146. “Come at me.”
"It keeps getting stronger," Zeus muttered as he looked at the black hole. "It will be unstoppable if it absorbs more victims."
Everyone had already guessed the same thing at this point. Gabriel groaned and was ready to act but she stopped on her tracks as a cone of flames flew above her.
Ifrit had come back to take care of it. He roared and his body emerged from the flames. His eyes ignited and seemed to leave a red trail. The black hole formed a mouth when it spotted him and let out a high-pitched vociferous noise.
"Shut up," Ifrit waved his hand and a cube made of fire surrounded the black hole.
The attraction stopped immediately and the air wasn't being sucked anymore. But the cube of fire was slowly shrinking as if it was being destroyed from the inside. Ifrit just snorted.
"[Advent of Fire]."
The cube shined and exploded in the next instant. A big earthquake was produced and a giant smoke mushroom was formed. The deafening noise of the explosion temporarily drowned every sound on the battlefield.
When the flames died down, the smoke was dispersed and the black hole had disappeared along with a big chunk of earth.
"Hey," Ifrit then turned toward Chulainn. "If you can't control it, don't use it. You'll just kill yourself along with everyone else," he said and landed on top of a mountain.
He sat there and started watching the battle as if it was an entertaining show. Chulainn wryly smiled and laid down on the ground. His mana was depleted and he didn't have the strength to move anymore.
Lanya and Lilis were in a similar state as they had forced a soul resonance between them. They were not that ‘compatible’ in the first place, so it used up a lot more energy than what Ofia and Lena would need back at the academy.
"What was that though?" Chulainn uttered. "I don't think I lost control. It felt like… it went berserk for an unknown reason."
"Maybe it's the hidden effect," Lanya remarked and Lilis nodded. "Amplifying its power by letting it go astray."
"Hm," Chulainn mused and then sighed. "Anyway, I'm stuck here now. That thing drained me out," he said and looked at the nearest combat zones.
***
"Utain was defeated?" Baphomet was a bit surprised. "That magic was quite something, huh?"
"Hey, he used it too, maybe we should start," Azes said and Zeus nodded back. "Let's go then, [Resurrection]," Azes chanted and his aura expanded.
"[Resurrection]," Zeus followed and the same phenomenon occurred.
The two gods began their Soul Manifestation and Baphomet silently watched without doing anything to stop them.
Below Azes, a bright magic circle was drawn and the scroll he was holding since the start merged with it like a rock falling in the water. When the scroll was completely in, the area inside the circle gradually morphed and the ground became literal marble.
"[Cause and Consequences]," Azes chanted and the circle suddenly encompassed the entire zone around the three of them. The ground became flat while being overwritten by crystal-like marble.
"[Closed Territory]," Azes ended his chant and the ground glowed once before a transparent wall sprout out from the circumference of the circle.
"[Divine Herd]," it was Zeus's turn to activate his Manifestation. Thunder rumbled strongly and lightning fell around Zeus like a downpour.
"[Commandment Made Manifest]." The lightning that struck the ground didn’t disappear and congregated to form several spheres.
When the deluge of lightning stopped, each one of the spheres released a powerful aura and started shifting into different types of beasts. The bigger ones transformed into beings such as dragons, basilisks, dinosaurs, phoenixes, chimeras… While the smaller ones turned out to be smaller beasts of every kind. Wolfes, lions, bears, birds, insects, snakes, and things like cockatrices, nine-tailed foxes, and griffins…
An army of familiars appeared around Zeus and they all stared at Baphomet. All of them were at the First Divine, without exception. An army of around five hundred summoned beasts had materialized to assist Zeus.
"So, you both have an Eternal-Cast Manifestation, huh?" Baphomet casually remarked, unfazed by the display.
Soul Manifestations were fundamentally the same thing as Resonances with Soul Beasts. But the Manifestation could come in many different ways and could be considered as a unique skill.
Utain's Manifestation acted on his body to transform him into a werewolf to greatly increase his overall strength.
For both Zeus' and Azes' Manifestations, they were magic that would eternally last until something specific happened. In Azes' case, his magic will only disappear when the enemy is defeated. As for Zeus, his magic would end naturally when all of his familiars are destroyed.
