Chapter 574 - A Saintess Stands

[ERROR]

[CONNECTION LOST]

Sofia opened her eyes in the middle of nowhere. She was standing on nothing, perhaps falling, and everything was pitch black, but she could move, her senses were all there.

Until another figure appeared from the nothingness, and suddenly Sofia was stuck in place, having a hard time to even think.

Sitting cross-legged about twenty meters in front of Sofia, was a demon-like figure, with seven arms and a mind-boggling physique.

Sofia, in this moment, understood what had felt so wrong about the Annihilator’s statue in the second trial. The rune on his forehead could not possibly be sculpted in a way that made sense. It was, much like Aphenoreth’s rune, constantly warping and shifting, and it seemed to warp reality around it in unison.

Edrazeketh opened his eyes.

Fully black eyes reflected the emptiness of the void.

The Lord raised one of his seven hands. Sofia was instantly overcome by soul-crushing pain.

Untold energies bashed against her soul, like trying to rip it to shreds, to reduce it down to its smallest components. Sofia’s soul shook like the flame of a candle in a storm, but it wasn’t extinguished. It could not be.

[You were subjected to a Soul-extinguishing attack; but you were protected]

[The ‘Mark of Aphenoreth’ could not punish the attacker]

Sofia barely managed to remain conscious, and her sanity was soon tested. The Lord raised a second hand.

The unlife runes broke all at once, and Sofia’s mana vanished.

Health : 822 762 / 822 762

Stamina : 204 336 / 204 336

Mana : 0 / 0      

She could feel a void spread in her. She knew she should have died then and there. But she would not so easily disappear from a lack of energy, [Heat Death] would not let it happen.

Her mana started going into the negative.

Mana : -100 / 0

Mana : -1000 / 0

Mana : -10000 / 0

She felt herself disappearing; her very existence eating itself from the inside, [Heat Death] fought back, but it alone could not stop the infinite drain threatening Sofia’s existence.

As she held on, something in her came back to life from the void growing in her. It was a spark, an infinite loop of energy, the ultimate tier mana heart, the infinity engine.

The mana stopped going further down in the negative. Slowly, it rose again.

The Lord raised a third hand.

Sofia disappeared. A black-laced glove was all that remained. 

Since the glove existed, then Sofia must have existed too. She had not disappeared.

Still standing, facing the lord, she braced herself for what was to come next. In her mind she desperately called the names of the other lords for help, in vain. As she struggled to stay sane, her mana finally reached 0 again, and slowly, it crawled up into the positive.

Mana : 1 / 0

The Lord raised a fourth hand.

Now it was the empty void around Sofia itself that sought her end. Her place in reality had been revoked, she was to return to eternal darkness.

She refused. The very fabric of her being was like a permanent stain, a bundle of light encroached in reality so strongly that one could not possibly get rid of the other.

The power of the [Edgewalker].

Incomprehensibly for both Sofia and the entity she was facing, she still stood.

The Lord raised a fifth hand.

There was no visible sign or warning, Sofia’s health just dropped to zero.

What little mana she had fought back for her. This was not an acceptable end. The [Venerable physique of the primeval void] only allowed for 99% of her health to be taken away in a single it, that had always held true. As her lumian demon body cracked and its light spilled everywhere, illuminating the dark void, her health snapped back up from zero.

Health : 8228 / 822 762

Was this really happening? Could Sofia truly survive the continued assault of a Lord in the flesh? Her thoughts cleared up a little. In the midst of despair, she saw a glimpse of hope, only two hands left.

The Lord raised a sixth hand.

Starting from her left hand, Sofia’s body started to vanish, as if vaporized in thin air, and the little health she had left quickly ticked away. The vanishing was quickly progressing through her arm, it would soon reach her shoulder.

Sofia struggled. She had never been able to move if a Lord wished her not to, they all had that power to make her stop. She tried everything she could think of, and to her delight, something still worked. Something that broke all the rules of what seemed logical, as it worked without condition, always, [Bone Dominus]. Sofia’s spine reshaped a part of itself into a skeletal hand and grabbed Anna’s dagger from the hole in her chest, undoing its bone sheath. In two clean internal strikes, Sofia freed herself from her left shoulder and arm, which fell silently into the void below.

