Late Evening - Mid Winter : Atlas, Bahamut
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*MMMMMmmmmmmmmm-blub* *hummm* The muffled hum of superheated tal t my ears as the roar of the spell slowly died down, and my body sank into a bath of mana-rich liquid rock.
No longer feeling any presences, my body relaxed, and my mind fell into a fog, but while a wave of fatigue tried to take over my body, an imnse pain coming from my head was combatting it. "Ugh..." The pain was akin to an extre migraine and forcefully stopped any idly thoughts. -But pain ans.. I'm alive...-
Gently unfurling my wings, they almost imdiately pierced into a semi-molten wall, halting my descent and letting gently dig my claws into the wall without slicing through it like jelly.
*Crackle-Crumble* -There it is...- Finally getting a grip in the solid part of the wall, I leveraged it with my wings and started the arduous climb. Without the energy to flap my wings with any strength or the brain power to use a spell, I was left with no other choice.
*Crackle* *Crunch* *Crunch* *blub-Crrumble* -This must be the top...- Feeling it suddenly level out, I used my little remaining energy to hop out in one push, but the walls crumbled before I could move much.
*SPLASH-splat* "Haah... Fuck..." As my head landed on the flat ledge above the magma, I gave it one more try and forced myself up, but left my hind legs and tail still subrged after a surge of pain rushed through my brain. -Holy shit, my head hurts...-
It felt as if the world was in a fog. My mories were fuzzy, and my senses were numbed. -I can't even think...-
But that was when adrenaline ripped through my body.
*cr-r-r-r-r-RACKLE-VWOOM* Dozens of deafening noises t my ears the mont I tried to relax, instantly throwing my mind into a panic, but as my eyes jolted open, I didn't see any dragons. Instead, I just found countless shattered and dissipating pieces of massive mana cores sinking into the shallow magma around . -W..what?!-
Looking up in a rush, adrenaline focused my blurry vision, but I only realized just how needless my worries were. "Ah..."
Surrounding were half-molten walls of rock and tal towering almost twelve kiloters over , with an opening at the top about fifteen kiloters wide. -Were those the mana cores of.. the dragons up above?- Not seeing anyone around the edge of the hole, I looked back at the ground and quickly found a few larger cores that remained intact before sluggishly crawling out of the magma and eating them.
*tink-VWOOM* *tink-VWOOM* *tink-VWOOM* With each core, a wave of relief washed through , settling the pain and fog in my mind, but even with the help of several cores, my reserve refused to start a suction like when I abruptly regained consciousness just a mont prior. "Hooh..." -But it's alright... Although only barely.. I have enough mana to stay awake...-
Thankfully, destroying Poniria's core kickstarted a massive, albeit short-lived, mana suction that let regain consciousness shortly after breaking it. Had that vortex not happened, I never would have even made it to the void to take ti to absorb the mana trapped in my body, let alone think of my horrifically stupid plan.
-But all that matters is I'm alive.. and that that god is gone...- Unfortunately, I had no way to check if he was still alive; I barely even had the brain power to calculate how deep the hole I made was, let alone try to use that new sense to such an extre degree.
But just because I couldn't didn't an no one could.
"~ARE YOU INSANE?!~"
Wincing slightly as her yell shot a pain through my head, I glanced toward the red-dressed goddess with a slightly annoyed expression. "I won't deny it this ti..."
Her form was slightly more defined than usual, with her dark feathered wings on full display. However, her anger was clearly what I should have focused on. "~Not only did you nearly reduce yourself and the whole city to ash, you even announced your presence to the WHOLE FUCKING WORLD!~"
-Ah.. yeah... I don't rember how much antimatter I even used...- Montarily giving the seemingly small sky a glance, I subconsciously tried to calculate it, but my mind scread in pain before I even started. "Ack..." -But it was a lot...- "In any case, while you're right about the spell, most onlookers shouldn't have been able to even see from outside the academy with how dark it was. At worst, there should-"
She imdiately teleported closer to , setting her hands on the top of my snout as if leaning over a table. "~Not your identity! I an your 'presence'!~"
-Huh?- Confusion washed over my face in an instant. "I'm not sure I follow..."
"~Your 'divine presence'!~" She stared into my eyes as she spoke as if she thought it'd help understand. "~I felt it right when you killed Freya. What happened then?~"
"Ah..." -When ti seed to stop?- "I just made so divinity, but rather than letting it crystalize in my body, I spun it to keep it more.. fluid-" My voice was cut short as her expression shifted to one of shock and fear. -Did I.. say sothing wrong?-
"~L-liquid divinity amplifies the presence and general strength of souls; that's why it's called a divine presence. But that connection will invert if the soul is too weak. Without a soul strong enough, the divinity would literally shred your soul...~"
"Oookay? But-"
"~Vasilias.~" She imdiately stared into my eyes with a slight craze. "~Your soul is literally halfway across the planet. Right now, all you have is a fragnt that is barely any stronger than your sisters, let alone one that could withstand the amount of divinity you used.~"
-Oh...- I hesitated as I glanced down at myself. "But I feel fine..."
"~Do you feel anything abnormal?~"
"N..nothing that couldn't be explained by sothing else... The only thing is maybe my hunger..." -It's only gotten worse from when I made the divinity... Is it just from my reserve being so starved?-
"~Are you sure? You seem a little...~"
"My skull was just shattered by an attack that should have turned my brain to mush... Am I supposed to be totally normal already?"
"~Ah.. right...~" Glancing up at the top of my head, her deanor slowly eased.
