Chapter 62: Grass and Elephant.

Asarti raised her staff and all the dead bodies that had scattered in the city had risen and got brought back to life. Their skins and flesh melted as they walked toward Asarti, and then their bodies were wrapped in purple energy. All of them had turned into knights with black armor and long purple capes on their backs, they all held the same weapon, a scythe made of Mana.

Checil remembered when she faced them, and it brought back the trauma she had. The Death Knight was what they called it back then, a knight that couldn't be killed only with a divinity. Even so, divinity didn't stop them from coming back to life as long as Asarti was alive.

"The same trick won't fool me twice..." Checil pressed her hands together and released a divine blast, turning all the Death Knights into ashes. "The Gods are on my side! Your filthy tricks are nothing in their presence!" She pointed her right hand at the purple wall, shattering the purple translucent wall and flattening the buildings and the walls of the city.

"Your so-called Gods are not here to protect you," Asarti floated as dark purple lights sipped out of the cracks. "You may live for hundreds of years, but you can't escape death..." she pointed her staff down to the ground, and slowly the ground crumbled and collapsed as the dark purple light glowed brighter.

Madam, Leid, and the remaining Players ran toward Checil because they didn't know what was happening, but they knew they would be safe if they stayed close to her.

The city collapsed and was slowly being devoured by that purple light, leaving only a few platforms under Checil's divinity. Asarti left a few platforms for The Lady and all the Non-Players. The city was split in half, the city that was kilometers wide had turned into a small chunk of land.

Everyone started to hear screams from underneath, the screams of pain that gave chills down to everyone's spines. They could hear people screaming and asking for forgiveness, mercy, and desperation for help. They didn't know who those people were, or what had happened to them.

The purple light turned into energy and it flowed toward Asarti, bathing and surrounding her with it. She embraced the energy and slowly her body transformed into something that came out straight from a nightmare. Her skin and flesh melted as she kept embracing the energy of her body undergoing a transformation.

Asarti transformed into something that could be called a counterpart of a God. Something so evil that it put everyone in fear, petrified by her appearance that could bring extinction to all life. Her transformation was incomplete, only the top half of the body could be created because it lacked energy.

Asarti raised her right hand as tall as the tower itself and then sent it down toward Checil and all the Players.

"Oh God of Protection, save your children from the face of evil," Checil prayed with her eyes closed.

When Asarti's hand was about to obliterate Checil and the Players, a barrier protected them. The clash of Asarti's hand and the barrier released a blast that flattened the hills and forest miles away from the city. If it wasn't for Asarti's massive body that could cover half of the city, Aria and the others would have died there.

"Your Gods are nothing but invaders of the world that my Goddess created!" Asarti screamed and the sound wave trembled the tower, making it look like it was going to collapse from it.

Asarti opened her mouth and released a beam of purple light toward the barrier. The beam became bigger and bigger until the barrier couldn't handle it anymore.

"Run! Everyone leave!" Checil screamed as she saw the barrier crack and was on the brink of breaking.

Everyone ran into the tower, and the moment the barrier broke, Checil was already about to enter the tower, but she got exposed by that beam for a split second before she got safely entered the tower. She could feel the immense pain all over her body, destroying her body inside out.

Madam and the others looked at Checil's condition. They could see purple smoke coming out of her body. Nobody dared to get close to her while she was on the ground screaming in pain.

"Leave this place... the 1st floor has been cursed..." Checil staggered with her voice trembling in pain as she tried to stand up. "Esra... Leid... tell the others about what happened. Tell them, to be ready for war..." she looked at Madam and Leid with her eyes turning dark purple from the curse. The veins on the left side of her face were popping under her skin.

"What about you?" Madam looked at Checil with disgust, fear, and concern.

"I'm going on seclusion. The curse in my body... if I don't treat it immediately will spread like disease and nobody can stop it..." Checil answered as she groaned in pain. "Leave now..." she said weakly.

Everyone entered through the doors and left the 1st floor. Checil looked back for a moment and saw the beam was being blocked by the barrier that the tower provided. She left the 1st floor as she dragged her left leg because it had been completely covered with curses.

"What kind of fight was that..." Leid's hands still trembled from experiencing that.

"We are just like the grass being trampled by elephants. Useless and helpless," Madam responded with empty eyes. "Imagine what kind of chaos happened during the Great War?" She raised her eyebrows.

"I can't imagine..." Leid sighed as he walked out of the tower. "Let's just hurry and tell the Executives..." he added.

Madam nodded and hurriedly went to the palace that was up the hill in the middle of the city.

Asarti turned back to her normal body and then turned around to look at every one. She was glad nobody was affected by the curse. She stabbed her staff and slowly the abyss around her dissipated until the purple light disappeared.

"Mother," The Lady looked at Asarti.

"It's a shame that she managed to escape..." Asarti sighed. "But she won't be able to do much for the time being," she looked at The Lady.

"What's going to happen to you now?" The Lady frowned.

"I don't know, sweetheart. My soul was in that book, but now that you have freed me, I think it's time for me to move to the other side," Asarti answered as she caressed The Lady's cheek. "You have grown up, and so the curse that you're carrying. I hope you can find it soon because the curse is eating your life away," she pointed out.

The Lady nodded in agreement and then hugged Asarti while she could.

"Take care of my daughter, Nyctri. She's your master now," Asarti stroked The Lady's hair as she looked at Nyctri.

"We are one. I have no choice but to protect her or I'll disappear with her," Nyctri bowed her head. "So long, Asarti..." she said.

Asarti nodded and then treasured the remaining time she had left to hug The Lady. Her body slowly became transparent and then completely disappeared.

Rigel was unconscious the whole time because he endured the torture until he passed out. He didn't wake up even with all the things that had happened, and his body still hadn't recovered. His Mana and Anima got depleted and it hadn't been an hour since he cleared the 19th floor.

"He survived even with that kind of condition..." Arnel looked at Rigel's face which was no longer recognized as his jaw and mouth were split open. "He's tougher than he looks..."

The Lady turned around and looked at Rigel's condition. She didn't know what he looked like, and she had been wanting to see his face, but what she got was his broken face. She approached him and grabbed something from her dress, a vial with bright blue liquid inside it.

She poured the liquid onto Rigel's face, and it made a sizzling sound. Slowly the skin started to cover the flesh and the wounds were healed up at the same time. She started to see what Rigel looked like.

"For a Non-Player, his body looks so delicious..." Nyctri licked her lips as she stared at Rigel and transformed her demonic-like body into a human body.

"That's the first time you're interested in Non-Player," The Lady said as she carefully fixed Rigel's jaw and poured the remaining liquid onto it. "What makes you think he's delicious?" She asked.

"Stryg's blood is running in his veins. He has consumed hundreds of powerful monsters, and killed thousands of lives..." Nyctri answered and tucked her silver hair as she stared at Rigel from up close with her dark orange eyes. "He's young and vigorous, my favorite..." She muttered and she sounded so thirsty.

Rigel could hear people talking around him, and when he opened his eyes, he saw a lot of faces staring at him. He groaned and realized he lost his left eye when Madam gouged it out with her fingers.

"Rigel..." Arnel looked at Rigel with a worried expression.

Rigel saw a gill behind Arnel's left ear, and then he looked at Aria. They came to save him, but he didn't expect them to come just for him until he looked at The Lady who sat next to him.

"You must be The Lady..." Rigel said weakly.

"Artika. That's my name," The Lady introduced herself. "I'm glad that we came in time," she said.