What does death feel like?
Those who know the answer to this question are not present with us, so it remains a mystery.
How fast is it? How painful is it? No one alive can say.
However, the fear of death is enough to give people incredibly accurate descriptions on how dying feels, or would feel like.
Perhaps a light at the end of the tunnel, or some sort of eternal void.
Whether the answer is from a religious person or an atheist, everyone was unsure.
And that wasn't what Melian felt as she supposedly sank into the world of the abyss-entering the grasp of death.
Instead, it felt familiar.
"Haaa..."
A sigh can be heard, and Melian turned her non-existent eyes to see the Elven Goddess standing before her soul.
"I guess giving you most of the skills and gifts of heroes isn't enough."
"Goddess... how can we even win?" Melian asked, as her eyes began to tear up.
For a moment in deep thought, the Elven Goddess answered, "Well, the only chance is for me to enter the Physical Plane, but those fools wouldn't allow me as it would violate the sacred laws. But the good reason is that a deity's presence alone could crumble the physical realm itself."
"Then..."
"But there is another way, though it is too risky."
" And what is it?"
"...Which is to borrow your body."
Melian widened her eyes. From what she studied, there is an ancient ritual where anyone could request a deity to possess their body.
However, it has a huge risk, as it would cause the mortal's body, who are weak enough, to disintegrate into dust.
The worst part is that the mortal's soul will also be shattered from existence, no matter if they are very strong.
The only way to survive without their soul being shattered while possessed by a deity is if they were at the Transcendent Tier 3 and above.
This happened several times throughout history, often in religious nations, where individuals sacrifice their souls to gain help from their deities, despite knowing the dire consequences.
"Fortunately, I can put a tenth of my soul into your body and your soul will remain intact, but I will have to leave for several minutes, or your soul will be shattered from existence."
"So... that's the second option you're talking about?"
The Goddess nodded, "Yes."
"...Then let's do it."
——————————————————
War, one of the four servants of the Demon Lord, stood in front of the brilliant golden barrier that protected the humans, particularly his prey, from his grasp.
His massive stature cast a dark shadow over the group, and his mouth twisted into a terrifyingly toothy grin. He had just eliminated their strongest ally had to offer, so it didn't particularly consider any of these ones to be threats.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The humans huddled together in a group, staying as far away from the creature as the barrier would allow while firing their MK Mark III rifles and machine guns rapidly at the demon, even though they knew their weapons were useless against this monster.
"Do you think that barrier will hold?" asked one of the soldiers anxiously at the Commanding Officer beside him.
"I... I-"
ZTTZZ
Before the other soldier could respond, the demon of war took a step forward, entering the golden haven that was supposed to have warded off all evil.
The barrier melted, like butter would when confronted with heat.
It seemed so easy for War. His skin merely glittered as the barrier crumbled before his might. Before long, his huge body was within the barrier, along with all the humans.
As soon as this happened, the golden haven vanished from sight, dissipating into nothingness.
Nothing could withstand War... nothing at all.
"I love the feeling of hopelessness upon you humans..." War said, staring at the soldiers with his wide grin stretching even more like the demon that he was.
Now that it had completely gotten rid of his obstacle, it was finally time to kill his prey.
But-
BOOOOOM!
A sudden explosion of light erupted from right behind the Archdemon, causing him to stop dead in his tracks.
The light was pure white, and it shot right above into the skies overhead.
Everything around trembled, and the grounds shook in response to the birth of this mighty power, or rather, the being that was emerging from within it.
"What now?!" War shouted as he looked back, his grin vanishing completely as it became struck with a mix of confusion and frustration.
He was sure that the enemy had been eliminated. He was certain that there was not a single remnant of his adversary. So why?
How was this possible?
"What won't you even die!?" he roared and lunged at incredible speed, aiming to eliminate Melian before her body reformed into existence.
But before the demon could strike, Melian unleashed a burst of energy. A torrent of golden light erupted from her, creating a crater where she stood and sending powerful winds that knocked her enemy down.
Even the human soldiers were taken by surprise, nearly losing their balance from the forceful winds. But they don't care, what they were seeing is something they ever hope to see in their religious life.
The sight of a miracle.
Dirt, dust and smoke obscured the view of Melian. As the debris began to clear, golden light seeped through, giving the scene an angelic glow.
What emerged from the haze was entirely unexpected.
And this... this power no longer belonged to a mortal.
The power gushing out of her had far transcended anything the mortal mind conceive nor the body contains.
This woman... had become the very personification of power.
The power of a Transcendent Tier 3
[IMAGES]
With a single swing of her sword, Melian dispelled the lingering smoke and hell flames. She stood taller, clad in angelic, luxurious, and shining armor.
