Asteria knew what the nightmare creature was at a glance — it was like she was drawn to it. She wanted to follow it. It was dominance and the strength to back it up.
This was a calamity.
But the Queen of Nightmare didn't care, why should she? She's a Queen of these creatures and nothing should stand in her way. So that's what she did.
Her blade of starlight danced between the Awakened Beasts she didn't hear the name of, the spell's voice constantly whispering in her ear every time her sword's strike hit true.
[You have slain...]
[You have slain...]
[You have slain...]
Asteria began to laugh as she relished the utter joy she felt from the blood being spilled, her foes being slaughtered and the sweet, sweet smell of the Flame buzzing in her nose — in her head telling her to continue with the madness.
She didn't pay heed to the Awakened around her, they were all fighting quite well, and that didn't mean she didn't hear the whispering telling her to slaughter them, too, to take their uncorrupted selves and devour their desire.
In fact, she couldn't tell where the nightmare creatures ended and the awakened warriors began. It was all the same to her. The slaughter, the madness, the joy and ecstasy of the hunt.
[You have slain, Awakened Beast, Hungry Maw.]
"Oh..." Asteria laughed again, a grin playing on her lips, "So that's what you're called?" She wiped her mouth with her hand, savouring the taste of the sweet blood coating her figure. "And you taste ever so sweet, too..."
"ASTERIA!" A female voice called out behind her.
It was Jet.
'Jet? What is she doing here... why does she need me?' Asteria pondered, tilting her head as she swiped her blade to the right, letting the spell's voice play in her ear once more.
"You're too far!" The Master pleaded for her to come back, that she was too far near the gate.
But oh... it was too late for her to return.
The path in front of the Insatiable Queen of Nightmare was clear, the beasts she had been slaughtering were all but thinned out or afraid to approach. The Fallen Titan was waiting.
The Titan was a calamitous size that seemed to overshadow the sun above; to be as tall as a mountain. The Titan looked like it was made out of stone or soil, packed and packed until it formed a dense shell.
It had bright, orange and malicious eyes that looked directly at the Queen with no intent of bowing its head towards their monarch. The Fallen Titan was lofty and arrogant — something the Queen of Nightmare would not stand for right now.
More than that, there was what seemed to be a whole ecosystem on its back: moss, plants, trees and even smaller nightmare creatures, nothing above dormant given their size and feeble structure. There were large stones, too, as if forming a jagged spine of protection and a deterrent to those who dared to challenge it.
Asteria pointed her blade at the Titan's maw, their jaw wide open that seemed like it was smiling at the delicate Queen below. "You're next!" Her voice chimed in a seductive tone, her smile equally addictive and twisted in an expression of absolute pleasure.
She relished this feeling, it was exhilarating for someone who wished for power and joy.
'But why does it feel so wrong?'
Asteria didn't care, there was a being who refused to submit to her amidst this carnage, and a being who was destroying the infrastructure with every step it took while being entirely passive like the lofty creature it was.
"Hey Titan! Do you know what breaks stone?" She laughed, jumping to her feet in a sprint towards the mountainous calamity. "A really, really big hammer!" The starlight longsword in her hand transformed, forming a gigantic warhammer with a flat base and a pointed edge on the opposite side.
CRACK.
Her hammer struck the Titan's flesh and a fissure of stone exploded from the wound, causing the Titan to finally make its move and attempt to swat the foolish ant away from itself.
"You're tougher than I thought! Haha!" She laughed, preparing for a second attack after narrowly avoiding the clawed arms that threatened to tear her into pieces.
By now, the rest of the Awakened members had arrived after dealing with the small fry of awakened creatures and stood behind Asteria — almost fearful of the Princess of Song in front of them.
"Asteria! Wait!" Jet called out again, forcefully putting her hand onto her shoulder. "You're going to get yourself killed. You're not in the right space, back up." She ordered, her voice stern and serious, unlike anything Asteria had seen before.
Asteria was confused, scared and most importantly she wanted to fight back. But she couldn't... the closer she got to the Fallen Titan, the closer she approached the nightmare gate behind it. It was intoxicating, making her emotions run rampant — almost out of control of her own body and consumed by the raging urge of corrupted desire.
What was she doing...?
