Chapter 94 - The First Visions.

As Esdeath walked south in Tartarus she was forced to deal with the same issue as Kurayami had the skin on fire and lungs itching while her eyes stung. Her body was that of a 12 wing fallen and it was made even stronger by the years she used her Loginous.

It was unique as it was directly in the user's blood making the user stronger depending on how far the user fell to the demon. However, Esdeath and few users before her managed to resist the demon and use it to their benefit.

She suddenly felt the demon stirring and getting stronger and braver. She squinted her eyes and sighed.

"Algor, give up. No matter how long you try, you will never be anything more than my puppet. Nothing more, nothing less."

That infuriated the demon and he began to make her see images of her family being slaughtered by the beasts. It also made her see Kurayami being defeated by the world itself and sealed away.

Her rival Raynare and the rest of Kurayami's fiances being killed or worse enslaved. However the worst it saved for her and made her live through endless nightmares that she was torn apart, made a toy, and watching all this.

However, Esdeath did not flinch and she focused on Algor and used her willpower to crush his soul down. Algor feared Esdeath and unlike all the other hosts he had she never saw him as anything more than a weapon.

"Keep trying Algor. One day I swear I will devour you. Now, to deal with the table."

All around her monsters and souls of the sinners of the greeks all rushed at her with a madness that she abhorred. She prided herself on her willpower and seeing them losing it made them undeserving of her effort.

While her weapon was sealed and her Loginous weakened in this place she could care less. She focused on what she could do and made two swords out of ice and charged at the monsters and souls. She swung the swords causing a wave of cold air to cut many in half.

They turned to dust and she kicked on in the head punching her heal through its monstrous skull. She grinned as causing pain was one of her greatest joys and sadly she could rarely do that as it was too peaceful.

However, now was a better time than ever to let loose. She charged at a huge grotesque Oger and stabbed her sword through its chest. She avoided any fatal areas and took her time taking it apart.

The things here may be souls, but they were still solid here. In no time the rest of the creatures around were destroyed and she looked all around and found a small pool of liquid. She approached it and touched it with her right pointer finger.

The moment she touched it she felt her skin on fire like ants were eating her flesh and she retreated. She gazed at her finger and saw it was singed and dripping puss. She focused on the demon blood in her and her damage healed.

She kept walking to focused on her control of her Loginous as she wanted to be able to use it even if there was no ice magic around. While she went south Raynare went East.

She was on top of a mountain of bones that looked nearly, but this was a great place to train her death magic. It was a place of vast death and it showed how easy her death magic was to use.

However, she was starting to feel the mental strain as she started to awaken suppressed memories from her subconscious of her parents. She was with her parents for 3 years of her life, but her death and fire powers awaken at the worst time and caused their deaths.

She may never forgive herself for that however what was done was done. Here she would be forced to deal with her trauma one way or another. She opened her eyes and they were full of rage as Tartarus was already toying with her mind.

Having your mind and soul piked at would make most being mad and yet she would make the most of this shity situation. She sighed and closed her eyes and got rid of all of her mental shields.

Once her mind was vulnerable Tarturs mind tricks were made much more apparent. She opened her eyes and felt she was sitting on someone's lap. She looked up and saw a very beautiful woman with black hair and grey eyes.

Raynare felt her tears pool in her eyes it was her mother. When her mother saw her crying she wiped her tears and smiled.

"Why are you crying? I should be the one to cry when you murdered me."

Raynare did not expect that and her mother grabbed her by the hair and looked her in the eyes while burning.

"You demon. Your power killed me and your father. Why did you have to have that cursed power, you dirty child. I wish you were nev-"

Before it could finish its head was separated from it; shoulders and a black tentacle erupted from the Raynare's hand. She collapsed to the ground returning to her grown form and the head of a giant serpent-like dragon erupted from the void.

"Raynare, it is not real. You were caught off guard as you got rid of all of the mental shields you were very vulnerable to. I suggest you keep your hard up at all times."

She wiped her tears and got up extremely seriously.

"Thank you, Vritra. How are you here? You are free."

"No, as this place is your mind and soul I am free here as I am connected to your soul. I felt your mental state was terrible to endure such a trial, but seemed I was wrong."

Now Raynare saw the true body of Vritra. It was bigger than her Vitra promotion from before and looked many times more majestic. She felt even more proud to be the host of Vritra.