Those types aside, the two types of Manifestation remaining were Instant-Cast and Weapon-Summon. The former was a devastating or miraculous magic that surpassed by far what the caster could normally do while the latter was a weapon capable of greatly increasing the holder's power.
Also, during the fight against Utain, Chulainn hadn’t used his Manifestation since it was an Eternal-Cast, therefore not potent enough or fast enough to counter Utain. As for Lilis, her unique magic was an Instant-Cast but not suited to fight Utain.
In normal times, decreed by the gods, the use of the Manifestation was limited as much as possible since it could create chaos on the battlefield and do more harm than anything else. But now that Utain had done it, everyone started to use their own.
Vastra, who was in the middle of a conflict of spirits against Aphrodite, released it. And after her, it was Poseidon's and Hades's turn who both had a weapon type. Poseidon wielded a trident while Hades summoned both a shield and a sword.
Baphomet chuckled as he felt the auras surging everywhere.
"Let me show you what true despair is," he declared. Even Ifrit directed his attention at him.
"[Resurrection]," the Evil God chanted just like everyone else. At the same time, the air became filled with a black mist coming out of his body. He exhaled and an even darker miasma escaped his mouth.
That mist condensed and became a cloud that ascended to the sky. It even went higher than Arima's Life Harvest. Then, a detonation suddenly resounded and the dark miasma covered the whole sky. It had literally become black.
"[The Evil God's Mausoleum]," Baphomet intoned and the ground that had been affected by Azes started gaining black spots. But Azes's magic fought back and maintained a half black and the other white.
The gods looked anxiously at the scene. Baphomet had definitely released his Manifestation but they hadn’t felt any change in his aura and nothing else had occurred besides the ‘new’ sky.
"Come at me," but even so, Baphomet taunted his opponents with a wide grin. Zeus and Azes looked at each other and frowned. But they were not going to hesitate.
Azes made the first move and extended his hand. He pointed his palm at Baphomet and exhaled.
"I rule…" He mumbled and everything inside of his Manifestation's area of effect became crushed by a gravity force so strong that the number in Newton would make someone dizzy.
Baphomet hunched his body a little but retained his smile. Azes then squinted his eyes and the ground around the Evil God formed sharpened spikes that pierced him from every angle possible.
Zeus commanded his familiars to move and told them to attack without holding back. The dragon flew up in the air and his belly swelled as he inhaled. The chimera howled and charged toward Baphomet, becoming the spearhead for all the other summoned beasts.
When the dragon was ready, it roared and spat out an electric beam. The other beasts attacked Baphomet physically and thunder rumbled more than once. Zeus clenched his fists and lightning swirled around him like a snake. He suddenly disappeared before striking Baphomet with his hammer in the next second.
A frightening explosion occurred and Baphomet was sent flying away, crashing far away and elevating a chain of mountains around him because of the shock. Zeus returned to Azes’ side and waited. They knew that Baphomet wouldn't die from this since he was almost immortal. But immortality is as it is; 'almost' is the correct word. No one can be truly immortal. If they injure him enough, Baphomet should not be able to regenerate or revive.
"That's what you must be thinking, right?" The Evil God's voice echoed and the gods' eyes narrowed in shock. Ifrit also scowled as he looked over.
Baphomet stepped out from the dust and revealed himself to everyone. He was completely unharmed. He snorted and stared at the gods.
"You will never be able to kill me," he stated and waved his hand. His sword immediately flew at him and he caught it in the same motion. Azes clicked his tongue and resumed the onslaught along with Zeus.
Ifrit calmly observed and hummed. "An interesting Manifestation. Turning the caster into a true immortal…" He muttered and looked up at the sky. "But immortality is always flawed," he added as he observed the black mist in the sky emitting a faint glow. He then turned his head to look at Hades and Poseidon. Those two's fight was the fiercest by far.
"Although Hades is stronger, Poseidon has a great advantage thanks to his absolute dominance over water…" He analyzed their battle for a moment then his attention was attracted by another big conflict.
