Chapter 76: Desire
Diana, Lucas, and Basie were trekking along the steep slopes, avoiding the scorching magma that was flowing down from the spitting cracks on the volcano.
They arrived at the summit after hours of excruciating travel. As they stepped onto the dark ground, the sky above the summit changed. It was shrouded in thick darkness, with countless resplendent stars shimmering through out it.
They paused on the summit to catch their breath. They didn't seem to notice the stars in the sky, which were now colliding and forming a massive phantom of a brown planet.
Lucas finally couldn't suppress his "Desire" on the summit and dashed towards the crater in the centre.
As he approached the crater, his eyes were filled with unusual excitement, and his lips rose into a twisted smile.
His heart was pounding like a drum with anticipation and excitement. His crazed eyes were wide open as he finally looked down at the crater.
"It's magnificent..." He exclaimed, his heart racing from the sight in front of him. He spread his arms wide, as if he wanted everything here only for him, and him alone.
Diana and Blaise were not far away. They didn't have such unusual excitement as Lucas while walking towards the crater.
When they heard his intoxicated tone, their hearts were filled with curiosity about the crater. They then sped up to the crater, joined him, and gazed down at the mystical scene.
The massive crater was wider, much wider, than the largest canyon on earth. It wasn't filled with smouldering magma, but with something unexpected, something miraculous.
It was Red Roses!
The roses filled the entire crater. They swayed with vibrant life within them, seemingly unaffected by the harsh conditions of this hellish planet.
They were a miracle.
The thought filled the hearts of all three, as their gaze became more obsessive and sacred by the moment.
The roses stretched and slowly opened their petals, sparkling with brilliance. The entire summit was filled with the intoxicating scent of roses.
For them, red roses are no longer just flowers, but something sacred and inviolable. The roses were chaos in perfect order, science and art, yet also magic that unveiled the secrets of the cosmos...
They are the song of the eyes and the aroma for their noses in this hellish planet. They are the brilliance that the world needs, even under this dark sky. They gleam brighter than the sun in the sky...
Diana, Lucas, and Blaise stood in a daze, their eyes gradually losing focus. Their hearts and minds were drunk on the beauty of the flowers.
A green stem with small buds grew out of the ground in front of the three of them. It grew to their height at a moment's notice. The buds in the plant blossomed into red roses.
Their gaze was immediately drawn to the roses, and their hearts were filled with crazed "Desire" for the roses. They want it. They want it all for themselves.
"Pick it up. Take it. It will be yours in perpetuity."
A sweet voice echoed directly in their minds, resounding right into the depths of their souls. It broke and silenced their instincts that had been screaming in danger, while their heart and mind began to sink into an ocean of "Desire" for the mesmerising roses.
They raised their hands, their fingers moving dangerously close to the gleaming petal in brown light.
"That's it, little angel. That's all, little angel."
The sweet voice encouraged them, as the brown light began to extend off the petals to their fingers.
Hum!
Just as they were about to make contact with the brown light, a golden sun emblem appeared on their dress and equipment, which had been blessed by their lord. They were then frozen in place. Their minds and eyes quickly went unconscious, as they fell to the dark ground.
He immediately declared with authority, "Order."
"Venus is prohibited from having any connection with the astral world."
Hum!
The entire planet was bathed in a dark golden light that morphed into countless law-like symbols and magical labels.
However, before it could merge with reality and expel the influence of the mother tree of desire, the phantom of the brown planet expanded, ascending and reaching the astral world.
Then, it emitted a formless light filled with the authority of corruption at the law-symbols surrounding Venus.
Lilith descended and intercepted the formless light by tapping her wooden staff against the infinite space of the astral world.
The formless light materialised and "Withered" away from reality.
Rumble!
Meanwhile, a swarm of trees sprouted from the fabric of reality and encircled the phantom of the brown planet, which was already the size of half of Venus.
The cluster of trees grew at an astonishing rate, filling the space around the phantom of the brown planet. The brown branches of the trees began to entangle the planet and insert right into it, in a bit to break the entire phantom apart.
The dark-golden law symbols finally combined with the reality of Venus, as the phantom of the brown planet dimmed and became illusory. But the phantom resisted the "Order," causing cracks to appear in the reality around Venus and shaking the entire planet.
Seeing this, Aucuses appeared above the phantom of Jupiter. His stature towered over Venus herself. He was holding a exaggerated sword bathed in twilight.
Then, he swung the blood-stained sword at the phantom.
Crack! Boom!
The twilight sword shattered reality in its path, rupturing it like shards of broken mirror.
Mother Tree of Desire, sensing the threat, did not hesitate to use the last card in her hand to stop the sword stained with the creator's blood.
A black light shot out from Venus, transforming into a scorched figure of the twisted man. It was still enveloped in the golden flames of sun, which were melting him.
However, the corpse, which was under the control of the mother tree of desire, ignored this and flew for the twilight sword.
An aura of tryanny descended on the astral world, as thick blots of lightning erupted from the earth, heading towards the divine cropse.
Boom! Boom!
The blots pierced the twisted man, submerging him in a rain of thunder. It began tearing the scorched corpse apart.
Meanwhile, an impenetrable ray of darkness and a waning beam of twilight shot out of Earth. Their target was the phantom.
The sword of twilight slashed right into phantom, with no obstruction. The attacks of other gods also fell on the phantom.
The phantom of Jupiter cracked and exploded into brilliant light particles, illuminating the astral world within the barrier.
Soon, an angry and terrifying roar resounded throughout the astral world.
Jupiter appeared in the sky above Earth. It's colour quickly faded and became pure. On it was a huge, distorted brown figure.
The illusory figure vanished as sun flares appeared, submerging it within. Thus, ending the battle.