It was as if the end of the world had come, and it wasn't that far off from reality. Unnatural darkness shrouded the world, broken by the red lightning streaking through the thick, violet clouds, illuminating the lands below. Yet, even in these circumstances, those who were living had a strange sense of victory as they were the least affected.
The moment the Cosmic energy flooded in, a strange sense of rejuvenation washed over them that they couldn't explain. It was as if thousands of years of accumulated grime were being scrubbed off them, and even if it was done forcefully, it was happening nonetheless.
While those who were complete, living in a body that housed their original spirit, could weather these storms, the same couldn't be further from the truth for the Undead. Their souls were being hurt, damaged, or destroyed by the chaos that was spreading through Meriath.
Whenever one of their soldiers fell, the soul couldn't escape this time as there was nowhere to flee. The moment it appeared, a bolt of lightning came down from the skies, smashing it into smithereens as if nature itself had enough and came to enact its vengeance.
"What... is happening?!" Killieth murmured, watching it unfold with shock on his face, his fingers trembling and his soul frightened in a way he thought never was possible. Not for him, at least. There was nobody to answer his question, and when he abandoned his post, fleeing towards the crack they left behind, it was already too late.
There, a smoking body, leaving behind a trail, descended down, crashing into the melting snow, splashing mud and pieces of wet earth everywhere. It was none other than Erias, still clutching Lia in his embrace.
"Ugh..." His young descendant moaned, finally able to look up from her ancestor's hug, watching the apocalyptic scene unfolding in real-time. "What... is happening?"
"I don't really know..." Groaned Erias, feeling weak and crushed, yet he couldn't help but grin and watch it unfold. "It was a more violent reaction than I expected..."
"I can see that...! What about Somia?! The Undead? What about Meriath?!"
"We are back on it... as to what about the other two? I don't know... not yet!"
When trying to sit up, Lia hurriedly climbed off him, pulling Erias into a sitting position, watching as both of their features reverted to their original, shedding the masquerade of white hair and green eyes.
"I feel horrible..." Lia added, clutching her chest, feeling it constrict and stretch every time a rumble of thunder echoed above them.
"It's the effects of No-Space! It is currently in turmoil, so... all souls feel like this! Those that are unnatural... hehehe, they are fucked!"
"Is that... the Realm Gate?" Lia gasped, falling from one question into the other as she scanned the horizon.
"Yeah." Erias nodded, also surprised, "I guessed it would appear, but... I didn't guess it would be this wide open. It is... unexpected... and now I get why I feel pure cosmic energy in the air!"
"What have you done?!" Shouted Killieth, who was racing towards them, noticing the two, only souls present, barely registering they were not disciples but real humans.
"Shit..." Erias groaned, trying to stand up, but Lia pushed him down.
"Try to recover! I will deal with him! If what you say is true, he must be disadvantaged!"
"Don't die; I can't bring you back a second time! Not in this type of weather!"
"I don't intend to!" Lia smirked and shot out, meeting the approaching Supreme Elder. Somehow, with every deep breath she took, inhaling the pure power from the Cosmos, she felt becoming stronger by the minute... she was feeling confident.
With one wave of a hand, she felt the energy surrounding her resonate with her will. Above them, below the violet sky, a vast, blue magic formation formed in a conundrum, drawing in the Cosmic energy and turning it into the blue fire of Lia, sweeping through the horizon like a tsunami.
Killieth had barely any chance to react, summoning a wall of miasma to resist the attack just so he could watch it being frozen into a solid wall and break like porcelain. Worse was the fact that the moment he used his soul, summoning it and using it as a spell, he was cut off from it.
"What-?!"
It wasn't just him who shouted but Lia too, dodging at the last moment as multiple red lightning came down, hitting the ground, aiming not at her but at Killieth. The latter didn't really notice it, thinking it was another mage's spell, already summoning a second attack to fight back against Lia. Yet, the moment his soul formed outside of his body, lightning struck, shattering it apart.
"I don't know what's going on... but this is it!" Lia smirked, capitalizing on the strange boon, and moved in to attack.
The formation above them, following her will, changed its composition, turning somewhat turquoise. The moment Lia thought about her next spell, it was already casting it. Killieth was watching in horror as two multiple hundred-meter-wide wind blades were hurling towards him, transforming directly from the Cosmic clouds, giving him no chance to evade them at all.
"What's happening?!" He screamed, panicked, using his powers to somehow defend himself, but he felt weak and getting weaker and weaker.
