Bro, I'm not an Undead!

1418  In Death and Time (2)

Time descended from Consternals in the wider reality had wound into a distorted shape after mixing with countless irregular, horrid phenomena. In the end, it formed this shape: a great turtle-like beast, thriving with powers that could end worlds.

The creature was made of countless coils of greenish-white bound together in uninform patterns. The great flat shell on its back was an astounding beam of plain white light over which three unimaginably vast spears revolved, their tips pointed downward.

Where flippers should have protruded from its shell, muscular human-like humans with crooked, ugly nails could be seen, twitching to disturb the void every few seconds. They were six limbs in the total, some longer than others.

It was the creature's face that caused the most horror. It was mix of human and turtle with irregular patches of soft white light on its head acting as hairs. There was such vivid wrinkling on it that the shadows forming on the face made it look like parts of it had been gouged out. And as though this was not enough to vex the mind, the Chronocle Fiend's eternally oblivious expression was an added wonder.

Its eyes, almost a third the size of the face each seemed lost, its snout, ending in two flared nostrils. Its large mouth was forever agape, rows of human-like teeth clear from the edges of the full lips.

The Chronocle Fiend hardly seemed to know, see, feel or hear anything at all. It might have been a large, luminous green boulder flying through the darkness, coincidentally going for Aigas.

But it would be foolish to judge its threat level by its dazed expression.

The creature was still descending towards Aigas, after all, and it was approaching at a shocking speed despite the fact that it didn't seem so.

But as bizarre as the creature was, its company filled its opponents with more horror than it did.

Fifteen, ruby red creatures, only a fraction of the Chronocle Fiend's size acted as its entourage. They might have been large jellyfish, but without the limbs. They were great red sheets that bounced through the void as though it were a great ocean, see-through, like stereotypical ghosts; tendrils that might have been their nerves were visible from within them.

But it wasn't their likeness that scared Asthon and the rest.

It was the fact that they expelled the sensation of death.

It was extinction as Void, Emmae and Serenity knew it. @@novelbin@@

The presence of the death somehow wove the jellyfish together. But of course, jellyfish was not a good name for these enemies.

"They are called Impermanence Fiends. They embody death. They are formed in the same way Chronocle Fiends are, and just like those, they come in many forms. We should be thankful we got this kind as opponents. They are troublesome still, but they won't be too difficult to deal with," said one of the Fruit Bearers through the mana channel. "Time and death Fiends attract each other, but its rare for so many to be in one place."

Asthon seemed displeased with just this as an explanation, it appeared.

"Why were we not warned about these other enemies?" he asked the Fruit Bearer, but his eyes never left the approaching enemies.

"Because Consternals are lesser concepts than true death. Death is a concept that transcends even the Primeval Deities and can elude all Divines as it pleases. The Impermanence Fiends we have as our opponents know to use it to that effect. They avoided even Suzamete's eye until now. They will no doubt be able to do the same to us if they feel threatened."

Asthon cursed.

Jiggorrhax groaned.

"In that case, our strategy needs to change. There are too many enemies. We need a battlefield that we can control for a start," he said. His voice was boisterous in the minds of the listeners.

By now, the enemies were a mere five hundred thousand kilometers away. They were moving at unreal speeds that would stagger even Divines like Skullius. The Fiends kept getting bigger and bigger in the vision of the beasts. It was baffling. The Chronocle Fiend on its own might have been half as large as Aigas, if not more.

Jiggorrhax acted at once.

He lifted his great arms and flames poured out of his mouth, flaring amidst the darkness of the great void. The fact that they weren't drowned instantly was a testament to the Herald's skill.

He forced the great flames into great runes that flew in all directions, growing more brilliant as he funnelled more energy into them.

They were Rule Runes. The same he had used to create a set of worlds that drowned the power of Festos' devastating ray of Evil Darkness and Just Light.

Jiggorrhax activated them as soon as the enemies were only a thousand kilometers away.

'I can create a world as large as Aigas if I expend 75% of my energy reserves at once. Hopefully the Fruit Bearers will have something that will restore my energy afterwards,' he thought.

There were flashes of light that did their best to pierce through the darkness right then.

...And then land began to form, then a sky, and light and air. They rose and fell from the runes, wide and welcoming.

A world was indeed forming and it was large enough to trap the enemies even with their distance.

But… BOOOM!

It happened soundlessly, but the impact was felt all the same. The world broke just as it was about to come together.

Tiny fragments, mountain-sized pieces, shards of the lightly-coloured sky…

They all flew in different directions, having failed to create one solid, coherent mass.

Jiggorrhax reeled, as did everyone else.

It wasn't the Chronocle Fiend's doing. It was the great void that resisted the formation of such a substandard world. It took more than simple Rules to establish a world in the great void, after all.

Asthon hurried to reassure everyone.

"Don't mind it. At least we have footholds now. For those who require stability to fight at their best, now's your chance to find a perch!" yelled the bird.

But the Chronocle Fiend was already upon them. At this point, none of the full details of its face could be seen.

Yet, that didn't mean no one saw when it made the first move.

Swifter than anyone could have imagined, one of the creature's ugly hands sank into the great void and extracted what looked like a giant band of gold, white and green. It was held between the creature's ugly fingernails.

One of the spears over its shell then stormed down, by far faster than the zoom of light, and struck the colourful band!

Everyone felt it. They shuddered uncontrollably and involuntarily. A vibration coursed through them, coarse and fatal.

Grim, Asthon, Jiggorrhax, Azila, and the other guardian beasts knew at once.

Their time – past, present and future – was in danger.