A Mutant's Ascension

[Knox, Kuoh Forest] 

"What the hell was that?!!" Bikou shrieked like a little girl while pointing at the spot where the house-elf had been standing. Kuroka giggled after watching his reaction, and moments later, Kuroka started to cackle madly. Bikou growled in anger and stomped his foot in indignation. 

"Seriously, Kuroka?!" Arthur scolded Kuroka and Kuroka finally started to calm down. She grabbed her stomach with one hand and wiped off her tears with the other hand. 

"Your reaction was seriously hilarious. I can't believe you just did that!" Kuroka babbled with an amused look on her face. Both Bikou and Arthur only scowled after hearing Kuroka's words. "Well, anyway, it was a house-elf" Kuroka finally answered Bikou's question and received incredulous stares from everyone beside Ophis. 

"A house-elf?" Le Fay asked with a confused and interested look on her face. 

"I don't know much about them, but from what I know, they are a parasitic variant of Elves. The House-Elves need to bond with someone or something Magical. The House-Elves need Magic to survive, which they get through the bond. So, in return for Magic, they worked around the house, like servants" Kuroka explained with a thoughtful look on her face. 

It has been some time since the others had told her about the House-Elves, so she needed to think a lot while answering. "Oh… And they love to work!!" Kuroka added in a chirpy tone. The others including Ophis simply nodded their heads in understanding, but unlike the others, Ophis simply had a stoic look on her face.

"Come on! We have wasted more than enough time" Kuroka waved her hand, gesturing the others to follow her. Since she knew that Reo was waiting in the backyard, she didn't take the group inside the house. She simply led them around the house. The group finally arrived in the backyard and they found a nice meeting place that was already arranged. 

"Come, have a seat" Reo said with a small smile while looking at the group. 

It was obvious that except for Kuroka and Ophis the others were somewhat nervous. The whole group took their seats and gave Reo a grateful smile. Moments later, various types of snacks and non-alcoholic drinks appeared on the table. Reo smirked at their shocked expressions, but at the same time, he was slightly disappointed to see that Ophis was still stoic as ever. 

"House-Elves" Reo pointed out when he noticed the questioning glances directed in his direction. 

"So, what do you want to talk about?" Ophis questioned in a monotone and picked up a cookie from the table. She was familiar with this type of cookie, so she decided to start with that. 

Reo smiled as the others also started to help themselves with the snacks. He would have been a bad host if he didn't offer them anything, especially when it was him who invited Ophis to meet him. He expected the others to accompany the Dragon God since they thought that it was their duty to protect her. 

Reo couldn't fault them since they were right. Ophis was the second strongest being in this world if he didn't count himself and his women, but Ophis was very naive. She wouldn't even suspect if anyone was using her for their own gain, which is happening right now. 

Almost all members of the Khaos Brigade has… or had their own agenda even though Ophis created the group to fight the Great Red. Most of these members didn't even want to fight the Great Red. They simply wanted to use Ophis's power to further their own agendas. 

"Tell me, Ophis… do you want to reclaim your silence?" Reo asked with a grin on his face, surprising all of Ophis's companions, but once again Reo was disappointed when he saw that Ophis was still stoic as ever… 

[Unknown Location, Underworld] 

Vali's armoured fist slammed on Ddraig's face while Ddraig's armoured fist slammed on Vali's armoured face, creating two massive shockwaves. Vali's headgear shattered and he was blown away by the force of the blow, while Ddraig only took a few steps back. 

Ddraig grinned as he started to walk towards Vali. Vali had landed a few metres away after he was blown away by Ddraig's blow. He spat out some blood from his mouth and slowly stood up. He released some of his Demonic Power and his headgear fixed itself. 

"Divide! Divide! Divide!!" Albion's voice rang out. Moments later, Ddraig's metallic gauntlets and shin guards flashed with green lights returning his Power to the normal level. This time, it was Ddraig who was the first one to lunge towards Vali. 

