Chapter 627: The Crypt of the Forgotten King (part-5)
In the grand treasury, amidst mountains of gold and rivers of jewels that flowed between the heaps of wealth, Leah stood defiant.
The air, heavy with the scent of metal and the electric charge of impending battle, buzzed around her.
Her opponents, Neptune and Pluto, had chosen this place of opulence as their arena, perhaps as a reminder of the power they once wielded over mortals and gods alike.
Neptune, his form towering and imposing even within the confines of his human vessel, held a trident that seemed to draw the dim light into its prongs, casting shadows that danced like living things.
Pluto, quieter but no less menacing, stood slightly behind, his gaze piercing through the darkness, a silent testament to his dominion over the underworld.
Leah, undaunted by the spectacle, tightened her grip over the handle of the plasma scythe. "You might have been gods," she called out to them, "but here, the bodies you possessed were nothing more than the losers that couldn't clear this dungeon."
Neptune laughed, a sound that echoed off the treasury's walls, carrying the weight of the oceans. "Mortal hubris," he boomed. "You believe you can stand against us, even diminished as we are?"
Pluto's response was a mere whisper, but it filled the space with a cold that went beyond physical sensation, chilling the soul. "There is no victory against death," he intoned.
The first move was Neptune's.
With a thrust of his trident, he summoned a geyser, water bursting from the treasury floor, aiming to engulf Leah.
She spun around herself rapidly, dispersing the water with a mini tornado that erupted from her rotation.
Pluto, seizing the moment of distraction, commanded the shadows, which stretched and reached for Leah like tendrils. But she was ready. Her foot simultaneously moved aside and created a clone of hers in her place.
The battle became a dance, Leah weaving between water and shadow, her attacks a series of strikes and feints that tested her opponents' defenses.
Neptune roared with frustration, his attacks growing more ferocious, and waves crashing with the force of a storm.
Pluto, in contrast, waited, his shadows lurking at the edges, striking in the moments Leah's attention was on Neptune.
It was during one such moment, dodging a particularly vicious wave, that Leah felt the cold grip of shadow around her ankle, pulling her down.
She hit the ground hard, the breath knocked from her lungs. "Argh..."
Above her, Neptune raised his trident for the final blow, a smirk playing on Pluto's face as he tightened his shadowy hold.
But Leah was not yet defeated.
"Graaaa"
With a defiant cry, she thrust the scythe into the ground, unleashing all its stored energy in a blinding explosion of plasma. Neptune's wave dissipated before it could crash down on her, and Pluto's shadows recoiled as if burnt.
Staggering to her feet, Leah didn't waste the opportunity.
She charged at Neptune, aiming at the heart of his power, the trident. With a clash that resonated through the treasury, her scythe met the trident, and for a moment, it was as if time itself stood still.
Then, with a crack that sounded like thunder, the trident shattered.
"How is this possible," Disbelief took over Neptune's face.
Neptune's form flickered, and the power holding him together destabilized without his symbol of power.
He gave Leah a look that held a mixture of surprise and begrudging respect before fading away, transforming into a wisp of energy and flying toward her.
Leah thought of it as an attack and tried to evade the wisp, but the wisp struck her and disappeared into her body.
"You earned my respect, young lady. I grant you my power as well as my will," Leah heard those words in her head.
Without her consent in the play, Neptune's godly essence merged with her soul orb, not only breaking the seal formed by the dungeon laws but also evolving her Arcana in her mindscape.
But, at the same time, a seed of an intense hatred sprouted in her mind, for the Olympian gods.
Pluto, witnessing the fall of Neptune, seemed to grow more substantial, the shadows around him swirling with renewed intensity. "Death cannot be so easily overcome," he hissed, launching himself at Leah.
But Leah, her powers returned and further strengthened by the victory over Neptune and absorbing his essence, met him head-on.
"Sorry, but the battle is over the moment the seal was broken," replied Leah, becoming more confident now.
She conjured a quick seal, trapping the former god of the underworld. Pluto saw it but his mortal body couldn't react quicker than Leah's attack. As a result, he was frozen in the spot.
"This humiliation… Ugh…" It was clear that Pluto, without Neptune to balance the battle, could not overpower Leah alone, who now had access to her Excalibur.
Now that the plasma scythe was no longer of any use to her, she threw it aside and summoned the celestial grade Arcana, turning the tides of the battle completely.
With a series of swift, precise strikes, she broke through his defenses, her sword finding the core of his borrowed human form.
Pluto's form crumbled, the shadows dissipating as he, too, transformed into a wisp, giving her his essence as well as pushing his will onto her.
However, unlike Neptune's essence, which strengthened her other Arcana spirit, Pluto's essence of darkness only tried to harm her instead.
"Ack…" Leah grabbed her chest and coughed out a mouthful of blood, sitting on the ground and trying to either refine Pluto's essence or expel it out of her system.
"Old man, need your help here. Hurry," Leah pleaded for the assistance.
"Nothing to worry. You just need to feed it to me instead of absorbing it by yourself," as the words echoed in her head in response, she sighed in relief and proceeded with the process.
A couple of minutes later, the last bit of essence was absorbed into the sword, giving it control over a new element.
"Phew…"
Breathing heavily and wiping off her sweat, Leah looked around the treasury.
The battle had taken its toll on the room, gold and jewels scattered and tarnished, but the threat had yet to be subsided.
The other battles were still going on, but her attention was placed upon Azzy, who was about to finish his incantation.
"No, you won't," Leah charged toward him with the sword.