The Moby Dick lurked amidst the buildings, waiting for the opportunity to attack its new prey.
Kiss-shot glanced at the sperm whale, then looked at Rider, who was loading his crossbow.
"I see, it's like a commander and a tank," he deduced.
If the Moby Dick had moved on its own, it would have already attacked, but it was waiting, specifically, for Rider's instructions.
According to the story of Moby Dick, Captain Ahab was a sailor or a hunter, whichever suits your purposes, who commanded a certain number of crew members, who went to hell with him with the intention of killing the white whale.
There were two possible summonings for this Rider: either Captain Ahab was a deranged hunter seeking to eliminate his prey, and the sperm whale was a cursed creature craving fresh blood; or the marine commander was leading his crew, and Moby Dick was a troop or a living force being commanded.
In this case, the summoning was the latter.
"Down," Rider announced, causing the sperm whale to sink and disappear.
Thanks to her Observation Haki, Kiss-shot knew it was still below her, stalking.
Rider fired a spear using the crossbow. Kiss-shot didn't jump; she simply assumed a defensive stance and used Armament Haki to defend herself, but that was a mistake.
The spear slashed through her shoulder and blew off her arm, causing her eyes to open at the force of the shot.
"Hmm, she's not going to jump; fine by me. Let me turn her into a human pincushion then," Rider said, grabbing a spear she summoned and hurling it at her opponent at full speed.
This time, Kiss-shot did jump, only to feel something on the ground and see the sperm whale burst out of the ground and crash into her.
Kiss-shot felt as if a mountain had crashed into her at full speed.
Rider was ready to throw another spear, but its noise distracted him; he looked away, managing to avoid a fatal attack from Assassin.
"You said I wouldn't have another chance so close to killing you; I see that's not true," said Assassin, holding Rider's left arm as he wiped the blood from his opponent's fingernails.
Rider saw this and just gave a wry sneer.
The sperm whale sensed this, halting its charge, sending Kiss-shot flying.
The captain simply signaled to the whale to stop staring at him and go after Kiss-shot, leaving Rider and Assassin alone.
"Heh, who would've thought Caster would be right, but knowing what he is, it was pretty obvious," commented Rider, taking out a prosthetic arm and placing it on his mutilated arm.
Assassin frowned at this; It was a prosthetic arm made of wood, while the rest was a blade inscribed with various symbols and runes.
This was a unique ability Ahab possessed: if he lost a limb, he could replace it with a prosthetic, provided it was at least 50% wood.
"As long as I have you in my sight, I shouldn't have any trouble with another ambush from you, right?" Rider said, his prosthetic arm ready and a spear in his right hand.
...
An explosion erupted in the middle of the battlefield. Dante ran, surveying the destruction caused by the simultaneous collision of the two attacks, only to see a current of wind and fire hurtling toward him.
Using Geppo, he managed to dodge it, but in midair, he saw several lightning bolts strike him.
Solomon calculated Dante's trajectories, observing how he struck the air atoms to change his trajectory and thus evade attacks that should have been impossible to escape.
Technically, that should have been impossible, but Dante's body was different from a normal one, allowing him to make movements that could only happen based on mere coincidence.
Creating a magic ball, he launched it in such a way that it should hit him even if he were moving.
Dante, using Haki, realized this; luckily for him, he was already on the ground when Solomon did this.
Touching the ground and using the alchemy fruit, he warped the soil's composition, creating a wall that blocked his enemy's attack.
The magic ball destroyed the wall, creating a barrier of smoke and earth, forming a smokescreen.
Solomon wouldn't allow Dante to prepare, so, creating a magic circle, he caused several lightning bolts to strike the smokescreen where his enemy was hiding.
The blond man quickly emerged, revealing several magic circles in his hands as a magic ball settled in one of them.
Covering that same hand with darkness, he caused the magic ball to spin faster and faster.
The white-haired man immediately realized what he was doing.
He created a magic ball, then enhanced it with several magic spells, then used his darkness to warp space and spin it, finally altering its parameters. Basically, it will add rotational speed to the bullet to make it more powerful when fired.
Solomon created two magic circles and a barrier as quickly as possible.
"Not so fast," Dante announced, extending his hand behind him, the one holding the bullet, and throwing it forward.
