Chapter Thirty Two
High above the city, standing on solidified air, Varkos looks down at the destruction and chaos in progress.
Barely five minutes after he teleported out of his castle, the horde of demons poured out of it like an endless wave of mass destruction. Ripping through everything in their way, the demons slowly emptied the city of life.
Humans, torn asunder as demons, easily on par with A rank monsters ripped through flesh and bone.
Rage.
This was his city, save for the kingdom, this city was the most important to him. His people had to suffer. They had to pay.
'That bitch. I won't let you... It's mine!!' The heart of Malakar pulses within his chest as the purple light washes over the city. "No one can take it from me!!!"
Like a kaleidoscope, the world seems to bend and reshape itself, different colors bleed into reality as an array of letters surround the city.
Drawing on power from the city, no the kingdom of Malakar, Varkos transformed. His body turning ethereal, as the heart of Malakar absorbed everything, including himself.
The black heart was adrift in the sky for a few moments, then it was surrounded by shadows. The shadows immediately took form, growing a set of four wings around the beating heart, eight wings of shadow connect to form a vague humanoid figure.
With a swirl for a face, the Fragment of Envy, invoked in rage stood above the city.
The city was long devoid of human life, as those that weren't killed by the demons , had their entire beings sucked by the entity floating above it.
Envy looked below with interest. Creatures that should not exist, occupied its city. With a wave of its hand, a demon explodes, its body incapable of holding itself together, the very reality of its composition altered.
Cells repelled each other, bones became fluid, tissues parasitized on themselves.
One by one, the demons broke apart, unable to even retaliate as the very aether in the air decided their fate.
Before Mana, was Aether. To control Aether was to control the world. Envy relished in the power its current wielder had acquired. The Sins were an affront to the world, as they were born from the desires of man, to obtain the power of a Sin was to refuse the world. (The Sin of Lust is one such example, after obtaining the power of Lust, she lost the ability to wield Aether.)
But this host, however, was perfect for it had allowed it to fuse with a literal Aether generator. And now, with the world under its command.
Envy dodges a red beam of light. It turns to his attacker, the one that had disturbed its internal monologue.
Another demon. no. Envy realized, this demon was different from the rest. Unlike the others that had six limbs,(four arms and two legs.) this one had eight, (six arms and two legs.) It's head, a black and blank face with only a mouth shaped in a permanent grin, with a blood red main that flowed down it's back.
There was a large tremor in reality, the demon's body, suddenly wreathed in black light. It begins to
swell. Its limbs growing massive, muscles bulging, and increasing in number. Its neck extends, its face fading until all that remained was a gaping, drooling maw. Newly hideous, the twenty meters tall black demon roars, directly staring at the Sin even as it hovers over the creature.
It had been summoned, by the one that had defeated it, purged it, and then devoured it alive. Once a powerful force of evil that fed on the light, it had been strong enough to defeat even angels. After its soul was devoured it had lived in the darkness of the great devourer, never to be released.
Until today.
Today, a fool had incurred the devourer's wrath. And now it bore a new purpose, as executioner, released from it's constraints into the world of the living. It roars, and reality shied away in fear.
"Grrrr…arghhhh!"
Jet-black flames emerge from its maw. They envelope Envy, setting the kaleidoscope of reality alight.
Envy's response is a wordless roar of fury. The miasmic aura around it exploding outward, filling the very air with a suffocating darkness. Envy lunges at the demon, its hands crackling with black lightning as it aims for demon's heart.
The demon, however, leaps towards the Sin, it's limbs a blur, ramming it with incredible force. Unable to react in time, Envy braces as the impact strikes its body.
Envy counters with a fluid grace, its movements unnaturally fast. It retaliates with a wave of dark energy, but the demon deflects it effortlessly, excitement fueling its power. The city shakes with the force of their clash, the walls cracking and the air humming with deadly magic.
The first clash rends the air, the shockwave blasting apart nearby structures. Envy's dark tendrils lash out, wrapping around the demon's limbs, trying to tear them apart. The demon roars, flexing its massive muscles, breaking free of the tendrils and slamming a fist into Envy's chest.
The second clash sees Envy spiraling through the air, dark energy crackling around it. It rights itself midair and charges back, a vortex of shadows forming in its wake. The demon meets the charge head-on, their impacts sending ripples through the Kaleidoscope of reality.
The third clash is a brutal exchange of blows, each strike from the demon met with dark energy blasts from Envy. The ground below them shatters, chunks of earth and stone rising into the air only to be obliterated by the raw power of Aether.
