Chapter 160: Harmona vs Korobu. The Light Goddess Strikes!

Chapter 160: Harmona vs Korobu – The Light Goddess Strikes!

Harmona glares intensely at Korobu as she keeps hold of Zeth.

Zeth stares up at her face, a little shock etched into his expression as he remains dazed.

“…Mother?” he utters quietly.

Harmona holds him, her hands firm but gentle. As she looks down at his face, memories surge through her mind, flashes of the times she held him as a baby, cradling him when he was small and defenseless.

“Yes,” she says softly. “I won’t let him take you to Crimson to be consumed. Just rest for right now. This will be over soon.”

She carries Zeth over to the wall and carefully sets him down, gently leaning him against it. Then she straightens and turns, her gaze hardening as it locks onto Korobu once again.

“Your plan to take my weakened son to Crimson has backfired,” she says with a growling undertone.

Korobu laughs in response, clearly unfazed. He rolls his shoulders and shifts into a ready stance.

“We’ll see about that,” he says with a smirk.

Harmona swings her right arm in a sharp horizontal chop. A powerful ray of stars erupts from the motion, slamming directly into Korobu. The force knocks him backward and sends him crashing onto the ground, where he lands flat on his back.

Harmona doesn’t hesitate. She leaps after him and stomps down hard on his gut. Korobu coughs up some blood, before Harmona jumps back to create distance.

Korobu charges up his magic energy and springs back to his feet. He wipes the blood from his face with the back of his hand.

“That hurt,” he admits. “That doesn’t happen often to me, but you are the Light Goddess after all.”

A smile slowly spreads across his face as he asks, “So, Harmona, how are those skeletons in your closet?”

Harmona’s expression darkens further and her anger unleashes.

“Shut your mouth!!” she yells as she charges at him. She throws punch after punch, her strikes fueled by fury. Korobu dodges as best he can, deliberately weaving around her attacks so he can keep talking.

“Are they having a good time?” he taunts, laughing. “Hahaha!”

“I said shut your damn mouth!!”

Harmona slams her elbow into his face, then follows with a brutal kick that sends him flying upward toward the ceiling. She jumps after him and releases a blast of magic energy midair, smashing him into the wall with explosive force.

Harmona lands lightly as Korobu drags himself out of the damaged wall. He’s clearly taken more damage now. Blood drips from his face and other wounds across his body. His clothes have tears and expose bruised skin underneath.

“If it makes you feel better, you did the right thing,” he states. “They needed to be executed…”

He pauses, a sadistic look twisting his face as he continues his sentence.

“…And you executed every single one of them!”

Harmona’s anger continues to build. She raises both arms, and rays of stars erupt from every direction, converging on Korobu and striking him repeatedly.

Korobu recovers with unsettling ease, even with more wounds on his body.

“You and the Dark Goddess agreed on something for the first time,” he says. “She was pleased about what you did. Don’t be upset. The only one who was angry was Poleon, and you don’t have to worry about him. I will kill him myself.”

Harmona’s power surges, strands of powerful magic energy lashing out from her aura randomly but not hitting anything before dissipating.

“Enough!” she shouts, her eyes intensely focused with hate.

“Aww, don’t want to talk about it in front of your son?” Korobu mocks.

Harmona lunges at him in a blind rush of rage. Korobu swings his arm at her, but his attack cuts through nothing but an afterimage.

In the next instant, Harmona appears behind him and kicks him hard in the head.

Korobu stumbles forward but recovers quickly.

“The way I see it, you refuse to admit you are no different than us,” he states. “Doing whatever it takes to fulfill your desires and goals.”

He powers up. His eyes darken into an abyss, with only red, skull-shaped irises glowing within. Ghostly skulls form within his magic aura, moaning as they swirl around him.

The sheer power terrifies Zeth. His breathing becomes heavier. “The appearance of his aura fills me with horror…”

Korobu charges, the ghostly skulls rushing alongside him. Harmona fights the skulls off, striking and dispersing them, but she fails to block Korobu’s next attack in time. He slams into her with a rapid series of punches.

Harmona retaliates by releasing a shooting star from beneath Korobu, blasting him upward. She jumps after him, and they collide midair, each landing a punch squarely against the other’s face.

They land on the ground, but ghostly skulls rise from behind and coil around Harmona, restraining her arms.

“Damn!” she mutters.

Korobu’s entire body turns pitch black except for his glowing red eyes. He dashes forward with increased speed and kicks Harmona into the wall. He dashes straight for her, fast enough to leave behind blur lines, then strikes her repeatedly, beating her in the face, chest, and shoulders.

