Chapter 1372 Guild Master
As Kar lost the battle for the amplifier, Diana was still fighting against Deluge. She was swarmed with people hypnotized by the Calamity of Lust. Ten thousand people gathered around her, becoming meat shields for the Calamity.
Diana used her wings to rise toward the sky. Deluge stood behind the sea of people, his hands reaching toward their life essence. He absorbed their lives to fuel his own body.
'I can see your flames getting weaker, but I'm only growing stronger," Deluge said with a grin as he fed on the lives of others. His hair was growing longer, as did his strength. Diana did not rush toward him but retreated instead.
Arthur was still encased in stone, surrounded by a barrier that seemed to infinitely slow anything attempting to get close. Diana could not reach him either, but she could feel his presence.
The thousands of people swarmed toward her again, and she was out of options. She could not kill them, nor could she break off the hypnosis. As she began considering whether she needed to freeze them, strange music began playing.
Diana was confused for a second as she looked around, but she was not the only one. The hypnotized people began staggering backward while covering their cars. Diana was confused as the music grew louder until everyone fell to the ground.
"What is this? Stop it!" shouted a man close to her, and she realized he was regaining his senses. The citizens who had been hypnotized earlier were breaking free from their trances.
A voice interrupted the music, and Diana recognized it instantly. It was Oriole, speaking from somewhere she could not locate. However, his voice seemed to reach the minds of these people directly.
"The earlier music was meant to break through a spell cast on your minds. If you are hearing this message, then run away from the city. Your lives are in danger. I repeat: your lives are in danger!" The people began realizing where they were and saw the giant ice sword impaled into the ground. Then, they began running away from the battlefield, leaving Deluge alone.
"Come back!" shouted Deluge in confusion as he saw the humans he hypnotized running away, "I command you to come back here!"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Ascent gathered in a single spot behind their creator, who was still encased in stone. Deluge stared at the group and realized he could never win, but he still had one final trump card.
"And what if you have these numbers?" asked Deluge with a grin as he raised his stone sword. "As long as I have this weapon, your dear Guild Master is my hostage! Even now, every second we spend talking here is hundreds of thousands of years for him!"
No one answered his words, but the members looked at Diana for reassurance. If that was indeed the case, then they needed to bargain with Deluge to release Arthur. However, Diana simply turned toward Arthur.
"Is that true, Arthur?" she called to him. "Are you a hostage?"
'Have you lost your mind?" Deluge asked her with a sneer. "No one escaped the prison of time. Not even Ragnar himself! We have Devaheim on our side. And as long as we do, I can summon as many gods as I desire to this world!"
Diana once again ignored him and looked at the stone statue beside her. Ilia Perli then stepped forward and fell on one knee while presenting his weapon.
'Please give us your orders, Guild Master!"
The rest of the members followed suit, falling to their knees, including Li and Julia. They repeated the same words that Ilia said while presenting their weapons and their lives to Arthur. "You have all lost your minds," Deluge said with a laugh as he stabbed his sword into the ground. "Anything this sword touches turns to stone and is imprisoned in time! Are you unable to understand that? Your Guild Master has lived millions of years! Even if he emerges now, he has lost his sanity!"
No one answered his words, remaining in place. Diana stood there defiantly as her flames died down. She looked at Arthur and once again tried to reach him with her Soulfire. She could feel something responding to her, but a great distance separated them.
Then, a small sound echoed throughout the silent battlefield. A sound that seemed so insignificant yet so loud in their ears. A golden crack appeared in the stone statue before them. Diana smiled as she saw the golden crack. Deluge retreated in confusion as the crack began growing bigger.