GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?



She attacked while Ghaster was distracted trying to figure out what was making all that racket. He began to turn into stone. He tried to run but his movements were sluggish. She caught him unawares and got a head start on him. A grey stone layer began appearing over his body until his entire body was encased. He made sure to glare hatefully at her throughout the transformation. Unfortunately for him, his eyes aren't capable of killing people on sight. Glaring only made him look like a statue of a bitter battle sage monkey.

Meanwhile, the entities making the noise continued to approach their position by bulldozing every building in the way. Tall structures of stone broke and fell to the ground in the wake of their battle. It is like two giant creatures are running amok in the city of stone. Nothing could stand in the way of the creatures. Buildings cracked and the road split apart. It created a cacophony of noise that made it seem like the jungle of stone is being demolished.

The entities finally reached them. They penetrated a building close to them passing through the walls as if they are wet paper. Then the fighting entities collided with another building opposite their position. This time, the entities couldn't go further after exhausting their momentum.

The Stone Emperess and her followers expected to see two giants but what they saw was a short obscured figure. The short obscured figure was standing above something that lay at his feet. Then the figure bent low and did something to the thing laying at his feet.

Dust obscured the figure of the entity so all they could hear were cracks of thunder coming from within the dust cloud. The dust also refused to dissipate. Whatever is going on within the cloud is disintegrating the surrounding stone and throwing up more dust into the air. 

The stone empress and her group had to be content with the sounds of whips breaking the sound barrier over and over again. They heard the crack of thunder followed by the sound of thuds as if someone is hitting a mountain with hammers. It happened again and again. It was very terrifying.

"Finally." Someone spoke from within the cloud of thick dust. "Up you go then."

Then something passed above the stone empress really fast. It flew at mind-boggling speed and it collided with another building. Then whatever that thing is exploded on contact with the building. It struck the wall at a ridiculous speed and turned to mush. The building groaned at the impact before it too collapsed.

The stone empress felt dread. It's a tangible feeling that crept up her back and made the fur on her back stand up. It is a very clear sign that she is in danger. She didn't spare Ghaster a look even though he began to break free from his prison of stone. 

She didn't get to finish his transformation earlier because of the sudden intrusion. Layers of the stone began to fall off of him once she took her eyes off him. His scowling face was the last part of his body to be covered and it is the first to be uncovered so he saw what happened next clearly.

The dust cloud began to die down without the strenuous activity that was kicking it up. Something made him freeze. He sensed a cascade of a frightening amount of energy from within the dust cloud. That energy was then tossed in his direction. He wanted to run but he can't. Most of his body is still frozen. Fortunately, the attack wasn't aimed at him. 

All that energy formed a blade arc that mowed down the stone empress's group. It cut them down as they were standing. None of them could resist. The Stone Emperess died too without being able to resist. It happened so fast that it was mind-boggling. It is as if all that energy just sprang into existence instantly and then it disappeared after splitting everything in its path. A king and the majority of her 100 guards were killed just like that. With a single attack.

The stone empress and the ones that surrounded her are no more. Their deaths were swift and painless. Her remaining followers saw what happened and turned tail. They ran away as fast as their legs could take them. None of them looked back much less tried to avenge the death of their leader. 

They are elites in both body and mind. Plus it doesn't take much mental gymnastics to realize that it is a bad idea to fight whoever killed the Stone Emperess. So they didn't decide to do something foolish like confronting the attacker. 

Ghaster gulped. He felt thirsty all of a sudden. His body seemed to think that he needs water which is absurd. He should have been happy about her death but that emotion found it very difficult to take root within him. The attack that wiped out most of the stone empress's group missed him narrowly but Ghaster didn't feel relaxed. 

Whoever could dish out something like that is not someone he wants to be around. Unfortunately for him, breaking out of his stone cage is slow going. So he put in more effort to escape before the entity attacked again. 

The entity muttered audibly, "What an inferior material. They are doing it on purpose. I haven't found one good weapon all this while."

Ghaster froze again. The entity spoke close to him so he heard their voice much clearer. He froze because he recognized that voice. He stayed frozen still as the rock on his body finished dropping to the ground. He saw the entity walk out of the dust cloud while examining something in his hands. 

Ghaster was right about who the voice belonged to but he wasn't happy. Happiness refused to propagate in his mind. Something else is stopping him from feeling happy. He recognized the person and he only felt dread. It was Soverick. His dread increased the closer Soverick got to him.

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