章 17: Chapter 16

The moon shone bright in the vast darkness of a certain forest. Different sound of normal animals and wild beasts harmonized in a very strange way. The tune was somehow pleasing to the ears as if the nature itself was singing a captivating tune. However, only one stood out among all those noises. Tunes of a flute that can make one feel the serenity of the mind and heart. It was played more than beautiful as it could be. That serene tune slowly filled the entire forest with its captivating melody. And the source of the tune slowly faded in the picture. She was standing at the peak of the Tree of Wisdom, a renowned tree rumoured to grant one's wish located in the Forest of Garnsha in the northern west of the world. It was a woman, blowing sweet melodies into her flute. Standing gracefully on top of that tree as if she don't care what danger she might encounter. As if wind was dancing around her, her glistening silver hair was elegantly swaying under the moonlight. Every strap of her bluish gray dress was also dancing in every breeze. She looked emotionally serious as she had her eyes closed as she played the flute. However, as the melodies of flute continued spreading its serenity, a sharp gaze was seen on her face as she gradually opened her eyes. The sound of the flute stopped right after. She removed the flute from her mouth and gradually dropped her hands as she let out a heavy sigh.

"Mortals sure are disgusting …," she mumbled.

She coldly glanced below and no one could ever thought of what was there. Below that renowned tree, it was flooding in red. It wasn't the color of a wine but those of the blood or rather it was real blood. If one could take a closer look, it was indeed blood not of those wild beasts but real humans. Tons no, hundreds of dead bodies were laid below that famous tree. They were brutally killed much worse than a butchered meat.

"How dare they place themselves in front of a God? An insolent animal deserves nothing but death …"

She planned to play another melody. She was almost ready. She raised her hand back and placed the flute onto her mouth, ready to blow an elegant tune. However, an existence of someone she long awaited for suddenly appeared in front of her very eyes.

"So you've finally come. I have been patiently awaiting for you to appear before me…" She paused with a grin on her face. "It is surely awkward for us to meet in a situation like this, don't you think so too, Albus?"

The one that stood in front of her was Albus, the God of Magic. She was floating in midair with her eyes furiously locked onto that woman.

Albus infuriated and said, "Why did you do that?!"

That woman pretended as if she knew nothing and replied, "What is? I don't know what you're talking about?" she slightly tilted her head and smiled.

Those words ticked Albus down to her core and instantly showed deep hatred towards that woman. In split second, she disappeared from where she was currently in and appeared in front of that woman. Right after she appeared, dark flames materialized into a sword appeared onto her hands. She swung that sword made with dark flames towards that woman without any hesitations but to kill her in that exact moment. However, Albus never had any expectations that her swift attack would work on that woman. Right after swinging the sword, an unknown barrier made of wind protected that woman and blocked her attack.

That woman smiled and said, "I may be good at long ranged magic but I think you already know that I am very unlike those useless trash, don't you think so, Albus?"

"Thea, you fucking traitor … I'll end you right here, right now …"

That woman appeared to be the traitor Thea, the God of Nature. Thea's expression turned sour after hearing what Albus has to say.

"Albus, I strongly believed that you are the first one who'll surely understand my intentions but I thought wrong. If a God doing the right thing is considered betrayal then, how should I describe what you are doing right now?"

"You caused the divinity realm to be destroyed and you called that a good thing?!"

Albus backed out a few meters and raised her left hand towards the sky. After doing so, the cold darkness was then enveloped by scourging warmness as orbs of flame hailed like rain from the sky. Those orbs stopped falling midway as if it was waiting to be commanded. That scene in the forest was as if a lantern festival was held. Albus regained her composure back as she glanced at Thea with a calmed expression.

"Thea, I think you are misunderstanding something. You're no God but just a mere traitor who will soon destroy another world. And thinking about that, I don't think I can let you do things up to your liking anymore."

Albus slowly dropped her hand and aimed it towards Thea's direction. Doing that, those scourging hot orbs rained towards her.

"Die …"

It continued for half a minute and each of those orbs that hit Thea was enough to destroy an entire town with just a single explosion. The impact of those orbs was so loud and strong but before she confronted Thea, she had already set up a shield that covered up an entire country or a continent. Simply saying, no matter what they do inside that barrier, it won't affect any of those who are living in the mortal realm. It was as if they were fighting in another space or dimension. No matter how extravagant and lethal their magic is, it won't do anything towards the mortal realm.

