Wrath

As soon as he appeared, the Reaper looked at Abomination Suah's black-sticky arm, his silver eyes shimmering with dreadful light.

The arm immediately froze in its path, all of the skulls and barbed tongues, three-dimensional eyes, and many other twisted things on its surface decaying into ash and dragging it down with them.

Reinette Tinker, on the other hand, knew Suah was still alive and well somewhere in the spirit world; the purpose of his attack was not to kill her but to drag Lucien out.

And the Abomination Suah succeeded. He should personally appear any time now to fight the Reaper.

But before anything could happen, Lucien turned and flung the white rose at her. "Kill Barrcana." His silver eyes reflected her figure as she clutched the rose.

Reinette Tinker cast a subconscious glance in the direction of Barrcana. Her annihilation curse had already reached him, though it didn't turn him into ashes since Suah had weakened it. It was still causing him enormous misery and pain as he tried to nullify its effects on him with all of his power, and from the looks of it, he was succeeding.

Then the Queen of Curses looked to Lucien in a bid to give a silent agreement, but he was already gone.

It didn't take her much to figure out what Lucien was planning. He didn't want to face Suah on the southern continent; after all, if they fought with all their might here, the continent would simply shatter. He most certainly intended to drag Suah away from civilization, and Suah would have no choice but to follow him because even he couldn't stop or disrupt Lucien's teleportation across the spirit world.

Finally, Reinette grasped the stem of the rose tightly, her bloody eyes fixed on Barrcana as she dashed towards him while preparing a death curse with the basis of the white rose, ready to push him into the embrace of Death.

—————

Berserk Sea.

Lucien Eggers emerged amidst the roaring sky and raging ocean. His dignified face was illuminated by the streaks of lightning that slithered through the dark and stormy sky. His figure was bathed in harsh droplets of rain, drenching his hair and dress.

Yes, he could have used his powers to stay dry and unaffected by the storms, but he let himself be immersed in chaos and disorder of storms in preparation for what was to come.

It would be a lie to say he wasn't nervous; after all, this was his first actual battle. And the fact that what he was going to face was the spawn of an outer god was all the more troubling, but he came prepared.

Victory would be his.

With that, a sense of serenity bloomed from his heart, smothering all the chaos around him. The roaring sky went silent. The raging sea went still. The stormy clouds went dim. The slithering lightning went away.

All of the Berserk Sea had fallen into the embrace of serenity. But it didn't last long, as something depraved and abysmal emerged from the spirit world.

It was a colossal tree drenched with oil. Over the tree, arms are stretched out among other strange things, and black and white eyeballs and wide and dark mouths. Its mere presence began to taint all the living creatures in the vicinity, causing them to either break down, suffer a tragic death, or worse, mutate into a mindless monster.

Abomination Suah!

Lucien took a long breath, slowly exhaling in the final embers of peace. 'A true abomination.' He thought as he took in Abomination Suah's vile visage, his posture becoming dignified and ready for battle.

Suah focused on Lucien with all of his eyes. "The Reaper..." he spoke, his voice gruff and thick from his twisted mouths. "I bring my mother's message."

"Hmm?" Lucien furrowed his brows in surprise, not letting down his guard as he prompted Suah. "What exactly is it?"

"You have been bestowed with the highest honour." Suah said, his twisted and distorted figure shuddering with each of his words, as though he were emphasising them. "Mother has chosen you to be "Her" mate..."

Lucien's face went blank for a second, then he burst out laughing, a twisted laugh full of emotions. "Your mother sure has a sense of humour, Suah." His laughter had faded into coldness and apathy. "I wonder if "She" can keep that as I cut her down and purge the cosmos of her filthy existence."

"Resistance…" Suah's voice expressed no rage, but rather disappointment and weariness. "I never truly understood that. Mother exists within all. What is the point of resisting something that defines you?" He paused as all of his mouths rose to form distorted smiles filled with malice and happiness. "Anyway, it is futile, for at the end of the day, nothing can escape the loving embrace of Mother, not even you, Reaper…"

"To be honest, you make a valid point, but you are mistaken about only one thing." Lucien stated frankly as streaks of darkness graced his entire figure, and he raised his hand high to the serene sky. "Truly, Desire defines everything about us, but Desire isn't actually "Her"." A spark of crimson fire sprang in his palm, instantly dispersing and growing to transform into a blood-red sword.

The Sword of the Conqueror, a Grade-0 sealed artefact!

The Reaper pointed the bloody sword at the Abomination as red fire burst from it, spreading throughout his body, merging and igniting with the darkness, giving birth to a dark-crimson flame. "She merely holds the authority of Desire." He declared as his fiery wings expanded to the sky, sweeping outward.

""She" is not the Desire!"

