Capítulo 118: Gehenna - Impulsive Mistakes
Redel was aware that Athena was powerful, but didn't expect it to be that much. They had the same amount of mana, but it looked like Athena could condense more mana into a spell than any other god, except for Asherah, who had an absurd mana control even among the gods.
When the magical explosion occurred, Redel, who was at the center of all that mana distortion, didn't understand how Athena had so much firepower in her possession and as she screamed in agony and despair, Redel thought that maybe Athena was on the same level as Asherah.
Redel's confusion was understandable. Athena overlapped several destruction spells in an attempt to get rid of Redel, who resisted with everything she had, creating protective layers of mana around her.
However, while Redel resisted, her mana was also quickly consumed whenever the layers were penetrated by Athena's magic, 'cause the magic attacking her was stealing mana from her and using it to attack her more offensively.
Redel was slowly reaching her limit and could barely move inside that gigantic sphere of brutal energy that was trying to kill her.
As she was in excruciating pain and screamed, Redel cursed Athena several times without being heard.
As for Athena, she was no better off than Redel. When she cast the spell, Athena was also caught in the center of the explosion and somewhere there she was resisting her own power.
Athena could easily get rid of it, but since she didn't know what Redel's state was in that tangle of spells, she chose to wait and endure the pain that lashed her every time her mana shield was pierced.
The two were in a critical situation, every time the shields they raised were penetrated, their mana was practically stolen by magic and quickly depleted.
This was the effect of the {Mana Scatter} spell Athena cast mixed with dozens of other spells she cast against Redel in a moment of despair at seeing that if she continued to fight the goddess in the way she was, she would lose.
Redel and Athena were equivalent in terms of mana, but Redel had the power that only a god had. The purpose of existence, something that made Redel stronger than Athena and eventually would lead Redel to victory against the mortal.
Well, that is if Athena hadn't created that condensed mana explosion.
With Athena's mana being depleted by magic, the magic itself was also running out, and minutes after it was cast, the mana sphere gradually faded away until disappear.
***
Athena's presence was something strong and those who were capable, managed to get a sense of Athena's situation. Anemus and Mifa were part of those few people who were capable and while taking care of the people Athena took the trouble to save, they followed their lover's situation with worry, nervousness and anxiety.
They were afraid that Athena wouldn't be able to defeat two gods at the same time and even though they had faith in their lover, they couldn't help the negative thoughts from disturbing their minds.
Then their fear came true when the mana sphere engulfed half of the floating continent and Athena's presence, which was something strong until then, started to get weaker every second.
Anemus looked at the sky and her heart constricted with an intense fear and when she saw Fotiá faint, Anemus assumed that the worst had happened and couldn't suppress her cry that echoed mournfully until it reached Mifa's ears.
Mifa still felt Athena, it was a presence that was getting weaker and weaker, but she still felt her lover and prayed for anything that could help Athena while she could do nothing but take care of the people.
Mifa craved for power and allowed herself to be corroded for not being more useful and stronger, and while thinking this and watching the surroundings of the crowd, Mifa heard Anemus crying.
As soon as she heard Anemus cry, Mifa thought the worst. Mifa still felt Athena, but she also thought that maybe Anemus had a greater connection with their lover and so she could feel her presence better.
Mifa's thoughts were haunted by sadness quickly as she let herself be fooled by Anemus' premature crying and even though she still managed to feel Athena's presence, Mifa began to howl melancholy.
They were just suffering in advance, but it wasn't in vain because in the end they were right, because as soon as the mana sphere disappeared, Athena's presence also disappeared.
Anemus and Mifa stared at the sky with desperate eyes, looking for Athena and not wanting to believe what they felt, or rather, not felt.
While Mifa looked at the sky from the ground, looking for Athena among the pieces of rocks and rain of earth falling from what was left of the continent, Anemus flew and looked for Athena closer.
The place where, until a few minutes ago, was the territory of Basilica's empire, no longer existed and in that space, the air was full of mana, residues of Athena's magic, which made Anemus' skin burn as if she were near a fiery furnace fiery.
As she rubbed her arms, trying to soothe the burning sensation in her skin, Anemus looked around, in all directions, her eyes filled with tears that ran down her face as not seeing a single living soul.
