Chapter 176 - System's End

There were about two hundred Slayers left alive so far. Gamma and Beta finally managed to meet up in the front lines with Alpha. "Yin! Suna!" Zachary shouted from the back as he ran towards them. The three core of the Six Blades finally reunited. "I thought you guys were dead meat already." Zach said which made Yin snarl at him. "I could say the same thing to you." He responded back. 

"The Vessel…what is she doing?" Luken asked the others. "I might be wrong, but it definitely does feel like the Angels are slowly vanishing one by one when they come close to that beam up above right there." Ignis Silva said as he adjusted his glasses. "I am going to have to agree with Ignis here, all of those Angels flying right into that pillar of light's Anima cells just straight up vanish." Fen Kaori uttered out in support of Ignis' statement. 

"Could it be that they are teleporting somewhere else? Some kind of transportation device which helps them withdraw from the fight?" A Slayer from team Gamma asked. "No. No, that is not it. For one thing, it would definitely be a waste for them to die out here and not accomplish anything else but to take down some of our own. Keep in mind that they were about to overrun us earlier, this makes no tactical sense whatsoever for them to just withdraw this way." The Serpent Summoner answered the Slayer's concerns. "To add to that, if they were to move from one place to another in a single second, we would be able to sense their Anima cells as it slowly fades away, but this, this is like they are disappearing with no delay." Kai Xin pointed out. 

"This feels like they are dying." Luken said with a tone of someone who just had an epiphany. "Could they be sacrificing themselves?" Gavin asked. "That might actually be the case, but we do not know the ways and magics of these Angels enough to deduce just what or who they are sacrificing themselves for." Emperor Nicholas said as he sat down and shook his head. 

The plan for the Slayers now were to wait. It was not like they were in any immediate threat as the Angels were flying up above and just ignoring them, heading straight into the beam of light. "We have to be replenished and at full strength once whatever ritual they are currently doing ends." Cosette Akim said as she placed her axe down to get some rest. Hector Incendium lit a bonfire after noticing that it had gone pretty cold compared to when they started the Operation. 

"I have a suggestion, but it might be too polarizing for some of you." Ignis said hesitantly. "What is it?" Fen Kaori's interest was piqued. "We could send someone to go into that light. Preferably someone who is mortally injured already, someone who no longer has any chance of surviving when the sun goes down. Or it would be possible to use a lower rank Slayer from Niflheim, a D Rank child, perhaps." Ignis Silva's words made everyone recoil in disgust and dismay at his lack of humanity. 

"What are you fucking saying?! Are you telling us to send someone into that light pillar to see what would happen? Have you utterly lost your mind, Ignis?" Luken stood up and immediately began charging at Ignis, who just maintained his ground. The others had to hold Luken back, in fear of him doing anything to Ignis. "Calm down, Luken. It is just a suggestion, we do not have to do it if nobody volunteers. But do not forget that the three of us with Fen Kaori are the ones leading this operation, Liberation is not just on your hands alone. We get to make and suggest decisions as well." Ignis responded back. 

"H-He has a point, Luken. If nobody volunteers for it, then there is no reason that it should be commenced through and through." Emperor Nicholas said. 

Surely, nobody was insane enough to attempt what the leader of the Inferno Garden suggested, right? There was no possible way someone, even if they were at their death bed nobody would actually wish to go into the den of the Angels. The horrors of what awaits them creeps in the unknown. 

"I'll do it." Yin volunteered as he stood up with his hand raised. "Yin!?" Suna was surprised. Zachary said nothing as he looked at his fellow Six Blades member suggest that he would risk it all just to try and see just what they are doing. 

The Commander approached Yin and attempted to talk him out of it. But after seeing the white haired Slayer's sanguine red eyes shine bright with determination and resiliency, he knew that there would be no way to convince him out of it. "Are you certain about this, Yin?" Luken whispered to his ear. "Face it, Commander, I am going to be dead soon in a few months anyway, I would rather do it in a way that would benefit mankind the most." Yin Sohaya said with a smile. 

