Marie refused to believe it.
'He isn't.'
Even as she saw Allan fall to the ground, eyes vacant and unresponsive, she denied it. It couldn't be real. It must have been a nightmare.
'It's impossible.'
Her pupils dilated and stretched vertically. Unnoticed, her hair began to writhe.
'It's wrong. This is wrong.'
"Wood from the Hallowed Tree of Beginnings," that repugnant thing who had dared to harm her beloved spoke up frivolously. "The first material in history to have killed a vampire," he said and twirled his white spear. "As effective as always."
'He is not dead. He can't be.'
The chitin Téras turned its insectoid eyes toward the lamia. "Now then, your turn," he stated and dismissed the wooden polearm. "Hello? Are you catatonic?" He tilted his head curiously, walking toward her as she stared emptily at Allan's corpse from atop her increasingly nervous mount.
'It's this pest…! He did this to him!'
"Oh well. Forget about calling for help, I have 'hidden' this area," the Téras hummed. "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My apologies, I could not risk that man to reactivate that impressive Art. My name is Freylor Siberum Agrias, Third Abyss Ruler. A pleasure to—!"
A strident scream interrupted him.
It didn't sound human. White noise was overlaid; a thick sound similar to a snake's hiss. Its pitch almost felt modulated, duplicated, and amplified.
The Téras looked on with wide eyes as Marie's hair elongated into meter-long snakes. Her sclera became filled with red as she cried tears of blood and her pupils formed a slit touching each side of her eyes.
Her body expanded in size, especially her lower half which molted into a more menacing pattern of scales and energy. Her scream alone turned the land around her to stone. These edifices made from delicate pieces lost their kinetic transmissions and collapsed on themselves, ticking to their destruction.
"…!"
Agrias jumped back as the snakes on her head turned toward him. Their glowing eyes all focused on where he stood and turned that spot into frail stone; frail was indeed the word. Unlike the harsh and neutral gaze of Pronos, this one was spiteful and merciless.
In the process of petrification, it erased the very concept of resistance. This stone was no more solid than chalk, no matter what it may originally have been.
"Woah… and here I thought only our cousin's pet had that kind of petrification," the Abyss Ruler commented with a rather carefree tone, but a perfectly serious expression. And when he thought it was over, Marie's body underwent one last transformation.
From her back, a pair of titanic golden wings unfurled. Their wingspan dwarfed their own owner by more than two-fold. With that growth, her aura exploded.
Agrias fell silent as his cloak fluttered to the wind caused by her power. When she finally turned toward him with her bloodshot eyes crying rivers of blood, there was no rationality anywhere to be seen. Her summoned snake itself had been turned to stone under her.
"…she lost her mind," he muttered to himself. "What did she do? This is the power of a pureblood and fully-grown Gorgon... Nothing short of the original bloodline could—?!"
The Téras couldn't finish his thoughts as Marie disappeared in a cloud of powder. In the blink of an eye, the now several-meter-tall woman thrust a stone spike at his head.
Reflexively, Agrias raised his arm, only to find it turned to stone. The crude spear crushed it like some piece of rotten wood. Urgently, he grunted and activated his magic.
Without warning, his appearance deformed like a glitched display and vanished. Marie stopped her attack despite her berserk state. Her unfinished attack nonetheless made the air vibrate and blasted a linear crater for more than a hundred meters, turning the metal into stone.
She howled with a garbled voice and released a shockwave. Using every snake at her disposal, and hundreds spawning from the ground she walked on, she searched her vicinity until one of her hairs found something.
She snarled savagely and screamed intelligibly in that direction, shooting a devastating breath of black toxic gas. It melted whatever it touched and burst into an all-encompassing fog when it hit the ground.
It didn't even take a second for everything inside of it to melt into a bubbling lake. And as fast as it had hit, Agrias reappeared outside of it with a frown on his face and his arm healed.