Anemus lowered her head, shrugged her shoulders and caught the cry of despair that urged in her throat to get out. Then, with her head down, the fairy saw something humanoid fall with the rocks and earth that had broken off from the rest of the floating continent.
That sight filled the saddened heart of Anemus with hope as she plunged through the air toward what could be Athena.
(If she's still alive, we can cure her.) Anemus thought.
From the ground, Mifa looked momentarily at the sky and saw Anemus dive after something that resembled a person but was black and smoky as if on fire.
At that moment, Mifa widened her eyes that were even sadder to see her being in her giant wolf form.
Hope was something Mifa didn't want to hold on to, that spark of hope that rose in her heart could be something poisonous that would hurt her even more, but the love she felt for Athena made that hope something she didn't want to get rid of.
(I know she could survive something like that!) Mifa fed that hope and ran at full speed to where the body fell.
***
The trip was very quick, it didn't take even three minutes for Theikós to arrive at the far north of the world after saying goodbye to Anemus and co. in the southeast.
Theikós and Ytria were in a place surrounded by frozen mountains and dead trees. Everything was covered in snow, but Ytria still remembered that place, because that place was where her suffering began.
Even though everything was under a thick layer of snow, it was impossible for Ytria to forget the location of the seal of the forgotten goddess she found along with her dear friends.
"Where is?" Theikós asked as she transformed into her human form.
"This way." Ytria answered and led the way through a gap between the two rows of frozen trees. "When we find three pillars of rock that look like the fangs of dragons, we'll be right where the seal is."
They walked for some time in silence until Ytria broke the silence, asking why the dragon was helping Athena. Ytria could understand the motives of Ella, a dragon who lived in the age of the gods and then had nothing else to do but sleep to avoid boredom.
Ella was searching for fun as being with Athena, someone who was willing to face the gods, but Theikós was relatively young compared to Ella, so Ytria did not understand what she wanted.
Theikós thought of Athena and felt the same shiver she'd felt in her belly when she'd first felt Athena's dragon form presence. It made her want a child of Athena even more than before. "Fuehehe~..." Theikós laughed ecstatically, not answering Ytria's question.
"???" Ytria felt a disgusting chill at the sight of Theikós' expression that practically drooled with dreamy eyes. "I don't know what you want with Athena, but you sure is weird."
"You wouldn't understand..." Theikós said as she wiped the drool that was starting to trickle out of her mouth.
"I appreciate my ignorance on this..."
Theikós knew that Athena was a woman and that he couldn't give her a child in the conventional way, but for dragons, sex wasn't the only way to have a child, and Theikós was just waiting for an opportunity to convince Athena to give her what she wanted.
After this conversation, silence reigned, broken only by complaints of cold from Ytria and the hiss of the wind that blew through the bare branches of the dead trees there.
Once they reached the spot at the end of the path among the grove of frozen trees, Ytria was confused, there was nothing, but a snow glade and a rock wall made by the mountain that stretched out to the sky until it could not be seen.
"It was supposed to be here!" Ytria said and walked all over the place without finding anything that indicated she was in the right place. "I do not understand..."
"Your memories might be wrong..." Theikós said in a carefree way.
"No, I'm sure the seal was here!" Ytria insisted and began to dig the snow. "Perhaps it was covered by snow after so many millennia without anyone coming here."
"You speak as if in the past someone came to clean this place..."
"Well, there was a village close by that took care of this place in the past. They didn't know what was here, but they were afraid to irritate it and have their village destroyed for it, so they took care of this place from time to time."
"Hmm...Hm?" Theikós propped herself against one of the trees and realized that it wasn't an entire tree. "Get out of the way, I'm going to dig this place up. You might be right."
Theikós returned to her original form and as Ytria moved out of the way, behind the blue dragon. Theikós flapped her wings, creating a current of air and electricity that exploded and swept the snow away.
(That way you'll be able to find what you're looking for.) Theikós said while a cloud of snow covered the place.
When the snow cleared, in the place where Theikós created a small storm, a deep hole appeared in the snow.
Inside the hole it was possible to see the three pillars of rock that curved slenderly towards the center where a circle with various symbols and ancient runes hovered over a round white stone.
