Hell Mode: Volume 11, page 17
“What?! Is that Beast God Garm’s power?!” Shinorom cried.
The eyeball monster wrapped its tentacles around the lion and leaped out into the hallway. Beku, now transformed into a lion with two feet, sank his claws into the Little Ghii’s sclera, causing fluids to spray everywhere.
“Eep!” Shinorom yelped as he rushed past the entangled monster and lion. “He’s too strong! I-I don’t stand a chance!”
“H-He’s running!” Pelomas shouted.
The eyeball monster pushed the golden lion away and rolled toward the stairs that led to the floor above. It regenerated its lost tentacles and wriggled them toward Shinorom, chasing after its master.
“N-No!” Shinorom shouted. “Little Ghii, you stay back and stop them!”
“Ghii?!”
While the bipedal golden lion watched the researcher and his monster head up the stairs, Pelomas stepped out of the room and approached his friend.
“A-Are you all right?” the merchant asked gingerly.
“I’m fine,” Beku replied.
Despite his words, blood began to pool at his feet, so Pelomas quickly retrieved a Blessing of Heaven.
“Wait...” the boy said with a befuddled frown.
“What?” Beku asked.
“You...can talk despite being in Beast Mode.”
“Of course. Only by losing your sense of self and letting yourself be consumed by power do you also become a beast at heart.”
“I had no idea. Wait! Someone’s coming!”
Pelomas gazed up at a newcomer, who had just reached the bottom of the stairs.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Demonic Deity Timarad, and I serve directly under the Strategist, Lord Kyubel,” they said, a faint smile dancing on their lips as they gave an elegant bow. “Playtime is over. I shall wrench off your limbs once more and throw you back in your cell.”
Timarad straightened their posture, and in the blink of an eye, they were standing directly in front of Beku. Pelomas could only stand there in astonishment, but the lionkin had predicted the Demonic Deity’s movements and made to slam the back of his fist into his opponent’s face.
“Hmph!” he grunted.
His knuckle-adorned left fist flew toward Timarad’s face, but the Demonic Deity used their right arm to guard themselves. Unfortunately, they were still in the air, leaving them unable to brace themselves. Beku’s swing sent them flying. But while they were now back where they had started, a nonchalant grin stretched across their face. They were completely unfazed by the Beast Crown Prince’s attack.
“I see. Decent Attack,” Timarad observed. “But thanks to Lord Shinorom’s research, I’ve obtained power that trumps that of even a Greater Demonic Deity. Can you fight against this?”
Timarad raised their arms in front of their chest and pointed their palms at Beku, creating a ball of magical energy out of thin air.
“Whoa!” Pelomas shouted as the orb shot toward Beku.
“Rah!” Beku roared.
He bared his fangs and swung his orichalcum knuckles at the magic sphere. The moment his weapon made contact, the sphere shattered into particles of mana. Timarad was not finished, however. They hurled a second and third shot to assault Beku. The Demonic Deity’s plan was to attack from afar, avoiding a fight at close range, where Beku excelled.
Beku, of course, managed to crush the mana spheres with his knuckles, but every time he did so, Timarad summoned another. Each one was harder to hit than the last; Beku was slowly losing ground. Eventually, the lionkin missed a sphere, and it flew behind him and hit a trembling Pelomas with a loud smack.
“Ack!” the boy cried. He had instinctively used his Ancient Wood Abacus to protect his face, causing the sphere to shatter, but he was blown back from the sheer impact of the attack.
“Peloniki!” Beku shouted.
When the merchant opened his eyes, Beku’s golden breastplate was right in front of him.
“P-Prince Beku,” Pelomas stammered.
“You’re still conscious. Good.”
“Come on!” Timarad goaded. “Spending your time defending that trash is practically begging to get hit by my attacks!”
Only then did Pelomas realize that Beku was tanking hits, and the merchant quickly used a Blessing of Heaven to heal the lionkin’s wounds.
“Thank you, Peloniki.”
Beku then spun around to face the Demonic Deity once more. Standing tall with his back to Pelomas, he again began to punch the mana spheres into pieces. The battle was seemingly endless. Pelomas used Blessings of Heaven when he could, but he was gradually growing anxious.
“Prince Beku, at this rate, we’ll lose,” Pelomas said. “Please don’t worry about me. Leave my side so you can attack.”
