Will of chaos



Pov Athena: 

I was alone with Miss Alice while she was praying, I couldn't help but bring my hands to the necklace Zenos had given me before we left for this quest, Lady Zadiris' words still ringing in my mind. 

"(A strong facade and show of strength is all we need.)" (Zadiris) 

Sigh 

I don't want to have such a powerful being as an enemy, nor do I want to have to resort to the trump card that Zenos left in my possession in the first difficulty we went through. 

"(Do I have nothing worth something?)" (I) 

"(Am I so useless to keep depending on Zenos even now?)" (I) 

"(What was all that day after day training for?)" (I) 

I was filled with frustration and anger, I knew that if the enemy really was a Legion of Death as Mistress Zadiris thinks it to be, her plan is best for us. 

But to me that just makes me feel incompetent, inadequate, and flawed. 

I know it doesn't make sense for me to feel this way when the enemy is so powerful that Mistress Zadiris wouldn't be able to win, but it doesn't change the fact that at the first obstacle, I'll still be calling on Zenos' power. 

"Don't be a child." (Caitlyn) 

"My Little Brother prides himself on using all the cards in his hand wisely, as his Hero you have no right to be frustrated in using the power bestowed upon you." (Caitlyn) 

"Miss Caitlyn..." (I) 

"With my current strength, I'm even more unable to do anything, especially against an opponent with such strong willpower, we're lucky to have what we need for that idiot to be so cautious, so don't waste the opportunities in front of you because of these thoughts childish." (Caitlyn) 

"..." (I) 

"I don't know what's going on, but we must hurry before another wave of attacks comes." (Alice) 

"I'm coming..." (I) 

I knew Miss Caitlyn was right, the master doesn't mind using the power of others if necessary, my thinking could be wrong and I know it, but all I wanted was to demonstrate that I was capable and worthy enough of everything he wanted bestowed on me, I want to prove to myself more than anyone else that I deserve all of this. 

-------------- 

Alice and I were outside the vehicle, on a platform of crystallized blood she had created, Mistress Zadiris was behind us releasing her Aura around us before retracting. 

"I know you're there and you can hear me, I can feel your presence lurking around us now that I know what I'm up against." (Zadiris) 

"We don't want to fight, so let us go and we're done here." (Zadiris) 

"You have no voice here Dragon." 

"..." (I) 

Her voice wasn't spoken with a mouth, the space itself vibrated with the voice surging around us. 

"Think carefully before you force me to fight because it won't be just me you'll face." (Zadiris) 

Following what was discussed before, I take off the necklace and present my Aura while I see Alice cut her wrist letting her blood full of Holy power spill over the crystal that absorbs everything making an image of an Eclipse appear over the crystal with the silhouette of a sword shining from within the crystal. 

"You can feel my strength, what do you think I will do with a Holy Weapon in my hands?" (Zadiris) 

For a while only silence remained, but soon the silence was broken with the space shaking non-stop, a rift opens in front of us as what looked like a fragmented statue of a Celestino emerged from within the rift, a hole in his chest where a brown orb spun making the space around it crack. 

"You can go." 

Space breaks apart as if everything were an illusion making my vision blurred by the rapid changes, then when I realize everything was different, the position of the stars was very different and the strange creature made of rocks had disappeared. 

"You can stop, he's already gone." (Zadiris) 

I return the necklace to my neck covering it with my Aura, as if responding to my will the crystal shines and the Eclipse image disappears back to being just a crystal pendant. 

"Let's continue our trip." (Zadiris) 

------------- 

Pov Zenos: 

I was in the middle of combat tired after hours of killing, my body covered in wounds and I wasn't the only one, the creatures of flesh whenever killed caused a strange attack trying to corrupt us all. 

Orion was the first to withdraw from the battle because this was not the type of battle where he could stand out. 

Out of all my Familiars he had the worst defense, the Corrupted Energy Rays took a toll on him with my Holy Power and Authority being his only defenses, but even that only helped with 70% of the attacks, the strongest or most concentrated ones getting through these defenses attacking him much more. 

The only ones who were immune to this were my daughter Silvia and my Familiar Hinata, they kept fighting and Hinata was the only one who had no defenses around her, in beauty, she was absorbing this corrupt energy with her eyes shining. 

