Chapter 145: Chaos has arrived

("Hmph, I doubt much would be revealed even while investigating the ruins, but still, I did not have much to go on. In the end, it did lead me here.")

Dante moved through the skeletal ruins of a town. No doubt once bustling with life, it was now desolate. The towering buildings were now mere stumps, their structures twisted and contorted. The streets were now silent and deserted, their cobblestones cracked and crumbling.

The air was thick with the stench of blood, a nauseating blend of burnt wood, crushed stone, and burnt flesh. The town was littered with the remnants of its former inhabitants—shattered glass, twisted metal, and scattered personal belongings. Everywhere the eye turned, there was evidence of the town's destruction. Buildings, now piles of rubble; the parks, once lush and green, were now barren wastelands, their trees stripped of their leaves and their flowers crushed beneath the weight of the rubble. The rivers, once clear and sparkling, were now polluted and stagnant, their waters thick with debris and blood.

The town was all but filled with the bodies of the dead. Some were charred beyond recognition, their bones exposed and blackened. Others were more gruesome, their limbs twisted at unnatural angles, their faces contorted in masks of pain. Children lay among the ruins, their tiny bodies broken and lifeless. Their innocent faces are now frozen.

"This was done recently..." He deduced easily upon seeing the fresh blood. ("Astrothians or demons? I sense no mana from a perpetrator like that; this was close to the ruins the Ancestors were sealed in as well.") That was no mere coincidence. The ruins were situated in Galadriel in a thick forest somewhat near the capital city. ("Hm, based on what Lyra informed me of the rest of the Ancestors, this could be the work of Gisèle the Ancestor of Malice.") He continued moving through the ruined town unabated, looking for any signs of life.

Whoever was responsible took their time to spread their chaos; despair was driven into the victims as their homes were turned asunder. ("Once more relics of the past seek to impose their actions into the current world.")

"Dante." A voice suddenly called out; he turned on his heel and faced the familiar figure of Rowena. Her blank emerald eyes scanned the ruined town with corpses strewn about; she gave no outward reaction as she slowly approached him, her heeled boots clicking and echoing, "How despicable, an Ancestors doing?" She questioned, coming to a stop in front of him.

"Perhaps," Dante grunted out. "This town was close to the ruins the Ancestors were sealed in. Lyra spoke of an Ancestor more chaotic than the one who attacked Verdantis. So it is a possibility; where are Maerwynn and Aerinon?"

Rowena folded her arms as she heaved the smallest of sighs. "Maerwynn saw fit to wander off as soon as I landed us in Galadriel. You know, as well as I, there is no stopping her once she wants to do whatever it is she wants. Aerinon, on the other hand, split up with me half way through the ruins; he wanted to cover more ground."

"I see," Dante acknowledged.

"At any rate," Rowena continued, her eyes blankly scanning through the chaos of death surrounding her. She shook her head. "If the Ancestors were responsible, then their debts must needs to be repaid."

"Indeed, though they are freshly awakened, they no doubt want to make headway with their respective agendas. I'll search the town for anything that could lead us to the perpetrators, for now our best bet would be to cover more ground like Aerinon wanted." Dante pondered about the matter: "Hm, the spawn of Octavia is a resident of the capital city; the more numbers we have to combat the Ancestors, the better."

"Would she be inclined to help soon to be enemies?" 

"Based on her personality, she would like to avoid casualties, and these Ancestors clash with that want. Furthermore, if this Ancestor is as chaotic as Lyra claims, then a crowded city may be where she'll prosper." He deduced.

"Then I shall make for the capital; good luck, Dante." 

"Same to you."

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Telluris frowned; it was a short, insignificant instance, but that bundle of mana signatures she sensed—they were familiar. Ancestors, their unique signatures she would not so easily mistake. ("Their release messes with the very balance of the current era.") She mentally cursed herself; she had been too idle. Though the sealed Ancestors mana was sealed along with them, making it impossible to track them, that was still no excuse.

("And now five of them are running rampart; they would be inclined to follow Rhiannon's words." The thought made the Divine Beast furrow her brows in contempt. ("I have been too lax; when Rhiannon was made whole, I should have been more on guard. With this, I must atone by fulfilling my duty and keeping the balance.")

"You okay?" Mikoto's voice rang out, snapping her out of her inner musings and forcing her to turn to reality. She was currently walking alongside Mikoto, trailing behind Agatha, the floating Cor'nella, and Mirabella.

Telluris forced out a smile. "Do not worry, Mikoto; my worries should not be your own." It was hard to see what he was thinking with that helmet on. But she did not have to wonder long as he just let out a scoff.

"You may be a billion or something years older than me, but I feel like I could call you a friend. Hm, maybe that has to do with our first battle to the death." He joked, "So c'mon, lay thy woes upon me." He dramatically finished.

