Location: The Azazel Cup Arena - Stage: "The Toxic Jungle"
Event: Quarter-Finals - Team Void vs. Team Typhon
Matchup: Raiden vs. The Legacy of Greek Monsters
The recovery day was over. The arena had transformed again. Gone was the bedrock wasteland; in its place was a dense, humid jungle filled with purple swamps and jagged, rotting trees.
The air itself sizzled.
Ravel Phenex stood in the starting zone, her face pale as she checked her scanner.
"Raiden-sama! The air toxicity is at 400%! It contains a synthesized neurotoxin mixed with... dragon-slaying properties! They are targeting Issei-san!"
Issei gulped, his helmet forming over his face. "Dragon-slaying poison? Seriously?!"
Raiden walked out, sniffing the air. He was fully healed, his bandages gone, wearing a fresh black trench coat (bought by Rossweisse with a coupon).
"Smells like ammonia and rotting fish," Raiden critiqued. "Cheap ingredients."
Across the swamp, Team Typhon emerged.
They were a collection of monstrous humanoids.
The leader was a massive man with snake-like eyes and skin that shifted like magma.
Ladon. The Dragon who guarded the Golden Apples, resurrected and modified by Hades.
"Eat," Ladon hissed, his voice sounding like bubbling tar. "Hades-sama commands... we rot the Glutton from the inside."
"Start!" Azazel shouted.
Team Typhon didn't charge. Instead, Ladon opened his mouth.
Five other members behind him channeled their magic into him.
"Breath of the Underworld: Essence of Samael (Diluted)."
A massive cloud of purple-black fog rolled across the swamp. It dissolved the trees. It evaporated the water.
It was the poison of the Dragon Eater, Samael. Even a whiff of it would cause Issei's soul to rot.
"Connect!" Rias shouted. "Akeno, barrier!"
"It won't hold!" Ravel screamed. "That poison eats magic barriers! Issei, retreat!"
Issei froze. The instinctual fear of the Dragon inside him - Ddraig - was paralyzed. [Partner! Run! That is the death of all Dragons!]
The fog rushed toward them like a tidal wave.
Raiden stepped in front of Issei.
"Stand back, lizard. This course isn't for kids."
Raiden didn't put up a barrier.
He took a deep breath. His chest expanded to an impossible size.
[Demon Lord Art: Vacuum Lung]
[Gluttony: Filtration System]
WHOOSH.
The entire cloud of death - poison capable of killing a Maou - was sucked into a vortex centered on Raiden's mouth.
The jungle trees bent sideways from the suction force. The swamp water was pulled into the air.
Raiden inhaled the entire attack.
He held it in his chest for a second. His skin turned purple. His veins bulged black.
Rias watched in horror. "Raiden?!"
Gulp.
Raiden swallowed.
He shuddered.
Then, he burped. A small skull-shaped puff of smoke came out.
"Sour," Raiden grimaced. "Like expired lemonade. Needs sugar."
Ladon's snake eyes widened. "Impossible... you ate the Samael curse?! Your insides should be melting!"
"My stomach is a dimension of void," Raiden wiped his mouth. "You can't poison nothing."
Raiden cracked his knuckles.
"But you ruined my appetite. Serving bad food is a crime."
Raiden vanished.
He appeared above Ladon.
Ladon roared, transforming into a multi-headed dragon beast.
"I am the Guardian of the Garden! I possess the strength of Atlas!"
Ladon threw a punch with a fist the size of a truck.
Raiden didn't dodge. He caught the fist with one hand.
The ground beneath them shattered, creating a crater filled with swamp water.
"Guardian?" Raiden looked bored. "You're just a worm."
Raiden squeezed.
CRACK.
He crushed the dragon scales on Ladon's fist.
Raiden spun in the air, delivering a heel drop kick to Ladon's neck.
BOOM.
Ladon crashed into the swamp, splashing toxic mud everywhere.
The rest of Team Typhon panicked. Their ace, the poison, was eaten. Their leader was face-down in the mud.