Albion's voice kept ringing out as Vali continued trying to divide Ddraig's power, but Ddraig in a similar fashion kept boosting his power to match his original power level. Vali was completely taken off-guard by Ddraig's speed, but he was still able to cover his face with his arms, but Ddraig's fist slammed on Vali's chest, cracking his chest plate. 

A second punch landed on Vali's chest, making more cracks appear on his chest plate. Vali tried to kick Ddraig, but Ddraig was much faster and kicked away Vali with little to no effort. Ddraig started to laugh when Vali landed a few feet away with a loud thud. 

"Come on, Albion. It seems like you aren't even trying to fight. You are making it too easy for me" Ddraig mocked haughtily as he started to slowly approach Vali. 

'Vali, you are seriously outmatched here. He is a Heavenly Dragon transformed into a Human and you are a Devil who is using the power of a Heavenly Dragon' Albion warned inside Vali's mind. 

'I know, Albion, but I simply can't admit defeat or I would be letting you down. This fight means the most to you, my friend' Vali retorted internally as he slowly stood up with a lot of difficulties. 'He is a Heavenly Dragon, so I am also going to use the power of a Heavenly Dragon. What do you say, Albion?' Vali asked Albion. 

'Unfortunately, I agree with you. You have to use the Juggernaut Drive or you don't have any chance of winning' Albion answered and Vali simply smirked under his headgear. 'Let's give him the fight he wants' Vali declared inside his mind and Albion hummed in agreement. 

"I, who is about to awaken,

Am the White Dragon Emperor who will take the law down to the darkness.

I walk the road of domination with infinite destruction and by piercing through the imaginary dream.

I shall become a pure Emperor of White Dragon

And I shall have you obey the silvery-white illusions and the perfect evil ways!" Vali exclaimed and Ddraig simply tilted his head with a confused look on his face. 

From what he remembered, this wasn't the chant for activating the Juggernaut Drive. He had heard the chant multiple times throughout history. Slowly Vali started to transform, growing in size. Ddraig guessed that Vali's Juggernaut Drive might be some type of subspecies. He wasn't an expert in Sacred Gears, so he refrained from making any comments. 

Meanwhile, Vali's powers started to multiply as he went through the transformation. It has been more than a month since he was completely and utterly crushed by Hela. After waking up, he kept remembering how easily Hela had dominated him throughout the whole fight. He couldn't do a single thing to oppose that woman. 

Vali knew about the voices belonging to the past possessors sealed inside Divine Dividing. He had been in contact with them since he had been able to access the Juggernaut Drive. He hated those voices, they tried to influence him, take control of him. 

So, getting defeated by Hela gave him an idea. He decided to dominate the wills of the past possessors. At that time, he simply wanted to get rid of the voices. He didn't want to get influenced, but he ended up unlocking something greater by achieving the feat of dominating the will of past possessors. 

Vali unlocked a completely new transformation which was way stronger than the original Juggernaut Drive. Since last month he has been tirelessly working on this transformation. He was far from perfecting it or anything, but it was still very much usable. 

Unlike the Juggernaut Drive, this new transformation didn't consume his life force to maintain the transformation. Instead, this transformation consumed tremendous amounts of stamina. That is why it was very hard to maintain. Right now, Vali could maintain this transformation for slightly more than 5 minutes. 

Vali finally finished his transformation. "Empireo Juggernaut Overdrive!!" Vali roared loudly towards the sky releasing huge amounts of power. 

"Whew!! That's impressive, I wouldn't lie" Ddraig muttered while staring at Vali. Ddraig noticed that Albion's colour was also looking quite different. Instead of the usual white, the transformation's colour was silver. 

Additionally, Vali was releasing way more power than normal Juggernaut Drive, so Ddraig was obviously excited, but at the same time, he was slightly jealous too. He had also been sealed inside a Sacred Gear, but none of his wielders has achieved a feat like this. 

Ddraig felt somehow defeated, but he vowed that he was going to return the favour to Albion and Vali several folds… Ddraig might seem to be petty, but strong beings are allowed to be petty… 

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1596 words in this chapter.

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