Border Between Realities AKA the Dimensional Gap…
Bright golden-white fire and black-purple flames exploded across the darkness of the Dimensional Gap, followed by a violent spatial quake that spread far beyond the battlefield. The disturbance reached the borders of nearby realities, carrying the burst of Imaginary energy with it strongly enough that several worlds detected the sudden dimensional disturbance almost at the same time.
At the center of it all, Noah and Dormammu collided once again.
The white-gold flames of the Might of An-Utu crashed against the black-purple fire surrounding Dormammu's arm as Noah pushed forward with both hands on the greatsword. The impact sent another shockwave across the Dimensional Gap, tearing through several floating landmasses around them and reducing the smaller fragments into debris.
"You are annoyingly persistent, Trailblazer!" Dormammu growled as he pushed against the burning blade, attempting to force Noah away.
"That's kind of the point!" Noah abruptly broke away from the clash and landed on one of the surviving fragments of floating land nearby.
Before Dormammu could properly follow his movement, Noah released one hand from Shamash and Apparated directly in front of him, already drawing his fist back.
"Wha—" Dormammu's eyes widened.
Noah's fist slammed straight into his face.
BOOOM!!!
The force of the punch snapped Dormammu's head sideways and sent his enormous body flying through the Dimensional Gap. He crashed through several broken landmasses before finally slowing, chunks of rock and dimensional debris scattering around him.
"Sii!"
"Got it!"
Sirin disappeared the moment Noah called her name. A void rift opened beside Dormammu almost immediately, and she came out of it with Embrace the Void already raised above her shoulder. Sirin swung the Astral Gear scythe with all of her strength, forcing Dormammu to bring one arm around to block it.
But he never got the chance as white Belkan magic circles appeared around his arm and locked it firmly in place.
Dormammu turned sharply and saw Hayate floating several meters away, Schwertkreuz pointed directly toward him while several more circles formed around his body.
"You…! KAAAH!"
Whatever curse he had been about to throw at Hayate was cut short when Sirin's scythe slashed him across the torso.
A massive spatial wound tore through Dormammu's body, but the damage did not stop there. Nihility flowed into the injury alongside the spatial distortion, corroding the wound and preventing it from simply closing the way his previous injuries had.
"You troublesome woman!" Dormammu looked down at the damage before slowly raising his eyes toward Sirin.
"The feeling is mutual, Dodon-san…!"
Dormammu snarled and immediately called upon the planet's life force to repair the injury. Black-purple energy gathered around the damaged section of his body as the wound began closing, though the Nihility-infused damage made the process noticeably slower than before.
With his free arm, Dormammu swung toward Sirin in an attempt to crush her before she could attack again, but Sirin had already opened another void rift beneath herself. His enormous hand passed through empty space just as she disappeared, and another rift opened several meters away.
Sirin stepped out of it with Embrace the Void held sideways in both hands. Her Quantum Astral Emblem flashed with bright purple light. A massive amount of Quantum energy poured into the scythe.
Before long, she swung Embrace the Void, opening a large spatial tear directly in front of her. Purple light immediately shot out from the tear as a concentrated blast of Quantum energy.
Dormammu tried to move the moment he sensed the danger, but Hayate had already been waiting for exactly that.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Another set of Belkan magic circles appeared around Dormammu's arms and legs, locking all four limbs in place before he could escape.
"Damn it…!"
The Quantum energy beam hit Dormammu directly, shredding through several of the Quantum Layers protecting his body. One after another, the layers shattered as Dormammu roared in fury.
After a while, the Quantum blast finally ended, and the layers protecting Dormammu's body were completely gone. Noah immediately took advantage of the opening. He dropped straight toward Dormammu and stabbed Shamash into the same wound Sirin had created earlier, forcing the blade deep into his chest before Dormammu could recover.
"TRA-TRAILBLAAAAAAAZEEER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Noah met Dormammu's furious eyes without backing away. Both hands tightened around Shamash as golden-white flames erupted from the blade and spread around them. His Imaginary Astral Emblem shone brightly as he poured a tremendous amount of energy into the weapon.
Then Noah spoke.
"Shamash… Unleash."
BOOOM!!!