"Each is a target of interference…" He muttered to himself. Then, as soon as he found purchase on the ground, he launched himself into the sky. Marie's gaze followed him on his ascension and burned with rage.
She flapped her golden wings and flew after him. Her snake half coiled around the sky and many of her summoned snakes took off together with her. They joined her and stuck to her scales as if seeking to combine with her.
In no time, the reptile appendage had become big enough to eclipse the light above. Marie's body burned with a fluid golden and green aura as she used it to attack Agrias like a whip.
The Téras narrowed his eyes and extended his hand. "[Aegis,]" he whispered and a spiral of light came out of his palm to form a round shield bigger than himself. Its sheen was grandiose, with a pair of eagles carved onto its sides and the head of Medusa in the middle.
When Marie's tail collided with the shield, the eagles came to life and cawed. The Medusa's eyes flashed red and in the blink of an eye, a storm of energy fired back and blasted through the large amalgam of snakes.
The lamia was pushed back, growling with her arms crossed. Her snakes hissed as they dropped to the ground dying, and somewhere in her crazed eyes, a spark ignited. In that instant, she knew that her opponent was too strong.
Therefore, "[Pnixe… Ton Ouranó!] (Strangle The Sky!)," she yelled; words spoken as if they were recorded in her muscle memory.
"[Katavróchthise Ton Parádeiso! Diliti̱ríase Tous Theoús!] (Devour Paradise! Poison The Gods!)"
With each word of power, the serpents in her hair hissed louder.
It was a call for help. One ingrained in the deepest parts of a Gorgon's soul.
"[To Frourós Téras!] (The Guardian Monster!)"
"[Tis Gorgónas Pou Prépei Na Fovitheí!] (Of The Gorgon Yet To Fear!)"
A storm was called upon the Plateau. Thunder roared and rain began to fall. The land's reflective nature was accentuated by the water, scintillating under the amber light.
Far above Agrias, an amalgamation of bright golden clouds solidified into three eyes, arranged in a triangle; sharp slits radiating nothing but fury. Then, something pushed from within the clouds and the eyes settled properly onto a creature's head.
It couldn't exactly be called a snake. Yet, it was one. It looked ferocious and far too majestic to be a mere reptile. The third eye on its forehead released light alongside the green fur that lined the underside of its neck as if emulating a beard.
Its spine could be seen shaping the flesh of its back and from each groove separating its golden scales, a million types of unknown serpentine creatures cried out, infinitely smaller than the one they seemed to be growing on like parasites.
To some, the sight was a scene of horror. And for those in the know, it was a sobering omen. Few beings in mythos wielded this amount of monstrous, yet godly energy.
"Typhon…" Agrias muttered with wide eyes as he looked up. "No… you come from there," he said in realization and snapped toward Marie whose body had become slack. "Firmament..."
« Adýnato prágma... »
"Puny thing…"
A nearly incomprehensible voice boomed from the giant monster. Marie's mouth opened at the same time, repeating the words as if mastered by a puppeteer.
« Écheis vlápsi ton apógono mou. »
"Thou hast harmed mine descendant."
The Abyss Ruler's expression twitched. "Don't kid me… your descendant? She's but a mere beast created at the System's behest! How could that be enough to manifest you of—!" He interrupted himself, grasping a detail that had escaped his mind.
"Eternal Night's gift…" He blurted out, his eyes gleaming. "He reconstructed her bloodline, didn't he? But… is that really worth your protection?"
« Den échei simasía. Oi Gorgónes eínai ta paidiá mou. Prépei na metanoíseis, parásito, pou tin pligóneis étsi. I amartía sou eínai anepanórthoti. »
"It matters not. The Gorgons are mine children. Thou ought to repent, vermin, to hurt her so.Thy sin is irredeemable."
His words rolled off with disdain.
« O, eínai móno éna éfthrausto skevós tis agonías tis. Se aftí tin katástasi, na se skotóso... den boró. »
"Alas, 'tis but a frail vessel of her distress. In this state, slay you... I cannot."