"Regardless of that, what happened to that god? Did my spell reach him?"
"~Vidar?~" She imdiately shook her head before continuing with a shocking lack of concern, "~I think it may have, but he ran away long before the spell finished.~"
"Haah..." -Well, shit...- It was the one thing I wanted to avoid the most.
But thankfully, the goddess continued before I could try sinking into thought. "~Regardless, don't worry about him.~"
"Huh? Why?"
She paused before glancing to the side. "~When he ran, he flew east toward the Elder Hall, likely to regroup with a group of dragons he was sent to.. assist.~"
-The Elder Hall? WAIT WHAT?!- It took a mont to realize, but when I did, I broke into panic. -Were they targeting Myles?!-
"~But he is dead now.~"
My thoughts froze instantly. -Huh?- "M..Myles or-"
"~Vidar... His presence disappeared the mont he got there.~"
A conflicting mix of relief and confusion filled my mind instantly. As far as I knew, Amphitrite was the only one capable of killing a god, but she was supposed to be in the forgotten islands. -Did she co back? Or was he weak enough that a different ancient killed him?-
But little did I know then, neither of those ideas were right...
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- Vidar, The God of Vengance ~ (Back two minutes)
"~W..where did he-~" Tightly gripping my blade, I looked at the ground in confusion, but before a single second could tick by, the ground was engulfed in a wall of light, and my soul was filled with sothing I had not felt in countless years.
The fear of death.
*flash-ZIP-BRRRRRRMMMMM* The instant I bolted backward, an unfathomable column of light over a dozen kiloters wide engulfed the academy, instantaneously devouring every spec of crystalline divinity I had.
-Im..possible…- Had I not disconnected myself from it all, I most certainly would have been devoured as well, but there was one thing I couldn't look past...
-To destroy divinity like that…- My eyes widened as I backed away, unable to take my eyes off the towering wall of light engulfing everything in its path. “~T..the Ancient Fenrir…~”
Slowing ti as much as I could, I darted over the horizon in a complete panic. *TWOOM-ZIP* -If I can regroup with Pýrgos, I can possess one of his subordinates…- Glancing behind myself, I did everything I could to hide my presence while looking for the Fenrirs'. -Maybe I can get away…-
*VWOOM* The ground below began to blur as I continually sped up until eventually arriving over a town of rubble and ash and darting toward the closest aura I could sense.
But the mont I stopped, rather than looking down on a massive dragon standing over leveled buildings, I saw a small crater in the ground coated with blood, chunks of organs and flesh, and fragnts of scales and bones with a large exposed mana core interwoven with divinity at its center.
It was an unrecognizably mutilated corpse, sothing I expected to see, but rather than the brightly colored, mythril scales of our target, they were a dark matte green. -W..what...-
Finally looking around, I saw exactly nine other 'bodies' in a similar state, with the mythril-scaled ancient between them all, still absorbing mana as if completely untouched.
-Sothing.. slaughtered them…- My mind raced as I looked over the western horizon in a hurry. -It must have been one of the Fenrir…-
However, after not sensing either of their presence nearby, I darted over to the largest of the mutilated bodies, a red-scaled dragon nad Pýrgos.
His body had simply been torn to pieces. His hind legs and tail laid scattered on one side of the crater, and his front legs, neck, and head laid on the other with nothing left to connect them besides tiny strings of divinity.
But regardless of his state, he remained alive, left with only the ability to stare through his blank, unmoving eyes and think to himself while his mind slowly consud its little remaining mana.
-Fucking undying lizard…- Imdiately reaching out for his mana core, I tried to connect a tether to it, but was stopped by his divinity before I could even start. -Shit.. now isn't the ti for this…- "~Allow to form a tether, and I may be able to save you…~"
It was a blatant lie. Even Father himself couldn't have saved him at that point, but even if he was savable, I could not have cared less.
*Vwoom* Finally managing to connect my tether, a flood of mories ca to mind. mories of gathering around the mythril dragon in silence, waiting for my order to attack when several plus of ash and rubble blew into the air, and the detached limbs of the cloaked dragons were scattered across the ground.
In a single mont, they were all killed. Eviscerated by a power they could not react to.
But I knew exactly who it was. -To die to the swat of a dog… How befitting of dragons who believe they can own the world…-
But the instant that thought passed through my mind, my tether was severed, and I was surrounded by a wall of flesh, ash, and rubble, exactly as I saw through Pýrgos's mories. -H..huh… Is this.. an illusion?- *VWOOM* My thoughts were instantly cut short as a shockwave of mana blasted through my soul, montarily crystallizing every bit of my divinity and freezing in place.
The next thing I knew, the snout of a white fenrir poked through my stomach.. it's teeth gripping onto the crystallized core of my soul like a feral beast. -W..wait...-
Whether it was simply the materialization of my fear, or truly one of the fenrir gripping my soul, my mind couldn't tell.
But it didn't matter.
*CRUNCH* Before I could push a single thought through the heart-gripping fear, I felt the mories of who I was turn fuzzy, the visualization of my surroundings go dark, and every ounce of knowledge accumulated over countless years vanish in its entirety.
The next thing I knew, I was listlessly floating in a dark, cool liquid, wholly surrounded by a thick wall, when a flood of foreign knowledge poured into my head.
None of it made any sense at all, as if it were a simple congloration of unrelated information, but the mont it finished flowing, the view of a tall, scaly creature ca to mind, and I opened my eyes.
-Ma..ma?-
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