Instead of firing the bullet, he created a blast of pure mana, similar to a cannon shot.
The attack covered and destroyed the entire area, including Solomon's magic barrier.
When the attack ended, only the magic barrier remained, now cracked; everything else was pulverized.
Solomon frowned at this, glancing sideways at where Rider was fighting two vampires simultaneously.
Unlike their opponents, they didn't have a massive mana supply; they only had Marisbury, who supplied them both, and that sperm whale had the drawback of consuming a lot of mana, but in return, it was practically indestructible; it only had one weakness.
This forces Solomon to carefully consider how he uses his mana, as he has a limited amount that he can't replenish as quickly as he'd like, meaning he'd likely lose a battle of attrition.
"You're just going to stand there doing nothing? Well, good for me," Dante said, looking at Solomon.
The white-haired man knows his opponent knows this, and that's the problem, so he began repairing the cracks in his barrier.
The idea is to maintain the barrier and start attacking with low-cost attacks from outside to buy time—time to cast the spell needed to defeat his opponent.
Dante took a coin from his pocket.
"You know, I once saw an attack in a series where a coin was used and fired with terrifying power. When I lived in the time of Olympus, I was able to replicate it, but it involved using lightning, so as long as Zeus was alive, I could never use it. But luckily for me, he's gone now." No sooner had he finished speaking than Dante's hand crackled with electricity and he pointed the coin.
In an instant, a railgun at full power was fired from Dante's hand at Solomon's magic barrier, creating a massive explosion and another cloud of smoke.
"What a terrifying attack. You manipulate electromagnetism to accelerate a projectile, making it travel beyond the speed of sound, but thanks to your sorcery, you alter the parameters, making it much faster, close to Mach 20. Now tell me, how's your hand?" Solomon said as the barrier was shown completely shattered, yet still standing.
Dante looked at the barrier and then at his hand, almost entirely destroyed.
"Somewhat injured," he commented, revealing some perfectly formed bones in his hand. "It'll be back to normal in a few minutes; meanwhile, let's continue. You just don't need to accelerate it that much."
With that, Dante pulled another hand from the pocket of his good hand, prompting a disapproving grimace from Solomon.
...
Kiss-shot could be seen leaping and bounding, watching the peanut destroy everything in its path. Spinning around, she landed on top of it and punched it with all her might.
The attack stopped the animal, making Kiss-shot smile, but her smile faded when she realized that was all she'd done.
The sperm whale opened its mouth, creating a sound that shook the entire place, shattering glass and cracking the walls and floor.
Kiss-shot clutched her ears as the sound vibrated all the way to her brain, making it impossible to think straight, only to see the sperm whale ramming its head again.
The blonde vampire began to strike the animal's head with all her might, but she was only causing superficial damage.
"How the hell did you get those scars on your forehead?" she wondered, annoyed that her blows seemed to do absolutely no damage. Now she understood why that staff had destroyed her, even with Armament Haki.
Meanwhile, Rider was fighting and throwing several spears at Assassin, who was doing her best to dodge them.
The clash of the staff and the prosthetic arm created sparks; everything Assassin did was destroyed by the captain—not just stopped, but completely obliterated.
And every attack Rider made was truly devastating, so she couldn't afford any mistakes. She was fighting very defensively, something her opponent was exploiting.
"What's wrong? Why aren't you coming closer? I don't bite," Rider taunted, twirling her spear as she glared at Assassin.
All she could do was curse inwardly at her opponent's words and summon several steel maidens, which flew toward her enemy, opening wide to tear him apart and mutilate him from within.
But unfortunately for her, Rider, using his spear, destroyed all the steel maidens as if they were made of paper.
Assassin couldn't face a more annoying opponent. His fighting style was based on getting close and torturing his enemy, constantly regenerating while bathing in their blood.
The man in front of her might not have much stamina or defense, but his strength was on another level—enough to kill her with a single blow, not to mention the sperm whale that was nearby and could appear at any moment.
Meanwhile, Kiss-shot was running at full speed, pursued by a sperm whale as if it were a homing missile, which annoyed her. Hitting or slashing was useless, as nothing did enough damage to bring it down.
Fed up with all this, she stopped abruptly and braced herself for the attack.
Moby Dick, without hesitation, launched himself at the blonde, who took the blow head-on once again.