The fourth clash brings them crashing down into the city streets, the impact creating a massive crater. Envy rises from the rubble, its form shimmering with dark power. Reality solidifies like glass around the demon constraining it within the crater. Reality shatters as the demon roars and leaps out of the crater, its claws slashing through the air towards Envy.
The fifth clash is a flurry of motion, too fast for the eye to follow. Envy's tendrils weave through the demon's strikes, seeking weak points in its defenses. The demon counters with wild, powerful swings, each one threatening to cleave Envy in two.
The sixth clash sees Envy summoning a torrent of Aethic energy, a wave of destruction that races towards the demon. The demon braces itself, and the wave crashes over it, engulfing it in darkness. But as the wave dissipates, the demon stands firm, its eyes glowing with malevolent light.
The seventh clash is a test of endurance, both combatants showing signs of wear but neither willing to back down. Envy's attacks grow more desperate, each strike fueled by a deep-seated rage. The demon, in turn, seems to feed off the conflict, growing stronger with each passing moment.
The eighth clash is a final, desperate bid for dominance. Envy and the demon charge at each other, their forms blurring as they collide with a force that shakes the very foundation of the kingdom. The resulting explosion of energy sends shockwaves rippling across the landscape, the ground cracking and the skies darkening.
As the dust settles, Envy and the demon stand facing each other, both heavily damaged but unyielding. The city around them is in ruins, a testament to the sheer destructive power of their battle. Envy's eyes burn with a furious light, the heart of Malakar pulsing within its chest.
"You will not take what is mine," Envy growls, its voice echoing with the power of a thousand storms.
The demon roars in response, its body trembling with barely contained rage. It lunges at Envy once more, but this time, Envy is ready. With a flick of its wrist, it summons a spear that shimmers into existence weaved by reality itself calling power from the Sin of Pride and the Sin of Greed, driving it through all defenses and through the demon's heart.
The demon's roar turns into a gurgle as the spear impales it, Aethic energy coursing through its body. Envy twists the spear, and with a final surge of power, the demon explodes into a shower of dark mist.
With the demon's demise, Envy breathes a sigh of relief. Having used its trump card. Unable to create power of its own, and wanting the power of others, the Sin of Envy allows its host to draw upon a portion of the power of the other Sins, using weakened abilities of the Sins.
Combining this power with the World energy that is Aether, it had created the weapon that allowed it fell his enemy.
A tremor alerts it to a presence. If Envy had a mouth, it would be wide open in shock.
In the distance, a demon leaped into the air, landing before him. No, not any demon. The same demon he had just killed.
Envy finally notices. Surrounding the giant demon, were the regular demons that had slaughtered the humans. That was impossible, it had killed every last one when it had awoken. Yet, in every direction, the damned creatures surged, converging on the Sin of Envy. And in the distance, standing in the remains of a castle were two girls. On the right was a girl with white hair holding a massive white hammer.
On the left however, reality was distorted in the form of a black armored girl. Her shadow spread out on the floor as a tar like substance. And from it demons crawled out constantly.
The demons could not be killed, Envy realised and it felt fear.
Envy leaps into the air, its wings lifting in flight when it suddenly feels heavier.
There were suddenly eight blood red chains wrapped around it.
If you had asked Maple what she thought of the demon she had defeated and devoured, she would call it annoying. However this is only natural as this is Maple we're talking about, any other player would have cursed their fate and the developers had they faced this hidden boss. All thanks to it's annoying ability.
Every hit, either blocked or not, activates a debuff called || Curse Bind || this debuff reduces a players stats by five percent around the board. Worse of all, it stacks, of course in New World Online, the maximum was five stacks to create a balance. However, now in the real world, there was no such limit.
There were eight clashes, and eight direct hits.
Finally, Maple moved. With a tone as chilling as the edge of a blade, she activates her skill.
|| Saturating Chaos ||
A black sludge shoots out of her hand transforming into a single maw, closing the distance instantly. Reality solidifies once again but in a dome like structure, protecting Envy. But weakened by Curse Bind, the maw tears through Envy's defenses and strikes it squarely in the chest. Envy staggers, its swirling face wide with shock and pain as a hole appears where the heart of Malakar once pulsed.
The shadows surrounding Envy dissipates and Varkos falls, right into the closing maw of the massive demon.
Varkos's screams filled the air, a sound of pure agony that reverberated through the demon's maws.