And the world stood still.

—————

In the astral world, amidst an eternal and natural paradise, Lilith sat on the branch of the tree at the edge of her divine kingdom, overlooking the world. She was focused on conflicts happening throughout the southern continent and seas, swinging her legs in thought and consideration.

And as Lucien and Suah descended into the berserk sea, the Earth Mother could feel it; the opportunity was finally here and they couldn't miss it no matter what, and so she didn't hesitate before willing her voice to resound throughout the astral world within the barrier.

"Reinforce the barrier!" Lilith declared as she unleashed her authorities, controlling them to support the barrier, which caused her divine kingdom to shine like the sun.

But other divine kingdoms remained dim, which caused the Earth Mother to fear that they finally let their differences get the best of them, but her worries soon became naught, for every divine kingdom on the broken barrier began to shine like a sun as well.

The Seven Gods reinforced the barrier with their authorities to the point that the influence of the outer gods in the world was beginning to wane drastically.

At this moment, a faint echo escaped from the earth, becoming louder and louder as it spread into the astral world.

""She" is not the Desire!"

"Oh, no…" Lilith whispered, her face becoming visibly pale. Then she immediately braced herself for what was about to come.

ROAR!

A star-chilling roar echoed from behind the barrier. It sounded like a amalgamation of all the blasphemous and depraved sounds in the cosmos, rushing towards the barrier with boundless wrath.

BOOM!

Immediately, something twisted and abysmal crashed against the barrier in fury and indignation, trembling it thoroughly. And the divine kingdoms shook violently along with it, dimming significantly.

For a moment, it looked as though everything was about to collapse, but just then, the divine kingdoms began to shine again, even brighter than before, with every authority of the orthodox gods reinforcing the barrier with all of their might.

Lilith gritted her teeth, bearing the cosmic weight of the barrier on herself as blood pounded her ears along with the cataclysmic roars of Mother Tree of Desire.

Ultimately, the Seven Gods held on.

——————-

A while ago, at the Holy Wind Cathedral, Backlund, terrifying storms that were visible to the naked eye suddenly appeared outside of it, and then they surged towards the east in an unimaginable hurricane.

Whoosh!

The thick, accumulated fog was blown away, and the rich yellow and iron-black colours quickly faded away.

Whoosh!

The smoke in East Borough and the factory district thinned, and the healthy population felt relieved of their slight discomfort.

Boom!

Lightning leaped and thunder rumbled in the sky, but they soon subsided, and a downpour began to cleanse the land.

'The Church of Storms reacted rather quickly this time....' Lady Despair walked swiftly through the filthy streets of East Borough, unaffected by the pouring rain.

Even though her plans had been ruined in a timely manner, the haze from before had caused more than 20,000 deaths, according to her calculations. Furthermore, there would be a subsequent spread of the plague.

'With this, I've pretty much digested most of my potion, but this is just a benefit I received as a matter of convenience... With large numbers of the population being wiped out, all this points to the Aurora Order and to the True Creator; no one could guess what the royal family really plans on doing... It's time I leave, along with the True Creator...' Lady Despair was in a good mood.

Her whereabouts were kept secret, and she had taken care of everything beforehand; therefore, she didn't have to worry about being surrounded by Backlund's demigods at all; nevertheless, she was swift about it, for she hadn't forgotten Bernadette Gustav and her annoying clairvoyance.

Just as she neared her exit, all of her honed senses screamed in danger, and she didn't hesitate to materialise a sharp and crystalline ice spear by her side.

However, the ice spear froze in its path, disintegrating into spokes of light, almost like stars, and from within them, Bernadette Gustav emerged, gazing at Lady Despair. "Found you…"

'How?' Lady Despair thought. Even if Bernadette had clairvoyance, she couldn't have found her so soon, considering her concealed state. It seemed she underestimated the Queen Mystic; she was no ordinary saint.

But as the Sequence 4 Demoness of Despair, she had developed herself one step at a time since she was an Assassin. She knew that she couldn't afford to be distracted or spout nonsense at such critical moments. It wasn't too late to think about all these matters later.

Therefore, she chose to launch a large-scale attack again and wanted to take the opportunity in the midst of chaos to escape.

Lady Despair's figure erupted with black flames that surged out of her body, spreading ailments in a bid to ignite everything around her and cause massive fire.

In the face of this, Bernadette remained calm, lifting her palm to counter-attack, but suddenly, her vision clouded, and she saw a figure emerge out of nowhere, producing an aura that froze and rooted both her and Lady Despair in their place.

The figure stood in between them. It was blurry and hazy, and the only thing clear in it was the eyes, which seemed to compress the starry night sky. It made one feel at peace, but it also made one feel an uncontrollable fear.