"I don't know!" Answered Lia with a laugh, enjoying his screams as the blades cut through his miasma, then sliced Killieth's body into four pieces, leaving a giant letter X behind their trail.
It wasn't the end of Killieth, and she knew that, too. The formation was already changing, turning orange, ready to cast fire just as Lia thought about it when lightning struck again. Four red bolts, as thick as Rinzen's body, struck at the dismembered figure of Killieth, incinerating its borrowed flesh and leaving behind a screaming, wailing soul, scorched and flashing with lightning.
"I never knew something could sound this exciting!" Lia didn't have a clue why it was happening, but one thing she knew... it was the best feeling in the world.
This time, the fire that came down from the sky was not blue but deep crimson, bathing Killieth in its resplendent glory, intensifying his sharp shrieks. By now, he was trying to cry, plead, and moan at the same time, doing anything that came to mind to avoid being destroyed, but it was too late.
"He is mine!" Lia grinned, her mismatched eyes traveling towards the sky, seeing another round of lightning bolts gathering power. She didn't want to give the satisfaction of ending him to the Cosmos.
"No, he is mine..." A new voice echoed, deep and so coarse it made Lia flinch and fly back simply because of the fear that jolted her mind back to reality from the ecstatic joy she was experiencing.
"Master!" Killeith groaned, watching as a new figure flew or... fell through the crack in the sky.
It was Lumamon, his body scarred just as badly as ever before, smoking and bleeding from many new wounds, but somehow, he looked calm. Lia didn't need to know why... but it seemed that his rage had transcended its boundaries, and instead of becoming a roaring beast, he was calmer than ever before in his life. With a swift move, he grabbed Killieth's soul and simply absorbed it without taking a moment to think about it. Next, he raised his hand as the multiple Realm Keys lit up, forming a shield, blocking the incoming red lightning, throwing them off course, and producing hundreds of blinding sparks.
"SEAL!" He shouted, his voice reverberating around Meriath as the Realm Gate's open doors started to croak like ancient pieces of wood, slowly beginning to close up.
"Realm Keys..." Lia thought and felt a sudden shiver rush through her from her finger... and there it was. At first, it was just a silhouette, but very soon, the ring that attached itself to her returned, taking form and appearing around her finger as if it had never gone from it. "STOP!"
She didn't know what she was doing, but she knew she had to do something. The Sect Master was clearly also afraid of the red flashes of lightning, and before doing anything, he wanted to reseal the realm. Whatever he wanted, Lia knew it could only mean their doom.
"You... What do you... WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?!" Lumamon shrieked as, at first, he wasn't even bothered by the speck of dust and her cries... but then he saw her ring and felt the interference. The doors were still closing, but now even more slowly. "You dare!" He stretched out with his free hand, but then bolts of lightning struck down, heading straight towards him, hitting his hand, stopping him from attacking Lia, even losing some of his concentration, letting the Realm Gate open back up. "AAARGH!"
"It seems not even the Cosmos likes you, you old, ancient bastard!" Laughed Erias, who recollected enough energy to fly up and was ready to attack him, even if it meant dying.
"WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!" Lumamon sneered, his voice filled with power, making both Erias and Lia cough up blood. "DOWN!" He ordered, and somehow, the Cosmic energy that already flooded their world obeyed his words. It formed an invisible hand, pushing both of them down, making them crash into the ground while he turned back towards the doors, refocusing his efforts on closing them in.
"Ugh...!" Lia groaned, trying to sit up, watching as lightning after lightning aimed at Lumamon, but for now, they were blocked by the shield he managed to erect around himself.
Even though Lumamon managed to control the Cosmic energy, it was also evident that the Cosmos itself was unhappy with his presence as most of its lightning bolts were aiming at him, like some kind of tribulation. She couldn't hear what he was murmuring, but Lumamon looked half-crazed, muttering to himself while working on closing the doors of the Realm Gate. He barely made any progress when a beam of energy cut through the sky, hitting him square in the back, making him fall from the sky, losing all of his progress.
"YOU-!" Lumamon spat, heaving as he climbed back to the sky, raising a hand and, in turn, from the violet clouds, an arm was reaching down, punching towards the attacker.
"Long time no see! What happened to your eye?" Came the laugh of a cheerful voice that Lia quickly recognized... it was Swimmy.