Her previous broken armor disintegrated into dust, replaced by the highest-quality magical armor forged from the strongest metals in the world: The Angelic Arcanite. Instead of a helmet, she wore a wing-shaped mask, allowing her white hair to flow freely in the air.
Melian's new holy armor rendered her barely invulnerable, with immense resistance to potent magical and physical attacks. Every spell at Transcendent Tier 2 or martial art technique was worthless against her. She was unkillable and, even more terrifying, capable of obliterating the entire city of Marawi with little effort.
Her great sword, a legendary armament and heirloom of one of the strongest heroes of the past, was of the Blade of Her Holiness. A God's jewel.
Floria Melian Shelberry was no more.
Now, Rasera, the Elven Goddess of the Holy Light, had arisen. Despite having only half of her power, Rasera embodied the pinnacle of Melian's strength in all combat categories, whether magical and physical destruction.
Her power was so immense that she could destroy entire kingdoms, just as she had done many years ago.
War was shocking, almost trembling. He had never imagined he would be fighting a deity this early.
The Elf Queen, now the Goddess Rasera, walked towards the Archdemon. Her sword extended outward, she brandished it, showcasing the opponent he had underestimated.
Each of Rasera's steps left golden patterns that emitted sparkling light into the air. Despite the awe-inspiring sight, War did not falter. Facing this god-like being was terrifying and virtually guaranteed death.
But this Archdemon was far from ordinary. He wasn't the servant of the Demon Lord without reason. Being a ruler of a thousand worlds across the Celestial Sea (Space), his strength and power was nearly equal to this opponent, as he had faced similar beings capable of wiping out civilizations.
"Are you ready, Demon?" Rasara whispered, mist leaving her lips.
The opponent she faced, a haughty, confident, and invincible demon of war, widened his eyes at hearing his real name. But after a moment, he sneered at her words and gave his response.
"It seem you know who I am, but no matter, show me what you-"
BOOOOOM!
In a blur, even for the sight of the Archdemon, the Goddess left her position, causing everything around her to shatter apart into chunks of debris.
This debris was then raised around her like an overflowing torrent that kept rising while she dashed at the enemy through all this as her body was practically a streak of yellow.
Then... she dealt the first strike.
SWISH!
Like a hot knife searing through butter, her Divine Blade easily dissected both wings of the Archdemon.
"W-WHAT!?"
WHOOOSH!
Before War, or Wil'liam, could even react, Rasera propelled herself upward, creating a rising vertical slash that instantly shattered apart the entire right arm of the demon.
The hellfire aura of the demon did nothing to stop the damage.
In a single attack, represented by a flash of energy, the entire arm broke into multiple chunks.
"W-Why you—!"
WHUUUM!
Right as Wil'liam raised his regenerated right arm to strike his opponent, a barrage of condensed debris bullets overwhelmed his entire form.
Each of these particles had been compressed by the Goddess' Magic, changing them from their massive sizes to the form of pellets. All of them were also shrouded by her Mana, which did well in combating the protective layer of Demonic Energy that protected his body.
Bottom line, Wil'liam's second arm was completely blown off by the powerful barrage they sent towards him.
But so what?
"[ORBS OF DESTRUCTION]!" Wil'liam roared, sending his voice across the entire space that he dominated.
Several large black spheres appeared all around him, among them was the one that annihilated the Archangel Unit, and he sent them flying all at once.
Some were directed at the Goddess, traveling at hypersonic speed.
But... a majority of them were sent in the directions of the groups of unprotected soldiers of the Black Armor army.
"Now what will you do? Fight me or save them? You can't do bo—!"
"You talk too much."
With a swift and precise series of attacks, Rasera slashed at War, to the point where chunks of bone and flesh burst out into the air like a gruesome rain, almost like chopped-up flesh and spraying blood.
"GUH!"
"Why not both?" The Goddess' voice, though soft, had a commanding presence that caused the injured Wil'liam to feel a slight hint of intimidation.
"...Who decided that?"
In an instant, she bounced off the air and swirled her body midair, becoming a great twister within a single second's interval.
VWUUUUUM!
Before some of the [Orbs Of Destruction] could hit any of the soldiers, they suddenly drew back and spread all around before beginning to converge in her direction.
"HAHAHA! WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO DO NOW? TAKE ALL THE HITS YOURSELF?" Seemingly recovered from most of the damage from earlier, Wil'liam laughed in twisted delight.
Rasera didn't respond. As the black spheres charged at her, ready to explode, a loud declaration from her echoed out.
"Final Seal... BREAK!"