The explosion shook the Dimensional Gap again as an enormous amount of energy burst from Shamash at point-blank range. Sirin and Hayate immediately moved together and combined their defenses before the blast could reach them.
Sirin gritted her teeth as another shockwave slammed against their barrier. "No matter how many times I see this attack, it's still ridiculous!"
"And Noah-kun fired it while Shamash was still inside Dormammu…" Hayate tightened her grip on Schwertkreuz and poured more mana into the shield. "There's no way he came out of that without getting hurt too."
[The explosion is finally weakening!] Reinforce Zwei reported from within their Unison. [Hayate-chan, Sirin-san, I'll keep strengthening the barrier until the remaining energy passes!]
"Please do, Rein." Hayate gave a strained smile as the shield shook again. "I really don't want to get blown away by my own husband's attack."
Sirin kept her eyes on the huge cloud of fire and debris ahead of them. "If that still wasn't enough to expose whatever Dormammu is hiding inside himself, I'm going to be really annoyed."
Hayate immediately understood what she meant. "His true body?"
"Exactly." Sirin quickly called out to Reinforce. "Rein, were you able to find where he hid it?"
Reinforce hesitated before answering.
[I'm sorry, Sirin-san. I still couldn't pinpoint the exact location.] Her voice carried obvious frustration. [Dormammu hid it so deeply inside his dimensional protections that even after all those layers were destroyed, I still can't get a clear reading.]
Sirin frowned. "Even after we destroyed all of his Quantum Layers? His body is still out of reach?"
[…Yes.] Reinforce bit her lip.
Hayate narrowed her eyes toward the cloud ahead of them. "Dormammu really has changed since our first confrontation. Before, his pride would have pushed him to fight us directly. Now he's prioritizing his survival above everything else."
"Tsk. Which makes him even more annoying." Sirin tightened her grip on Embrace the Void while continuing to watch the area where Noah had fired Shamash at full power.
Hayate nodded. "And we need to end this soon. The longer Dormammu remains active, the more those breaches around Earth will continue expanding."
Before Sirin could answer, something suddenly shot out from the smoke. Both girls turned just in time to see the figure crash violently into a distant floating landmass, breaking through the surface before finally coming to a stop.
Sirin and Hayate's eyes widened in shock.
"Is that…!?"
"Noah-kun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Before either of them could move, a blast of dark violet fire shot out from the cloud of smoke. Hayate hurriedly raised a shield while Sirin opened a Void Rift beside it, redirecting part of the attack before the rest slammed into Hayate's defense.
"Kuuh!!!"
"Sirin-chan!"
"I'm… okay!" Sirin gritted her teeth and forced herself upright. "Hachan, go check on Noa—!"
She wasn't able to finish her words as the injured Dormammu suddenly appeared above them and brought his massive arm down toward both girls. Hayate reacted immediately, thrusting Schwertkreuz upward.
"Panzerschild!"
A Belkan barrier formed over them just before Dormammu's arm crashed into it. The shield held for barely three seconds before cracks spread across its surface and the entire barrier shattered beneath the force of the blow.
Sirin immediately wrapped one arm around Hayate's waist and opened a Void Rift behind them. Both girls disappeared just before Dormammu's hand struck their position, reappearing several hundred meters away.
Dormammu did not pursue them.
"You… You insignificant creatures!" His voice was lower now, filled with anger as he glared at them. "Again and again, you continue testing my patience!"
Only then did Sirin and Hayate get a proper look at the damage Noah had caused.
Much of Dormammu's chest had been burned open by Shamash, while deep white-gold burns covered one side of his body. Sirin's earlier spatial wound was still visible across his torso, and traces of Nihility continued eating away at the damaged area. Even his left arm had been partially destroyed by the explosion.
But the injuries were already beginning to close. Black-purple fire gathered around the damaged sections of his body as Dormammu once again drew upon the planet's life force.
Hayate's expression hardened. "He's healing again."
"Of course he is." Sirin clicked her tongue. "He's using the planet's life force again."
Dormammu glared at them while his body slowly restored itself. "I have wasted enough time dealing with the two of you."
He raised one hand toward them.
"Now disappear!"
The space around Sirin and Hayate distorted as several massive streams of dark violet fire erupted from different directions.