As the pressure on them lessened and they could move again, turning towards the west, she saw the lanky figure dodge the attack of Lumamon. Instead of relying on his natural gift, he was avoiding it. That alone told Lia that he probably couldn't do the same to the energy from the outside world. Still, he formed strange sigils with his hands, nudging the wild energy to obey him and fight back against Lumamon.
"I knew it that you bastards would reappear! Don't think I forgot about you!" The Sect Master sneered, already forgetting about Erias and Lia.
"Oh, we know you didn't!" Swimmy smiled as, by now, two giant avatars of theirs were wrestling above them.
"You can't stop me, fish! You were weaker back then and weaker still! The fact that your owner is not here tells me everything I need to know!" Lumamon snickered, flashing his darkened teeth, crushing Swimmy's avatar, but the fish demon managed to separate his will in time and dodge the backlash.
"I don't need to defeat you! I just need to delay you long enough! As for what..."
Just as he finished, thunder boomed, and more lighting fell on Lumamon, making him hurriedly try and block them, but two got through, blasting his body down into the earth, creating a small mushroom cloud.
"Ahahaha!" Swimmy laughed like a child, enjoying the spectacle, "You really thought that the period you spent all hidden away, playing with time and souls, is normal?! Your whole existence became imbalanced... and now you reap what you sow! You will be destroyed!"
"Destroyed?" Lumamon stood up with a mad light dancing in his lone eye. "No... this is my tribulation... one that I will survive!"
This time, he wasn't dodging or deflecting the lighting but took it into his body, letting it circulate inside, consuming it. Lia and Erias couldn't comprehend what was going on, but they knew it couldn't be good. Especially because Swimmy's smile vanished in an instant.
"You forgot that I have the best control over Meriath..." Lumamon whispered, yet everyone could hear him and watch as he raised his hand with the Realm Keys, "I will use Meriath itself to help me get through this tribulation and be reborn anew! You want to destroy me? Idiot! So be it! I tried to hold back my advancement until I dealt with you a lot, but try and push me! If I die, let's die together!"
Focusing on his rings, this time, instead of trying to close the Realm Gate, he started forcefully expanding it. It was as if an invisible pair of arms grabbed onto it, stretching it wide, letting even more energy in... energy that began to crack the sky itself.
It was as if the end of the world had come, and it wasn't that far off from reality. Unnatural darkness shrouded the world, broken by the red lightning streaking through the thick, violet clouds, illuminating the lands below. Yet, even in these circumstances, those who were living had a strange sense of victory as they were the least affected.
The moment the Cosmic energy flooded in, a strange sense of rejuvenation washed over them that they couldn't explain. It was as if thousands of years of accumulated grime were being scrubbed off them, and even if it was done forcefully, it was happening nonetheless.
While those who were complete, living in a body that housed their original spirit, could weather these storms, the same couldn't be further from the truth for the Undead. Their souls were being hurt, damaged, or destroyed by the chaos that was spreading through Meriath.
Whenever one of their soldiers fell, the soul couldn't escape this time as there was nowhere to flee. The moment it appeared, a bolt of lightning came down from the skies, smashing it into smithereens as if nature itself had enough and came to enact its vengeance.
"What... is happening?!" Killieth murmured, watching it unfold with shock on his face, his fingers trembling and his soul frightened in a way he thought never was possible. Not for him, at least. There was nobody to answer his question, and when he abandoned his post, fleeing towards the crack they left behind, it was already too late.
There, a smoking body, leaving behind a trail, descended down, crashing into the melting snow, splashing mud and pieces of wet earth everywhere. It was none other than Erias, still clutching Lia in his embrace.
"Ugh..." His young descendant moaned, finally able to look up from her ancestor's hug, watching the apocalyptic scene unfolding in real-time. "What... is happening?"
"I don't really know..." Groaned Erias, feeling weak and crushed, yet he couldn't help but grin and watch it unfold. "It was a more violent reaction than I expected..."
"I can see that...! What about Somia?! The Undead? What about Meriath?!"
"We are back on it... as to what about the other two? I don't know... not yet!"
When trying to sit up, Lia hurriedly climbed off him, pulling Erias into a sitting position, watching as both of their features reverted to their original, shedding the masquerade of white hair and green eyes.
"I feel horrible..." Lia added, clutching her chest, feeling it constrict and stretch every time a rumble of thunder echoed above them.
"It's the effects of No-Space! It is currently in turmoil, so... all souls feel like this! Those that are unnatural... hehehe, they are fucked!"