“Don’t be foolish,” Beku replied. “If you’re not here to heal my wounds, I cannot continue fighting. I’ve got no reason to abandon you. But I’ll force him to make an opening. When I give the signal, fall back.”
“O-Okay!” Pelomas said.
Just then, Beku crossed his arms in front of his face in a defensive stance. He kicked the weapon at his feet toward Pelomas.
“Ha ha! Too tired to crush my spheres?” Timarad gloated as they summoned more mana orbs than ever before.
“Now!” Beku shouted.
When Pelomas heard his friend’s low voice, he fell to the ground and watched as the massive, golden lion above him was blown backward.
“Prince Beku!” Pelomas cried.
Dozens of magic orbs flew toward Beku, who had already been pushed back. Particles of mana rained down on the lionkin as the spheres made contact with his body. Meanwhile, Pelomas leaped to his feet and swiftly reached into his magic bag to take out another Blessing of Heaven. Just then, however, a hand shot out from behind and stopped him.
“What are you doing?” the Demonic Deity asked.
Every hair on Pelomas’s body stood on end as he gradually turned around to see Timarad standing there.
“What is that? A healing item?” they asked. “Have you been healing that sacrifice?”
The merchant was about to burst into tears. He had never been faced with the terror of a Demonic Deity before. Still, he managed to stare right back into Timarad’s eyes.
“Oh? You choose to rebel against me, I see,” Timarad said. “Since you’re not a sacrifice, I suppose I can kill you.”
“All right, then do it,” Pelomas replied, his voice so hoarse and faint that Timarad could not hear it.
“What did you say?”
“I said you can kill me if you want. Make it quick. But while you do that...”
“No...”
Timarad looked up right as Beku got back to his feet and let out a powerful battle roar.
“Total Beast Mode!” the lionkin bellowed.
Immediately, his body bulged, and his legs changed form. Two were no longer able to support his tremendously burly body, and he was forced to fall onto all fours. His fingers, still wearing the knuckles, shrank and were replaced with long, sharp claws. The breastplate stayed on thanks to the elasticity of the belts, fitting snugly against Beku’s large chest. The lionkin grew a longer snout, his enlarged fangs bared ominously. Timarad could only try to summon more magic orbs, but Pelomas took the chance to swing his Ancient Wood Abacus down on the Demonic Deity’s foot.
“Raaaaah!” Pelomas shouted with all his might. “Prince Beku!”
“Graaaaar!” Beku roared.
A flurry of golden wind shot across the walls as he kicked the ceiling and raced through the hallway. Timarad, unable to move for a moment because of Pelomas’s attack, could not evade in time. The magic spheres did little damage to the approaching lionkin, who then leaped above Pelomas’s head and shot his monstrous arm forward, barely grazing the merchant. When the golden wind rushed past, Timarad’s head was gone, and purple blood spurted from the wound, his corpse on the ground.
“A-Awesome... You just killed a Demonic Deity...” Pelomas muttered in awe as he sat on the ground.
Beku, still a beast on all fours, approached his merchant friend. “Get on my back. All that’s left is for us to break out of here.”
“R-Right!”
Pelomas knew that riding on Beku would be much faster than walking, so the merchant clambered onto the Beast Crown Prince’s back. Then, Beku rushed up the stairs, moving so fast that it surprised the merchant. He was faster than Allen’s Bird B, which Pelomas had ridden at the Academy’s dungeon. When the pair reached the upper floor, Pelomas looked ahead, where he spotted several demon soldiers. All of them were fully armed, causing him to tremble with fear.
“They’re coming!” a demon shouted.
“You mean even Lord Timarad was killed?!” another yelped.
“R-Run!” a third screamed.
But Beku was faster. He leaped past the soldiers and swung his clawed limbs at them, turning every last one into a mist of blood. From there, he raced down the hallway and through the open door, entering the largest room that they had seen yet. The moment they were inside, the lionkin stopped where he stood, and Pelomas slid off his friend’s back to gaze at three enemies in the middle of the room.
The small demon was Shinorom. Accompanying him was his eyeball monster companion. And in front of them stood a funny-looking Demonic Deity with two heads and two pairs of arms and legs.
“Sacrifices should quietly stay in their cell until their time is up,” the male head of the unknown demon said. “You escape only to have your limbs torn off again. How very foolish of you.”