"Hachan!"
"I see them!"
Hayate immediately raised several layers of Panzerschild while Sirin opened multiple Void Rifts around their position, redirecting as much of the incoming fire as she could. The first barrage crashed into Hayate's defenses and shattered two barriers almost immediately, while the next overwhelmed several of Sirin's portals before they could redirect the entire attack.
[Hayate-chan! Barrier output is dropping!] Reinforce warned.
"Then reinforce what's left!"
[I'm trying!]
Sirin opened another Void Rift, intending to teleport them away, but the portal suddenly stopped expanding.
"What?!" Her eyes widened.
Dormammu tightened his raised hand, and the space surrounding them locked into place.
"You have abused the space of this realm enough."
The Void Rift collapsed.
"Sirin-chan!"
Another blast struck Hayate's remaining barrier and shattered it completely, sending both women flying across the Dimensional Gap. Sirin quickly caught Hayate before they could be separated, but before either of them could recover, Dormammu was already closing the distance.
"I will crush you both first!"
His massive hand reached toward them. Sirin tried to teleport again, but the space around them was still too unstable to respond properly.
"Damn it…!"
Hayate raised Schwertkreuz and tried to form another barrier despite barely having enough time to cast, but before Dormammu's hand could reach them, a white-gold streak suddenly shot between the two sides.
CLANG!!!
The Might of An-Utu slammed against Dormammu's hand and stopped it only meters away from Sirin and Hayate. Noah had returned, though the state he was in immediately made both women understand just how badly Shamash Unleash had affected him. His clothes were burned in several places, and even the golden-white flames surrounding him weakened for a moment. Despite that, both hands remained firmly wrapped around Shamash as he pushed back against Dormammu.
"Okay, I'm going to admit it," Noah said with a strained grin. "That actually hurt enough to knock me out for a few seconds."
Sirin stared at him. "You… passed out?!"
"…Only for a few seconds," Noah admitted.
"That is not something you say casually, Noah!"
Hayate looked equally upset. "Noah-kun, you were inside your own Shamash Unleash!"
"Technically, Dormammu took most of it," Noah answered while continuing to hold back the enormous hand pressing against his blade.
Sirin and Hayate immediately shouted at the same time, "That does not make it better!"
[Noah-san, your energy levels have also dropped significantly!] Reinforce added from within Hayate's Unison.
Noah winced. "Okay, okay. You can all scold me after we beat him."
"There will be no after for any of you!" Dormammu snarled as he pushed harder against Shamash, forcing Noah backward several meters.
"Yeah?" Noah's grin disappeared as he tightened his grip. "Then let's test that."
Golden-white flames erupted from Shamash again. Noah forced more power into the blade and drove Dormammu's hand away, giving Sirin and Hayate enough room to move.
"Sii! Hachan!"
"Fine!" Sirin snapped as she pulled back. "But we are absolutely talking about that later!"
"Sirin-chan is right!" Hayate called out while raising Schwertkreuz again. "Rein, prepare the next spell!"
[Right!]
Sirin stored Embrace the Void and drew the Key of Void pistols instead, while Hayate moved farther back and immediately began casting. Noah remained in front of Dormammu with Shamash raised, keeping the enemy's attention on himself and giving both women the opening they needed.
The first exchanges had stripped away Dormammu's defenses. The second had wounded him badly enough to force him onto the offensive.
Now the battle entered its third round.
—--------
Dormammu immediately chased after Noah and swung his massive arm toward him. Noah met the attack with Shamash, but instead of trying to overpower Dormammu again, he angled the blade and redirected the blow past his body. Using the opening, Noah moved along Dormammu's arm and slashed deeply across his shoulder, leaving white-gold flames burning through the wound.
"Still here!" Noah shouted.
Dormammu turned toward him, only for several purple shots to strike the side of his head. Sirin floated behind him with both Key of Void pistols raised and continued firing as Void Rifts opened around Dormammu. Every shot that missed vanished through one portal and came out from another direction, forcing Dormammu to defend himself from several angles at once.
Dark barriers formed around his body, but Sirin simply adjusted her attacks. Shots came from above, below, behind, and from both sides until cracks began spreading across the barriers.