"This chaotic flow of spirit scares even me. These two are not to be underestimated," Ifrit mumbled as he looked at the section of the battlefield which had the most infantry. Angels, devils, purgatory's prisoners, and even the zombies Arima made were killing each other there.
The strange fact was that angels were killing other angels, zombies were killing zombies, devils were killing devils… On top of that, you could even find those three factions helping each other sometimes.
It was without saying that the ones responsible for this situation were Vastra and Aphrodite. They both specialized in mind control, distinctive from Lilis's control over emotions.
At the moment, the two beauties were in the middle of a battle. And even if Aphrodite was at the Third Divine while Vastra only at the Second, the latter was easily a match for her opponent and maybe even superior.
Vastra had two ‘puppets’ at the Third Divine to fight for her and the Manifestation she had just released was a Body-Shifting Type, like Utain. She had now the appearance of a succubus and her overall magic output had increased by leaps and bounds.
Unfortunately, Aphrodite didn't have any ‘puppets’ for her own use and was forced to fight by herself while also trying to disrupt Vastra's spirit.
It was also on that particular battlefield that Gabriel spent most of her time. She had to protect her soldiers that were being controlled. She seriously wanted to smack Aphrodite for encroaching the minds of her angels like that. But she also knew that if Aphrodite stopped, Vastra would become a huge problem.
"You sure are uselessly tough for a Love Goddess," Vastra commented laughingly as the giant she was sitting on defended against Aphrodite's wind magic.
The goddess snorted. "I will get rid of that smug face of yours soon enough," she uttered and threw two spheres of compressed air.
When they touched the giant, they exploded and produced giant domes of wind along with a strident noise. At the same time, the second lackey of Vastra attacked Aphrodite from her blind spot with a dagger.
The goddess gritted her teeth and chanted, "[Repel]."
A barrier of wind formed around her and blocked the attacker's dagger. The assassin immediately transformed into shadows after he failed and vanished. After that, the giant came back to strike.
Aphrodite groaned and summoned a tornado to deviate the giant’s fist. It had been going on this way since the start. The big one would fight her head-on while the small one would try to sneak up on her.
"Let's see who will last longer," Vastra smirked and spread her bat wings.
146. “Come at me.”
"It keeps getting stronger," Zeus muttered as he looked at the black hole. "It will be unstoppable if it absorbs more victims."
Everyone had already guessed the same thing at this point. Gabriel groaned and was ready to act but she stopped on her tracks as a cone of flames flew above her.
Ifrit had come back to take care of it. He roared and his body emerged from the flames. His eyes ignited and seemed to leave a red trail. The black hole formed a mouth when it spotted him and let out a high-pitched vociferous noise.
"Shut up," Ifrit waved his hand and a cube made of fire surrounded the black hole.
The attraction stopped immediately and the air wasn't being sucked anymore. But the cube of fire was slowly shrinking as if it was being destroyed from the inside. Ifrit just snorted.
"[Advent of Fire]."
The cube shined and exploded in the next instant. A big earthquake was produced and a giant smoke mushroom was formed. The deafening noise of the explosion temporarily drowned every sound on the battlefield.
When the flames died down, the smoke was dispersed and the black hole had disappeared along with a big chunk of earth.
"Hey," Ifrit then turned toward Chulainn. "If you can't control it, don't use it. You'll just kill yourself along with everyone else," he said and landed on top of a mountain.
He sat there and started watching the battle as if it was an entertaining show. Chulainn wryly smiled and laid down on the ground. His mana was depleted and he didn't have the strength to move anymore.
Lanya and Lilis were in a similar state as they had forced a soul resonance between them. They were not that ‘compatible’ in the first place, so it used up a lot more energy than what Ofia and Lena would need back at the academy.
"What was that though?" Chulainn uttered. "I don't think I lost control. It felt like… it went berserk for an unknown reason."
"Maybe it's the hidden effect," Lanya remarked and Lilis nodded. "Amplifying its power by letting it go astray."
"Hm," Chulainn mused and then sighed. "Anyway, I'm stuck here now. That thing drained me out," he said and looked at the nearest combat zones.
***
"Utain was defeated?" Baphomet was a bit surprised. "That magic was quite something, huh?"