Sofia internally rejoiced, but to her horror, the vanishing started again from her right hand.

She lost one more health point, before gaining it back.

The vanishing stopped.

The other Three Lords did not answer Sofia’s prayers, yet some bit of their powers were still hers to wield.

[Singularity edict] had dismissed the vanishing.

Only one left!

In Sofia’s ears, the amused voice of the Orator whispered a few words, “Whomst could have predicted that the grand Annihilator would unleash this particular sequence of attacks. This Saintess is so fortunate! Or… Could that be a sleeping Lord’s misfortune?” The voice disappeared with an ethereal cackle that faded in the distance.

The lord raised his seventh hand. His seven arms abruptly moved to form a perfect circle, a gate made of his own limbs.

It came with a low rumble, a tsunami of mana, of torrent of pure magical energy in untold amounts. It was as though the entirety of the world’s mana converged here in this place. Mana filled the entire void, every nook and cranny. Sofia’s body and soul were rocked by the current, her [Pillar of Creation] racial trait was the only thing preventing her from being washed away to the confines of this strange space. But that only bought her some time, a few seconds at most, the quantity of mana was too high, astronomical. It was killing her rapidly, the simple contact of so much energy too much for her dilapidated shell to handle.

She focused all her will on one last move as her health plummeted.

Fight fire with fire!

[Ringed arms of Zar], collapse!

Time seemed to freeze for a second. Like an imploding star, all the mana collapsed into the ring representing Edrazeketh’s arms. 

It was a valiant attempt. To Sofia’s credit, this last stunt had managed to stop the Lord’s final attack. But in her critical state, could she survive this torrent of mana rushing back through her to reach the ring?

She could not.

Health : -814 772 / 822 762

Only an effigy of light remained of what was once Sofia Aphenoreth, her soulbound items shattered, and as to what happened to Pareth and Bookie? Perhaps no one would ever know.

Silence reigned once more in the Annihilator’s void.

The Lord blinked. His black eyes lighting up in a myriad of glimmering colors. He noticed Sofia’s remains, slightly tilting his head.

Finally he slowly stood up, crossing his arms in his back. He walked up to the light effigy without any urgency, a perfectly neutral expression on his face. 

Yvraveteth. He said, as if instantly understanding the entire situation.

Crouching down, he picked up the things that remained: a dagger, a black glove, a small bell, and lastly, a shining ring of pure mana.

Gluttony. The Lord said, observing the ring. Nostalgic.

This one is much favored.

His eyes shone as he noticed the reason for this favoritism.

Marked… Have the pickings begun?

Edrazeketh raised a single finger.

The effigy of light turned into an unconscious tall woman with hair made of light and shining horns. Broken items forged themselves back from nothingness, covering her naked body. A crown, a scepter, a shroud, an armguard, several rings, all recovered in the blink of an eye.

Post-human?

[ERROR]

[UNAUTHORIZED MEMORY SCAN DETECTED]

[ERR

Save your energy, Scribe. You cannot stop me.

[ADMIN ACTION OVERRIDE, ERROR DISMISSED]

Edrazeketh’s eyes shone stronger.

Interesting. 

So Anna has given up… As I thought, it was too heavy a task for a scion to bear.

But the system is still running. We need an administrator.

The light of Edrazeketh’s eyes weakened. He thrust an arm into the nothingness of the void besides him. Making a grabbing motion, he pulled something invisible to him, leaving a gaping hole in space in the wake of his action. He waved a finger, and the black lace glove flew to Sofia’s right hand. He then grabbed her wrist and thrust it toward the emptiness he had pulled out of nowhere.

With a sound like that of breaking glass, a gigantic battered and bruised Dragon appeared, its head hanging down as if it were dead.

Edrazeketh waved a finger and the Dragon was completely healed, though still unconscious.

This one shall do.

The Lord’s attention fell back to Sofia.

Take this quest, Scribe. There is much to do.