Chapter 107: Cosmic Sin
Chapter 107: Cosmic Sin
His fist vanished and the lights around her turned into streaks as she was sent flying so fast that space distorted and light bent in her vision after Sol delivered his strongest ever punch directly into her jaw, putting his 100% into it.
The ground beneath him shook and continued to shake as a giant crack appeared where Sitri had been hit from and magma erupted from the crack like a geyser, and that crack continued growing and running to his left and right. "I overdid it!" Sol snapped, looking around as the crack rapidly widened.
More magma erupted and the quaking continued getting worse before the ground beneath him started swelling and the crack started forming a rift as the land became divided.
*Ding
[Are you trying to destroy Arkadia?!] The system window came and landed on Sol's head.
"What the-"
"That was fascinating!" Sitri appeared before Sol and grabbed the system window staring at the contents and then throwing it to the side. "Truly amazing I say!" She cackled at Sol's expression, her entire lower jaw was leaned, but with a simple grab and twist she snapped her face back into form and raised her hand, balling her fist and taking a stand before him.
"I want to try that too, but I have no idea how you slowed time like that."
She mentioned [clockwork] and Sol's expression dropped.
With the amount of power he put in clockwork she was supposed to be completely frozen, and yet she had managed to not only move, but also react in time to leap backwards and avoid the full force of his punch.
Nevermind, I will just strike as fast and hard as I can, do not move or dodge, Sol Vestic, otherwise this punch will kill everything and everyone behind you, that is of course if you can withstand it!" She cackled and Sol's skin crawled when he felt the power being built up in her fist, he died once already, he could tell that this punch was a death sentence unless he could somehow divert it or avoid it.
"Pfft* what the hell am I even thinking, did I actually intend to run away just now?" Sol chuckled before his divinity subsided and then exploded with new vigour from his body as he fell into a stance before the demon-god, balling his healed fist and charging his attack with [clockwork] stacking up as his punch's momentum decreased until it was still while the rest of his body angled for the attack.
[Transporting!] The system panicked and tossed them both through an emergency portal onto the back end of Sett; the third and farthest moon from Arkadia.
"Sol!" Ikaris leapt to her feet and stared upward at Sett. "Don't!"
Unable to speak from their lack of an atmosphere on the earth-sized moon, Sol and Sitri stared at each other grinning as they continued to charge their attacks just a few feet away from each other.
[This is very likely going to kill you, reconsider] the system appeared before Sol, but he ignored it and stared at Sitri as horns started growing from the sides of his head identical to hers, but unlike the usual, he was forcing two contrasting sets of mana together.
His skin retained its original form, but a tail grew from his spine and black feathered wings tore through his armour from behind, his white irises turned gold, and his white hair turned to an ominous black that somehow had the impression of still glowing.
[Mana integration between demon and divinity is forbidden and fatal, you risk death, reconsider!]
[Error]
[The pantheon is in disarray]
[True Goddess Ikaris is pleading with you to stop]
[The true god of this domain is estatic]
[The god of destruction is excited]
[The goddess of war is shocked]
[The goddess of chaos is in disbelief]
[Error, you are breaking the laws of the universe]
[Error]
[Divine mana and Demonic mana is being mixed, permanent damage to your mana pool will occur, please reconsider]
[Error]
[My error is having an error!]
[New taboo form achieved!]
[New magic has been accumulated, you have committed a cosmic sin, Sol Vestic]
[Demon-god transformation has been forcefully evolved into an unknown entity, seeking divination:
An ancient form; [Primordial Chaos Demon God] has been recorded.
A grave divine sin has been committed, I the system do not have the power to punish you]
Sitri's eyes went wide at the last second, and Sol's smile widened in contrast as their fists locked on to each other and collided leaving the heavens, the cosmos and Arkadia silent.