“Quite right,” Shinorom said. “Ramon-Hamon, capture the sacrifice once more. We don’t have time.”
“Of course,” the female head replied. “Now is the time to put the power you gave us to good use, Lord Shinorom.”
“Indeed,” the male head added. “We are no longer weak, childlike demons. We have been bestowed power that surpasses that of Demonic Deities.”
Ramon-Hamon slowly approached Beku. While they did, the lionkin quietly observed them, then shook his head.
“Hmph. You’re the foolish one,” he said under his breath.
“What did you say?” Ramon asked.
“Come again?” Hamon inquired.
The two heads spoke in unison, freezing in place as they did.
“Surely you all know why I’m here,” Beku explained. “I foolishly trusted Romu—or Shinorom, rather. I was enticed by the prospect of becoming more powerful than anyone else.”
“Indeed, you buffoon,” Shinorom replied. “You had no idea that I was deceiving you...”
“But can the same not be said for you two?”
Both Ramon and Hamon looked shocked by that accusation.
“You mentioned earlier that you were no longer the weak, childlike demons you once were,” Beku went on. “How does that make you any different from me, when I was fooled by Shinorom? Perhaps the two of you are being tricked as well, and you simply aren’t aware of it.”
“W-We aren’t being fooled...” Ramon muttered.
“Lord Shinorom would never dupe us!” Hamon added.
Ramon-Hamon’s two pairs of eyes were pointed dubiously at the grinning Shinorom.
“Me? Fool you guys?!” Shinorom replied. “I’d do no such thing! You are my greatest creation ever!”
Ramon-Hamon turned back to Beku, their gazes filled with joy and murderous intent.
“That’s right!” Ramon exclaimed. “We’re the strongest! Maybe even the strongest there ever was!”
“Let’s not forget that we defeated you, a mere beast, once already,” Hamon added.
Pelomas noticed the sorrowful look that flashed across Beku’s face.
“Then I’ve got no other choice,” Beku concluded. “I must avenge my friend Kei, as well as all those who believed in my power.”
Beku exerted power into his legs, forming a circular crack on the ground underneath him. A millisecond later, Beku swung his arms with incredible speed, and a furious gust of gold assaulted the Demonic Deity. The masculine side of Ramon-Hamon crossed his arms in front of them to block the attack.
“Ramon, now’s your chance!” Hamon cried.
While Hamon, the younger brother, defended their shared body, Ramon’s arms shot out from their back and produced two mana spheres that flew straight for Beku’s body.
“Grr!” Beku growled, forced to retreat. The burnt stench of his back prompted Pelomas to use a Blessing of Heaven.
“Prince Beku! Hang in there!” the merchant shouted.
Beku did not even have time to respond. He once again pounced on Ramon-Hamon. However, Hamon’s arms continued to expertly block every single one of his attacks. At the same time, Ramon fired mana spheres. Beku dodged them and kicked the ground to put some distance between them, hoping to find some sort of opening, but Ramon-Hamon’s two heads left no blind spots to take advantage of. If Beku was too wary of the spheres, he could not approach the Demonic Deity, and even if he had an opportunity to draw near, his attacks were relentlessly blocked. He did not stand a chance against them.
Even so, Beku refused to surrender. He boldly dodged Hamon’s arms and charged in, hoping to sneak in a few blows before quickly retreating to a safe distance. Pelomas also did his part, instantly healing any wounds his friend sustained from the kicks and spheres, and the battle was now in a deadlock.
“Stop fooling around, Ramon-Hamon!” Shinorom screeched impatiently. “Lord Kyubel awaits! Hurry up and capture the sacrifice, or I’ll throw you two back into the experiment lab!”
Both of Ramon-Hamon’s faces twisted into grimaces—expressions that could be called neither rage nor fear.
“Yes, Lord Shinorom. We shall make quick work of him,” Ramon-Hamon’s two heads said simultaneously.
With incredible speed, the Demonic Deity approached Beku, and Hamon reached out from both sides to grab the lionkin’s head. Beku managed to dodge the arms, then he bared his fangs and crouched low, aiming for Ramon-Hamon’s four legs. Hamon kicked the ground and fled into the air, causing Beku’s chomp to miss. Immediately after, an unexpected blow assaulted him.