"Is that... the Realm Gate?" Lia gasped, falling from one question into the other as she scanned the horizon.
"Yeah." Erias nodded, also surprised, "I guessed it would appear, but... I didn't guess it would be this wide open. It is... unexpected... and now I get why I feel pure cosmic energy in the air!"
"What have you done?!" Shouted Killieth, who was racing towards them, noticing the two, only souls present, barely registering they were not disciples but real humans.
"Shit..." Erias groaned, trying to stand up, but Lia pushed him down.
"Try to recover! I will deal with him! If what you say is true, he must be disadvantaged!"
"Don't die; I can't bring you back a second time! Not in this type of weather!"
"I don't intend to!" Lia smirked and shot out, meeting the approaching Supreme Elder. Somehow, with every deep breath she took, inhaling the pure power from the Cosmos, she felt becoming stronger by the minute... she was feeling confident.
With one wave of a hand, she felt the energy surrounding her resonate with her will. Above them, below the violet sky, a vast, blue magic formation formed in a conundrum, drawing in the Cosmic energy and turning it into the blue fire of Lia, sweeping through the horizon like a tsunami.
Killieth had barely any chance to react, summoning a wall of miasma to resist the attack just so he could watch it being frozen into a solid wall and break like porcelain. Worse was the fact that the moment he used his soul, summoning it and using it as a spell, he was cut off from it.
"What-?!"
It wasn't just him who shouted but Lia too, dodging at the last moment as multiple red lightning came down, hitting the ground, aiming not at her but at Killieth. The latter didn't really notice it, thinking it was another mage's spell, already summoning a second attack to fight back against Lia. Yet, the moment his soul formed outside of his body, lightning struck, shattering it apart.
"I don't know what's going on... but this is it!" Lia smirked, capitalizing on the strange boon, and moved in to attack.
The formation above them, following her will, changed its composition, turning somewhat turquoise. The moment Lia thought about her next spell, it was already casting it. Killieth was watching in horror as two multiple hundred-meter-wide wind blades were hurling towards him, transforming directly from the Cosmic clouds, giving him no chance to evade them at all.
"What's happening?!" He screamed, panicked, using his powers to somehow defend himself, but he felt weak and getting weaker and weaker.
"I don't know!" Answered Lia with a laugh, enjoying his screams as the blades cut through his miasma, then sliced Killieth's body into four pieces, leaving a giant letter X behind their trail.
It wasn't the end of Killieth, and she knew that, too. The formation was already changing, turning orange, ready to cast fire just as Lia thought about it when lightning struck again. Four red bolts, as thick as Rinzen's body, struck at the dismembered figure of Killieth, incinerating its borrowed flesh and leaving behind a screaming, wailing soul, scorched and flashing with lightning.
"I never knew something could sound this exciting!" Lia didn't have a clue why it was happening, but one thing she knew... it was the best feeling in the world.
This time, the fire that came down from the sky was not blue but deep crimson, bathing Killieth in its resplendent glory, intensifying his sharp shrieks. By now, he was trying to cry, plead, and moan at the same time, doing anything that came to mind to avoid being destroyed, but it was too late.
"He is mine!" Lia grinned, her mismatched eyes traveling towards the sky, seeing another round of lightning bolts gathering power. She didn't want to give the satisfaction of ending him to the Cosmos.
"No, he is mine..." A new voice echoed, deep and so coarse it made Lia flinch and fly back simply because of the fear that jolted her mind back to reality from the ecstatic joy she was experiencing.
"Master!" Killeith groaned, watching as a new figure flew or... fell through the crack in the sky.
It was Lumamon, his body scarred just as badly as ever before, smoking and bleeding from many new wounds, but somehow, he looked calm. Lia didn't need to know why... but it seemed that his rage had transcended its boundaries, and instead of becoming a roaring beast, he was calmer than ever before in his life. With a swift move, he grabbed Killieth's soul and simply absorbed it without taking a moment to think about it. Next, he raised his hand as the multiple Realm Keys lit up, forming a shield, blocking the incoming red lightning, throwing them off course, and producing hundreds of blinding sparks.
"SEAL!" He shouted, his voice reverberating around Meriath as the Realm Gate's open doors started to croak like ancient pieces of wood, slowly beginning to close up.