No, no, she was fighting, yes! Fighting to protect... protect who?
If she was fighting to protect why did she enjoy the chaos?
"I'll be fine, Master Jet." Asteria choked out, an involuntary smile still on her beautiful face despite being covered in the blood of the invading creatures. "But.. do you know what can break a tough stone, Master Jet?"
The Ascended government agent didn't reply, nor did she see how this was relevant when the Fallen Titan was preparing its offense.
"You'll see..." The Princess of Song laughed, her voice joyous, her hand gripping her [Blade of Destiny] at her waist before calmly drawing it.
'I wonder what this will do.' She chuckled inwardly, already twitching at the effect her actions might have in her lunacy of desire.
Launching herself towards the Titan once more, Asteria began to draw in the air, her violet essence dancing like sparks as it took shape.
It was a chaotic rune, one that embraced the end of something. To exterminate, to destroy, to utterly reduce something to ashes. It was a rune that embraced the destruction of all things.
This was the True Name of Destruction.
Its literal meaning is "reduce something unto ashes." or, "to destroy what rebels."
It was the polar opposite of the name of Light which was to be a saviour. This was intended to destroy and harm, not save and provide salvation.
Asteria didn't stop with one rune, no. She began to ponder what would happen if she wrote multiple runes with similar meanings or ones that can influence one another.
She drew the rune that symbolised storage. Why? She wanted to store a vast amount of essence within this rune, to fuel her destructive desires onto the foe that would refuse her will.
The Name of Storage was simple to draw and simpler to understand — it meant to carry, to literally store and preserve. Thus it could store her essence better than something else.
"Haha! I'm really going insane." Asteria managed to draw these runes in the few seconds she spent airborne given their simple shapes and how her blade assisted in the shaping of the runes with her intent.
Landing on the back of the Fallen Titan's mossy stone spine, Astrid shouted towards the Soul Reaper below. "Are you ready for fireworks?!"
The Soul Reaper however, vehemently refused the idea and shouted some things that indicated she wanted the Princess to get down else she'd die a dog's death.
The Queen of Nightmare patted the back of the Titan who struggled to reach her since she was mounted on its blind spot and whispered. "I hope you enjoy the Destruction."
BOOM!
CRACK!
BOOOOOM!
A large explosion was caused, given how she dumped two full cores of her essence into it, which was far more than she could hold before, all intended to fuel her rune of destruction.
There was a ball of fire that felt as hot as the sun, that melted the stone of the Titan, evaporating the moss, plants and trees on its back into nothingness as if it never existed before.
Asteria began to lose her grip on the Titan, her hands scorched from the heat and destruction she had brought to herself and her enemies.
[You have slain, Awakened Beast, Hungry Maw.]
[You have slain, Awakened Beast, Hungry Maw.]
[You have slain, Awakened Beast, Hungry Maw.]
[You have slain, Awakened Beast, Hungry Maw.]
The spell continuously whispered in her ear dozens of times a second as the carnage she created decimated everything in the area.
But her blood ran cold even in her lunacy of desire and chaos when she paid attention to the Spell.
[You have slain, Awakened Human...]
[You have slain, Awakened Human...]
"No, no, no..." She never meant to hurt anyone, she just wanted to help people, she wanted to rid the world of a calamity that threatened to destroy a small city. She didn't want to kill anyone, what happened? Did she go too far?
Her hesitation and panic was all the Fallen Titan needed to throw Asteria off of its back...
...and into the Nightmare Gate it came from.
Desire.
Corruption.
Overwhelming emotion.
Consume, consume, consume, consume, CONSUME.
An intense, agonising feeling that felt like it was calling her home yet refusing her entry and tearing her soul in half — her body into two.
Her senses were disorderly.
She couldn't feel the Awakened that remained nearby.
She couldn't sense her anchor in the Dream Realm.
She felt blind.
And all she felt was an overwhelming, all-consuming desire to embrace her corruption without trying to call herself human.
To grow stronger in the eternal competition of strength in the Dream Realm...
...because that's where she belonged.
The Dream Realm.
Corruption.
A realm that's created by the dreams of others.
Repose.
The Spell whispered dangerously in the ear of the nearly consumed Queen of Nightmare.
[You have embraced your source element: Corruption and Repose.]