Abyssal Awakening

Of course, she had the choice of merely injuring the Apostle of War rather than kill. But that was not the point for Velouria. The fact that they even dared to make this kind of move means they were unafraid of true death.

And so she instilled it back into the heart of the Apostle before killing him.

\'So this is what you meant by I will die a most gruesome death. Seems like Lua was attacked like this in the true history and I fought against the three Gods.\' Velouria chuckled as no one made a single move.

The moment someone did, all hell would break loose as four Gods would begin to fight each other.

But it\'s more of a three vs one situation.

She could sense the Will\'s gaze on her. That unbearable smirk as it watched as though everything was within its plans.

Focusing on her connection with the Will through her Divinity, it seemed as though the time had stopped.

The faceless being manifested in front of her with the smirk she had been expecting to see.

"Here to beg?" The Will grinned as Velouria shook her head.

"No, merely to have one last conversation. One last face to face though… You don\'t really have one so that isn\'t entirely accurate."

"Why would I share a face with vermin?"

"Exactly. I presume this is the future that happened in reality. Lua gets ambushed and me and the Gods begin to fight one another. Even though it\'s off script, seems like some things are unavoidable." Velouria began to circle around each of the Gods.

The hesitation in Lumiria\'s eyes, Solaris\'s false bravado and Enris\'s calculating gaze.

"Why, have you become curious as to how you die?"

"Perhaps. But isn\'t everyone curious about how they die? I merely want to see how different my fate is." Velouria chuckled. She wanted to know the true ending of her life. The true ending of Ayr and not this world trapped in a memory.

She wanted to know what happened to everyone after she died.

"I suppose it\'s no harm to humour you. You might even show me an expression I\'m not expecting." The Will chuckled as it floated beside her.

"Without Alice\'s interfering, you still create the alliance between the four Gods. However, they were more upfront about betraying you rather than trying to target me." The Will laughed as it recalled the memory of a forgotten past.

An era where the current Scholars have all but forgotten what had transpired and with good reason.

All they knew was that every God had gone down for an expedition to the depths of the Abyss and everyone except the Gods and Apostles died. Of course, a few Apostles still died but each of the Gods chose to hide the events of that day, preventing the world from learning the truth.

And little by little, Ayr was forgotten. At first, it was regarded as a myth.

A secret location within the Abyss where humans could find refuge. Then it became a domain where one could find hidden relics and secrets of the past. A treasure trove of knowledge and power but reaching there was near impossible.

Naturally, traversing the Abyss without the aid of Ayrian technology proved to be a far harder task than what the people of the surface had expected.

Compared to the safety of the surface, the Abyss no was different from a hellhole where all manners of beasts crawled in the dark.

And over the course of centuries, Ayr and its glory days were forgotten. Now only a handful of extremely old Hunters remember that the Abyss had its own nation and that there were four major religions.

The fourth being that of the Abyss.

"During the final battle, you received a sneak attack from Enris much like how Allura did. By capitalizing on your weakened physique, she sought to kill you immediately from that strike but you survived.

"Although Nyer had other plans, he came to your rescue and the two of you fought against three Gods. Upon pushing back the three Gods, he sought to steal your power and he succeeded to some extent. More than half of the divinity I granted to you was siphoned to him and with that, he injured all three Gods."

Hearing this, Velouria paused as a sad expression appeared on her face.

"He did so expecting to transfer your burden to him as well. However… The burden placed on your body isn\'t a result of your divinity, isn\'t that right?" The Will laughed as the truth of the matter was something else.

"You should\'ve seen his expression once he realised what had gone wrong. He worked so hard to take away the Divinity, to harm both Kaden and Allura, to break the bonds he cherished yet for all his work, he only gained power while losing everything else.

"With your divinity stripped from your body, it was practically an instantaneous death as your body could no longer hold back my expansion. Afterwards… Let\'s just say he overestimated himself a little and suffered the consequences of acquiring God like power despite not being a vessel for a God."

Taking a deep breath, Velouria sighed.

"Ayr was soon erased by the Gods, its citizens fell to my control with no Goddess to help them so naturally, I turned them back to their primordial forms. Kaden overused his Corrupted Blessing and suffered the consequences. Allura injured to the point where she could not live without drowning in medication. Nyer disabled and cannot move.