Kiss-shot vomited blood, but all the damage he had sustained regenerated instantly.
Using all his strength, he began trying to stop the creature.
With each passing second, the sperm whale's speed decreased.
"HAAAAAA!" Kiss-shot screamed, lifting the Moby Dick, causing the sperm whale to open its eyes in panic. "Take this decisive move.
And with that, she flung the sperm whale backward, sending it crashing to the ground with its own weight. Basically, she suplexed an animal thousands of times her size.
Due to the residual speed of the impact, the Moby Dick was sent flying, and its impact shook the ground.
"How's that for you, overgrown whale?" Kiss-shot said, pleased and exhausted by what she had done.
Not far away, a sound of reply was heard.
"Clic, clic, clic, clic. "Kiss-shot didn't understand what the sperm whale was saying, but in her infinite wisdom, she interpreted it as "Well played."
(Note: The clic is the onomatopoeia for the sound of sperm whales.)
...
Dante fired another railgun, but it was much less powerful.
"Oh, I'm out of coins," Dante remarked, watching as the barrier was about to collapse; he only needed one more hit and it was done.
But that wasn't the problem, as Solomon already had the summoning circle ready behind him.
Dante, using Kamigami no Gigan, analyzed what his opponent was doing, but when he realized what he was doing, he turned pale, prompting him to launch himself forward at full speed using Soru.
"Too late," Solomon commented, activating the circle.
The blond-haired man used Shigan on the barrier's weakest point, destroying it, and just as he was about to attack Solomon, a flash of light startled him, only for him to feel something strike him and send him flying violently.
The moment Dante looked over at where Solomon had been, he saw a black tentacle with several red eyes behind him.
"A demon god," he whispered upon seeing what Solomon had summoned.
"It's a shame, knowing you're not evil, just following your own needs, but if I want to defeat you quickly, this is the best option," Solomon declared, creating a magic circle.
All the power of the demon god Furfur was concentrated into a single attack, channeled and stabilized by Solomon.
And in an instant, it was fired in Dante's direction at a speed that gave him no time to react.
Dante had already anticipated this, and if he moved, Solomon would fire wherever he was, so dodging was pointless, as he had calculated how Dante moved and how he used Geppo and Soru.
So, Haki, sorcery, magic, the Yami Yami no Mi—he used everything to defend himself against that attack.
The attack destroyed everything, proving more devastating than Dante's Railgun or Magic Bullet.
Assassin was already using his own blood to attack Rider when he saw a cannon of pure demonic power tearing across the wasteland, halting their fight. If it wasn't the sight that stopped them, the sound of the attack itself would have drawn their attention.
Kiss-shot, who had struck the sperm whale, managing to deflect it slightly, was about to deliver another blow but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a demonic attack whizz past them, also halting Moby Dick.
The blonde then opened her eyes.
"Damn it," Kiss-shot said, leaping up and running as fast as he could to where Assassin was, leaving the sperm whale alone, a little disoriented but reacting quickly, pursuing its prey.
Once the attack stopped, Solomon was seen looking at Dante, his expression a mixture of seriousness and a hint of regret for his opponent.
Dante was staring at the sky, covered in severe injuries, missing an arm, and with 70% of his body completely damaged by wounds that could be described as worse than third-degree burns.
"Ha," Dante said with great difficulty.
Solomon just shook his head and prepared to finish Dante off.
The blond man moved swiftly as if he felt no pain and raised a finger with his remaining hand.
In the next second, he stopped any movement Solomon might make, sensing the abnormality instantly.
Nothing was visible at the tip of the finger, but nothingness—everything nearby—began to be absorbed, causing it to grow rapidly.
Everything around it began to be drawn in with immense gravitational force.
The demon god attacked with several energy beams, but they were all absorbed by the singularity.
"What are they trying to do?! Destroy the entire United Kingdom?!" Solomon exclaimed in panic as he saw what was about to happen.
"Relax, it's just a rather residual attack," Dante commented, snapping his fingers, and the singularity teleported in front of the demon god.
"WHAT?!" he exclaimed as he began to be absorbed by the singularity.
Solomon, creating an anchor, avoided being absorbed himself, only to see how Dante, in the same finger that had created the singularity, began to accumulate energy from the surroundings, his own magical energy, and, to his horror, the demon god's malevolent energy.
