Although she didn't show it, Zesshi was actually nervous. She had pulled out all her cards and now was at least successful in preventing these two monsters from following their master into the treasury. If she had guessed correctly, than Archon must have activated the true last resort of the Slane Theocracy and may very well have killed the Sorcerer King. In that case, all she needed to do was stall or kill these two to give Archon a chance to release the light. But if these two were still holding back their full power, then even she was not confident in her ability to stop them.
The corners of Demiurge's and even Sebas' mouth twitched slightly upward as a vicious killing aura swept forth. The two's bodies became clad in a menacing flow of energy that matched, if not outstripped, Zesshi's. Before her very eyes, her foes began to morph and shed any semblance of being human.
She had long ago guessed that they were not human, but the sight of their seemingly true appearance left her shell-shocked as their monstrous form and power made even her tremble.
Demiurge had been clad in evil black flames that did not give of a heat but instead gave of a bone-chilling air of malice that touched upon all who saw it. From those very same flames, a monster sprung forth. To call it anything less would be an offense as absurd strength combined with a malevolent look on its black-furred face.
Before her stood a demon just over two meters in size. It still had half the body of a man, or at least a humanoid, but its head and legs belonged to a beast along with a pair of bat wings. They were still not spread, but from their size, it seemed that if this demon willed it, they would touch both walls of the corridor with ease, their crimson red colour only matched by the chest, arms and back from which they had sprung. His human body was even more impressive as the amount and size of muscles would cause even the fiercest warriors or most well trained adventurers to sigh with envy and respect upon seeing them. Even Bahmeth, who could be said to have the greatest physique in the nation could not hold a candle to the muscular build of this creature. If women saw this body upon any mortal man, they would wait in line for a chance to be able to place their hands upon such a firm chest if not simply throw themselves at him.
But this body belonged to no man as its head betrayed. Upon his shoulders rested the head of not a human but a beast. A black goat to be precise. Its burning red eyes stared intently at Zesshi with a look that could inspire complete madness in the heart of any mere mortal who saw it. Standing on his two black goat legs, he seemed incredibly at ease considering that he was facing the absolute strongest human in the world.
Next to him stood an even more awe-inspiring figure. In the same place where an old man had stood not mere moments ago had appeared a bright white flame column that enveloped the old man. As the man disappeared, another being had taken his place, completely unharmed by the flames around him, he had appeared from the pillar of fire and now stood strong with a prideful look on his face as he measured whether Zesshi could even count as his opponent. A look that was only reserved for the strongest being in the known world. A dragon!
This creature however was a little different from an ordinary dragon. It stood not on four but still on two legs and still had a physique like the human whose place he had taken. Wearing only a single brown cloth undergarment and two brilliant golden arm bracelets, he displayed the full beauty and splendour of his white scaled body with two marble white wings behind his back that seemed ready to take flight. This creature even more than the demon gave off an air of being a sovereign amongst his kind and amongst all that crawled beneath his feet. This fusion of human and dragon made even Zesshi quake from excitement.
"A dragon and a Demon God…"
These few simple words were all that Zesshi could muster to say as behind the slit in her helmet her eyes had long since widened to the maximum as she could not stop shaking. To an ordinary man it may look like a lamb that was shaking before the slaughter but to any that knew Zesshi's personality…
"HAHAHAAH! To think today I'll get to fight not just a dragonoid but even a Demon God! Such a great day!"
Her trembling was not out of fear. The thing Zesshi craved the most in her life was not power or friendship, love or wealth. Her greatest dream was to fight a legendary being and lose, her greatest desire was to experience the thrill of fighting to her absolute limit and to see that even that was still not enough to reach the pinnacle. But no matter whether they were man or beast or even monster, none had come close to satisfying her.
"Well then, let us begin! Who wants to go first? Or maybe you want to come at me both at the same time."
The two monsters looked at each other briefly. Both were of the same mind. With the condition of their leader in question, they could not afford to dally around here. The best solution to the problem would be to have one of them go after Ainz while the other held Zesshi back here. But with an opponent of unknown strength in front of them, it would be wiser to first capture her and then go and meet up with Ainz.
The white dragonoid gave a slight nod to the goat demon before both leaped in Zesshi's direction at incredible speeds.
Zesshi stretched out her arm as another wave of divine and negative energy burst forth towards the two incoming monsters. This time the stream of energy released was even greater than the first one and could easily wipe out entire groups of enemies in an instant.
As the two monsters saw the approaching twin streams of energy, they did not so much as flinch and simply pushed through, ignoring the corrosive damage that was being done to them.
In truth, it wasn't very difficult to resist Zesshi's attack; the first time they had simply been caught off guard by a mix of circumstances. This time, they faced the attack in their battle forms and had preemptively prepared
Seeing that her attack no longer was as effective as before, Zesshi merely snorted as she changed stances and once more firmly gripped her war scythe whilst cladding it in both dark and holy energy. Although even her two legacies being proven ineffective was shocking, it still was within her expectations of these two monsters' capabilities.
Zesshi knew that this next moment would be a deciding point in the fight. If she failed, it could spell the end for her, but if she succeeded then there was still a chance of victory no matter how small.
"Weapon skill [Reaper Death Slice]!"
The blade of the giant war scythe lit up in a bright white glow as the two energies around it began to swirl even more violently. In this moment Zesshi's movements and that of her scythe seemed to exceed even what Sebas and Demiurge had expected to be her limit.
As the blade came sweeping down, Sebas moved to intercept the attack barehanded. As a monk with his dragon bloodline activated, there were few things in this world that could still penetrate his defense. Although he was still lacking compared to Albedo and could not resist the vicious attack power of Cocytus' wisdom king strikes, besides that he was unmatched in physical combat.
Both sides felt that their power was unmatched and that it was laughable that they would have to yield and neglected any thought of retreat or dodging as they charged at each other. Even with the several humiliations that Zesshi had to endure, she was still confident that this special skill combined with her two legacies could not possibly lose out to some dragonoid scrub. Likewise, Sebas had no doubt that Zesshi would not be able to cause the slightest amount of harm.
But in the end with these two conflicting ideologies only one could be proven as the stronger.
As the two made contact, another shockwave of energy burst out as Zesshi's scythe cut down onto the Sebas' scaly arm whilst her two energies streamed out of the scythe, encompassing the surroundings, but within this flurry of power, the conflict between the two inhuman beings had finally yielded a clear superior.