Despite his words, Typhon's third eye began to concentrate more power.
« Na se timoríso, tha to kánō. »
"Punish you, I shall."
The serpents hissed in chorus and the storm worsened. Typhon opened his mouth and the sound that came from his throat made space itself quake.
"Damn it…" The Téras swore and extended his hand outward. "I will be found at this rate. Please don't make my job harder…" He narrowed his eyes and summoned a bow taller than himself.
Yellow light descended from the sky as if celebrating the weapon's arrival. The air began to heat up as soon as it appeared, dispersing rays from its sun-like material.
Typhon's aura wavered in astonishment.
« Esý... pós katécheis aftó to tóxo; »
"You... how dost thou possess this bow?"
Agrias smirked. "Oh, but wait, there's more," he declared and his left hand called down a bolt of lightning from seemingly nowhere. The rumble it created momentarily dispersed the storm.
Blinding, it was a jagged and solid bolt of lightning that thundered in the Téras grip. Its presence dwarfed the bow and electrified all living beings that looked at it.
« To tóxo tou Phoíbou... kai i astrapí tou Zeûs Patēr... »
"The Phoebus' bow... and the Sky Father's bolt..."
The tone of 'Marie's voice' was both aghast and outraged.
"My Nirvana Skill… is unreasonable," Agrias scoffed as he pulled the bow's string and nocked the lightning bolt onto it. Then, as soon as he tried to increase the tension further, lightning burst out of the projectile and thundered wildly.
"[PastUnbound, Future Unmade, The Master of Slayers,]" he intoned as he struggled to tame both Apollo's bow and Zeus' lightning bolt. "That is the name of it. It's such a powerful skill that it cripples the rest of my status other than my magic."
Typhon did not speak anymore.
"When I face an opponent, I conjure all sorts of 'effective methods' to kill them. Most of the time, it manifests as weapons. At others, it is knowledge, spells that I should not be able to use, or even an ally from yonder. It works especially well on beings of legend and tale like you ."
Agrias grinned as he reached the full tension of his bow. "You… the enemy of an entire Pantheon and their gods; you offer me on a platter more than a hundred different ways to kill you."
With those words carried away by the winds, both sides fell silent and attacked.
Typhon's eye flashed and he unleashed a storm mired in golden flames.
Zeus' bolt soared, swathed in the light of the sun, and covered the sky with lightning.
On impact, it was as if a battle lost to time was being recreated. The System's infrastructure was tested as the divine dignity of the sun and lightning descended upon this world. They pierced the flaming storm only to detonate into a golden mayhem.
The waves of energy flowed inward and then erupted into a sparking bouquet of wind, lightning, and fire. And for a short moment, the peak of the cataclysm shone white and pierced the sky.
* * *
As Nyx erased another hundred Téras with Aeterna, she retracted her whip sword and breathed out, looking around to see if more had escaped the ships of Machina.
Then, to her left, Flavia landed with a concerned frown on her face. "Nyx, have you seen Allan or Marie anywhere?"
"No. Why?" The goddess replied, immediately worried.
"I can't sense them, messages are not going through, and the friend list isn't working," the witch said with a dark expression. "It's as if they vanished."
Nyx's eyes widened. "Where were they las--" She abruptly stopped talking and whipped her head toward the city, or to be exact, something behind it. There was a tremor coming from below. Like the repercussions of a battle between titans… but incomprehensibly, it stopped immediately as if something had suppressed it.
"That was…" She whispered in shock.
A familiar presence had violently struck her perception and left just as fast.
"It can't be, that monster should not be here…" She mumbled. "And if he was, his power is not the kind to gently fade away like this…!" She trembled, realizing what was happening.
"Nyx?" Flavia called her worriedly.