Soon, Harmona finally tears free of the skulls and grabs Korobu by the face. Magic energy floods her arm as she slams him violently into the wall on the opposite side of the room.

“Raging Star Mode!” Harmona shouts.

Her skin shifts to a dark red tint, and her aura becomes savage and violent.

“Shooting Star Barrage!”

Numerous small shooting stars appear and launch all at once. They hammer into Korobu, who is still embedded in the wall, detonating in rapid succession.

Harmona watches closely. As the smoke clears, much of the wall is destroyed. Korobu staggers forward, badly damaged but still standing.

Consumed by rage, Harmona charges. She grabs him, throws him over her shoulder, leaps after him, and pummels him with punches and kicks midair.

Korobu is completely helpless as he takes a beating.

Harmona clasps her hands together and smashes both fists down into him, sending him crashing into the ground.

She points her arm downward, charging energy into her hand as she falls toward him. “This will end it!”

A dark energy ring suddenly forms around Korobu. Harmona notices it at the last moment and leaps away, unable to fire her attack as the ground collapses.

“No!” she shouts.

From the crater rises a black dragon, Korobu mounted atop it. He is back to his normal appearance. The dragon is massive, it’s length taking up most of the room. Its body is black with red markings.

“Good job, Dark Dragon,” Korobu says with a smile.

“You won’t escape!” Harmona yells.

Harmona fires the Star Shine Blast, but it dissipates against a dark barrier protecting the dragon.

“Hmhmhmh!” Korobu laughs. “If there is anything I learned from our battle, Harmona, it’s that you still haven’t recovered from using your desperate attack over one hundred years ago. You just played your hand, and now we know you aren’t ready to defend against another Hell invasion.”

Harmona clenches her fists and grits her teeth, eyes narrowed. “Shit!”

Korobu continues. “Before you used your desperate attack, if we met one-on-one without aid, you would have destroyed me effortlessly. Even now, you’re still more powerful than me, but you would stand no chance against the Dark Goddess. Perhaps we should speed up our invasion plans.”

The Dark Dragon rises toward the ceiling.

Korobu sinisterly grins. “Soon, Harmona. Soon. Armageddon will lead the charge!”

The dragon smashes through the ceiling and flies out of the fortress.

As it flies away from the fortress, Korobu talks to himself, reflecting on the situation.

“I didn’t get all of the Enigmuses, but I could tell there was another servant of the Dark Goddess in there. He will get the rest.”

***

Meanwhile, Goma has left the room prior to the end of the fight.

He moves deeper into the fortress as he thinks, “It’s true. Zeth is the son of the Light Goddess. There are some issues I will need to address soon.”

***

Back with Harmona and Zeth.

Harmona walks over to Zeth, who rises to his feet.

“Forgive me…” Zeth says, lamenting his situation.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Harmona says. “You are only 18 years old after all.”

“Who or what is Armageddon?” Zeth asks.

“A giant monster in Hell with immense power,” she answers. “Second only to the Dark Goddess.”

“What will we do?”

“Korobu shouldn’t have let that slip. I can come up with a plan to stop Armageddon from opening a Hell Portal to Earth.”

“What did he mean about you executing people?”

Harmona lowers her head, sadness in her eyes as she briefly averts her gaze as if she is ashamed. She sighs and looks him in the eyes as she responds.

“When the time comes, I will tell you. Right now, it would only distract you. You must stop Kogen, but don’t worry though, I will send reinforcements.”

She places her hands above him. “Let me heal you. I’m not great at using magic to heal but I can do enough that can get you back in the game.”

Healing magic energy flows into his body.

“Is that an aspect of Star Magic?” Zeth asks.

“No. I learned it from someone else. But that’s a story for another day. Anyway, I have to go now as I’m still recovering.”

She smiles gently and hugs him tight.

“Be strong. You will get through this.”

A ray of light opens, and she rises up, returning to Heaven.

“Right!” Zeth says with renewed enthusiasm.

He takes off running through the fortress. As he goes, Poleon’s words echo in his mind about Harmona having more skeletons in her closet than Dakame.

He thinks, “Those executions must have something to do with that… but I trust Mother. When the time comes, she will tell me what happened. Until then, I’ll push this information to the back of my mind!”

More mysteries. More demons. None of that matters right now. Zeth’s only focus is defeating Kogen.

Chapter 160 END
To be Continued in Chapter 161: Sasha vs Gen. The True Intentions of Gen!