"Ikaris... I'm s-"
The entire pantheon went quiet, Ikaris stared in disbelief with her previous tears dried and her mouth hung open, and the others stared at where she was looking, Sett was an ominous white moon that was always slow to rise, on this night it was closer to the horizon than it was to the middle of the sky, and with half cycle like the other two. "Sol..."
The great moon that had been there since the birth of Arkadia turned orange, and then completely shattered into trillions of fiery pieces in a soundless explosion.
"SOL!!" Ikaris screamed when the light of the explosion turned the night into day again and Arkadia started shaking after the first wave of mana from the explosion collided into the planet's mana-field after it had washed over the second moon and D'ol; the battleground of the gods.
This was urgent, this was the most urgent she had ever been, her true form manifested with an explosion of divine mana that nerly killed Eris who was directly behind her as she grew two feet taller and her wings flapped madly behind her while even her armour tore away from her body as her usual divine garments covered her.
With one leap, Ikaris vanished toward the explosion, and the aftermath of her jump left an explosive impression in the ground that sent everyone flying.
Soaring through the atmosphere so fast she tore it Ikaris reached the explosion in an instant, sustaining injuries immediately as the two demonic energies left sharp cosmic ripples that she had to physically avoid.
"Sol!" She screamed again, erecting barrier after barrier around herself as she ventured into the massive ball of fire and chaos.
"What do we do?" Dina asked, cradling Eris who was unconscious while her and Arla continuously cast [minor heal] on her, closing her wounds and keeping her off death's door.
"What are we supposed to do in this situation?" Arla stared upwards. "The moon I grew up as a child staring at just disappeared before my eyes from a clash against gods, how the hell do we respond to this?" She asked, watching the night come alive a second time as balls of burning moon bits crashed across Arkadian skies.
"He keeps surprising me... To think that Sol was THAT powerful, it's so terrifying that I can't even raise my legs anymore." Bruce stared at the sky, laying on his back as the last of the fire from his and Sitri's collision died down, leaving just the shattered moon falling above them. "It took this much power just to defeat the demon god..."
"Defeat?" Usami looked around at him. "You think he defeated her?"
"I mean... With that much power-"
"Did you not see his expression when he sent us away?" Dina asked, raising her attention from Eris after her last wound was successfully healed. "He was scared, I'm sure of it, he wasn't ready for that fight, and why else would Ikaris go chasing after him like that, he's probably lost, honestly," She spoke, and as she did, her eyes watered.
"We think we're making a difference here, but without the two of them we have no hope at all, on earth we would be gods, literally, with the power each of us have right now there would be no contest, we could conquer countries easily; rule the world if we wanted to, but here on Arkadia with this same power we are weaklings, less than that we aren't even considered a part of the real fight." Dina added again looking at her hands shaking.
"What's the point of this strength if we aren't able to fight for these people?"
"Regardless of what happens, we are still heroes." Eris reached up weakly from Dina's lap and caressed her cheek. "Even if we can save a single life, that is enough to warrant our presence.
"This journey we've been on, it has given me purpose, I who used to think of nothing but my career and never look at the man and woman at my side am entamgled in a struggle where I have the fate of an entire civilization resting on the decisions I make, it's supposed to weigh me down...
But even with this pain, despite the aches and trauma I've been through I would still choose Arkadia over going back to that life of selfishness."
"I can't agree with that." Usami shook her head. "My parents recently divorced, my father left the country and my mother abandoned us months after, I have been taking care of my younger brother by myself for an entire year, he's my everything, and I'd gone through great lengths to make sure he never missed a day of school and never went a night without dinner." She sat and hugged her knees.
"Arkadia's problems have never been on the forefront of my mind until recently, when I learned the role of hero was the only way back to earth, to Uriyu."
"You never mentioned a brother before." Dina stared at her. "I'm sorry-"
"You can hold on to that apology." Usami pointed to the sky just as a fragment of moon bits shot past them and crashed.
Coming from the sky was a massive chunk of Sett.