"We need to search for them! Right now!" The goddess said, summoning shadow wings. "I think they have been trapped in some kind of concealing array," she said and took off. "I will take the west side of the city! Warn the others and call Rakna!"
Flavia watched her fly in surprise but hurriedly contacted everyone.
Meanwhile, Nyx's expression sank as she flew across the city. 'The only thing remotely capable of forming a connection to Typhon is Marie's gift…' She thought grimly. 'And there is no way she did it in good circumstances.'
* * *
Agrias grunted as he slammed a fist on the burning and boiling ground. The surroundings were ruined for kilometers, with melted craters and crooked hills. But strangely, the damage could be seen drawing a perfect circular delimitation as if something had stopped it from going too far.
It truly was incomprehensible that this carnage hadn't been noticed. One could even still see the crafts of Orion patrolling the sky. Yet, it seemed as if they were ignoring this place.
The Abyss Ruler looked to his left and saw his arm gone. He then looked to his right and spotted a powerless Marie cradling Allan, a shell of golden wind protecting her.
"…damn it. My magic failed for a split second. That Night Goddess must have sensed it," he huffed in annoyance and looked up. "Happy?"
Typhon was half gone, his body decomposing itself into wind and fire. Most of it was him being unsummoned back to Egregore, but a huge chunk of his face had been charred by Zeus' bolt.
He didn't say anything, but his three eyes were locked onto Agrias. They seemed to be heralding a promise; that Typhon, God Scourge, would remember this.
When the monstrous serpent finally disappeared, Agrias sighed in relief.
"Fuck, I'm supposed to be a scout, seriously," he complained and slowly stood up. He nearly lost his balance and clicked his tongue. He looked at his missing arm anxiously. Faint, golden sparks were crackling around it. A nasty kind of energy was infiltrating his flesh, stopping regeneration and spreading to the rest of his body.
He had just been cursed bad enough that he could do nothing about it. It was quite ironic. To be blighted by an existence that could very well be defined as the Greek God of Monsters, who had a direct link to the name of his species.
"It's sad; that's what it is," he snorted. "The Boss and Roias will give me an earful for this," he said and dusted his ruined cloak. He looked at the werebat he killed and grunted.
"Well, at least I took out my main targets before I decided to go for this one," he stated, revealing an unsettling truth as to his presence on this battlefield.
He started walking toward the couple, regaining his gait until he was comfortable with his injury and weakened body. The ground was steaming as he stepped on the hot metal, while some of the misshapen structures molded by the explosion also collapsed.
"Allan…" Marie cried as she tried to wrap her arms around the werebat. Her hair slowly reverted to normal as her Gorgon transformation ended.
Agrias' foot stomped the ground as he stopped in front of them.
"You should have reined in your rationality," he told her. "As a Gorgon… your physical strength and immortality would have limited my options as long as you had kept using your magic to take the edge. What a shame."
He scoffed and a peculiar sword, engraved with Greek runes, and shaped like a sickle at the tip, fell into his waiting grip. "Not that it would have ended any differently," he added with a sneer. "Be on your way," he raised his sword. "Through the mercy of Harpē."
"…do it, you soulless thing," Marie jeered with tears dripping down her face. She never took her eyes away from Allan, embracing him tighter. "Rakna won't let you get away with this."
"Perhaps," he admitted sincerely and was about to swing when he heard an unexpected squeak sounding from somewhere. It was such a disorienting occurrence that he froze on the spot.
Nothing should have been able to enter 'this place' quite yet.
"…?"
With a hesitant glance, he located the source. It was on top of a broken and battered rod of metal, where a red-eyed bat stared at him. Then, he noticed a second one hanging below. And from that point on, the chirping began to come from all directions and in ever-increasing numbers.
Shivering, he looked around. Before he knew it, hundreds of bats had surrounded this spot and focused their gazes solely on him.
Wings folded, loudly chirping; they sat upright and hounded him with their glowering orbs.
"What…?"
And an inert finger twitched.