"I do not want to say farewell. I am going to make it back out of there alive." He said to the others. "You better come back, we still have not sparred to our fullest yet, I am not holding back next time." Zach said as he scoffed. But deep inside, he was actually worried for his friend. Suna was about to cry but she held her tears back as much as she could in order to put on a brave face for Yin. "Do you promise us that you will come back?" She asked. "Yeah. For sure, Suna. I promise." He patted her head as he walked approaching the pillar of light. 

Gavin placed his hand on the shoulders of Luken Regalia. "Stop worrying. Remember, he is one of us, there is no way he is going to die this way." The Serpent Summoner said. He had full trust in Yin, in fact, in all honesty, Gavin was relying on Yin to do his best and make do of what he is able to in the amount of time he is inside that place. "I suppose you are correct, Gavin. The kid has had the most brushes with death in such a short amount of time out of all the Slayers I know, he's got this." Luken said. 

"It is odd. I do not feel afraid at all as I walk through this hellish landscape full of bodies from both sides of this war. It really does feel like I have been here before." Yin said to himself. 

Ignis walked up and demanded the attention of everyone there as soon as Yin was gone from their sight. "We have to be close by in order to help the B Rank Lightning Slayer Yin Sohaya after he accomplishes his job. But I still do not think we should all move near towards it, just in case it might explode and engulf all of us. I believe that the Six Blades should standby near the pillar in order to keep surveillance and to provide backup to Yin if he ever so needs it or signals for it." Ignis Silva said to them as he looked at the Six Blades members. "Any problem or disagreement with my proposition?" He asked. 

"I think we should pursue that course of action for now, besides, it is not like we can do anything while we are waiting, right?" Fen Kaori said as he shrugged his shoulders.

Indeed, he was worried about Yin, specially after he remembered what the Commander and the Serpent Summoner revealed at their meeting in the balcony a few months ago. "You four are the best possible individuals for this task. I truthfully believe that." He added. "No objections here, Ignis." Luken said with a smirk. The four of them got up and quickly made their way towards where Yin would be. But not before Gavin turned around and addressed the leader of the Inferno Garden. "Thank you, Ignis." He said.

"Oh, please. I am not doing this for you. I am doing it for the success of the mission and for mankind's survival." He replied back. Kai stared at Ignis while lightly chuckling. "I never knew you would ever go soft, Ignis. Specially not for Luken Regalia's posse." Kai comically said to his friend. "Is that true, sir Ignis?" Hector asked Ignis straight up. "Of course not!" The SS Rank Fire Slayer immediately replied as he shook his head. But there was definitely some part of him which wanted for them to help the boy till the end. 

"Yin! Wait up!" Suna shouted from the back after seeing Yin's silhouette from afar. "Y-You guys…what are you doing here? Did you come here of your own volition?!" Yin was worried that they had prioritized him over Operation Liberation itself. "Relax, Yin boy, Ignis himself suggested that we keep you company here." Luken said to him. 

They strolled together towards the pillar of light, as soon as they got there, Yin took out some spare cloth out from his pocket and threw it at the pillar. It immediately disintegrated. "I knew it, this was not going to be possible. Tch. Damn." Zachary clicked his tongue. 

Yin stuck his hand slowly into the light, expecting some sort of painful sensation, but he felt nothing. "Hm. I think I can go inside, actually." Yin said. "Hang on. Let me try." Luken stepped beside Yin and slowly inserted his hand at the pillar's outer area. But a burning sensation made him pull it back out in an instant. "Shit. I guess you are right, Yin." As he touched his hot hand. 

"We will be out here waiting for you, Yin." Gavin smiled as he said that. "Gotcha. Thank you so much, everyone. For everything." Yin turned his back and got inside the pillar of light. 

As soon as he stepped in, his senses were dulled by the bright light invading his sight. He opened his eyes and saw what was in front of him. They were inside a white room similar to that of the System, complete with the piano and everything. 