"I than you think so highly of me Raynare, but I am nothing more than a looser. I lost and badly at that. I lasted less than 3 minutes against Indra even with my outrage mode, but I at least left him so badly burned and hurt he needed a long time to recover."

Raynare shook her head. "Does not matter. You still did your best and lasted that long. Most beings would have never even challenged him, but you did. That is why I believe you are as great as you are. Now I need to go."

He nodded. "Use my power all you need. It is yours to inherit and use."

She woke up and she looked pissed. Her veins were turning black, her eyes yellow and her retinas pitch black. She hated that Tartarus had tried to use her mother to torment her and debase her memory.

If she found him she swore to cook him with so much fire he would burn for eternity. She got up and charged out of her mountain of bones looking for foes to fight as she needed to let off some steam.

As for Kurayami he was sitting on top of a large pool of acidic water and using the vapors to damage his body and practice how to use Ophis's power to heal and push his body further.

He was shirtless and in a pair of shorts. He suddenly felt a tug in his mind and opened his eyes and what he saw made him open his eyes wide. It was him, well his past self. Brown hair, black eyes hollow as a dead fish.

What made him flitch was that he was strapped to the same bed that he died on. His eyes were stuck on the people watching, the priest who he killed, and the cops keeping guard. The chemicals that would soon fail at killing him.

Kurayami felt his rage rise as they botched his execution and left him in agony. He made them pay for it, but he was still killed in the end. Why did he need to die when others deserved it so much more and yet he has put the death? Without even a trial.

"You deserved this death and you know it Akuma."

Kurayami looked at the strapped him who was also looking at him. Akuma, that name brought so many memories back that he had almost forgotten. His training, the kills, his hunts, all of it. Rushed back to him and that was not something that made him very pleased.

"So, you are going to try to use my memories against me? Buddy, I know everything you do. Nothing in our mind will hurt us."

Akuma just smiled. "Oh really. No event this?"

Next things Kurayami realized he was strapped to the chair and not Akuma. Akuma stood over him with a smile.

"I know this is our greatest fear and regret Kurayami. You know you deserved this. How many have you killed in your life. Both of them. Two cities were destroyed and millions dead. You deserve to burn in hell for what you did."

Kurayai felt his heartbeat spike as this was true. However it was not out of fear, but rage. He swore to himself to never let himself be at someone else's mercy. Even if that person was himself.

Kurayami's eyes lit up with two Infinity sighs and he ripped himself from the chair and grabbed Akuma by the left arm and swung him at the wall. The wall crumbled as glass and Kurayami looked at the ripped arm in his hands.

Akume merely held his stump with no pain in sight. but he looked at Kurayami's eyes and sighed.

"Well seemed that this is where we part Kurayami. Even if you kill me now, I will just be back."

Kurayami sent a pulse of purple fire and torched this. This was Kurayami's soul which was any damage too may lead to life-ending injuries. However, it was like nothing was wrong and what Kurayami knew for a fact was that he could not burn himself.

Incinerate Anthem would never hurt him even if it wanted to make it his greatest power. Kurayami woke up and saw that he was wearing his Purgatory armor that seemed to be even more ominous and that made him happy.

He dispelled it and looked at the acid pool. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath and jumped in. Like Esdeath he felt his body burn and itch like millions of ants were eating him. However, he was focusing on the Infinite in his body and pushing it through his organs and blood vessels.

As he did that the damage he was causing himself healed only to be damaged again. This never-ending cycle of damage only affected his skin as a super fallen angel with the influence of two Longinous made him extremely durable.

If he did nothing the water may damage him more, but as long as he focused on healing he would be fine. His draconic body was getting stronger while his DNA was adapting even more to the Infinite.

Once he mastered it like Ophis he would e unbeatable in this world and only Great Red would be his match. However, that was far off as it seemed there would be a limit with what he could do with this type of training.

Very soon his body no longer cared about the pool and treated it like it was a warm bath. Kurayami got out of the pool and lucy him his clothes were made of such great materials. He dried himself with his flames and started to walk again.

This time his target was the River Styx. If that did not work he would just have to let this play out naturally. If he felt he was going to die he would not hesitate to call on Ophi to save him.

He may not even need to as if she felt anything happen to him she may destroy the world in a rage. Kuryaami spread his wings and flew towards the legendary river Styx. Little did he know he was moving toward the heart of Tartarus.

The Great Prison of the Titans and the giants. Right toward Tartarus himself, but Kurayami did not care. He was here for that river and if it did not work he would to the other 4 rivers that were in Tartarus.