Ytria's eyes gleamed with a slight longing and fear as she saw the symbols radiating a pale blue light. She remembered how exhilarated she was as find that place for the first time and then the fear of being there, the fear of return to her state of madness and destruction.
"Aren't you going down?" Theikós, already in her human form, asked.
Ytria took a deep breath and sighed heavily, easing the fear that was starting to get stronger and looking at the dragon, she responded with a smirk. "Yes, I'll go down.... You..."
"?"
"No, nothing." Ytria took another deep breath and began to slide through the snow to the bottom of the crater created by Theikós.
"Can't you use your powers?" Theikós asked while hovering as she followed Ytria.
"I only have two percent of my real powers. It is just enough to break ten parts of the seal, the rest I'll be counting on you."
"Eh? I don't want to." Theikós said with distinct displeasure.
Ytria stopped slide snow down and looked at Theikós with displeasure. That made the fact that she had brought Theikós there useless. Ytria sighed and closed her eyes as she scratched the back of her neck. "Then I guess I'll have to tell Athena that you're of no use to her..."
At that moment a snap could be heard which had been caused by Theikós's sudden turn of the head as she looked at Ytria with wide eyes. "Y-you said what?"
(Stupid dragon...) Ytria disguised the smile that was beginning to appear on her lips and waved her hand. "No, nothing important, it's just that if you're not useful then there's no point in her keeping you around, right?"
"N-no, but I'm useful, I'm strong!" Theikós flapped her wings and hovered towards Ytria. "See, I can even give you some mana."
This came as a surprise to Ytria who only wanted Theikós to cooperate with her, but her teasing was far more effective than she expected and now she was receiving the draconic mana from Theikós, feeling her body lighten and the weakness of her powers being restored quickly.
"See? I can be helpful!" Theikós said after a few minutes supplying Ytria with mana.
It had only been a little over five minutes, but Ytria felt as if thirty percent or more of her power had returned. The normal was that as soon as she ran out of mana, the world would supply her with more and regenerate her mana in a matter of seconds, but that part of her that had connection to the world's mana had been lost when she sacrificed a part of her soul to bring the Athena's soul to this world.
Lacking this trait in her, Ytria would recover mana like an ordinary person, but she had thousands of times more mana than an ordinary person and it would take months to recover everything.
Ytria looked at Theikós with an impressed look for having regained so much mana in such a short time. She knew dragons were amazing creatures, but that was beyond her imagination.
Now, with thirty percent of her mana, she could create the keys to open ninety percent of the locks and the rest she could manipulate Theikós to do it.
"Amazing..." Ytria said with a smile. "Impressive, but with this you still have to help me."
Theikós opened her mouth to oppose Ytria, but then remembered the words from a few minutes ago and fell silent, becoming slightly sullen.
"Think of it like making Athena owe you a favor." Ytria said, trying to cheer the dragon up. "So you can ask her to do something for you."
"!!!" Hearing it, Theikós beamed, grabbed Ytria and dove to the bottom of the crater. "Ehehehehe!"
If the king of Veand saw what the dragon looked like now, he would not believe his own eyes. Theikós were like two different people when Athena was involved.
When the subject didn't involve Athena, she had a composed and elegant personality, but if the matter involved Athena, she became a child excited by a new toy.
This was unnatural even among dragons. In addition to Theikós, there were three other dragons who had a fascination for another species, making their type something rare, strange, and excluded from the dragons' social cycle.
A long time ago Theikós had her first contact with a human, the man who caught her attention was a otherworlder who, after coming to this world, decided that he would live a life free of responsibility.
A powerful man who lived as he wanted and founded a kingdom together with Theikós who chose to be banished from her clan and live with the human.
Theikós could have made the man immortal, but man didn't want to. He was content to have Theikós as his queen and to have a strong son who would inherit the throne of the kingdom he founded with the love of his life.
The man lived, grew old and died loving Theikós, who watched the man wither not knowing what to do after his death.
Seeing Theikós' anxiety, the man asked her for something that would quiet her heart.
He gave her a mission of hundreds of years and sealed it with a blood oath, making Theikós the guardian of the kingdom she helped found. But this is history of the past and Theikós, even though she was still bound by the pact, she was living in the now.
Once they reached the ground, Ytria began to work on creating the keys to each part of the seal, but even with the necessary knowledge, doing this was not an easy job. Ytria needed to take each rune and symbol and fuse them with her mana without breaking them and thus create an astral key that would be used to unlock a part of the seal.