After that explosion, Albus didn't even hope for her attacks to kill her in an instant. Even just a scratch from it would make her feel slightly better but that just as she thought, her attacks were futile. After that explosion, Thea appeared behind the dusty fog caused by the explosion unscathed.

Thea grinned and said, "As expected, no matter how much I insert effort, even if I was only doing my best to retain the best of this world, you ignorant 'named' Gods are just piece of decorations after all."

Thea then gave Albus a deathly icy glare as she continued, "You filthy 'named' Gods will never understand what this world needs. That is why …"

Large bulky thorns sprung out of the ground and danced behind Thea. The sizes of these thorns were as large as Tokyo Tower located in Japan and it wasn't just a single thorn, there were countless of them.

"... there is no need for useless Gods who can't even bring to satisfy what this world really wants. But there is nothing to be worried for as I, Thea the God of Nature, will be that 'only' God." Thea coldly said.

Those thorns attacked Albus and came like a rampaging bull. Albus on the other hand, rose up to the sky and evaded every one of the thorns attacks. However, those thorns were like auto targeting missles as it chased her no matter how much she struggled. In the end, those thorns caught up to her and trapped her as those thorns enveloped her in a shape of a sphere. But those thorns didn't hold that long, Albus released waves of thermal energy and immediately escaped from the thorn's trapping. Immediately, Albus counterattacked with a flick of a finger. In an instance, the ground trembled and an insanely huge hand made of soil appeared and attacked Thea. Despite that humongous apperance, Thea did not waver but instead turned Albus' spell into frozen ice with a smirk on her face as she also flicked her fingers. Followed by a slight clap, Thea completely made Albus' spell into specks of icy dust that rained all over the Forest of Garnsha. However, the fight did not stop there. The two of them exchanged extremely lethal and massively immense variety of spells that lasted for an hour. After that intense fight, the two of them never felt exhaustion in their mana. They only gained minor injuries merely because of the debris of the impact of their spells that's all. All the time, they parried each other's spells and no one landed a heavy blow towards one another. Or so Albus thought. Right after another exchange of spells, Albus suddenly stopped moving.

"Damn you Thea … You fucking traitor …"

Just after saying those words, Albus lost her stability and fell onto the ground. No one knew what happened and how it happened. Albus just fell onto the ground just like that. Albus struggled to stand up but she can't. She pulled her remaining strength but it was futile. Thea then gradually descended and glared down at the struggling Albus with an icy smirk.

"How amusing. To think that you already forgot what I specializes in. It's very unfortunate to say this but I guess it's already time to end this nonsense."

Albus was lost for words and just laughed her all out as she responded, "Yeah, to think that I forgot about that annoying spell of yours. It's my lo-, ah!"

Albus was stopped by piercing stab she felt in her back. She realized in an instant that the pain she was feeling was because of Thea's annoying spell. It wasn't merely a piercing stab but it felt like as if something was burning her entirety. She screamed in pain but Thea just watched her struggling with an indifferent expression; cold and apathetic.

"That's how the other minor Gods felt when they go against my words. But don't worry; you are the first 'named' God who felt such extreme pleasure. You are the first and will never be the last."

Thea left Albus knocking on heaven's door. She just momentarily stopped after hearing what nonsense she had said.

"This is not the end Thea ... I'll fucking kill you ...," Albus murmured.

Thea just glared down at her like a dying insect and said, "I don't think you are in the situation to say that, Albus."

After that, Thea left. She was left alone in the cold ground of that forest. She alreadly felt how her remaining energy getting drained by some unknown existence inside her. With her remaining strength, she mumbled these words with such sincerity on her face.

"Aigokeros is probably there right now. I'll be in your care now, my only successor, Jaycee Kim."

After she closed her eyes, her body gradually turned into speckles of bright white light that slowly ascended into the sky. No one realized that in that exact moment, the God of Magic, protector of the Byumas, Albus, already ceased from existence.

***

Meanwhile, outside the Kim's residence where Jaycee and his father live, an unknown animal landed onto the tree that sat in front of Jaycee's bedroom. No one knew what it was but one thing was for sure. The maids and butlers who noticed that existence were all saying one same thing. They heard flapping sounds that those of the birds produced. A maid even saw its red eyes fixated in their young master's bedroom. And if somehow that animal feel their presence, it would create a very strong gust of wind before it escape. However, these kind of information never came into Jaycee's ears.