Sharaad launched several fireballs at the Pillar, who advanced toward him and intercepted his blow midway, exploding into purple flames that sought to consume what they could of each other.
"Aegreon, I need you to buy me some time!" shouted Sariel.
"Then shut up and hurry up!"
Upon hearing this, the traveler raised his glaive above his head, floating a few inches from his hand and soon beginning to be covered with ice and snow.
Soon the weapon began to spin rapidly as the ice slowly turned into an extremely powerful blue energy. All the snow began to be attracted and sucked into the glaive, just as in the fight against Indra.
Sharaad quickly realized that the traveler was preparing a dangerous spell and advanced against him, dodging the Pillar and Luna.
As it was a time-consuming spell, Sariel was forced to interrupt it to protect himself from his opponent.
After a brief clash, he blocked Sharaad and moved away from him while Aegreon advanced again to try to keep his opponent's attention.
The traveler tried to use his magic again, but once more Sharaad interrupted him as soon as he noticed the snow accumulating on the glaive.
"Tsk, this bastard is pretty smart for a madman," cursed Sariel.
"What shall we do?" asked Luna. "We can't do anything if he keeps interrupting you."
Sariel looked at her intently as an idea crossed his mind.
"Come with me." The traveler moved away again while Aegreon fought Sharaad. "I need you to shift all your magic to your hands and release it toward the glaive. Don't hold back this time."
"Are you sure? What if I lose control?"
"That's exactly what I want to happen." He smiled confidently.
Then he raised the glaive again as snow accumulated on it, but this time Luna raised her left hand toward the weapon as all her power was furiously poured into the blade.
If Luna had been alone, she would probably have lost control and frozen the place — if Sariel hadn't already done so — but he directed and controlled her magic so that it remained in the weapon.
The princess looked at him in amazement as the magic was prepared, for he was not only pouring his own magic into the weapon but also sucking the power of Ice from the blizzard while controlling her power.
Such monstrous control was impossible to imagine. Although everything was the element of Ice, the source of the power came from a different entity, so gathering so much power so effectively required deep knowledge and technique in magic.
Sharaad obviously realized this and tried to escape from Aegreon to interrupt the magic once again, but this time there was someone else helping, pouring in a colossal amount of power.
This time, the Pillar was able to hold him for a while, but Sharaad soon escaped from him and ran towards the two.
Luna watched nervously as that crazed being approached like a rabid animal, but the traveler did not move this time.
Holding back her urge to escape, she continued to pour her power into the glaive, which at this point was just an elliptical blur of blue energy, extremely unstable and ready to explode.
Sharaad threw purple balls of flame as he advanced toward them.
For a moment, Luna thought there wouldn't be enough time.
That's when Sariel stomped hard on the ground and transferred all the strength of her body to the arm that wielded the glaive, throwing it at the king and hitting him squarely in the stomach.
Sharaad didn't even have a chance to resist and was pushed against the walls of what remained of the room, but a few stones alone would not be able to stop such power.
The stones were as if they were made of wet paper, pierced by the glaive and carrying the king with it. Both disappeared into the stones as they traveled hundreds of meters in just a few seconds.
All the snow was drawn toward the hole, until a huge explosion, even bigger than the one Indra had received, flashed a few kilometers away, finishing off what was left of the temple.
The force of the shockwave was able to flatten the site, and the cold released by the explosion was several times more intense than the coldest places in the world.
The enormous explosion lasted several seconds, causing a deafening noise and a blizzard with winds that pulverized even rock.
And after such destruction, the explosion gradually weakened until it disappeared, leaving only a coldness found nowhere else in the world.
Luna stared in amazement at a newly formed canyon created by the glaive after piercing the earth, at the end of which was a huge crater almost seven kilometers in diameter.
"Well, it's over." Sariel clapped his hands together, wiping off the dirt. "With any luck, some of his arms or legs must have been left behind."
"Wait, you killed him?" Luna asked.
"Of course, or did you expect me to spare him?"
"I thought you were going to let him live so you could look at his memories."
"He was going to die even if I didn't want him to. His body had more of the Conjuration element than it could handle. It would only be a matter of time before his own power killed him." After saying that, the traveler began to walk toward the crater. "Let's confirm it."
Without saying anything, both Aegreon and Luna followed him.
The three walked through a new valley formed by Sariel's magic, still frozen at extremely low temperatures.
After a while, they finally came across a large silver crater covered with snow. It was an even larger crater than the last one, and luckily it was a desolate place.
The crater was still about fifty meters deep, and in the middle of it lay a silver glaive with blue details. There were also what appeared to be frozen remains of a human limb, but they were slowly crumbling into small white particles.
Carefully descending, Sariel approached and collected his weapon again.
"Well, shall we go back?" asked the traveler.
In response, Aegreon just grunted affirmatively.
"Wait, what's that?" Luna pointed to the other side of the crater.
When the traveler looked at the spot she was pointing to, he noticed some gray stones scattered around and inside the crater. Considering that the rocks in the area were mostly brownish in color, any stone of a different color was noticeable.
Sariel approached what remained of these stones, which had somehow miraculously survived his magic. When he looked closely, he noticed some text written on them.
"Dies Irae..." said the traveler contemplatively.
Curious, the princess approached to read what was written.
Aegreon also seemed curious as soon as he heard these words.
"It's the same text we found before... why is it here?"
"Perhaps this was a sanctuary for angels, and we destroyed it."
"So we won't find out anything?"
"Don't be discouraged, maybe we can get something." As he said this, all the gray stones in the place began to float and organize themselves in front of Sariel and Luna, with the traveler trying to piece together the debris to form some complete text.
However, many pieces were missing, so it was only possible to obtain a few parts.
"This first part is Dies Irae, but we already know about it," commented the traveler, pointing to the stones on the far left. "This part is called Tuba Mirum."
"Tuba mirum spargens sonum, Per sepulchra regionum, Coget omnes ante thronum, Mors... the rest is missing..." Luna read the remains of the stones in the middle. "Liber scriptus proferetur, In quo totum continetur, Unde mundus judicetur..."
"The trumpet will send its wondrous sound throughout earth's sepulchres and gather all before the throne. A book will be brought forth, in which all will be written, by which the world will be judged. " Sariel translated the text. "There seems to be more, but it's all destroyed..."
"What about this other one?" The princess pointed to the stones further to the right, with the title Rex tremendae. "Rex tremendae maiestatis, Qui salvandos salvas grátis, Salva me fons pietatis..."
"King of tremendous majesty, who freely saves those worthy ones, save me, source of mercy."
There were a few more texts, but most of them were just disconnected words due to the destruction of their other parts.
"What does all this mean? All these texts talk about some judge who will judge everything, and the last one sounds more like a plea." The princess pointed to the text Rex tremendae. "Is it some kind of prophecy from the angels?"
"It seems most likely, but who this judge is or why he is so feared is not explained..."
"Could it be Kura? She was the one who created us, after all..."
In fact, the only possible existence that could be a judge and have the power to be feared would be Kura, however the texts mentioned a 'King' — Rex — and not a 'Queen' — or Regina.
"Let's go back nowo," Aegreon urged. "There is still another problem to deal with."
"Another problem?" Luna asked.
"Deciding what to do with the people," Sariel replied. "They saw everything that happened and even saw you, an angel."
Upon hearing this, the princess immediately felt guilty for being careless and not hiding her eyes. She was ready to apologize, but the traveler gestured for her not to worry.
With nothing else to do there, the three quickly returned to what was left of the Svarga temple.