//Outside The Palace~//Lilium, Emil and Horace were looking with fear towards the outskirts of the city where the defense formation did not reach.
A literal storm of fire battered against the barrier defending the city, fiery rocks fell from the sky in droves. It was like the end of the world had descended upon Elysia.
No longer were there lush green forests and clear rivers and lakes surrounding the mountain, all that remained was scorched earth and ashes.
"I-I-I"m n-never leaving the m-mountain again! I-It"s way too scary o-out there!" Horace stuttered with a trembling voice. The first thing he"s going to do when he gets home is to shut himself in and take up that art hobby he always wanted to do.
[Screw being a heavenly guard! Either i"ll get eaten by beasts or some firestorm will come out from nowhere and burn me to death!] He thought with his back drenched in sweat.
"I don"t think General Lilith will allow that." Emil remarked with a frown.
"W-who cares! S-s-she"ll have to d-d-drag me off this mountain, kicking and screaming!" Horace said with as much bravery he could muster.
"I care!! You will listen to mistress Lilith"s orders even if I have to beat them into you!" Lilium snorted as she began rolling up her sleeves.
Horace"s earlier bravery was immediately snuffed out as he shrank back in fear. "I forgot that the fanatic was listening.. dammit." He muttered regretfully.
"I heard that!" Lilium"s eyes narrowed, as she was about to whack Horace over the head, a feminine scream came from inside the palace.
"That was the Queens voice!" Emil looked towards the palace with caution.
"Something must have happened, we should go check it out." Lilium suggested with a hint of worry in her eyes.
Both Emil and Lilium nodded towards each other before they opened the palace doors and stepped in.
"H-Hey! You guys, the King said we shouldn"t disturb them.. " Horace hurriedly said as he hesitantly followed.
As the trio entered the palace, they were greeted by a shocking sight.
In front of them, Helel in each of his hands he gripped the throats of his wife and daughter. Madness coursed through he eyes as golden blood continuously leaked from them. It seemed as if he snuff the life out of them at any moment!
Both Emil and Horace were too stunned and thus their actions were delayed. Only Lilium managed to keep her cool.
"I don"t have much time!" As if by instinct, Lilium leapt forward, the floor beneath her feet shattering in a cloud of smoke.
As she flew towards Helel at tremendous speeds her fist began to shimmer with a white light.
"Cease your actions my King!" Her voice rumbled with power as her fist struck Helel square in his chest.
Helel was knocked back as a guttural roar left his mouth. He smashed into a nearby pillar which collapsed onto him. Both Cybele and Pandora were released falling weakly to the ground.
Lilium quickly checked the Queen and princess, both were unconscious and faintly breathing. She wiped sweat off her brow in relief.
While she was checking Cybele and Pandora, both Emil and Horace landed by her side.
"Are they okay?" Emil asked worriedly.
Lilium nodded her head and replied. "They need some rest-"
*Boom!*
The debris covering Helel exploded outwards as his figure rose from the dust cloud. Turning his ferocious gaze towards the group, an unprecedented power began to radiate from his body causing the air the vibrate.
"Horace, take the Queen and Princess and leave the palace. Go tell mistress Lilith that the king.. has gone insane." Lilium whispered as she caught her breath, her eyes locked onto the insane king.
"What about y-you guys?" Horace asked uneasily.
Lilium continued to stare at Helel as she replied. "We"ll try to hold him back, you must hurry!"
"Lilium"s right!" Emil patted Horace"s shoulder.
With the Queen and Princess held securely in his arms, Horace shouted to them as he left in a flash. "I"ll be back!"
"Do you think we can take him?" Emil looked towards Lilium.
"Not a chance.. There"s a reason why he"s the king. He wouldn"t be the strongest Seraphim otherwise." Lilium said softly.
Emil smiled wryly. "Even if it was a lie, I was hoping you would say yes." His voice carried a clear sense of nervousness.
"If we manage to beat him... maybe you could take me out for a drink." Lilium said it in the heat of the moment but immediately regretted it after as her cheeks flushed red.
"Drink?" Emil was stunned, his eyes brightened as the previous nervousness he had disappeared.
"Don"t celebrate too soon, It"s only a drin-" Before Lilium could finish, she was interrupted by a loud roar.
