Chapter 73 - Fallen

Dragons, the most powerful race in the mortal world. Lazy creatures that live for hundreds of thousands of years that even if the world were on the brink of collapse, they would just turn their heads and sleep for hundreds or thousands of years.

Still focused on the Akashic Records, Athena went beyond the knowledge given to her.

Her goal was draconic spells. The most powerful spells in the world. The only spells that matched draconic spells were the original spells and the true divine and demonic spells.

Unclassified spells were just remnants of the original spells. They were powerful, but not even a tenth of the originals.

But if there were other types of spells, why did Athena want draconic spells? The reason was simple.

Divine spells needed the holy element to be used. Athena could use Excalibur as a medium for this, but she didn't because she thought about what Death said about dark magic.

If using dark magic brings you closer to hell, using too many divine spells would bring you closer to the divine world.

Athena did not want to be within Asherah's reach. At least not before releasing Uran. And Athena did not want to fall to hell either, even though she thought that on many occasions she deserved that fate.

The original spells were broad and covered spells from all elements, but they used too much mana. Athena didn't know if she had the mana to use these spells.

As for draconic spells it was as if they had dominion over all the elements and because dragons are creatures as close to the origin of the world as fairies and spirits, their spells had a more balanced consumption of mana.

As Athena deepened her knowledge on the Akashic Records, the information invaded her mind and it was as if all the wisdom she had gained so far was insignificant.

When Athena finally achieved draconic spells, she couldn't control it. Her body on Tarna's floor writhed, scales grew on her skin, as did a tail, horns and wings.

Athena screamed in pain and her body grew as her scream turned into a roar.

Mammon was open-mouthed, but quickly composed himself and laughed. "Now it makes sense! A dragon! You being strong as you are, it could only be a dragon!" Mammon held his sides as he laughed and then he felt a shiver as he remembered that Athena was a saint. "A saint dragon?"

Mammon felt that if he didn't kill Athena now, not even his soul would survive to go back to hell.

The demon joined his two hands and called out one of his most powerful magic.

{Infernal Extinction}

From Mammon's palms shone a blinding black light that seemed to turn day into night.

Athena swung her long neck blowing fire towers, gales, ice storms, thunderstorms... She was totally unconscious and out of control, releasing any magic to anywhere and anything, just for destruction.

That was the price she paid for touch something she shouldn't.

Athena thought she had learned her lesson when she used [Mana Drain] and vowed never to use the skill again, but now she found herself almost the same.

Only that this time, it wasn't her in danger, but everything around her.

People were fleeing in despair and many were trampled underfoot in the process. Mostly small and slow children.

Lobana dragged Mifa away from the city and together with the group that came with her to help Athena, watched the dragon wildly destroy the rest of the city.

Within what was left of the walls of Tarna, waves of fire savagely devoured part of the city while columns of ice grew from the other. The dragon that Mifa said was Athena, was just a tyrant monster of pure destruction.

"Are you sure that's Athena?" Lobana asked with a shadow on her face.

"I have no doubts." Mifa replied with a worried expression.

"To think Athena was a dragon..."

Mifa started biting her nails. "She's not... She's a high human." Mifa said and Lobana widened her eyes.

"Huh? H-how is it possible?"

"I don't know. There's a lot about Athena that I still don't know." Mifa said and then felt a shiver as day turned to night. "W-what is this?"

A feeling of sadness drowned everyone there. A grief and depression as if someone were dying there.

Mifa hugged herself, holding her trembling arms. Trying to calm her grieving heart.

Suddenly the day returned and from a point in the sky darkness rained on the dragon who roared painfully and breathed light against the power that hit him.

Darkness and light collided and competed like a tug of war. The column of light pushed the darkness up, but then it was pushed down and it was repeated until the two merged and exploded as one, forming a dome of light and darkness.

"Athena!" Mifa screamed and ran into town again.

"Mifa, no!" Lobana screamed and ran after Mifa but, as an assassin, Mifa was much faster than Lobana.

Inside the dome, the dragon writhed and roared again and again. At that moment, Athena regained her awareness through the pain.

However, she couldn't get rid of that storm that pierced her scales and ripped her flesh.

(Shit! What do I do? If were to die I'd prefer to be unconscious...) Athena complained in her mind and forced her wings to open.

