none had appeared before him
Trying to remain composed, Twilight clicked his tongue and made a hasty decision
"I thought this would've been a gold mine, but if I have something in here getting my way then I'll just have to end up switching to Yuuki after or worst case scenario retreat back to my main ego, at least that project with her is still secured
Whoever you are, hope you're not disappointed but I'm gonna have to take my leave along with Greed. Farewell!"
While still not being able to view outside, Twilight still focus his intent on transferring to Yuuki. He concentrated on performing that outcome
And yet that outcome never came
Twilight could tell he never left and remained exactly where he was and was blatantly confirmed by what was said
"Permission to exit has been denied"
Twilight was taken aback by what he had just heard. Denied? He didn't want to accept such an outcome was possible. He continued to attempt to escape only to hear the same words again and again
"Permission to exit has been denied
Permission to exit has been denied
Permission to exit has been denied"
The reality of his situation was finally clear. He was trapped in a prison and the warden of said prison finally appeared behind him. With a hand being put on his shoulder, Twilight felt a cold shiver down his spine upon realizing someone appeared without him noticing
Twilight slowly turned his head, beginning to see the hand that was holding his should, then the arm and finally the face. A cloaked figures with a striking feminine appearance, thousand yard staring eyes glowing a vibrant green with an eerie smile that brought no comfort.
On the hand, the cloaked figures held two glowing orbs, one glowed in a golden yellow and the other was white and a clear distortion that almost resembled shattered glass
Now Twilight was sweating bullets, he always had the sense of being in control of the situation but here he was at the mercy of this stranger
Keeping their grim smile, the cloaked figure proceeded
"Notice, Project Frankenstein's Monster shall commence, resisting will result in worst pain to the soul"
Now Twilight was in a complete state of panic. Any composure he tried cling on to was thrown out the window as he began screaming
"GET AWAY FROM-"
Twilight didn't even finish as the cloaked figure immediately began they pleased with him
With the choas dragon core no longer needing to be stabilized, Yagami now had more room and time for her own pet projects and what the intentions and results of this will have to wait to be revealed in the future