"ARGGHHH!!" Helel screamed as he hovered in the air. His robes fluttered from the immense energies being released from his body. With a wave of his hand the surrounding pieces of the shattered pillar flew towards Lilium and Emil like bullets.
The duo protected themselves with their wings as the ma.s.s of rocks crashed against them.
Emil was feeling the brunt of the attack as he was a little more forward, as he was busy dealing with the rocks a colossal force crashed into his wing.
"Ah!" Emil was flung from his spot like a ragdoll, he crashed through the palace wall landing on the gra.s.s outside.
Lilium was now alone in the palace. The rock barrage had stopped but as she looked around fearfully from the cover of her wings.
The previous furious outbursts of power had blown out the lights leaving the palace dark and silent.
As she looked around nervously, Lilith gulped nervously. It felt like time had stopped.
Lilium gathered a small amount of power into her finger which began to radiate light. She pointed her finger towards the unlit areas of the palace but there were no traces of the King at all.
A bad feeling swelled in her stomach. "Where is he?" She thought as a cold sweat ran down her back.
Of all the places she had yet to look, the place above her was the last. As she was slowly lifting her head upwards she heard a shout from behind her.
"Watch out!!"
Lilium felt a force push her from behind and before she knew it, she was flying through air.
She craned her head and looked behind her, Emil was standing there with a pained smile on his face. Many emotions could be seen flashing through his eyes, helplessness, yearning and most of all sadness.
"Emil!" She cried out sorrowfully before a flash of blue lightning from above consumed Emil entirely, it was so bright that her eyes were forced shut.
The palace trembled violently as she crashed against a wall. Reopening her eyes she was greeted by a terrifying sight.
In the center of the palace where she was previously standing, there was a ma.s.sive bottomless hole. No sign of Emil could be seen, only a few flashes of lightning which struck the edges of the crater.
"EMIL!" Lilium shouted as she struggled to stand up, as she was looking around desperately she felt a hand grip her skull.
Her watery eyes went dim as she whispered. "Emil.. " The hand that held her head began to tighten causing a wave of pain that made her faint.
"Helel have you gone mad!!" An enraged but familiar shout resounded throughout the palace.
A beam of light flew through the palace door and struck Helel who had Lilium in his grip.
Helel roared in pain as he flew backwards landing on floor with a crash. Lilith had already caught Lilium and was now staring venomously at him.
"What the h.e.l.l is wrong with you?!" Lilith shouted towards Helel who stood up, when his eyes locked with hers she was shocked.
None of the cool and aloof Helel remained, only a endless abyss of insanity. With the golden blood pouring from his eyes, it painted an eerie picture.
Hundreds of Heavenly Guards began to pour into the palace with all of them locking their auras onto the crazed Helel. There was disbelief in their eyes, they had heard that the King had gone crazy but the didn"t believe until they saw it for themselves.
"Guards! Get ready, we have to subdue the King.. " Lilith handed Lilium to Horace who had followed the Guards in and she began to gather power. In response, the Heavenly guards entered in formation and began to resonate with Lilith.
When their combined powers reach their peak, a devastating attack would be released.
Sensing the danger, Helel roared as the power surging from him suddenly increased thousands of times.
The mountain began to shake, ma.s.sive energies radiated from it"s peak causing endless worry for the inhabitants below.
"Oh no! He"s using the awakened form! We must leave!" Lilith cried out as she dropped what she was doing and escaped from the palace. The Heavenly guards fled as fast as their feet could carry them as soon as they heard. "Awakened form"
They had heard that only the strongest members of their race had managed to unlock this mythical form. It was only used as a last resort to take on the most formidable beasts as it took huge toll on the user, not to mention the time for activation was long!
How could their King bypa.s.s these flaws?
Inside the palace, Helel"s body began twitch.
Golden lines covered him like a tattoo as his body began to increase in size rapidly causing his robes to shred apart.
His height increased from 13 meters to 100 meters in an instant and continued with no sign of stopping.
Outside the palace, Lilith and the heavenly guards watched in shock as a colossal giant grew through the palace roof, destroying it.
The giant didn"t stop growing until seconds later. Comparing themselves to the giant, they were like ants before it.
Helel"s Awakened form was immense standing at ten kilometers tall with 6 gigantic wings sprouted from his back. His horns had receded into his head and golden hair flowed behind him in the wind. His jade skin shone with a shimmering light and covering his nude body was a sash made from divine power.