"Realm Keys..." Lia thought and felt a sudden shiver rush through her from her finger... and there it was. At first, it was just a silhouette, but very soon, the ring that attached itself to her returned, taking form and appearing around her finger as if it had never gone from it. "STOP!"
She didn't know what she was doing, but she knew she had to do something. The Sect Master was clearly also afraid of the red flashes of lightning, and before doing anything, he wanted to reseal the realm. Whatever he wanted, Lia knew it could only mean their doom.
"You... What do you... WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?!" Lumamon shrieked as, at first, he wasn't even bothered by the speck of dust and her cries... but then he saw her ring and felt the interference. The doors were still closing, but now even more slowly. "You dare!" He stretched out with his free hand, but then bolts of lightning struck down, heading straight towards him, hitting his hand, stopping him from attacking Lia, even losing some of his concentration, letting the Realm Gate open back up. "AAARGH!"
"It seems not even the Cosmos likes you, you old, ancient bastard!" Laughed Erias, who recollected enough energy to fly up and was ready to attack him, even if it meant dying.
"WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!" Lumamon sneered, his voice filled with power, making both Erias and Lia cough up blood. "DOWN!" He ordered, and somehow, the Cosmic energy that already flooded their world obeyed his words. It formed an invisible hand, pushing both of them down, making them crash into the ground while he turned back towards the doors, refocusing his efforts on closing them in.
"Ugh...!" Lia groaned, trying to sit up, watching as lightning after lightning aimed at Lumamon, but for now, they were blocked by the shield he managed to erect around himself.
Even though Lumamon managed to control the Cosmic energy, it was also evident that the Cosmos itself was unhappy with his presence as most of its lightning bolts were aiming at him, like some kind of tribulation. She couldn't hear what he was murmuring, but Lumamon looked half-crazed, muttering to himself while working on closing the doors of the Realm Gate. He barely made any progress when a beam of energy cut through the sky, hitting him square in the back, making him fall from the sky, losing all of his progress.
"YOU-!" Lumamon spat, heaving as he climbed back to the sky, raising a hand and, in turn, from the violet clouds, an arm was reaching down, punching towards the attacker.
"Long time no see! What happened to your eye?" Came the laugh of a cheerful voice that Lia quickly recognized... it was Swimmy.
As the pressure on them lessened and they could move again, turning towards the west, she saw the lanky figure dodge the attack of Lumamon. Instead of relying on his natural gift, he was avoiding it. That alone told Lia that he probably couldn't do the same to the energy from the outside world. Still, he formed strange sigils with his hands, nudging the wild energy to obey him and fight back against Lumamon.
"I knew it that you bastards would reappear! Don't think I forgot about you!" The Sect Master sneered, already forgetting about Erias and Lia.
"Oh, we know you didn't!" Swimmy smiled as, by now, two giant avatars of theirs were wrestling above them.
"You can't stop me, fish! You were weaker back then and weaker still! The fact that your owner is not here tells me everything I need to know!" Lumamon snickered, flashing his darkened teeth, crushing Swimmy's avatar, but the fish demon managed to separate his will in time and dodge the backlash.
"I don't need to defeat you! I just need to delay you long enough! As for what..."
Just as he finished, thunder boomed, and more lighting fell on Lumamon, making him hurriedly try and block them, but two got through, blasting his body down into the earth, creating a small mushroom cloud.
"Ahahaha!" Swimmy laughed like a child, enjoying the spectacle, "You really thought that the period you spent all hidden away, playing with time and souls, is normal?! Your whole existence became imbalanced... and now you reap what you sow! You will be destroyed!"
"Destroyed?" Lumamon stood up with a mad light dancing in his lone eye. "No... this is my tribulation... one that I will survive!"
This time, he wasn't dodging or deflecting the lighting but took it into his body, letting it circulate inside, consuming it. Lia and Erias couldn't comprehend what was going on, but they knew it couldn't be good. Especially because Swimmy's smile vanished in an instant.
"You forgot that I have the best control over Meriath..." Lumamon whispered, yet everyone could hear him and watch as he raised his hand with the Realm Keys, "I will use Meriath itself to help me get through this tribulation and be reborn anew! You want to destroy me? Idiot! So be it! I tried to hold back my advancement until I dealt with you a lot, but try and push me! If I die, let's die together!"
Focusing on his rings, this time, instead of trying to close the Realm Gate, he started forcefully expanding it. It was as if an invisible pair of arms grabbed onto it, stretching it wide, letting even more energy in... energy that began to crack the sky itself.
