Epic of Caterpillar

Demiurgus entire body had been blasted completely, Redgaria could attest to that. As he saw him being blown to bits, the bits disintegrated, becoming nothing but ashes.

Because he ended imploding from inside, there would be little left if anything, but his body was still tough enough to at least have left behind a few pieces of flesh.

Remembering how tough the Recessed were, Nephiana had grown slightly cautious, even if they were sliced and torn to pieces, they could remain alive even then.

This is why Altani quickly tried to check.

And amidst the smoke left behind by the huge explosion, there was indeed something standing there, which shocked her to the core.

It was much smaller than Demiurgus enormous and imposing figure, it was not taller than twenty meters, actually.

Yet… its presence was strange, bizarre even.

The smoke dissipated, revealing its true appearance.

Was it a skinny man?

Or perhaps a skeleton with red skin wrapped on it?

It had no eyes, the skull eye sockets were completely empty, but red skin grew inside.

Its jaws were open, revealing its disfigured, long and sharp teeth.

Long, lanky arms with even longer fingers and nails stretched into the floor, almost dragging them along.

Its legs were just as long, lanky and weird, thin like branches.

The entity was completely red, just like Demiurgus skin.

"Aaahhh…"

And it started to scream in pain.

"AAAAHHH…!"

Like a child that had been just born.

"UUUAAAGGGHH!"

Its scream along sent shivers down the spine of everyone present, the scream was so loud and powerful, charged full of cosmic power, that it made their entire bodies tremble through the vibrations produced.

"What is going on?!" Nephiana cried, trying to block the sound waves. "[Divine… Deafening Barrier]!"

FLUOSH!

A barrier that could easily deafen most sounds was conjured around everyone, but the barrier quickly started gaining cracks a second after, the skeletal fiend slowly started walking towards them.

Its hands were constantly scratching its head, while its jaws were open, screaming in utter agony, it simply wouldn't stop screaming, the vibrations so strong the barrier Nephiana conjured had to be constantly supplied with energy to be maintained!

"He doesn't stop screaming!" Nephiana cried. "Is that the Recessed?!"

"Is this a second form of sorts? His true appearance?" Charlotte analyzed him from afar. "He's walking towards us at a slow pace, but he's going to catch up!"

"We have to fight him then, no other way!" Altani said. "Kireina and everyone else are busy, we can't just ask for their help, if we've driven him to this point… We have to take care of him ourselves."

"But Altani, he almost killed us all!" Faylen said. "And…"

"No, she's right! If we don't fight what are we here for?!" Nephiana said. "I'm in!"

too, somehow we have to stop that thing, no matter what, before it destroys the entire palace and the whole plan is ruined…" Charlotte said. "We can't afford that thing ending up destroying the palace and then calling the rest of the Recessed here!"

"That bastard…" Redgaria muttered. "I saw him being destroyed… But there was something, something inside of him I couldn't discern in the explosion. Was it that? Is this his real body or… a child?"

"A child that creepy?!" Nephiana cried.

"It doesn't matter what it is anyways!" Altani said. "Redgaria, let's go!"

"Follow my lead then," Redgaria said. "Nephiana, can you wrap us on that barrier?"

"I can for now!" Nephiana nodded.

"Then let's go," Charlotte said.

Nephiana quickly manipulated the barrier, separating it into five separate barriers wrapped around the bodies of everyone, as they quickly rushed to fight the ominous figure.

"It's just screaming, is it even paying attention to us?!" Nephiana said.

"Well, that's for the better! Kill it, quickly!" Altani roared. "RAAAAH!"

Her giant body rushed down, as she encompassed her tail with a thick layer of her Cosmic Authority Domain, golden winds swirling and condensing into a spear of pure gold.

At the stime, Nephiana conjured her winds, gathering them into several swords made of emerald storming energies, as lightning surged from them, and then firing the projectiles at the abomination.

Charlotte reformed her mechanical titan form, this tquickly packing over thirty different cannons and firing them all at the stime, beams of condensed cosmic energy and missiles packed with deadly energies reached the creature.

Faylen unleashed her power at her fullest, creating a gigantic bow made of Yggdrantia's abilities and combining them with her own, firing a giant arrow made of condensed spiritual divine cosmic power.

All attacks reached the aberration at the stime, engulfing it on a constant barrage of deadly explosions.

BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!

However, everyone's eyes widened as the attacks ended hitting a strange, invisible force.

The smoke dissipated, as they saw the entity standing there, unscathed.

"Aaahh… Hahh…"

It was groaning in pain, but it stopped screaming.

The entity looked up, at the beings that had attacked it.

"It didn't take any damage?!" Altani muttered.

"What sort of barrier does it have? Its completely invisible…?" Nephiana muttered.

"No, this is…! It's not a barrier… That's the Cosmic Authority it possesses!" Charlotte said.

"AAAARRGGHHH!!!"

Crack, crack…!

The aberrant entity screamed as it opened its jaws again, the screams were so loud that Nephiana's Deafening Barriers were quickly destroyed, shattered into pieces within instants.

CRASH!

The vibrating attack quickly pushed everyone away, like an endless shockwave that kept assaulting everyone's bodies, it could even ignore most of their physical defenses, leaving them weakened.

"W-What is this?! AAARGH!" Altani kept vomiting and crying blood.

"The bastard's attacking our internal bodies with vibrations?! W-What sort of- UGH…!" Charlotte screamed.

"H-Hang on there!" Nephiana tried conjuring more of her barriers, but they were being completely useless, completely shattering within instants. "It's not working! Aargh…! Redgaria?!"

Nephiana noticed Redgaria standing in front of them, as his Domain spread out into an endless sea of shadows and nether, from within, zombies, skeletons, and specters surged, perfectly fusing together into giant walls that resisted the vibrations, regenerating as they broke down.

"Stand your ground and fight…!" he said. "You don't want to disappoint Kireina, don't you?!"

His words resonated with everyone's hearts.

Their eyes flared with determination, their Cosmic Energy surging from their bodies.

"You're not wrong!" Nephiana grit her teeth.

"That's the least thing I would want…!" Altani said.

"One last time…!" Charlotte muttered.

"Hahh… I'll do what I can…" Faylen gasped for air.

"…"

The aberration glared at them with contempt, in silence.

Yet in a second, it clapped its hands.

TRUUUM!

And a tremendous shockwave of vibrating energies rushed towards them.