LogFAQs > #907320743

The column of light followed him, blasting the temple of Xetni and scattering the darkness in every direction. Here there was a hooded and robed man leading a congregation. Two dead bodies lay on the altar of blood, their wounds and their life stretched out across the canvas as some kind of sick demonstration of art or sacrifice. The cultists gathered around were mockery of belief; in truth these were mindless monsters that had no concept of faith or doubt. They were only doing as they were told.

Gray smashed into one of the stone pillars and sent rocks flying in every direction as light flooded the hall.

In that moment he felt the God-like presence flee from this room.

That powerful? Really? Had Mona driven him back, or was it a coincidence? It was said that Xetni rarely and briefly appeared in the world of mortals, if at all, but Gray understood little of that. However, if that was true, then maybe it was just a coincidence that he had been driven away in that moment.

No... No. It was impossible. There was no way Mona was powerful enough, even with the aide of Valter, to vanquish a God with a single burst of her magic. Gray felt his bones shacking and the tiny rivets that had been formed in them. The impact had shattered and fractured more than a few of those. Not that it mattered. He could use his magic to move his body, and even to numb his brain so that he could ignore the pain in those bones. They were just for fashion, just for show, just to give him a form in this world of body and concept.

The situation had changed completely.

This was no longer a situation where he could act carefully and try to capture the Angel and steal her power.

Now Gray found himself in a situation where he needed to fight with all of his power and, with a sudden and swift end, make sure he killed them. Otherwise they were absolutely going to kill him first. If he hesitated again like that he was more than dead... for sure.

"...--Devil!?" The hooded man shrieked, backing away from the scene as the light dissipated and clouds of dust rose from the broken pillar. All at once the brown smoke began to settle around the room. Even as Mona's power faded, however, the light in the chamber didn't leave.

This room which had once been completely swallowed by darkness was now a well lit temple.

These beasts who scuttled around in the darkness didn't like that. They began fleeing in any direction, down into the tunnels below, and some even climbing over the cliff face and down into the chasm. It was at times like this that even their master lost complete control of them. They gave way to instinct.

"Silence, you mortal fool," Gray snapped at him. "If you speak another needless world I won't hesitate to kill you. You're only alive now because I can't afford to be distracted for even a moment." The Devil's eyes shined with a red terror, but he couldn't fix them on the human. Quite literally if he took his eyes off the entrance to the passage above, Mona could appear there in an instant and kill him before he had time to react. "If you wish to live, then you should get behind me."

"I may choose to spare you after this conflict is over." Oh like hell he'd do that. This man had a slow and painful death coming to him, for all of the time that Gray had been locked away in that prison behind the Stone Door.

"You won't be given that choice," A booming voice came from above.

Gray's heart sank. For a moment he had been holding hope that self preservation might take over here. The injured Valter and Mona, having driven him back, might have taken this chance to flee and escape back to the world above. If that happened, he wouldn't have to fight them. Now... however... "I will decide," Mona told them both, "whether he lives or dies."
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
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