"I see! What you control isn't gravitational effects or anything like that; what you do is convert and control your surroundings into dark energy and matter. The dark miasma is just a manifestation so you can see it, nothing more!" Solomon said, somewhere between astonishment and horror.
"I see we both came to the same conclusion," Dante commented simply.
The blond-haired man watched as his finger accumulated magical energy from space, his own, and the malevolent power he absorbed from the demon god's attack, compressing it as much as possible.
At the same time, Rider continued attacking Assassin, and just as he was about to launch a spear directly at his opponent's head, Kiss-shot appeared behind him.
He barely had time to react to block Kiss-shot's kick, which sent him flying through two buildings, vomiting blood.
Assassin was about to say something, but he felt the blonde grab him, and at astronomical speed, he was sprinting away.
Back with the two casters, the demon god could be seen being sucked into the singularity, powerless to do anything, as he was unable to move.
"Solomon, I curse you again," he managed to say as his body was slowly destroyed.
Meanwhile, Solomon had a magic circle keeping him on the ground, preventing him from being absorbed while he created another to protect himself from Dante's attack.
The blond-haired man simply watched his attack begin to emit lightning, his hand trembling, showing that with each passing second it was becoming increasingly difficult to stabilize all the energy he was holding; meanwhile, he was creating a magic circle around his feet.
"I don't think this attack will kill you, but neither of us will be in any condition to continue fighting, so I'll be waiting for the rematch, and next time, I'll use everything I have to kill you, even if I have to destroy the entire United Kingdom if necessary," Dante declared before launching his attack.
At the same time, he activated the magic circle, and Redhead was absorbed by it, disappearing from the scene.
In the next second, the ball of super-compressed energy exploded, creating a massive, devastating blast that obliterated the entire area and expanded further and further.
The Rider, who was getting up and wiping the blood from his mouth, saw a wave of destructive energy hurtling toward him.
"Come!" Rider shouted, alarmed, and immediately the head of a sperm whale emerged from the ground, managing to shield Ahab just in time, preventing him from being consumed by the destructive energy.
"Click, click, click," the sperm whale began to make as Rider grabbed it, preventing it from succumbing to the force of the attack and dying suddenly.
Once the destruction had passed, Rider could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"It's over," he said, looking down at the entire coastline and even the sea below, which had been completely destroyed.
Rider watched in horror as he found himself perched on a cliff. One step forward would send him plummeting into a dark abyss, but thanks to Moby Dick, who had partially blocked the attack, a path had opened below, allowing him to walk.
"Click, click," the sperm whale spoke, turning around to reveal its other side, where the attack had left it completely charred.
Rider merely grimaced.
"That'll take time to recover," Rider said, seeing the whale so badly damaged.
"Click," the sperm whale finished.
Elsewhere, a badly injured Solomon could be seen flying towards solid ground, as the attack had caused destruction across an area roughly 10 kilometers in diameter.
Once on solid ground, Solomon collapsed to his knees.
His body was badly damaged; he was almost the same, or even worse, than before, but luckily he hadn't lost any limbs, as his magical defense had prevented that. He only regretted taking a little more magical energy from his master. That way she wouldn't have ended up so badly injured.
"I hope that with this, Marisbury will take steps to stop Dante"; with that, he fainted.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Hey everyone, I hope you're all doing well. This concludes what amounts to a prologue for this Holy Grail War, and now we're getting serious.
The battle between Dante and Solomon was going to be different, but I decided to save some things for the later, more important battles, one of which is their rematch.
This happened because Dante put Solomon in check with the singularity, or artificial black hole, whichever you prefer. The gravitational power of one is immense, so Solomon had to focus on not being absorbed, which Dante used to his advantage to channel his attack.
Dante's attack could have been more destructive, but he was doing two things at once: creating the singularity and accumulating energy for the final attack.
I should also mention that Solomon was badly injured, as Dante reflected back a large portion of the demon god's attack, plus the spiritual energy and atmosphere of Great Britain, and finally, his own energy, which is also Altrouge's energy; hence, his hastily constructed barrier was destroyed.
I've already explained what to do with the Yami Yami no Mi, but remember, this is just my theory, nothing more. It's just that here, since it's my story, it will be considered canon. I'll explain this and why in the next chapter.
With nothing more to add, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. See you next time.