"Took you long enough to get here, my beloved." She said while stabbing the hearts of Angels and Seraphims alike. "Eh? But you are not him yet, are you not?" The Vessel added. "Why are you doing this to us?" asked her. "Doing what? The world of humans and their species as a whole have been long overdue of being wiped out. You kept struggling all these hundreds of thousands and even millions of years to keep us at bay, but the inevitable will still come. The destruction of your race is imminent, and a Red Barrier will soon prove to be ineffective in stalling me." She said normally and nonchalantly as if what she just blurted out was not a big thing at all. 

"You still have not answered me. Why does humanity need to be wiped out at all?!" Yin raised his voice as he asked that question. 

"Does a human ever look down and do their best to avoid stepping on ants crawling on the ground? Do these monsters outside ever wonder why they wish to kill other monsters as well as humans? That is just how things are in this world. You do not treat another species as your equal if you are far above it." The Vessel said as the Angels kept lining up for her to stab their hearts. As soon as she finishes stabbing it, the lifeless husk of these Angels' bodies falls down the infinite void and abyss. 

Yin was speechless. "If you are wondering why I am killing these Angels, it is because I am absorbing their Anima cells. After I finish everyone's offerings here, I will subdue you and wait until Thanatos emerges from your body as you watch Niflheim burn to the ground. I have been waiting for how many millenniums for this. Each Seraphim takes so long to 'build', it is such a shame that I will not be at full power since you inferior creatures decided to murder my Seraphims." She shook her head as she said that. 

"I have been watching over you for quite some time now, Yin Sohaya. You say you wish to be a hero? You want to be the one who shall solve mankind's problems, but for what? Do you really want to do that for the sake of saving everyone? Or are you just looking to die in a heroic way to be branded as one? You are a childish individual, Yin. You have been throwing yourself at danger's way for so many times not because you wish to be a hero. But you wish to end your suffering and the burden you carry in a way which you can be called as one." 

The Vessel's words were blunt and crude. But the most important thing of all, they were true. Deep inside Yin Sohaya's subconscious – the Vessel hit everything spot on. 

Yin was left in a state of shock and self-doubt. "Even if your friends out there did manage to wound me, each and every strike, every spell that hits me, would mirror to your own body. Because keep in mind, you should have died a long time ago. Your life itself is borrowed from the System which me and Thanatos made. In short, Yin, you are nothing but a remnant of your fantasies and who you wished so badly you could be back when you were a child with no Anima cells." While talking, never did she stop from commencing the ritual to absorb every Angel's cells here. When she finally stabbed Ares, the Seraphim of War's chest, this signaled the end of the ritual. 

"Ashes you all came, to ashes you shall return." The Vessel said as she got up and prepared to go out of the pillar of light, straight into Niflheim. "No such barrier can withstand this much power." But as soon as she got out, Yin immediately snapped back to reality and held her on a chokehold from the back. 

The two fought as they emerged from the pillar of light straight into reality once again. Luken and the others were on guard after hearing various voices but not being able to hear what they were speaking of at all. They noticed Yin grabbing the Vessel by the neck by now, surging through thin air. 

"Wait up!" Gavin stopped them as he summoned Ryoko. "Are you good to go now, Ryoko?" He asked the Elder Wyrm. "Yes, master." The four of them rode the back of the dragon as they chased Yin and the Vessel. "Yin!" Luken shouted out. 

The other Slayers noticed this and were on the move, desperately charging through where they estimated they would fall. "Let go of me you filthy creature!" The Vessel shouted at him, Yin never responded. 

She activated her wings and they emerged from her back, piercing Yin's body up. "I told you to let go, didn't I?" The Vessel laughed. She noticed that her body also had the same wounds that inflicted on Yin. "Tch. How annoying." This was because of their shared sense of existence due to the System. "Now then, I shall make quick work of these 'Slayers' that you so firmly believe in." Yin's body was caught by Ryoko and the others meanwhile. 

The Vessel was far too strong, stronger than any Seraphim or Angel that they have ever even faced so far. Screams of anguish and despair filled the air of the battlefield as a massacre by the Vessel commenced through and through. 