Athena moved her legs with difficulty, jumped and swam in that energy, flapping her heavy wings until she was free of it.

"I see... Being a dragon is not a bluff... Damn species!" Mammon said and flew to Athena with his long claws linked to pierce Athena's scales and skull.

Athena reached out and hit the demon as if swatting a fly.

"I am not a dragon." Athena said in an echoing voice. "And now you're going to die!"

Athena filled her lungs and blew out, thinking she would blow some magic, but what came out of her mouth was just pressurized air.

"Huh?" Athena made a confused expression. "That's not what I wanted..." Flapping her wings, Athena hovered and tried again until she gave up. "I'm tired of it... I look like a vulture circling a carrion..." Athena frowned and her body glowed.

The dragon shrank into a nude woman with long, almost white hair and wings and a tail with scales of white gold.

"Athena!" Mifa screamed when she saw the woman in the sky.

Athena looked at Mifa and then at the demon and flew to Mifa. "Mifa! You are fine!" Athena hugged Mifa who hugged her back. "What are you doing here?"

"I…" Mifa buried her face in Athena's breasts. "I was afraid you would die..." Mifa said and Athena realized her mistake.

She wasn't the only one who didn't want to lose anyone else.

Mifa has had to say goodbye to so many people since she met Athena.

Athena thought of Mifa's two friends who died because of her and then Sura and Dria were killed and then Nijha...

In any world it was common to lose someone suddenly. And no matter where, the pain will always be the same.

"Forgive me, I did what I did to not lose you and I didn't think about how you would feel…" Athena said as she reflected on her action.

Athena was thinking only about her grief. In the pain she would feel, without thinking about the pain of the people who loved her. Athena hugged Mifa tighter and was about to say something, but then she heard clapping.

Mammon was sitting in a chair he found in the rubble and watching the scene like if he were watching a play.

"Just missing the kissing scene." Mammon scoffed.

"You got it together fast, fly." Athena said and Mammon frowned.

Before Athena's transformation, Mammon looked at her like a lion looking at a rabbit. Athena might be a saint, but even saints did not match the demon lords.

Gion and the other two were exceptions to the rule. They had lived too long and were practically mortal gods. Those who came before and during them were powerful, but only from a human perspective, like Veta.

Now Athena had entered the list of exceptions. Mammon was convinced that Athena was a dragon and increased his vigilance towards her.

Athena was calmer. After transforming, Athena felt her body even stronger and even though she knew that power had a time limit, Athena was confident that she would take care of Mammon with the time she had left.

"Why is a dragon fighting for humans? And how does a dragon become a saint?" Mammon asked, insisting that Athena was a dragon.

Athena looked into Mifa's eyes and answered. "I am not a dragon." But that wasn't for Mammon. Athena was responding to Mifa's curious look. "That's…" Athena looked away, as if she had done something wrong. "I layd my hands in what I shouldn't again..."

Mifa sighed and shook her head, denying Athena's carelessness, but she said nothing. She knew it was necessary and beyond that, now she was understanding what Lobana said.

Those two were on a completely different level. Even though they weren't attacking each other, they were keeping each other in check and Mifa realized she was hindering Athena.

Seeing Mifa's apprehensive expression, Athena quickly understood what the girl was thinking. Athena bent down to Mifa's ear and whispered. 'You won't be in the way for long.'

"Athena?" Mifa said not understanding what Athena meant and then flinched as she felt her chest being impaled.

"!!!!" Mammon's eyes widened in surprise as he saw Athena strike the girl, but then he attacked instinctively.

Somehow he felt that Athena shouldn't continue with what she was doing, but Athena wagged her tail and Mammon was hurled like a baseball to anywhere.

"It's gonna be okay." Athena told Mifa. "You can fight in my side later."

With her hand on Mifa's core, Athena planted a seed. A small, powerful seed that shouldn't belong to any mortal.

Feeling the worst pain she had ever felt in her life, Mifa clung to Athena as blood ran from her mouth and open chest.

In addition to the pain, she also felt the heat of something inside her, but it wasn't just heat. Mifa felt cold, fear, happiness, pleasure, affection and many other things that a person could feel.

Athena drag out her hand from Mifa's chest and with her claws cut her palm. "It will cure you." Athena said and placed her open hand on the wound she herself had caused.

"What… what did you do?" Mifa asked as she lost her strength.

