Chapter 303: The Visualization of Death
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--- Major Gore and Brutality Warning ---
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Mid Evening - Mid Winter : Atlas, Bahamut
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- Grace ~
*FLASH* The creation of a star. It's something believed to only be achievable by gods in the eyes of humans, the ultimate achievement, but while I watched the horizon burn in an unfathomable blaze, with a young dragon at it's heart, I couldn't help but want to laugh. -If I went back a hundred years and showed myself this.. I would have dismissed it as an illusion...-
Beneath the roaring blaze, the academy was hedged by vast barriers, erected to shield against the searing heat and dampen the impending shockwave. *CRACK-RUUUMBLE*
But little did they know, just above the unfathomable explosion they struggled to face was something that could erase them all before they could react. *crackle-FLASH* A power so immense that it even made a god like me shiver, to the point that when I felt Freya's presence suddenly move thousands of kilometers north, I almost felt pity. -But she doesn't deserve it...-
Faintly sensing Vasilias's presence disappear into the void, I glanced at an estate several kilometers behind me with a look of expectation, but even after waiting for a moment, I felt nothing. -Is he not going to make a move?-
Inside the estate, there was a massive white fenrir laying on a bed many times his size, seemingly asleep.
He was a monster I couldn't begin to fathom, with an identity I could only assume, but one thing I knew for certain was that he would always watch over Vasilias. Whenever something happened, he would be there watching things like an observant hawk. -So why is he now still...-
But the moment I questioned him, I instinctually faced the direction of Freya's presence. Or at least.. where it used to be. -W..what...-
It was a presence unlike anything I had ever felt, unlike anything words could do justice. Although it was undeniably weak, easily weaker than the weakest of gods, it struck a primal fear deep within my soul. It was as if I had suddenly become a small rabbit watching a hungry wolf roam an open field, not caring who could see it.
But after an instant that felt like an eternity, the presence gradually faded into nothingness, and the fear that had carved a path into my soul began to thaw like a glacier that had carved a canyon.
The next thing I knew, the presence of a god that was many thousands of kilometers east was on the horizon, and the bed where the fenrir laid was empty.
Yet neither could cause a question to surface in my mind.
As I turned back to the academy, my gaze settled on a being descending through the clouds, and after a moment, I felt the tingling fear I had just shaken begin to resurface.
At that moment, only one question endlessly echoed through my mind. -What have I created...-
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- Vasilias Ragnarok ~
*FWIP-CRRRRACK* Jolting my head to the side, my dilated pupils settled on the cloudy figure of a man as his fist was driven into the pillar of the central spire, sending fragments rocketing skyward before demolishing a massive section of the spire entirely.
*CRRRRUMBLE* The spire surrendered to gravity nearly instantly, buckling under its own weight after losing support, and after just a moment, the gazes of several ancients landed on me.
"Are we so weak to fall at the hands of a mere dog?! NO! Today, we may have stumbled, but tomorrow, we shall stand firm! Tomorrow, we will begin our push for strength! TOMORROW, WE SHALL-" *CRAAACCKLLEE*
A deafening crack echoed through the instantaneous silence as a plume of bone fragments, chunks of flesh, and a cloud of blood stretched into the sky.
The countless onlookers ready to cheer with newfound vigor from Poniria's speech found themselves frozen in horror as her torso was instantaneously blown to bits.
*crackle* *SPLASH* As what was left of her body collapsed into the magma, my unconscious body slowly stood up before using a small amount of mana to guide her exposed core into the magma next to me.
And before anyone could realize it, the core was in my grasp. *tink-VWOOOM*
A sudden, explosive surge of mana erupted outward, but as quickly as it expanded, it was drawn back as if to be consumed by an insatiable vortex.
However, amidst the paralyzed onlookers, one figure remained active. "~Tch... How needlessly resilient...~" In an attempt to finally finish me off, he appeared over my head, driving the blade of his massive greatsword into the top of my skull. *fwip-CRACK-WHAAAMMM*
But rather than slicing cleanly through it, his blade smashed through my skull and came to an instantaneous halt, launching the surrounding pool of magma into the air and slamming my body into the ground.
He instantly hesitated with shock. "~My blade that can cut through divinity.. was.. stopped?~"
But although his hesitation was brief, by the time his gaze shifted from his sword, I was nowhere to be seen.. with only a peculiar circular void in the rubble where I once laid.
"~W..where did he-~"
Countless onlookers were overwatching the academy at that moment, but none of them could have anticipated what they were about to witness. *FLASH-BRRRRRRRRRMMMMM*
In an instant, the very heart of Atlas was devoured by an unfathomable column of light, its heat so intense that what it failed to instantly incinerate, it reduced to molten sludge all the way to the very boundaries of the academy.
To them, it was the incarnation of destruction. The visualization of death.
But little did any of them know it was the signal of a new era.
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Krystallo art has already been released in the discord, and will be released here with the next chapter!
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