Besides being a difficult job, it was extremely delicate and if Ytria got it wrong even for a little bit, all the work would be lost and she would have to start all over again.
It indicated that the work there was far from over.
***
Meanwhile, Anemus and Mifa were sitting next to a charred body that was missing an arm and a leg, but even if just a little, the person was still breathing.
"I can't feel anything coming from her. Is this person really Athena?" Mifa asked with a pained look.
Anemus bit her thumbnail as she tried to think of what to do. She didn't know if that person was Athena or not and she didn't have a spell strong enough to heal that kind of wound.
The person lying between Mifa and Anemus was completely charred and even had burning embers in their body still. They appearance was unrecognizable and their mana was too weak to be felt. It was as if the person was clinging to the last spark of their life.
Anemus knew that in that state, if she tried to move that person even an inch, the person would die instantly. She was divided, wanting that disfigured person to be Athena at the same time she did'nt wanted it.
(There's Serien, who has the strongest holy element, but what if this person isn't Athena? What if we heal them and they end up to be one of the gods? What do I do?)
Mifa stared into Anemus' thoughtfully indecisive eyes. She could almost tell what the fairy was thinking and also had the same concerns, but unlike Anemus, Mifa had only one thought.
(If this person is Athena, we're making her suffer more than necessary and if not, it's not worth living alone...) Mifa stood up and transformed after she had walked away from Anemus and the stranger, then said. "I'll go get Serien."
Anemus didn't have time to disagree, when she opened her mouth, Mifa had already jumped away, towards where Serien should have been and a few minutes later, Mifa returned with the queen on her back.
Serien was shocked to see the person who still clung to life even though thet was at death's door. The person was in such a deplorable state that Serien wasn't even confident that she could heal them with her magic alone.
"T-this person is Athena?" Serien asked.
"We're not sure, but..." Anemus made a confused expression and then.... "It doesn't matter. If it's not Athena, that means I've lost her again and have no interest in going on without her." Anemus said with tears in her eyes.
Serien gulped and began to cast her most powerful magic, creating a great magic circle that radiated warm, golden light.
At that moment, Serien realized how much time she had gone without using magic, as the casting time was taking longer than usual.
The queen's mana seemed to want to refuse to do what she want to. The queen soon blamed herself for taking so long and felt anxious, but the cause of that was the dying person in front of her.
Because of the residuals from {Mana Scatter}, the mana in the place was also interfered with and hindered the use of magic.
After two minutes more than necessary for the spell to be ready, Serien placed her hands lightly on the charred body's chest and cast the spell {Miracle Heal}, a spell she could only use once every ten days, something that Athena had taught her.
It was a powerful spell, a superior version of the spell Serien already knew that had the ability to regenerate even lost limbs, but contrary to what it should have been, the effect was slow, painful and exhausting for both Serien and the target.
The person writhed as they skin, bones, muscles and organs were regenerated and showed the true identity of the person being saved.
When the skin was almost complete on their neck, the screams of agonizing pain soon echoed across the plains where they were, making Mifa cover her sensitive ears and Anemus frown as she watched the woman's hair grow.
"Reds...." Anemus said in a sad and shaky voice. "Red hair..."
Serien looked at Anemus and then looked at her healing target and before she could react, a gust of wind hit her, then another sliced Redel's head and Anemus screamed desperately as she faced the truth.
"No!! You promised you'd come back!!" Anemus roared and punched the dead goddess in the chest. "Athena!!!"
Mifa falled on her knees, feeling her heart being crushed by the hope she had nurtured, even though she knew it was a dangerous thing to do and so cried in a way she had never cried before.
Serien, who was recovering from the impact she received from Anemus' magic, looked at that scene and also began to cry in a way that she didn't cry even for her dead family members.
Anemus was yet to realize what she had done, but the fact that she had killed the body of a god changed a lot both in her and in Athena, who was in a astral form.
REFLEXIONES DE LOS CREADORES 
All_J
All_J In a little while I'm going to start another chapter, if not in two hours, then twelve hours... It's 1 am and I'm getting the flu or maybe I've had the bad luck of getting dengue.
Please let me know if you find some error.
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