"Rein, now!" Hayate called.
[Already calculated!]
Several Belkan circles appeared around Dormammu's arms and legs, and white chains shot out from them before locking tightly around his limbs.
"You think these restraints can hold me?!"
"Not for long," Hayate admitted as she tightened her grip on Schwertkreuz. "But we only need a few seconds."
Dormammu immediately understood what she meant and looked around for Noah, but he was already gone.
Noah reappeared directly above him with Shamash raised over his head and brought the burning greatsword down against Dormammu's shoulder. The attack broke through what remained of his defenses and cut deeply into his body.
Dormammu roared in anger and shattered Hayate's restraints through brute force. Before Noah could pull Shamash free, Dormammu grabbed him and hurled him across the Dimensional Gap.
"Noah!"
"I'm fine!"
Noah twisted in midair and landed feet-first against a nearby floating landmass, cracking the surface behind him from the impact. He barely stayed there for a second before pushing off and charging straight back toward Dormammu.
Dormammu moved to intercept him, but Hayate raised Schwertkreuz first.
"Balmung!"
Dozens of white sword-shaped projectiles appeared around Dormammu and fired at once. He destroyed several with dark violet flames, but the rest passed through the attack and struck his arms, chest, and shoulders.
"Perfect." Sirin immediately took advantage of the opening.
She crossed both Key of Void pistols in front of herself as her Quantum Astral Emblem shone brightly. Several larger Void Rifts opened around Dormammu, each positioned at a different angle.
Sirin aimed and fired into the portal in front of her.
The bullet passed through the network of Void Rifts and split into dozens of Quantum shots, hitting Dormammu from every direction. Each Void bullet carried the power of Nihility with it, damaging his already injured body while weakening what remained of his Quantum protection.
Within seconds, the last of those defenses finally broke apart.
[Noah-san! His outer protections are down again!] Reinforce reported.
"Got it!"
Noah immediately crossed the remaining distance and drove Shamash deep into Dormammu's abdomen. White-gold flames burst from the wound as Noah twisted the sword before ripping it sideways through his body.
"TRAILBLAZER!!!"
Dormammu's upper body nearly separated from his lower half, but Noah did not give him time to recover. He pulled Shamash free and shouted toward Hayate and Reinforce, "Rein! Anything?!"
[Scanning!]
Reinforce immediately focused on the exposed sections of Dormammu's body. Magical formulas appeared around Hayate one after another as Reinforce analyzed everything Noah and Sirin had managed to uncover.
[There are several dimensional signatures inside him! I'm detecting Quantum Layers too, but they're overlapping so badly that I can't tell which one is hiding his true body!]
Before Noah could answer, Dormammu's massive hand came crashing down toward him. Noah quickly raised Shamash and caught the attack against the blade.
CLANG!!!
The impact forced Noah backward several meters, but he held his ground while Sirin and Hayate moved into position on either side of Dormammu.
"Then we break more of them!" Sirin declared.
She immediately opened fire with the Key of Void while Hayate followed with another barrage of Belkan spells. Noah stayed close and kept Dormammu occupied from the front, forcing him to divide his attention between Shamash, Sirin's spatial attacks, and Hayate's magic.
A Void Rift opened behind Dormammu, allowing several of Sirin's shots to strike him directly in the back just as Hayate restrained one of his arms with another Belkan binding spell. Noah saw the opening and slashed across the exposed side of Dormammu's torso, destroying another section of his manifested body.
Yet there was still no sign of his true body.
Black-purple flames quickly spread across the damaged areas as Dormammu began rebuilding himself once again. At the same time, new dimensional and Quantum protections formed inside and around his body.
"Again?!" Sirin clicked her tongue.
[The signatures moved!] Reinforce cried out. [The moment he started regenerating, everything I was tracking changed position!]
"He's rearranging the protections every time we break through them?" Hayate's eyes widened.
[Yes! I think that's exactly what he's doing!]
"That crafty bastard…" Noah grimaced.
Dormammu's fist suddenly came toward him again. Noah blinked once, but instead of moving away, a terrible grin slowly spread across his face. He released one hand from Shamash and gathered both Trailblaze Energy and the Force around his fist.