There are a handful that survived but they live in secrecy, not daring to make themselves known in fear of the Gods.

"That is the ending of your precious Ayr."

". . ." Velouria didn\'t know what to say. To think her precious retainers and beloved citizens and friends would have such a fate after her death.

Was her approach wrong this entire time?

Not only that, but for Nyer to be the one ultimately responsible for her death.

"However, it doesn\'t end there. Nyer. He is nothing but a fool, desperately trying to patch things haphazardly even though it\'s progressed to this stage. In the true reality, after stealing away your divinity, he didn\'t stop there. With the rest of his strength, he took your corpse away and began to harvest it.

"The body of a fallen God, what kind of power do you wish he gains from it?" The Will asked as Velouria bit her lip before giving up.

"I don\'t care anymore. My powers are already stretched thin as it is, what else can I do? Nyer will do what Nyer wishes to do. Kaden will come to hate him and Allura is as wounded as she is in the true reality. There\'s only one thing I have to say to you." Velouria sighed as she glanced up at the faceless being.

"F*ck you."

"Such harsh words." The Will shrugged.

"You deserve worse. But this will be the last time we talk. Goodbye." Velouria shook her head as she began to cut the connection between them.

"Enjoy what remains of your life, my daughter." The Will grinned while resting his head on his palm.

"I am not your daughter."

Born as the extension of the Abyss and the first \'human\', Velouria was the closest thing to a family for the Will, a daughter.

Yet it never showed her love nor care and Velouria didn\'t think of the Will as her father either. The only family she had was Kaden, Allura, Nyer, Alice and everyone in Ayr.

With that as their final exchange, Velouria opened her eyes and faced the three Gods once more.

Since it\'s come to this stage once more, she\'d do what she can!

From her body, her divinity burst forth at full power and ignored the pain she was feeling. With this as the signal, the battle between the four Gods exploded into action.

###

After bringing Alice to safety, Kaden reached into his shadow and pulled out some medicine for her as well.

It was something that was created for Allura in her younger years as she was reckless in using her Divinity. A medicine to help offset the burden caused and while it may allow you to move, it didn\'t fully heal the damages.

"You should feel better after eating this. But don\'t fight anymore." Kaden explained after feeding Alice the tablets.

Sensing a strange energy flowing through her body, Alice sat up with a frown.

"What about Allura, we can\'t leave her behind there!"

"It\'s fine, Nyer\'s appeared. He\'s taking care of Deva right now as we speak." Kaden reassured but Alice froze up in panic.

"No… No! That\'s the worst-case scenario! Nyer isn\'t thinking straight right now! We have to go get Allura out of there immediately!" Alice shouted as she forced herself back on her feet.

Just as she was about to activate her fourth Sigil to teleport back, she felt as though her body was splitting apart and collapsed on her knee.

"That\'s what I mean, don\'t use your powers for now. I don\'t know why you\'re on guard against the Commander but-" Before Kaden could finish his sentence, his pupils shrunk in fear as he turned towards where Allura and Nyer were.

Wrapping himself in shadow, he left the area immediately as Alice clenched her fist and punched the ground.

Seeing Alice like this, Alyss furrowed her brows before taking a deep breath.

\'I got a plan, do you want to hear me out?\'

###

Biting his lips, Kaden stepped out of the portal and observed the scene in front of him.

Standing above Allura\'s bleeding body, Nyer glanced over at Kaden.

"Ah, you\'re here. It saves me the trouble of going to you."

"Oi… What\'s the meaning of this." Kaden asked, trying to hold back as his voice trembled in betrayal and anger.

"It\'s exactly as you see it. Please don\'t make me hurt you more than I have to. Lua forced my hand, I don\'t want to do the same to you." Nyer sighed turning to Kaden as he shook Allura\'s blood from his hand.

"Nyer!!!"

Hating the fact he didn\'t listen to Alice, Kaden gritted his teeth and rushed towards the Commander of Ayr, the Betrayer.

If only he had been here a moment earlier. No, even a second earlier would\'ve been fine.

But the reality was that he hesitated and Allura suffered as a result.