"Kill him!" a Chimera-hybrid shouted. "Use the Petrification Gaze!"
A Gorgon-type enemy flashed her eyes. "Stone!"
Raiden looked directly at her.
The grey energy hit his eyes.
His skin turned grey... for one second.
Then, the grey cracked and fell off like dead skin.
[System: Status Effect 'Petrification' Consumed.]
[Defense +5%]
"Crunchy coating," Raiden commented. "But bland inside."
He walked toward them. The water around his feet boiled away from his sheer body heat.
"Issei. Kiba."
"Y-Yes?!"
"Take the small fries. I'm going to have a chat with the snake."
Issei and Kiba snapped out of their shock.
"Right! Dragon Shot!"
"Sword Birth!"
While his team cleaned up the minions, Raiden walked back to Ladon, who was trying to stand up.
Ladon was regenerating, thanks to Hades' necromancy.
"You... cannot kill the dead..." Ladon gurgled.
"I don't need to kill you," Raiden grabbed one of Ladon's serpentine necks. "I just need to send a message to your boss."
Raiden looked directly into a floating camera drone.
He knew Hades was watching.
"Hey, Old Man," Raiden spoke to the camera. "Your cooking sucks."
Raiden opened his mouth.
[Beelzebuth: Soul Severance]
He bit Ladon's neck.
But he didn't bite flesh. He bit the connection - the magical thread linking Ladon to Hades in the Underworld.
SNAP.
Ladon shrieked as his source of immortality was severed. He crumbled into dust instantly.
Location: Hades' Temple (Underworld Deep Layer)
Hades watched the screen go black as his connection was eaten.
He felt a sharp pain in his own soul - a backlash from the severance.
"ARGH!" Hades grabbed his chest, knocking over a table of artifacts.
"He bit me! He bit my magic from across dimensions!"
Indra watched silently, his four arms crossed.
"I told you, Hades. He is not a Devil. He is a Predator. You tried to poison a black hole."
Hades panted, his eyes burning with hatred.
"He mocks me... He mocks the Gods..."
Hades stood up, his aura shaking the temple.
"If poison won't work... then I will use Authority. I will unleash the true Grim Reapers. I will open the Gates of Tartarus!"
Indra shook his head. "You are losing your composure. If you break the rules of the tournament, Sirzechs and Ajuka will intervene."
"Let them come!" Hades roared. "I want that boy DEAD!"
Location: Team Void Locker Room
Raiden sat on the bench, drinking a gallon of milk to wash away the sour taste of the poison.
Rossweisse was calculating the winnings. "We got a bonus for 'Environmental Cleanup'! You ate all the toxic waste!"
Rias sighed, sitting next to Raiden. "You keep doing reckless things. Eating Samael poison... if that had failed..."
"It didn't," Raiden crushed the milk carton.
Serafall burst into the room.
"Raiden-chan! You were so cool! You looked like a vacuum cleaner! Whoosh!"
She handed him a bento box.
"Here! I made this! It's 'Anti-Poison Love Bento'!"
Raiden opened it. It was mostly pink rice and heart-shaped sausages.
"Is this edible?"
"It's made with love!" Serafall insisted.
Raiden took a bite.
"Sweet. Too sweet."
But he kept eating.
Ravel checked her tablet.
"Raiden-sama. The brackets for the Semi-Finals are out."
The room went quiet.
"Who is it?" Issei asked.
"It's Team Emperor," Ravel said gravely. "Diehauser Belial. The Champion."
Raiden stopped eating.
"The guy who makes things worthless."
He smirked.
"Good. I was getting tired of appetizers. Time for the main course."
Location: Belial Estate
Diehauser Belial watched the replay of Raiden eating the poison.
He smiled calmly.
"He relies on consumption," Diehauser analyzed. "He converts matter and energy into power. But my 'Worthlessness' removes the value of matter."
He turned to his peerage.
"In our match, do not use energy attacks. Do not use summons. We will use the Game of Null. We will turn his hunger into starvation."
Diehauser looked out the window.
"Let us see if the Glutton can eat when his own teeth become worthless."