Chapter 58(?): Meteor – Part 2

Chapter 58(?): Meteor – Part 2

I thought that we would be safe so far away from Goldport, but no, danger finds its way towards us again as I'm suddenly attacked by the feeling of having my [Gate] blocked.

"A [Gate] scrubber has been activated!" I warn the girls.

"What? We're in the middle of nowhere!" Alissa exclaims.

"Land the dinghy and I'll try to locate the source," I say.

"The Hollys didn't catch anything?" Ciel asks.

"No..."

A chill passes through our spines. If the heretics can cast four [Meteor]s in a few seconds, what's to say that they can't craft such a powerful scrubber?

We stop the dinghy and get ready for battle while I concentrate and try to find the source of the scrubber.

My heart sinks as the feeling happens again, overlaying with the original, then again and again. I count eight scrubbers in total. With a little more concentration, I find the sources to be coming from the eight cardinal directions. We are surrounded and the sources are converging on us.

"Get in! Roxanne, fly up! Directly up!" I order.

We quickly break through the canopies of the ginormous trees and the sun assaults us. Almost literally as we feel "pain" from the rays of light touching our skin.

"What's going on?" Ciel questions worriedly and casts [Heal] on us. Nothing happens and the sunlight slowly increases its "intensity."

I start to grow increasingly afraid as the sources of the scrubbers lift from the ground and follow us.

"Dammit! They are coming up!"

At the same time, I see through the Hollys small groups of dots raise above the canopies. Ten people in each group for a total of eighty.

A Kite Dragon above notices us and dives down, ready to strike. Ciel, Alissa, and Aoi strike at it and lightly wound it, allowing us time to fly past it as it recovers from the strike.

"They are gaining on us! Faster!" I order and we hold ourselves on the dinghy as it reaches dangerous speeds. Even though it's reinforced now and won't break apart easily, it doesn't mean that we are exactly "safe" inside it.

A Cloud Snake dives out of a cloud towards us and I start charging a [Lightning Bolt]. This monster is a snake actually made from cloudy matter. It likes to hide in clouds and strikes with blinding speed towards its prey, which would be us.

I release the spell and it immediately stops. Its snake-shape is lost as it gets stunned and becomes an innocent small cloud in the middle of the blue sky.

We start seeing dots above us that grow in size. Those are wild Sky Lands. Too far from the territory of the chimeras, so they are likely crawling with flying monsters.

A Dragolite appears and the Kite Dragon switches targets. It stops chasing us to go after easier prey.

The eighty dots chasing us increase in size and even Alissa can now see them. Then I see something that makes my blood turn cold as it stuns me.

The girls notice my fear seeping through the [Bind] and Alissa searches the dots, too, only to become stunned like me.

It's not hard to find them as their glow is eye-catching. Two men, each wearing a complete set of armor that covers all visible openings. A scary mask of a stoic man covers their faces. Their golden armor is set with enchanted gems of all colors, and it glows so brightly white that it hurts to even look at them when they get closer. A sun is engraved in the chest of the armor and its rays radiate out from it to cover every surface. A heavy golden cape with a blood-red lining flows from their shoulders as it flutters in the wind.

The Hands of the Emperor. One is coming from the east and the other from the west.

"WHAT?!" Ciel exclaims and goes silent, too shocked to speak further.

"They don't want us to escape..." Alissa mutters and grits her teeth.

Lina and Hana glare at the Hands as they finally notice the glow coming from them.

"Can I eat them?" Aoi asks, innocently.

I look at Gify and for the first time, I see genuine fear in her beady little eyes.

"Can you escape them?" I ask her.

"Gih."

That means "no."

I start to hyperventilate as my mind races with reasons for the Hands to so aggressively come after us, but nothing comes to mind. Not even in Ciel's wildest dreams would Katasko have the power to command the Hands to act, no, this situation is beyond what any of us ever thought could happen.

I check my "Status", but my "Piety" is still unchanged, and Alissa and I still have our blessings from the Gods.

The glow of the Hands start to hurt us, too, and we grow increasingly distressed as panic appears in our hearts.

Roxanne's driving becomes erratic, so Ciel takes over as she's too stunned to properly panic.

More monsters appear, but this time they run away instead of attacking, fearful of the Hands.

The Sky Lands above us continue to grow. Like in the Roulette of the Morning Dew dungeon, they are chunks of land that had glowing crystals jutting from below it. These valuable crystals are what allows them to float in the air.

Since we are too far from the capital, the wind here is so constant that these lands slowly drift around the entire Gillios continent, giving them the name of Drifting Lands.

The Hands are still gaining on us, so I decide to land in the closest of these Drifting Lands. Better face this than get caught in the middle of the open sky.

The surface of the chosen Drifting Land is covered in large white oaks, all bent in the same direction against the wind, forming a small dome protecting the trees from being blown away.

Their huge and deep roots are overgrown and stick out of the sides of the Sky Land in an effort to gain a better foothold against the ever-present strong wind.

We fly above the Land and find a clearing in the center, where a piece of the green crystal that glows harmonically protrudes out of the ground.

Getting weak in the leg as the "pain" from the sun increases, we suddenly feel like kneeling when the lights from the Hands start affecting us, too.

When we finally see the eighty men chasing us, my heart tightens and I hold my breath as the overwhelming presence of the Hands increases tenfold.

Eight semi-transparent white bubbles hold thirty mages, thirty armored footmen, eighteen archers, and the two Hands equally spread among the bubbles, which land on the ground and dissipate, then the men and women from all types of races surround us. They look stern, but not hostile. They hold defensive postures, but do not point their weapons towards us.