"Hey, he used it too, maybe we should start," Azes said and Zeus nodded back. "Let's go then, [Resurrection]," Azes chanted and his aura expanded.
"[Resurrection]," Zeus followed and the same phenomenon occurred.
The two gods began their Soul Manifestation and Baphomet silently watched without doing anything to stop them.
Below Azes, a bright magic circle was drawn and the scroll he was holding since the start merged with it like a rock falling in the water. When the scroll was completely in, the area inside the circle gradually morphed and the ground became literal marble.
"[Cause and Consequences]," Azes chanted and the circle suddenly encompassed the entire zone around the three of them. The ground became flat while being overwritten by crystal-like marble.
"[Closed Territory]," Azes ended his chant and the ground glowed once before a transparent wall sprout out from the circumference of the circle.
"[Divine Herd]," it was Zeus's turn to activate his Manifestation. Thunder rumbled strongly and lightning fell around Zeus like a downpour.
"[Commandment Made Manifest]." The lightning that struck the ground didn’t disappear and congregated to form several spheres.
When the deluge of lightning stopped, each one of the spheres released a powerful aura and started shifting into different types of beasts. The bigger ones transformed into beings such as dragons, basilisks, dinosaurs, phoenixes, chimeras… While the smaller ones turned out to be smaller beasts of every kind. Wolfes, lions, bears, birds, insects, snakes, and things like cockatrices, nine-tailed foxes, and griffins…
An army of familiars appeared around Zeus and they all stared at Baphomet. All of them were at the First Divine, without exception. An army of around five hundred summoned beasts had materialized to assist Zeus.
"So, you both have an Eternal-Cast Manifestation, huh?" Baphomet casually remarked, unfazed by the display.
Soul Manifestations were fundamentally the same thing as Resonances with Soul Beasts. But the Manifestation could come in many different ways and could be considered as a unique skill.
Utain's Manifestation acted on his body to transform him into a werewolf to greatly increase his overall strength.
For both Zeus' and Azes' Manifestations, they were magic that would eternally last until something specific happened. In Azes' case, his magic will only disappear when the enemy is defeated. As for Zeus, his magic would end naturally when all of his familiars are destroyed.
Those types aside, the two types of Manifestation remaining were Instant-Cast and Weapon-Summon. The former was a devastating or miraculous magic that surpassed by far what the caster could normally do while the latter was a weapon capable of greatly increasing the holder's power.
Also, during the fight against Utain, Chulainn hadn’t used his Manifestation since it was an Eternal-Cast, therefore not potent enough or fast enough to counter Utain. As for Lilis, her unique magic was an Instant-Cast but not suited to fight Utain.
In normal times, decreed by the gods, the use of the Manifestation was limited as much as possible since it could create chaos on the battlefield and do more harm than anything else. But now that Utain had done it, everyone started to use their own.
Vastra, who was in the middle of a conflict of spirits against Aphrodite, released it. And after her, it was Poseidon's and Hades's turn who both had a weapon type. Poseidon wielded a trident while Hades summoned both a shield and a sword.
Baphomet chuckled as he felt the auras surging everywhere.
"Let me show you what true despair is," he declared. Even Ifrit directed his attention at him.
"[Resurrection]," the Evil God chanted just like everyone else. At the same time, the air became filled with a black mist coming out of his body. He exhaled and an even darker miasma escaped his mouth.
That mist condensed and became a cloud that ascended to the sky. It even went higher than Arima's Life Harvest. Then, a detonation suddenly resounded and the dark miasma covered the whole sky. It had literally become black.
"[The Evil God's Mausoleum]," Baphomet intoned and the ground that had been affected by Azes started gaining black spots. But Azes's magic fought back and maintained a half black and the other white.
The gods looked anxiously at the scene. Baphomet had definitely released his Manifestation but they hadn’t felt any change in his aura and nothing else had occurred besides the ‘new’ sky.
"Come at me," but even so, Baphomet taunted his opponents with a wide grin. Zeus and Azes looked at each other and frowned. But they were not going to hesitate.
Azes made the first move and extended his hand. He pointed his palm at Baphomet and exhaled.
"I rule…" He mumbled and everything inside of his Manifestation's area of effect became crushed by a gravity force so strong that the number in Newton would make someone dizzy.