BOOOOM! Beku’s massive form was slammed against the wall and floor, causing the room to quake. Ramon-Hamon was standing on just one of Hamon’s legs instead of all four, with the other three still high in the air after they had kicked Beku. When Hamon lowered his other leg, leaving only Hamon’s two raised, Pelomas turned to look at his friend. The lionkin lay on the ground, blood pooling beneath him.
“Prince Beku!” he cried as he ran ahead, only to be grabbed by a powerful force from behind. “Whoa!”
“Where do you think you’re going?” Hamon asked, causing Pelomas to shudder.
“Lord Shinorom, can we kill him?” Ramon asked.
“No!” Shinorom shrieked. “He’s got a precious skill on him, and— Huh?! What’s going on?!”
Poof! White smoke billowed from Pelomas’s body, causing Ramon-Hamon to release the merchant from their grip in surprise. They spotted a human rolling along the ground near their feet, and they froze in shock, creating just the opening that Beku needed. A flurry of gold and crimson—blood—rushed toward the Demonic Deity. They chose to defend rather than attack, but the heavily wounded lionkin was not aiming for them. Instead, he was headed for the human at their feet.
“Huh?!” Hamon grunted.
Beku took the chance to run, Pelomas’s body in his mouth, toward the opposite end of the hallway from where they had entered.
“That’s the teleporting room! Wait!” Shinorom shrieked, his voice quickly fading into the distance.
Pelomas dared not breathe. He knew that Fish A’s Mimic had worn off, and that Beku was one of the beastkin intent on invading the Central Continent to exact vengeance on humans. Beku had rushed at Pelomas at incredible speed, grabbed the merchant with sharp fangs, and run. The merchant was certain that any second now, he would be snapped up by the lionkin’s mighty jaws and become an afternoon snack. But on the contrary, he found himself thrown onto the stone floor. He landed on his butt and hastily looked up, into Beku’s crimson, sorrowful eyes.
“Peloniki... So, you’re a human...” he muttered.
“I...am,” Pelomas replied. Just then, a shadow loomed behind Beku, causing the merchant to cry out. “Prince Beku! Behind you!”
Before he could even finish his sentence, Beku had already whirled around and used his arms to block Ramon-Hamon’s kick. A clank rang out as something rolled by Pelomas’s feet. The merchant, on the ground by the door, instinctively looked down toward the noise and spotted a bracelet—one that was graced with Goddess Aqua’s Blessing.
“Go on!” Beku roared. “I’ll follow you!”
“But Prince Beku...” Pelomas muttered.
He noticed that Beku was standing valiantly in front of the door, allowing himself to be hit by Ramon-Hamon’s attacks while blocking their way.
“Hurry up and get him! Get the Holy Beast Stone back!” Shinorom shouted from behind the Demonic Deity.
Pelomas did not have time. He had to make a decision, and fast. He quickly steeled his resolve within his heart.
“Prince Beku, I’m heading out,” he said. “But please, please protect the Symbol of the Beast King until I return.”
“I shall,” Beku replied. “Go and help Shia. Aid her in her quest. I owe this demon for what they did to me on the ship. Once I’ve beaten them, I’ll follow after you.”
The Beast Crown Prince could not risk looking away from his opponent, so Pelomas gave a deep bow toward the lionkin’s back before turning on his heel and running. The merchant equipped Aqua’s bracelet, switched his rings and necklace to ones that boosted Agility, and trained his eyes on his destination in front of him. He ran with all his might, tears streaming down his cheeks, as Beku’s loud guffaw encouraged Pelomas to press on.
“So, the one I save with my last breath is a human!” Beku roared jovially. “How ironic! And utterly hilarious! Ha ha ha ha!”
“Yes, how absurdly hilarious,” Ramon replied. “What a foolish beast you are!”
Beku ignored the laughs of Ramon-Hamon and roared, “Ultimate Beast Fighter! Beast God!”
Every muscle in Beku’s body began to pulsate, and long hair covered his body. He now resembled a lion with other beastly qualities, the embodiment of every type of beast cobbled together into a single harmonious body. Ramon-Hamon had seen this form once before, when they had ripped off his limbs, but this time around, his eyes were dyed a rich crimson, filled with rage, bloodlust, and insanity.