She chuckled slightly at how quick Mikoto was to cheer her up with a few words. He was just like Octavia in that aspect, holding so much power yet being so normal and humane. "Well, if you insist-" She cut herself of as her head whipped to the side in an instance, and Mikoto immediately knew why.

In the vast distance, a familiar mana signature radiated in the sky. In burned as bright as the sun, yet only Mikoto and Telluris could see it. "That's that Rhiannon woman's mana," Mikoto noted.

"Seems you had the displeasure of meeting her," Telluris frowned. "She's luring me in..." She noted as she turned to Mikoto, "Thank you for spending some time with me on this day, Mikoto. I would like to continue this at another date if it would be fine with you." She stated with a smile. 

"Sure, if you're going after that Rhiannon woman, than good luck on kicking her ass," Mikoto gave a thumbs up along with his 'encouraging' words. Telluris chuckled at that.

"Thank you," She voiced as a small golden glyph appeared beneath her feet, and then in the next instance, her body vanished with nothing but a spark of golden light. It drew some looks from passersby's but otherwise went unnoticed; Mikoto merely continued trailing behind the others, unaware from a gaze on high.

Perked upon the pointed roof of a church, her blood-red eyes wildly scanned through the crowd below. Her hair was a bright salmon pink, unkept; therefore, in disarray, her clothing matched her crazed eyes. Bandages covered the upper regions of her arms and chest, while black straps decorated her neck and bosom. She wore a long, tattered black skirt that fell over her bare feet. The girl grinned in glee.

"Sooo many lost lambs~" She cackled out; her voice and laugh were sickly sweet. "They have lost their way! And only I can show them back to their intended path!" She seemingly reasoned, as in the next instance, all over a section of the capital, a large red circular glyph with ominous patterns adorning it came into existence. Hovering above ominously, all turned their eyes upwards.

The once lively chatter was replaced by an eerie quiet. A collective gasp echoed through the streets as citizens began to behave erratically. Their faces contorted into expressions of rage and madness, their eyes burning with an unnatural red intensity. The once peaceful populace transformed into a horde of savage beasts in but a passing second.

Neighbors turned on neighbors, friends on friends. A butcher, his hands still stained with the blood of slaughtered animals, lunged at a baker, his apron smeared with flour. A young woman, her face tear-streaked, screamed as her own mother raised a dagger, her eyes devoid of any recognition of her. The air was thick with the stench of blood in an instance. 

A father, his face one of madness, raised a heavy axe above his own child. The child, her eyes filled with fear, tried to crawl away, but it was too late. The axe came down with a sickening thud, splitting the child's skull in two. The father, his face devoid of any emotion, stood over the lifeless body of his child, his eyes fixed on nothing.

"What the-" Mirabella blurted out in horror only to barely move out the way as a man lunged passed her, "What the hell is going on!?"

Cor'nella opened her mouth to answer but shrieked when a woman reached out to grab her. Agatha reacted swiftly, pivoting on her heel and slamming her foot into the woman's stomach and sending her flying. "Cor'nella, do you know what's going on!?"

"It's a spell of madness; it inflicts others with it. But such spells should not-." She started only to immediately be cut off.

"Who cares! Restrain everyone from moving!" Mikoto ordered as he raised his hand, preparing to channel a spell, but his instincts blared at him as he whipped his entire body around just in time for a blur of white to slam into his form. His feet left the ground as his body shot outward with such force that it brought down a building he collided with like a stack of building blocks.

"Mi-" Mirabella could not even yell his name or see the perpetrator as a yell from above took her attention.

"Hahahahah! Lambs!~" A shrill voice screamed. Agatha took her from the scuff of her armor and dragged her back just in time for something to collide with the ground where she just stood. The force behind it made the streets and buildings quake; the two backed away along with Cor'nella as they looked at the perpetrator. 

"Hello, lost little lambs!" The young girl exclaimed with a smile that split so wide on her face that it seemed impossible, "I am Gisèle! Ancestor of Malice and guider of the lost!"

"Is this your doing?" Agatha asked, her brows furrowed and her tone low.

"Of co-" Gisèle started but quickly cut herself off as she tilted her head, seeing her chaos was on halt. The madly driven citizens were all confined by ethereal red chains and tightly coiled around their forms. "Oh, who would come to halt my mission of guidance!?" She screeched.

"That Mikoto," Mirabella could not help but smile despite the situation. ("He got sent flying by who knows what, and he still cast a spell to stop all this.")

"This." Cor'nella frowned deeply. "The two of you cannot win the battle; you should retreat now!"

"Like hell," Agatha scoffed out with a heavy frown as she stepped forward. "Ancestor, you called that woman back in Verdantis one too, I recall." Agatha noted, "If your words hang true and I cannot beat her, then I will try my best regardless." She declared, "I'll not let this fiend run rampant."

"Much as I hate to do this, I'll just play support since you're kind of stronger." Mirabella grumbled; she received a nod from Agatha. 

"Arcane Ascendance: Genesis Forger,"