Chapitre 72: Pillars
'Huh? Why now?'
Aster was bewildered as he saw the massive landfall occurring right before his eyes.
He didn't think of evacuating as he pondered the cause.
'The collapse of the tunnel could be the reason… but why now? I was pretty sure that I dug up the part that wasn't an integral part of its structure.
It seems I was wrong.
I should probably get out of the way though.'
He willed a decent amount of bones to gather up and take the shape of a pillar to lift him up.
Like small insects, the bones moved in unison, creating a dizzying image.
An abundance of bones piled up under his feet and Aster started gaining altitude quickly.
He lifted his foot to take a step forward and the bones followed his direction effortlessly.
Each individual bone piece's movements were ragged, but together, they resembled a smooth ocean tide.
A bothersome yet urgent feeling grasped his heart and he ignored it diligently.
Aster rode the calcium tide without losing a beat and moved away from the area soon to be crushed under the landfall.
Purely out of instinct, he turned around, only for his sight to fall upon the burnt and mangled corpses of the wendigos.
His eyes widened upon the realization as surprise and self-loathing overcame him.
'Wait a sec, the Wendigos!
I didn't get their loot!'
In a fit of recklessness fueled by greed, he jumped off his speedy ride and rushed toward the remains of his most recent foes.
Cores of rank 2 monsters might not be worth risking one's life for but they were certainly not something that is scoffed at.
Like a breeze of wind, he flew over the obstacles in his path and obtained the core of the third wendigo which was the closest. Then, he did a sharp U-turn and obtained the core of the first.
'Where the hell is the second one?'
He had killed the second wendigo by manipulating the bones to create a pit to carpet bomb it.
Realistically, the core should be in the pit.
The problem was that the pit disappeared.
An influx of bones under Aster's command completely covered the pit and the stream probably carried the corpse along with the core somewhere else.
And by somewhere else, there was only one answer to that.
'Is it beneath the bone tide?'
Aster did a 180-degree turn on the spot as he examined the pile of bones, now lost its harmonious shape as his control ceased it exist.
He ran towards it but was a tad bit too late.
The landfall plunged upon the ground and tremor rocked the entire graveyard.
Following the earthquake, a dead silence haunted the place.
It was as if the quake didn't happen at all. Nobody screamed and the native inhabitants of the place didn't scurry away.
It was almost as if the place had become a graveyard in the truest sense. There was simply no living being to care.
And Aster, there was no sign of him.
Buried under a hundred-meter-tall rubble, most would meet their demise.
Seconds ticked by and no sign of struggle was able to be found everywhere.
Seconds turned into minutes and stretched into dozens of minutes. That was when a certain group of people started to panic.
BOOM
Another tremor rocked the volcano once again, but this time accompanied by brilliant golden sparks in the sky.
An ethereal pillar with a golden glow descended from the heavens and struck the barrier, causing it to glow malicious purple.
The light radiated from it was enough to light up the inky black sky and give it a feel of daytime for just a moment.
The golden light dematerialized with the first impact. It was followed by another and a third one followed suit.
Each light pillar was bigger and faster than the last, causing even more earthquakes.
Each strike left its mark on the barrier in the form of cracks.
The first strike left a barely noticeable mark while the follow-up attacks contributed more.
It was a shame that nobody was here to witness this spectacle. A brilliant display of light show, filled with gold and violet sparks illuminated the night sky in a dazzling fashion.
An event this beautiful was sure to be recorded in human history for the rest of eternity.
Artists would regain their inspiration, lovers would find their soul mates, and people without hope would find their spark in life.
This special spectacle would find its way into the heart of every human. After all, it was the perfect representation of humankind's origin.
Divinity and Demonic canceled each other out in an attempt to best each other. However, the difference in strength was too obvious.
The divine light strikes were fueled by the seraphim of judgment herself while the barrier was just an empty husk fashioned out of demonic essence infused with mana.
It stood no chance from the start no matter how sturdy it may be.
Upon the 9th hit, it looked as if the sky tore apart.
A golden ray of absolute destruction fell upon the barrier, completely covering the volcano crater.
Cracks covered the entirety of the barrier like spiderwebs before breaking into a million pieces.
The violet fragments of the barrier disappeared into thin air as the golden ray pierced through it and kept going with full force.
An ethereal glow covered the whole graveyard.
Everything that came in contact with it disintegrated including bones, rocks, carcasses, etc.
Within a second, the graveyard has been turned into a hollow wasteland with nothing in sight within kilometers.
A perfect circle took its place on the landscape as the top of the volcano was destroyed by the ray.
The circle was quite deep, much deeper than the previous pit. It resembled an abyss leading straight to hell except for a single area unaffected.
That area stood as the single pillar in an unnatural area of nothingness. A few stones stood on top of it.
In a flash, something appeared above it.
The figure had 6 white wings, the symbol of its rank amongst its species.
Clad in full-body golden armor that emanated warmth and hair color that matched it, striking green eyes, and an elegant longsword by her waist.
She reached out and with a flick, completely obliterated the boulder, revealing the body of a young man unconscious.
With the wave of her hand, the body levitated and reached her altitude.
She examined his suspiciously undamaged body and sighed with relief.
"Not injured, thank god."
Under the command of her stretched hand, Aster shook softly but to no avail.
The seraphim furrowed her eyebrows.
'The fact that he remains asleep in my presence is abnormal enough but for him to be in this deep sleep? And this smell…'
"Is this your doing? Belphegor?"
In the distance, a figure materialized in the air and stayed afloat.
He had ashen hair and a stick-like figure. His eyes reflected the color of his hair, the same ashen color.
He yawned.
"It's Acedia now." He nonchalantly responded.
"I slept a bit too much and met a human oldie. She gave me this name and I liked it better so I took it."
"Answer my question!" Uriel snapped.
"Did you cause that landfall? Did you put him to sleep?"
"I was taming some dogs, it wasn't intentional. As for the sleep thing, I made him go into a recovery hibernation so he would survive.
Look, there isn't a single wound on him, right? I did good, better than what you did so how about you lower your voice? He might wake up and we certainly don't want that."
Uriel contemplated for a second and sighed.
"You saved him because you want to convert him right? Well, I won't allow that." Uriel's green eyes lit up as she drew her sword.
Fierce, white-colored flame enveloped the platinum double-edged sword and the judge took her stance.
"I don't know, forcing a divine title on him so he stays on track seems a little manipulative, no? At least he naturally had [Sloth] so it isn't that out of the ordinary for him to become one of my own.
I slept a little bit too much you see, and my family became a little lacking. I can just get him to replace me and then call it a century."
"Always seeking your own gains, demons never change. For the record, that title belonged to him no matter what you say."
Uriel was instantly covered in golden rays before disappearing and appearing in front of the sloth duke.
She sent a devastating slash that was stopped effortlessly by Acedia.
"Whatever, let's get it over with. The winner takes a new member home." Acedia proposed as his sclera turned black and his ashen eyes gained a glow.
"That, we can agree on."
A box created out of yellow light appeared around Aster, successfully covering him with a barrier.
With the weakest one protected, it was time for two of the pillars of the world to clash in the mortal realm.
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
Billurigan
Billurigan I'm trying to write a new novel but don't worry, this one takes priority first. I just want to see if I can participate in wpc. Check out Apocalyptic Ravager
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone