The First Act Of The Play

'None of them shall die here today. That would be too boring.' Her current thought process was terrifying. 'I shall deliver a performance that will be remembered throughout the ages. But, I am only the storyteller, me being an actor in this play would be too unfair for the protagonists of this story.'

Stella snapped her fingers as a Nihility dome was constructed, sealing off the Hall of Divinity.

Nihility was a high-tier volatile and dangerous energy that could erase anything that touched it. It was the complete opposite of Ather energy, which was calm and controllable.

But in front of Stella, this volatile energy acted as obedient as a little puppy. She nullified the destructive properties of the energy as she constructed the dome. She didn't want them to die while trying to escape when they chicken out, and they will.

"You're dead!" Draco bellowed as he gave out a terrifying punch toward Stella.

"Oh, competing with me in a fistfight? How amusing." Stella chuckled as she grabbed Draco's arm and smashed him onto the ground by spinning him over her head.

Draco spit out a mouthful of golden blood as he crashed into the floor. As he tried to get up, Stella stomped on him as his chest caved in from the terrifying force.

'That was a satisfying crack.' Her mouth formed a grin as she moved on to the next target.

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*******

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'Who is she?! Why is her fate blank?? This anomalous existence is too unpredictable.' Nzeru naturally didn't get involved in this fighting. He knew something was wrong from the start. When he met that little girl's eyes, his entire existence trembled. He felt death. Her cunning and inhumane gleam sent shivers down his spine. He knew right there and then, even as the God of Wisdom, he was no match for her shrewdness. 'All of us will be toyed to death. No! I must escape!'

He quickly left for the door. 'I can't stay anywhere near this slaughterhouse!' But, as he escaped outside, he was dumbfounded. He saw an eerie dome covering the entire Hall of Divinity. The blood-red dome pulsed periodically as if it was alive. As came close to the dome to gauge its sturdiness, his entire body jolted as a foreign and powerful energy invaded him. His Divine powers could not form a little bit of resistance against this terrifying energy.

As he tried to retreat away, a thin sword pierced his chest from the back. Its color was blood red, just like the dome.

"How...." He tried to talk as blood flowed from his mouth and chest.

"You thought you figured everything out? You know nothing." A chilling voice of a little girl entered his ears.

"How... how are you here... you... should be distracted by Mammon at this point. I... I couldn't have made such a simple error." Nzeru was scared. As soon as the sword pierced him, the terrifying and destructive energy started to ravage his entire body. His Divine soul started to corrode.

"Ah, poor Nzeru, all of your dirty secrets... all of your schemes... they're quite bland. To be honest, I'm disappointed. I expected more from you. And to answer your question, you've made a very fundamental error in your observations right from the start.... This was never meant to be a slaughter. " Stella grinned.

She had already accessed the memories of all the Gods. All of their secrets, their motives, their schemes, their weakness... Everything was in her grasp. Stella was already semi-omniscient within her dominion.

"Your death won't be in my hands. So.... Nzeru, rejoice. You will live to see another day...." Stella teleported away as she dissipated the Nihility sword in his chest.

Nzeru fell to the ground weakly. As he tried to suppress his injury, a terrifying realization struck him.

His Divinity was....missing.

His control over laws, elements, and Fate was gone. Even the laws infused in his Divine body to strengthen it were taken away. He was stripped of his Godhood and all of his powers. He was the same as a weak and ordinary mortal now.

That's right. Stella could strip these Gods of their Godhood with just a thought. These lofty and arrogant Gods weren't even considered ants in her eyes. Her authority was absolute. She could control everything in her dominion. Naturally, it also meant she could strip beings of their powers. She would simply revoke their authority and control over laws, elements, Fate, faith, Divinity, and so on, and their power will dissipate. Even their physical strength would be stripped away.

"Why did we provoke such an existence..." Nzeru felt immense regret. He realized how terrifying this being truly is, as his Godhood was stripped away even without him knowing.

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*******

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"Little girl, you forced me to do this." Mammon gritted his teeth. The entire hall was filled with half-dead Gods. Many limbs were scattered here and there. Golden blood dyed the entire place. The bodies of most of them were deformed and twisted into various angles. They were screaming in agony, fear, and horror.

Mammon took a deep breath as he brought out a strange orb. "If I'm going to go down, I'm taking you with me."

He started infusing his power into the orb as it started to glow blue and a terrifying energy fluctuation started emitting from it.

"Oh? An energy orb with amplification effects? Interesting. How did you get this? It would be such a shame if it were to get destroyed for such a pathetic excuse..." Stella wanted to study this thing properly. She had seen this kind of 'technology' implemented in various Ather powered machines. Stella was pretty sure she could create as many of them as she wanted with her [Absolute Energy Control] ability after studying its properties.

"You! You're not going away from here in one piece." Mammon kept pouring all of his power into the orb.

Stella smiled. 'Well, this is the perfect time for me to exit the theater.'

She activated her [Time Authority] and stopped time. Then took away the orb in Mammon's hand, and instantly analyzed it. She created another one with the same appearance as the orb by using [Absolute Energy Control].

Even though that orb could hold Ather energy, Mammon could only feed it with mana and Divine energy. But, Stella filled the new one with Ather energy and put it in Mammon's hand.

Then she resumed the flow of time.

As Mammon put Divine energy in it, the Ather energy in the orb started to go berserk. His heart clenched. 'Something is wrong! How did the power in this orb become this terrifying? Did she do something?'

But he found no answers as the orb started to glow dangerously and cracks appeared on its surface.

'Perfect. The scapegoat is ready. Time to end this with a beautiful firework.' Stella was quite pleased.

These Gods couldn't know what she was about to do, because that'll terrorize them too severely.

She planned to take away all of their Divinities and seal away the Divine realm 'until further notice'.

But she needed a scapegoat to put the blame on. They will show no 'fighting spirit' against the protagonists of this story if they realize how terrifying she is.

And so, this weird orb filled with unknown energy was the perfect scapegoat.

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"No! What are you doing??? You'll kill us all!!" Zemes weakly screamed from the ground. She was in a pretty bad condition.

"Something is wrong with this orb! An unknown energy invaded it and it's going berserk. I... can't stop it." Mammon tried to throw it away.

But just as it floated in the air, it exploded.

But there was no explosion sound. A blue-white light spread out as it enveloped everyone. It kept spreading until it engulfed the entire Divine realm.

The Nihility energy dome 'couldn't withstand' this terrifying force as it broke like thin cardboard.

The Gods felt their Divine soul and body was getting torn apart by some unfathomable essence. They saw the little girl 'scream' as it invaded her body and eroded her away, not even leaving ashes behind.

As the mysterious energy grew denser and denser, the Gods felt something wrong. Their Divinity was losing power. Their control over the world and fate was slipping away.

"No! What's happening?!"

"I can't feel my Divine soul anymore!"

"My injuries are healing...."

"Mammon, I'll never forgive you for this!"

"You bastard!"

They were scared, confused, and angry. This terrifying essence stripped away all of their power, their Godhood. But in return, it healed their injuries that they couldn't heal themselves.

As the white light enveloping the entire realm dissipated, there was no God left within it, all of them became mortals. Nobody died, nobody was missing, except for Nzeru. He was nowhere to be found....