In the semi-collapsed hall of the Truthstone, the Divine Beast was no longer a pure snowy white. Instead, Elder Mash"noth"s fur had turned grey and even fallen off in places. However, the biggest change to her once-beautiful was in the streaks of red flowing down from her eyes and mouth that painted Elder Mash"noth in crimson tides of blood.However, she was already considered to be in a good state as compared to her squad of Divine wors.h.i.+ppers who were already unconscious and on their last breaths. Nonetheless, she continued to overstrain her Divine energy and powered the light barrier around them all. Having finished even her last reserves, by this time, she was burning her life force in a last stand against the tendrils of darkness" descent.
"Haha… There"s no hope anymore… There"s nothing left I can do… At least, at least the Child of Light is safe…" As she coughed up blood once more and prepared for her end, she realised that her resistance was futile. The horrific presence was coming nearer and would be able to shatter her fragile defences with just a breath of wind. The only comfort she had was that Lars and Luca had made it away safely…
"As long as the Child of Light is safe, the war against the darkness isn"t over…!"
Lacking the Divine power to continue any longer, Elder Mash"noth could only watch as the barrier of light began to flicker before it would begin to disappear completely.
She smiled in relief.
She was ready to meet her G.o.d.
Silent before her impending death, Elder Mash"noth closed her eyes and braced herself, ready to surrender her soul to meet the Divine Sun Lord in his Realm of Eternal Radiance.
Ready, that is, until she felt the fluctuations of a fierce battle, a clash between the immense force of darkness the two people – one whose Divine Light signature she recognised.
Her heart sunk, filled with dread.
Was there truly nothing left she could do…?
She had already emptied every reserve she had. She had even burned her remaining years of life in a feeble attempt to struggle for survival, in the hopes that some miracle would occur.
What was there left for an empty, broken vessel like hers to do…?
"Oh Divine Lord… I"m unable to save the Child of Light, nor am I able to protect my own daughter… H-how... Useless I am… If only there were something left, some way to protect them!"
"All I have left is this crippled soul that"s about to be given up…" Despite her will to fight, Elder Mash"noth was unable to find the strength to resist any longer. Her head fell onto the hard ground.
However, her own words jogged her thoughts. Just then, an ancient memory came to her mind – one that had happened so long ago that even she with her mighty soul and superior intellect could barely recall.
No! There was something left – and she would do it without any hesitation!
"Teacher… You said that this was a forbidden Sacrament… But today, I, your student will have to disappoint you…" Somehow, something changed in the environment.
Though she was still lying limp on the floor, there was now a light in her bloodied eyes.
And she whispered the beginnings of the forbidden chant that would rend her soul, turning it into the fuel for a last gasp retaliation.
"Deific Manifestation…"
As Elder Mash"noth began the chant, the barrier of light above her shattered and the tendrils of darkness descended, intent on reaping her life and liberating her soul to ascend.
However, they would not be able to reach their target.
For in the hall below, there was no longer any snowy white cat, no Divine Beast who had tided the Fetch homestead through nearly a century of struggles.
The majority of the gathered tendrils waved curiously, searching for their target while some other tendrils greedily pierced into the bodies of Elder Mash"noth"s team members who lay unconscious on the ground.
However, the Divine Beast was nowhere to be found.
There was only a wisp of light, an incorporeal body of Divine energy imprinted on the surface of the Truthstone slowly being absorbed into the gla.s.sy crystal…
One in the shape of a cat.
Then the feline image gradually dissipated until all that was left was just the Truthstone glowing with light that grew increasingly bright.
The light continued to grow ever brighter until, suddenly, all the light from the Divine crystal disappeared as it was sucked back in for just a moment.
However, in the next, a shockwave of golden fire was released in a dome that incinerated everything it touched – tendril, human bodies, wood, stone, armour… Everything was turned first to ashes, then to particles of dust, then to nothingness before the cleansing flames.
"What is thi—!!" Faced with this unexpected fiery onslaught, Belic Wildwood exclaimed in a girly, youthful voice. The corrupted treant could only cross her arms and block the blast of light with a flood of dark tendrils.
"Grahh!!! d.a.m.n you, Sun!!!" However, the tendrils were like kindling in front of a bonfire, ending up being burnt right through. Without a chance to plant her roots into the earth, the singed treant could not keep her footing and was thrown back several kilometres.
Lars and Luca were no better prepared. With the spatial lock shattered, they had not even begun to fall from gravity before the blast was upon them.
To their surprise and relief, a beam of gentle white light emerged from the Bell of North Heaven hanging around Lars" neck. This beam then merged into the golden flames and turned into a protective bubble that kept them insulated from the furnace-like surroundings.
The brilliant light that burst forth expanded rapidly before forming a dome made of golden plumes of flame, stopping its growth once it covered an area of nearly a quarter of Fetch homestead. Then a pillar of resplendent glory began to descend from indiscernible heights of the atmosphere to connect with the centre of the dome where the Truthstone lay.
The heavenly scene was accompanied with the voices of millions of wors.h.i.+ppers and holy spirits raising up songs of the Divine Lord"s Sacraments, and the light grew brighter and brighter.
Lars and Luca s.h.i.+elded their eyes and were almost forced to look away due to the brilliance of the glorious divine light. However, as the light slowly dimmed enough for them to pry open their eyelids, they squinted and attempted to make out what was happening.
With strained eyes, they could barely make out a divine figure descending downwards along the pillar of light, one that immediately called to mind only one ent.i.ty: a G.o.d!
The divine being stopped his descent and hovered high above the Truthstone, still enveloped in the pillar of light. Then the voices of the choir of heavenly beings ceased as the divine ent.i.ty raised his hands.
He spoke, his voice seeming to come from within Lars and Luca"s mind, "Belic! Wildwood!"
His voice echoed out through millions of metres around, booming and causing reverberations in the atmosphere. The clouds rippled from the force of that exclamation, revealing a night sky that had turned to the hey-day of noon from the manifestation of Divine Light.
And from afar off, the ground rumbled as a great hulking tree raised herself to her feet and lifted her arms to roar in reply, "Sun!!!"
Belic bounded forward, crossing the kilometres of distance in one step, her landing rocking the entire earth and threatening to topple even the mountains surrounding the valley.
The divine being, Sun hovered in the sky, dwarfed by the treant that looked like a small hill. However, in Lar"s perception, the being named Sun"s presence blazed with far greater pressure.
The treant then stopped moving as dark purple mist billowed out from it"s facial orifices before gathering in the shape of an elegant woman.
Purple hair, purple eyes, purple lips. She was dressed in dark purple armour that covered her entirely except from the neck up. She cut a tantalising figure with her armour that hugged every curve of her bountiful body tightly, the runic black formation lines and s.h.i.+ning black spikes giving a hint of danger to her beauty.
"Hmmph! It"s been countless centuries since you last dared to face me! What, you"re ready to come crawling out of your wretched hiding hole now? How dare you lay your hands on the Truthstone and its wielder! I"ll rip out your conscient and roast it in the ninth h.e.l.l!"
Upon hearing that, Belic – the purple-clad woman – burst out in bell-like peals of laughter, the corrupted treant following suit to laugh with a booming voice.
"Aghahaha!! Some divine being… Don"t you know that you sound just like a devil, talking about h.e.l.l…? Hah, though you call yourself the Divine Lord, a more fitting name is Eternal Liar…! Aghahah!"