"I gave you power. But it will take a while to blossom." Athena said and looked at Lobana who was running towards them.

"Sorry..." Lobana frowned when she saw wings and a tail, and the naked Athena. "Athena?"

"Yes?"

Lobana relaxed her expressions. "Wear some clothes, your exhibit."

"But the wings get in the way..."

"Doesn't matter... And how the hell do you have a body that looks like it's made of velvet while being so physically strong?" Lobana said and looked at the bloodied Mifa. "What happened? I told you not to come and that here was dangerous, now... Athena do something, Mifa is..."

Lobana ran her hand over Mifa's bloodied chest, but found no injuries.

"She is fine." Athena said while getting sulky with jealousy. "I was the one who did it."

"What?"

"There's no time to explain, he's coming." Athena cast a spell that made Mifa and Lobana's skin as hard as dragon scales. "Stay with her." Athena said and flew off while taking a white dress from the subspace that was the {Dimensional Bag}.

Mifa was too weak to say anything and something seemed to put her to sleep, but she could see Athena fly away and smiled when she saw the woman fumble to put on her dress.

Over the island's great hole, Athena and Mammon collided with their claws. They exchanged kicks and blows that echoed thunderous noises with each impact.

Athena no longer had a sword because Excalibur had been absorbed into her body when she transformed. Thanks to that, her nails and teeth were as hard as the metal of the divine sword and were like poison to Mammon.

But that came at a price. Athena was a weak existence to accommodate so much power. Every second, Athena lost more and more mana, causing her to lose control of the transformation.

Mammon smiled as he saw horns growing from Athena's hair and realized there was a time limit.

"Let's see how long you can-" Mammon was saying something, but none of that mattered to Athena who used her claws and slit the demon's throat.

Mammon held his throat, but didn't have time to heal. Athena spun in midair and kicked the demon in the back and flew after him with another kick in his ribs.

Athena had just over thirty seconds to spare and she didn't want to waste it.

Mammon didn't have a tail, but his long hair was very useful to Athena. Before the demon flew away, Athena wrapped his hair in her hand and like he was a yo-yo, she kicked and pulled Mammon several times until the demon cut his on hair and freed himself.

A red flame rose from Mammon's wounds and it disappeared as if they had never existed.

"Do you really think these blows will kill me?" Mammon said and Athena tilted her head to the side without saying nothing. "I'll show you what real power is!" Mammon said as he raised his hands in the air and began to gather mana.

Athena frowned. (What does he think he's doing? He can't expect me to stand by and watch him gather mana...) she thought as she flew to Mammon and ripped off both his arms.

"Huh?" Mammon, with wide eyes, turned to Athena who had his arms in her hands. "H-how?"

"I got tired." Athena said as she let go of Mammon's severed arms. "You asked how long I can go on with this, but what about you?"

Athena had little time left and decided to end it all in that instant. Mammon was enraged and new arms spurted out of his body along with red flames.

Lobana, who watched everything from the floor with Mifa in her arms, was mesmerized by the scene that looked like a battle between gods.

Athena's body for some reason began to glow and a stormy weather erupted, ripping the sky with lightning. As same time another column of fire erupted from the hole and covered Mammon.

At that moment Lobana knew that the battle was coming to an end.

The demon engulfed in red and black flames, redirected all that power in Athena that opened a gigantic magic circle around her and the powerful voices of both of them were heard amidst the thunder.

{Black Nebula}

[Spear of Greed]

From Athena's magic circle emanated a dark and gruesome mass that seemed to have life and collided with the flames and pushed them against Mammon, who was engulfed.

The magic hit the ground and destroyed another part of the island, enlarging the hole created by the demon. The Island shook and tilted to the northwest, causing Lobana to lose her balance and fall to the ground.

Lobana opened a still tense smile and clenched her fist in celebration, but then her face turned pale when she saw Athena look like a wounded bird with difficulty flying.

The Valkyrie quickly put Mifa down again and ran with all her strength to try to save Athena who was also trying to save herself.

However, the hole that she and Mammon made was too big and Athena couldn't reach the ledge in time.

Seeing Lobana's expression of despair, Athena smiled affectionately and stopped fighting her fall.

Lobana screamed for Athena as tears streamed from her amber eyes and watched her friend disappear through the clouds to death.