The two Hands walk a few steps forward and my legs tremble. Roxanne falls on her knees, heaving for breath, while the rest manages to hold on just barely.

"What is the meaning of this?" Ciel asks between gritted teeth, barely holding her glaive in her hands.

The Hand on the left says with a feminine voice, "You are Helios, a fellowship composed by Wolf Ryder, Roxanne Succubus, Ciel, the Blood Slaves Alissa and Hana, and the slave Lina. You possess a pet named Aoi and a nature spirit possessed Gify."

Her voice is calm, collected, and perfectly crystalline. She merely states facts and yet we feel guilt attack us with every word she says. Behind her mask, I can see two familiar dark eyes stare at me without a hint of emotion, only cold determination, bordering on obsession.

Oh no... the vision...

I look to the right and see unremarkable brown eyes stare at us.

Oh no...

"Brown eyes... the vision..." I mutter with a lot of effort and the girls notice it too.

The brown-eyed Hand on the right says with a masculine voice, "We are only giving you this small courtesy because your fellowship has done nothing wrong for the Empire and even gained two blessings from the Gods." His voice has a hint of kindness to it, but then it disappears and every word pounds at my heart like a stake, "Your existence and your Gifts were deemed too dangerous for the stability of the Stagnation Factor to our realm. You've all been sentenced to death. Resign to your Fate and you'll all be rewarded with a long stay in Paradise."

Tears escape my eyes and freely run along my cheeks.

"WHAT?!" Ciel questions with a cracking voice. "ARE YOU THE ONES RESPONSIBLE FOR THE [METEOR]?"

"Yes," answers the female Hand without a hint of emotion in her voice.

The male Hand elaborates further, but his voice contains no more emotion than the other Hand, "Unfortunately, we didn't know you had [Gate] and such a large field of view with your summons, so we miscalculated and killed many innocents as collateral damage. This time, though, you've isolated yourself, and for that, we thank you. But don't make a mistake, the number of innocents that are killed is of no concern to us. You're that dangerous."

No, no, no, no, no, no...

My bones are the first to appear on top of the living carpet, then my flesh covers it, then my organs grow, then my blood starts to circulate, then I regain my sight.

I open my eyes and breathe in the acetone smell of undead corruption deeply mixed with the smell of blood, rot, and feces.

My hunger continues and I turn the living carpet into dust. I don't stop there and absorb the grass, then the trees and the plants. I turn the lush green Drifting Land barren. I stop at the crystals so that I don't fall out of the sky. I'm not ready for this, yet.

After feeding, I feel more powerful than I ever imagined I could be, but yet I still hunger for more.

I hunger for everything.

I laugh out loud and revel in the shrieks of horror that I caused from the souls of the tortured.

But this pleasure lasts only for a while as the hunger grows again until I can't ignore it any longer.

I look around me and when I see the glass coffins, everything breaks apart and I collapse to the ground.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" I scream in anger again and the Drifting Land trembles with my power. The crystals crack and the Land starts to sway precariously.

With endless tears rolling along my cheeks, I crawl my way towards the coffins.

I stop in front of Alissa's. Her naked perfect body is blemished by a white scar that runs along her head down to her crotch. The mark of what killed her.

The other girls are all the same. All dead, all split by [Warp Space].

Their bodies look just like they were alive, but their chests don't move as they stopped breathing and I don't even feel their "strings" anymore from the [Bind].

Blinding anguish takes hold over me as I realize that I won't ever hear their beautiful voices again, I won't ever see them move their perfect bodies again, I won't ever touch their delicate warm skin again, I won't ever make wild love to them again...

I feel like screaming, but I hold back my anger this time, lest I break their perfect coffins and disturb their rest.

I have nothing left.

But I have debts to repay.

So I'll kill everyone. I'll consume everything.

And I'll start with the Emperor.

I open my "Status" again and notice that almost everything is gone. Only "Messages" and "Items" are left, and I have one unread message.

From: Goddess of Knowledge.

I'm your last friend left. Let us change this realm, together.

I feel a deep familiarity while I read the name of the sender. A soft and tender touch. A woman's kiss.

The sun suddenly feels painful again and I hear my skin sizzle and bubble. With just a thought, I make the burning stop and heal myself, but then it starts to consume my "power."

I look around and see other Drifting Lands slowly passing by me.

I store the coffins in my "Items," then by using my power, I pull the lands together, creating a landmass wider than a castle.

Through a hole in the ground, I manage to look down and notice a golden branch-like castle protruding from the canopies of the High Forest. Around it, I see many white houses partially covered by smaller canopies. Goloria.

The Emperor wanted to end me, but unfortunately for him, higher beings want me to continue alive.

As I said we once would, Wolf Ryder died with Alissa. From today on, I'm The Devourer and I'll consume everything in my path.

Avgi wronged me, so I'll "wrong" everything under the touch of the God of the Sun.

Death to the Gods.

I push the islands towards me and consume the crystals keeping them afloat. Then they all start to fall together like a huge meteor. Our aim: Goloria.

The nightmare ends and I wake up in the dinghy feeling sick. Alissa's hand lands on my head and her fingers glide through my hair.

"Bad dream?" She asks.

"A horrible one," I answer, then I lay my head against her shoulder and close my eyes again.

Soon, the dreamworld takes me again. At least this time I'm rewarded with a nice stroll with my women through a beautiful field of flowers.

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