Baphomet hunched his body a little but retained his smile. Azes then squinted his eyes and the ground around the Evil God formed sharpened spikes that pierced him from every angle possible.
Zeus commanded his familiars to move and told them to attack without holding back. The dragon flew up in the air and his belly swelled as he inhaled. The chimera howled and charged toward Baphomet, becoming the spearhead for all the other summoned beasts.
When the dragon was ready, it roared and spat out an electric beam. The other beasts attacked Baphomet physically and thunder rumbled more than once. Zeus clenched his fists and lightning swirled around him like a snake. He suddenly disappeared before striking Baphomet with his hammer in the next second.
A frightening explosion occurred and Baphomet was sent flying away, crashing far away and elevating a chain of mountains around him because of the shock. Zeus returned to Azes’ side and waited. They knew that Baphomet wouldn't die from this since he was almost immortal. But immortality is as it is; 'almost' is the correct word. No one can be truly immortal. If they injure him enough, Baphomet should not be able to regenerate or revive.
"That's what you must be thinking, right?" The Evil God's voice echoed and the gods' eyes narrowed in shock. Ifrit also scowled as he looked over.
Baphomet stepped out from the dust and revealed himself to everyone. He was completely unharmed. He snorted and stared at the gods.
"You will never be able to kill me," he stated and waved his hand. His sword immediately flew at him and he caught it in the same motion. Azes clicked his tongue and resumed the onslaught along with Zeus.
Ifrit calmly observed and hummed. "An interesting Manifestation. Turning the caster into a true immortal…" He muttered and looked up at the sky. "But immortality is always flawed," he added as he observed the black mist in the sky emitting a faint glow. He then turned his head to look at Hades and Poseidon. Those two's fight was the fiercest by far.
"Although Hades is stronger, Poseidon has a great advantage thanks to his absolute dominance over water…" He analyzed their battle for a moment then his attention was attracted by another big conflict.
"This chaotic flow of spirit scares even me. These two are not to be underestimated," Ifrit mumbled as he looked at the section of the battlefield which had the most infantry. Angels, devils, purgatory's prisoners, and even the zombies Arima made were killing each other there.
The strange fact was that angels were killing other angels, zombies were killing zombies, devils were killing devils… On top of that, you could even find those three factions helping each other sometimes.
It was without saying that the ones responsible for this situation were Vastra and Aphrodite. They both specialized in mind control, distinctive from Lilis's control over emotions.
At the moment, the two beauties were in the middle of a battle. And even if Aphrodite was at the Third Divine while Vastra only at the Second, the latter was easily a match for her opponent and maybe even superior.
Vastra had two ‘puppets’ at the Third Divine to fight for her and the Manifestation she had just released was a Body-Shifting Type, like Utain. She had now the appearance of a succubus and her overall magic output had increased by leaps and bounds.
Unfortunately, Aphrodite didn't have any ‘puppets’ for her own use and was forced to fight by herself while also trying to disrupt Vastra's spirit.
It was also on that particular battlefield that Gabriel spent most of her time. She had to protect her soldiers that were being controlled. She seriously wanted to smack Aphrodite for encroaching the minds of her angels like that. But she also knew that if Aphrodite stopped, Vastra would become a huge problem.
"You sure are uselessly tough for a Love Goddess," Vastra commented laughingly as the giant she was sitting on defended against Aphrodite's wind magic.
The goddess snorted. "I will get rid of that smug face of yours soon enough," she uttered and threw two spheres of compressed air.
When they touched the giant, they exploded and produced giant domes of wind along with a strident noise. At the same time, the second lackey of Vastra attacked Aphrodite from her blind spot with a dagger.
The goddess gritted her teeth and chanted, "[Repel]."
A barrier of wind formed around her and blocked the attacker's dagger. The assassin immediately transformed into shadows after he failed and vanished. After that, the giant came back to strike.
Aphrodite groaned and summoned a tornado to deviate the giant’s fist. It had been going on this way since the start. The big one would fight her head-on while the small one would try to sneak up on her.
"Let's see who will last longer," Vastra smirked and spread her bat wings.
