Onyx continued through the sewers, hearing rumbling and crashes from above as he went.
Eventually, one of the sewer grates was slammed in and dented, then another strike followed as a god-like figure descended into the sewers directly next to Onyx.
"It's further up."
Onyx notified the angelic servant of Chase, who had gratefully joined him in his quest to find the sacred chambers of Equus.
"Deep within the chasm below Equus, it is said that an ancient library that has been stripped of all books lies within."
Onyx mumbled, holding out his crackling torch as he walked.
"I sense something strong... You are eleven star output last time you mentioned anything correct?"
Lithica asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.
The orb of light circling Lithica like a pet spirit.
Onyx shook his head, reaching an old stone wall before him.
"Twelve..."
He whispered, before checking his vox.
[Constellation of The Black Dragon.]
[Primis Affinity: Black Dragon.]
[Output: 12 Stars.]
[Axis Output: 9 Stars.]
[Combat Forms: Squire Form (Novice), Basic Sword Form (Adept), Dragon Form (Expert), Warrior Form (Mastered).]
[Primis Abilities: Dragon Claw, Dragon Slash, Black Draconic Energy, Draconic Missile, Dracon Rage.]
[Axis Abilities: Enhance, Confirma, Accelerare.]
[Spatios Abilities: Recus, Onslaught, Focus.]
[Nexus Abilities: None]
[Curses: None]
[Divine Abilities: None]
[TRINITY ART: EYE OF THE BLACK DRAGON, FORM OF THE BLACK DRAGON.]
Reading off his stats mentally, he frowned as he felt a strange sense of underwhelm at the state of his own abilities.
The Constellations were the pathways that all magic users in the world gained access too once they had reached ten stars, and yet Onyx did not have very many unique ones. As his Axis abilities were all that of things he had learned in class and of basic level.
Reaching out to the wall before him, he began to fumble with the mossy stone bricks, grabbing and pulling.
"What is it?"
Lithica asked, leaning forward to take a closer look at the wall.
Onyx stopped, turning towards his ally.
"Watch."
After he spoke it, Onyx knocked on the brick wall with his metal gauntlet, sounding a hollow noise throughout the cave.
"Ah."
Lithica let out a satisfied exhale, as his golden orb of light happily swayed around his body.
"Step back."
He eventually said, causing Onyx to turn toward Lithica in confusion.
"Huh?"
Then just as he began to realize what was about to happen, a beam of golden light pierced straight through the wall with a loud explosion, as the energy whizzed past Onyx's head by only an inch or two.
Turning back around as dust settled within the sewers, Onyx frowned as he spoke mockingly at the over-eccentric celestial.
"That's one way to do it..."
The two stepped into the grand room of what had once held one of the greatest libraries in what was once The Twelve Kingdoms of Vallmora.
A small light buzzed through the haze of dust, and shimmered many kilometers above them in the ginormous room.
The dust was so sick that it almost seemed like mirages or mystical illusions were being tricked upon Onyx.
His eyes flickered across the room, scanning for anything, or more so anyone.
However, although his eyes were not deceiving him, nevertheless-the terrible soul-crushing mana racked throughout his bones anyway.
"Lithica..."
Onyx spoke carefully and quietly-slowly pulling the black visor from his dragon steel armor down.
"I feel it as well."
The normally stoic and childish angel spoke almost with fear ridden in his silently shaky voice.
Hearing a creak within the halls of the underground structure, Lithica immediately summoned his still-regenerating wings and flapped them violently-immediately clearing out the wall of dust before them.
"We have to go now, this mission is a bust!
Lithica yelled, before the bright light above them had suddenly grown three times as large.
Then two immediate flashes of light burned the retinas within the Onyx's eyes, even the hair underneath his armor had singed within seconds of the shockwave's presence.
Hanging onto dear life-Onyx snapped his eyes shut, summoned all of his axis energy into every inch of his body surface, prayed to every lesser, major, primordial, celestial, cursed, and elder god within the history of the continent, and dropped his sword-clutching his own body for everything that he hated and loved within this world. Then the light burned straight through his eyelids, melting his armor as it sank deeper and deeper into his own flesh and blood.
Once there had been a floor beneath Onyx, but the terrible soul-draining essence from "that" being had lit the world aflame, demolishing any resemblance that the grand library hall of Equus.
Onyx had originally wondered what beast, the church of Elenora would have sent to aid Rider, but now it became so foolishly clear that they had not been here to aid Rider in the least.
Onyx's body instinctively lashed before the sound of eruption echoed throughout the halls, and of course it came.
Beneath the ringing of his ears, a terrible pressure threatened to rupture the very brain matter behind the drums of his ears.
Unable to feel anything but pain and weight being pressed upon the underside of his palm, he clenched his hand tighter beneath the numbness as left felt like right and down could only be thought of as up.
Screaming in agony as he forcibly lifted his eyelids, feeling the skin feel as if it were peeling off of his own organs.
The smell was the first that returned, as he immediately was greeted the burning of his own flesh.
Then the eternal white within his eyes returned in small flashes, as he had indeed grabbed hold of a jagged piece of flooring, as below him lie a near endless abyss, leading to what Onyx feared was what would be a world that he could not survive.
Lifting his head through pain and numbness, he slowly looked upon the sinister grin of a pale skinned man with heavy armor and a singular gloveless hand.
His golden eyes looked down upon him with naught but mockery and flauntation of the terrible power that this very man possessed.
Onyx tried to speak, then tried to blurt out anything as only rasps of air could escape his stone-like lips.
His armor had been completely incinerated, being the only reason that Onyx could even physically hang onto the ledge.
Feeling the dread of everything kick in, as Vita of House Aurum began to chuckle and snicker at the fear plastered all over Onyx's charred face.
Onyx could not hear the man clad in gold either, as only ringing filled his sense of sound.
As the frames of reality shuttered like the lens of a magic camera, Vita lowered his gloveless hand ever so slowly while speaking in unrecognizable words.
Onyx began to slowly let go of the ledge, trying his absolute hardest in order to loosen his fingers and embrace the void beneath him.
Time moved slowly.
The hand got closer, as Onyx's heart stopped while his body slowly began to descend.
Inches, centimeters, as his body got out of range, a terrible flash of power shot through the air, and time reversed itself.
The hand grabbed his face with a jolt as every single one of Onyx's lost senses returned in an aching flash.
"The church of Elenora has passed their judgement upon you..."
The man spoke with such seriousness that Onyx thought that previous thirty seconds had been a dream, or a nightmare.
However, as crimson and black words filled of blood began to crawl across his peripheral vision, Onyx's soul had already fell into the void below.
Zero thought had been left within Onyx's body as the phrase "Marked By Death" simply sat still in his vision as a crushing hand squeezed his skull harder and harder.
Life was still, still, and even more so still.
Onyx's head was eventually let go of, and his body began to limply descend into the black void below.