"Retreat! Retreat back to Niflheim!" Ignis Silva screamed as the others made a run back for it. They all ran in hopes that the Vessel would not catch up to them, but little did they know, she was far too powerful to be contained by the Red Barrier already. "Tuck your tails and run, I will still bring you death." She said while trying to regenerate her wounds. 

Yin was writhing in pain, not even Gavin's healing snakes could mitigate the injuries done by the Vessel to him. Suna and Zachary were all crying out, worried sick for Yin Sohaya's well-being and whether or not he would actually make it.

"Seriously, you guys have to keep it down a bit." Yin joked around as he forced himself to speak. "Do not talk, idiot! Focus on healing yourself up, your regenerative capabilities are the same as that of an Angel's, right?!" Zach asked him fervently. "We are going to get you home, Yin. The others have already begun running back. It is safe to assume we have lost this one." Gavin said.

"She is going to kill everyone! The barrier no longer works on her, that was why she was absorbing all those Anima cells from the Angels! D-Do not go back to Niflheim! We have to kill her right here and now!" Luken's face began to turn pale after hearing this. It was too late to inform the troops below of this, so, Luken just jumped up from Ryoko's back straight into the Vessel, who was suspended in the air trying to heal her injuries. Luken dragged her down to the ground and used her as a cushion to safeguard his landing. Meanwhile Yin was screaming in pain even more, because of their shared pain receptors. 

Ryoko was ordered by Gavin to come back down to assist Luken. After landing close to the other Slayers, their decision to retreat was stopped by the Emperor himself. "That is their leader! We will never have a chance like this in forever! Kill her!" He shouted. 

A beaming surge of light enveloped the ground as each pulse emanating from the Vessel killed most of the Slayers who were too slow to dodge. Decaying them into ashes. Almost like the one that Yin does. 

Because of the pain, Yin went unconscious as Ryoko guarded him for the others, such as Gavin instructed. Thirty minutes passes by in the blink of an eye as Yin was awoken by something loud.

"What happened?" He asked as he only ever saw about fifteen Slayers left, nearly all of them were killed by the Vessel already. He saw the Specter's body on the ground, torn in half. Even the Emperor's head was mounted on a stick. "I haven't fought like this in ages! You Slayers really are something!" The Vessel exclaimed. Luken was fighting alongside Ignis, Kai Xin, Hector, Suna, Fen, Gavin, and Zachary. All the others who were still living were not in any condition to fight at all. "Y-Yin? Is that you?" He saw Cosette walk around, her eyes had been slashed through, rendering her blind. Yin wanted to get up but he couldn't, his wounds were still not healed. 

Suna had already lost her right hand, she was fighting with only one right now. And Zachary's stomach was bleeding out from a cut. "S-Stop it…" Yin cried out. But his wails fell on deaf ears as they were preoccupied with staying alive. 

Finally, Yin remembered why he was in this position in the first place, it was because he failed. He failed in killing the Vessel in the pillar of light. He felt like he was the reason for all of this happening right now. Most importantly, he remembered how the Vessel screamed out in pain after she pulled out her wings because she wounded herself after piercing Yin. 

The Commander, already out of breath and running on fumes was far too late. The Vessel now had her hand on Suna's neck. "I believe you are of importance to Yin, my dear." She said. She lifted her arms up in preparation choke Suna to death, but Yin acted quickly and realized what must be done. 

He took out his sword and stabbed himself straight in the stomach. The Vessel let out an ear-piercing scream as she let go of Suna. Yin was already dying. But he noticed that the Vessel was still not giving up. "I will not die here! You will embrace death first before I do, Yin Sohaya!" She exclaimed. 

This was the time when the war finally was about to end. "I do not care if I die a failure, a hero, a nobody, or a descendant of an Old God. What I do know is that we share the same feeling of pain. Goodbye." He took out his sword from his stomach and stabbed his heart as he screamed out in pain until his voice could no longer be heard.

Yin's field of view turned red and was flashing with lights from the Thanatos System.

[ Quest : Live ]

"It is far too late for that now."