"Master, a little help here!?" (Ragnar) 

"< Demon Dragon Onslaught >" (I) 

I cover my body in an Aura of slaughter in a Charge that explodes everything in front of me clearing a path for Ragnar to retreat. 

"< Void >" (I) 

"< Teleportation >" (I) 

I use a spell creating a spatial vacuum that attracts all the monsters in the surroundings to where I was, then I use another spell teleporting myself to where I was before. 

"< Moonfall >" (Nix) 

Nix who was nearby uses a spell creating a sphere of pure lunar energy that falls where the monsters had gathered annihilating them all, this makes the corrupted energy of all join in an attack against her that falls from the sky with all the scales cracked. 

"Back off!!!" (I) 

When they all come back to where I was the monsters join in chasing, hundreds of octopus monsters chased my Familiars until they reached me who was concentrating my Holy Power in my claws. 

"< Blood Eclipse Demigod Claws >" (I) 

I slash with both arms forward along with two ghostly hands doing the same creating golden claws that shatter everything in a cone shape for miles. 

But that attack spent almost all of my Holy Power. 

"Back off, let's go!" (Silvia) 

I follow Silvia towards the door, I wasn't the only one turning back, everyone was backing away, some unharmed while others were as injured as I was. 

Outside the gate we pass through closes after everyone has passed, I join Elizabeth and Silvia in a corner. 

"And I can't tell if it's doing any good, the monsters didn't seem to be slowing down." (I) 

"Why weren't they, they were creating more, the goal was never to finish the fight in a single battle, it's going to be a siege battle, we will attack and retreat as a group, only this attack wiped out a lot of the corrupt energy." (Elizabeth) 

"You've got to be kidding..." (I) 

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Pov Athena: 

2 days later. 

The rest of the trip went without a hitch, we arrived at our final destination being one of Astrid's bases of operation. 

On the way we didn't find any more enemies, something that I felt was strange due to the first attack, but I won't complain because everything is going well at least for now. 

The whole place was a strange metal-based construction, I could feel Mana running through the walls and the Aura of all the people in this place were very out of control, everything here was more strange than I imagined. 

Following Zenos' request before we left, I try to stay close to Nicole who already seemed to be doing something as she walked. 

"Zenos asked me not to let you do anything that might cause trouble." (I) 

"He's a hypocrite, his mere presence always invites a lot of trouble, how could I..." (Nicole) 

"[■□●●□□○○○●○●□!]" 

Suddenly several metal things with high concentration of magic come out of the walls at the same time as a square barrier forms around us, in a few seconds several people wearing Armor appear around us in a threatening way. 

"What did you do?" (I) 

"Nothing much, I just noticed that they use artificial mana flow connection system integrated into a permanent large-scale ritual." (Nicole) 

"..." (I) 

"I think you should talk to them." (Zadiris) 

"■□●●■□□□■●□□!" (Miriam) 

"□●■□●□!!!" (Soldiers?) 

They speak something in a language I don't know, then what I think are their soldiers scatter in order while still casting wary glances at us, the metal stuff goes back into the walls behind secret doors, and Astrid turns to us. 

"I apologize for this, but our security system has detected an intrusion…" (Astrid) 

"It must have been me, I apologize for this inconvenience, but I would like to know if I can have access to the core of the Magical Ritual, it seems to be an interesting way of doing this, it generates many possibilities with..." (Nicole) 

"We apologize for Nicole, she can be a little impulsive with her curiosity." (Alice) 

"I ask you to stay away from our system for the next few days, I have a lot to talk to my people about before we can get started on what we came here to do." (Astrid) 

"We understand your situation, but we'd like to keep ourselves busy during this time by looking at what information you have on your enemies." (Zadiris) 

"I'll make everything available to you today, now I'll escort you to your quarters before joining Miriam in a meeting with other sector leaders." (Astrid) 

After that we follow her to the place where our rooms seem to be, this whole place has the same light colored bases, it reminds me a little of my childhood in the Church of Light. 

With the only difference that these people were very poorly trained, I can read their emotions through their Auras like a picture book, their Auras are completely out of control to the point of being uncomfortable for me.