"Hey, Dormammu… can you take the same punch my sister's boyfriend survived?"
Then Noah met the punch with his own.
BOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!
The impact created a massive shockwave that blasted both Noah and Dormammu away from each other.
Sirin immediately covered her face with one hand. "That idiot…"
"Aha-hahahah…" Hayate could only give a hollow laugh as the shockwave pushed her and Sirin farther back.
Dormammu glared furiously at Noah from across the distance, while Noah only laughed and raised Shamash again.
[Okay… moving back to the topic,] Noah said through their mental connection as he moved back in and blocked another attack from Dormammu, [we've already broken his body apart several times, but we still can't figure out where he hid his true body?]
[Uuuu… I'm sorry, Noah-san.] Reinforce sounded genuinely frustrated. [There's too much interference from all the overlapping dimensional and Quantum protections. Every time I start isolating one signature, he changes everything again.]
[Hey, don't apologize, Rein. You're doing fine,] Noah immediately reassured her.
[Noah is right, Rein,] Sirin added. [Dormammu might be arrogant and prideful, but he isn't stupid. We injured him badly during our first battle back in our universe, so this time he came prepared specifically for us.]
Dormammu suddenly forced Noah back and turned toward Sirin, firing several dark violet blasts in her direction. Sirin immediately opened multiple Void Rifts and redirected the attacks away from herself, but before Dormammu could continue pressing her, several Belkan circles appeared around his body.
"Restrict Lock!"
White chains shot out from the circles and wrapped tightly around Dormammu's arms before pulling them apart.
"AGAIN?!" Dormammu growled as he struggled against the restraints, but Hayate was already raising Schwertkreuz for her next attack.
"Balmung!"
Dozens of white swords formed behind her and rushed toward Dormammu. He destroyed several with black-purple flames, but Hayate immediately redirected the ones that remained. Half of the swords climbed above him while the rest curved around from both sides, forcing Dormammu to defend against several directions at once.
As he raised one arm to block the incoming swords, another Belkan circle appeared directly beneath him.
"Got you." Hayate smiled.
A pillar of white magical energy erupted from below and blasted Dormammu upward. Noah immediately moved to follow him, but Hayate raised one hand and warned him through their mental connection.
[Wait, Noah-kun. Move left.]
Noah changed direction without questioning her. A second later, Dormammu's counterattack passed through the exact place Noah had been heading toward.
[Thanks, Hachan.]
[You're welcome.]
Hayate gave him a quick smile before turning Schwertkreuz toward Dormammu again. Instead of using another large bombardment, Hayate began firing several smaller spells one after another. None of them were meant to seriously injure Dormammu. Their purpose was to keep him moving, forcing him to block, dodge, or change direction while Reinforce studied every reaction and every change inside his body.
[Noah-kun and Sirin-chan are right, Rein,] Hayate said as another spell forced Dormammu away from Noah. [You don't need to apologize. Besides, I'm sure you've already noticed something, right? Even a small clue could help us figure out how to deal with him.]
Dormammu finally tore through Hayate's latest restraints and immediately fired a wide blast toward her. Hayate raised Panzerschild just in time, blocking the attack before quickly pulling away as cracks began spreading across the barrier.
Sirin appeared above Dormammu before he could pursue Hayate and fired several Void bullets into his back, forcing him to turn toward her instead. That was when Reinforce suddenly made a small, thoughtful sound, and both Noah and Sirin noticed it immediately.
[Hoo…]
[Hmm?]
Dormammu swung one arm toward Sirin, but Noah reacted first and used the Force to shove the limb off course. Sirin immediately grabbed Noah by the arm, opened a Void Rift beside them, and pulled him through before Dormammu could recover. They reappeared several hundred meters away, but the moment they emerged, Noah was already moving again.
[Rein?] Noah called as he swung Shamash against Dormammu's wrist and redirected another attack away from Hayate.
[You found something, didn't you?] Sirin added. She appeared behind Dormammu, fired twice into his back, then vanished through another Void Rift before his arm could reach her.
Hayate smiled slightly. [Then tell us what you found, Rein. Be confident.]
[Hai desu!] Reinforce nodded. [We still can't determine exactly which dimension Dormammu hid his true body inside, but thanks to Sirin-san removing the Quantum Layers protecting him, I can now map the dimensions wrapped around his current body much more clearly.]
Dormammu shoved Noah away and immediately turned toward Sirin, but she was already waiting for him. Several Void Rifts opened around Dormammu before purple bullets began firing through them from different directions. He raised his barriers, but Sirin kept changing the portals' exit points, forcing him to keep adjusting his defense while Reinforce continued.
[If we want to find his true body, we'll need to break through those dimensions one by one and observe how each of them reacts. The changes caused by our attacks should help me determine which one contains his real body.]
Dormammu released a burst of dark violet fire and destroyed several of Sirin's portals before rushing toward her, but Noah intercepted him halfway. His leg collided with Dormammu's fist, and instead of trying to hold the clash, Noah used the impact to push himself backward while Hayate fired several Balmung swords over his shoulders.
Dormammu knocked the first few aside before destroying the rest with his flames.
[I see.] Noah narrowed his eyes as he landed farther back. [So basically, we hit the dimensional protections hard enough for Rein to track how they respond.]
[Exactly!] Reinforce answered. [Think of it as throwing a big stone on a lake. The attacks create the ripples, and I use the reaction to locate the correct dimension.]
Dormammu gathered a massive amount of dark purple fire into his palm, his furious eyes fixed directly on Noah. He did not hesitate before throwing the enormous sphere toward him.
Noah's eyes widened when he saw its size. The attack covered too much space to simply dodge, and moving aside would put Hayate directly in its path.
So instead, he looked toward one of the broken landmasses floating nearby and raised his free hand.
"Come here!"
The Force grabbed the entire landmass and ripped it from its position before sending it straight into the path of Dormammu's attack.
BOOOOOOM!!!
The dark flames tore through the landmass and destroyed it almost instantly, but the obstruction absorbed enough of the attack to give Noah and Hayate time to move away safely.
Once they were clear, Sirin hesitated for a moment before speaking through the mental connection.
[...Rein, I just want to make something clear.] Her tone had become noticeably more careful. [How 'big' does the 'stone' need to be if we're going to throw it into this 'lake'?]
No answer came.
[...Rein?]
[I have a bad feeling about this silence.] Hayate's expression twitched.
Sirin did not say anything else, but the way her eyes narrowed made it obvious she was thinking exactly the same thing.
After another awkward pause, Reinforce finally answered.
[W-well… we would need an attack with enough power to destroy several of the dimensional protections surrounding Dormammu at the same time.] Her voice became quieter with every word. [So… something roughly comparable to Noah-san's Shamash Unleash…]
Silence immediately returned to the mental connection.
Noah's expression went completely blank. He slowly looked down at Shamash, then toward Dormammu, then back at the sword in his hands.
[...You want me to do that again?]
[E-etoo…] Reinforce sounded increasingly nervous. [Dormammu's protections are overlapping too heavily for me to separate the readings properly. If we destroy enough of those dimensional wrappings first, the interference should decrease enough for me to accurately locate where his true body is hidden.]
Noah swallowed and tightened his grip around Shamash.
[...Okay. Just checking, Rein. I only need to do this once, right?]
Another silence followed.
[Rein?]
Hayate's smile became noticeably strained. [Rein-chan…?]
Sirin's eyebrows twitched. [Why aren't you answering him?]
For several seconds, the four of them became so focused on that question that Noah, Hayate, and Sirin nearly forgot Dormammu was still right in front of them.
[...How many times?] Noah finally asked the question none of them wanted answered.
[W-well…] Reinforce hesitated again.
That hesitation was already enough to make Noah regret asking.
Before she could finish, Dormammu's furious voice roared across the Dimensional Gap.
"DO YOU INSIGNIFICANT CREATURES INTEND TO IGNORE ME?!"
Noah, Hayate, and Sirin all turned toward him at once and found Dormammu glaring at them with both hands raised. Several pillars of black-purple energy had already formed around his body and were rapidly gathering power.
"Ah…"
"Oops."
"…Crap."
Dormammu's expression twisted with fury. "DIE!"
"OH, COME ON!!!"
====== Chapter 230 END ======