Chapter 527 - Freya Marianus

After eating Marlborough the Undying Juggernaut, its fellow cult member, the abomination became even stronger. It was as if its strength was an amalgamation of the people it absorbed. Its base strength was already made up by the fusion of three Level 5 undead liches. Since then, it had assimilated hundreds or thousands of the prisoners unlucky enough in its wake.

The power of the giant undead construct was oppressively towering. It suffocated Freya and Cedric, who were in close vicinity. Through their career, they had seen their fair share of powerful monsters and demons, but this was positively beyond any of them.

And yet, a man was firmly standing on the three-headed giant of death’s path.

Gregory burned bright, but it was like a candlelight trying to stop a ten-meter high wave.

Miraculously enough, the wave stopped.

“Master, no! There has to be another way. Don't-”

“Go, my disciple,” Gregory said with a kind voice, utterly at peace. “This is where we must part. I have arrived at the end of my journey, but yours continues still. It must. Farewell, Freya. Beware the shadow.”

With the power of a man parting the ocean, the general of the Silver Legion sent his disciple and her teammate towards the rainbow-sun, silently watching like a spectator.

The two went like a pair of shooting stars. Their path was swift and direct because Cedric lessened the Aurora Scroll’s reverse current.

Freya tried to resist, trying to get back to her master.

“Let’s go!” Cedric slapped the distraught Freya to wake her to her senses. “We must not waste General Gregory’s bravery! As his disciple, it applies even more so to you!”

“Mrrgh...”

Freya felt her heart was being ripped in two as she went towards the artifact in earnest. She burned the sight of Gregory’s mighty back to her memory.

***

“Unbelievable buffoon. Lichzen, has your rotting brain finally got eaten by maggots along with your competence!”

Seeing Lichzen’s avatar -ugly and in poor taste it might be- being held back by a mere Level 5 human, Yasterah’s felt a great amount of exasperation.

Just as she was about to prevent Freya and Cedric’s rocket-like spurt, the Demon King got in her way.

“Are you mad!?” Yasterah said the Dumuzin-made Demon King, the Devil God of Soul and Madness. The Demon King robot-like expression hadn't changed.

Labeling one of her peer a blundering fool and another as sickening lunatic, Yasterah decided to take the matters to her own hands, wanting to take back the initiative. The Devil God of Blood and Control felt a change in the wind, as she wouldn't let it!

The red angel-like figure manifested another pair of wings, totaling the number of four.

Arte - Life Seraph!

One of the three ultimate Blood Artes. Yasterah’s host body, Izabella, already knew Blood Seraph Arte but didn't know the other two. Of course, this posed no problem to Yasterah, for she was the one who created all three.

The second pair of wings was also red, but there was a slight difference. There was a tinge of golden color, rich in vitality.

Some say blood was life, and it wasn't far from the truth.

With Blood Seraph and Life Seraph in activation, Yasterah’s power skyrocketed. Her form was like a divinity itself. A mortal might see her and turned into a lifetime devotee then and there. The Devil God truly bared her fangs now. Before those two flies ruin everything, she had to squish them flat.

Her adversary took it as a challenge and answered. The Demon King raised his head up and opened his mouth. From mouth, eyes, nose and ears, smoke came out in great quantity. It looked like smoke, but it actually wasn't. The range grew quickly.

“A realm of madness? Foolish!” Yasterah drowned it in a tide of blood.

The Demon King suddenly appeared at her right, striking her with a black energy. It had such might that it obliterated forty percent of Yasterah’s body. It looked so gruesome.

But she paid it no mind. The damaged parts regenerated nearly instantly.

With Life Seraph Arte providing her with an unlimited amount of vitality, what had she had to fear?

Good as new, the Blood Goddess countered by creating a crystal of blood on her hand that exploded into hundreds of little shards. Each of those shards had instant death effect. The Demon King cloacked himself in a tornado of wailing souls.

Their battle was the most powerful out of the battles in this place bar none. If they duke it out in the real world, who knew how much destruction they would cause.

***

“The Blood Demoness’ puppet is busy. Now’s our only chance!”

Cedric said to Freya, who gave him a nod. The two had arrived a crucial junction. Their immediate future would be decided in split-second moments.

The Aurora Scroll was so close, but there was one last obstacle barring their progress.

“Do you think, you have the qualification for that?” Grausam the Catastrophe stood menacingly with his arms crossed. “Insects!”

The Level 5 released a flaming Arte that took the shape of a fierce dragon to reduce them to cinders. Level 4s were like tissue paper before such might.

“Move aside, coward!” Freya pierced forward with a white spear, a Divine Weapon unleashed!

Should Grausam had the courage to touch the Aurora Scroll, he would have gain it a long time ago. After seeing what happened to Marlborough, he stayed his hand. Freya was right in called him a coward.

“You know nothing, little bitch! Die!”

Grausam struck back with a Divine Weapon of his own, a club with a demonic head attached.

Cedric crossed both hands to shield his face. Two Divine tier energy clashed and it created a massive explosion. Because he was next to Freya, he was fine, but a meter away, and he would had become pieces of Cedric.

The situation was at a stalemate. Freya and Grausam both drawing their will and resources against each other’s energy blast. The fact that Freya could do this far was already a feat for the history books, but she was losing. The opponent was a Level 5 peak and not just the average Level 5 peak.

Clarity came to Cedric. He knew what he must do, his purpose. He pushed Freya away to the finish line, knowing full well what would happen next.

“Cedric!” Freya was surprised by the act but she saw Cedric was smiling as Grausam’s attack devoured him.

Just so it happened, Freya was at a position where she could see Gregory’s fall in the distance. The Silver Legion general had finally been struck down by Lichzen’s avatar. Crushed in the grip of its gigantic hand, before being horrendously threw to the ground.

Further still, her friends, who were staying behind so she and Cedric could move forward, were in a perilous situation. They were on a knife’s edge.

“Aaaaaaaahhhhh!”

Freya pushed forward a bit more while letting out her heart’s pain. At this close, the repelling force of the artifact was greater than ever. No longer had Cedric to pave the way, Freya felt like exerting the effort of climbing a mounting for each step forward.

Grausam coughed and wheezed. Using a Divine Weapon took a toll on him that he would rather avoid. He knew Freya was very close to the scroll, but he didn't panic. Even though the artifact’s energy had weakened after Marlborough touched it, anyone could see the great power still contained within. So much so that not even Grausam was confident. The three Devil Gods avatars were the only ones that could have a chance.

How could a mere Level 4 lass prevail?

Grausam was filled with a sense of schadenfreude. Perhaps the Silver Legion lass would weaken the artifact further and then he might a have chance.

“Stop her, you idiot chimpanzee!” Yasterah flew forward like a red comet.

The sheer incompetence she had to deal with was unbearable.

Yasterah’s eyes saw more than the likes of Grausam did and she deemed Freya touching the Aurora Scroll could result in a less than favorable result.

With her speed, she passed the confused Grausam. She even let the Demon King’s attacks hit her. The priority was to stop Freya.

Freya was already strained from defending against the reverse current with her already dry stamina. With her trump cards burned out over the course of this battle one by one to the last, a sense of dread stabbed at her heart.

Yasterah in the face of Izabella held a blood javelin on her hands. Once let loose, it would strike true and ended Freya’s life.

However, a flicker of green flash stopped her for an instant.

“Wha-? You!?”

Freya didn't care anymore and closed the last distance between her and the prize. With her outstretched hand, she grabbed the Aurora Scroll.

For the second time, the rainbow-colored sun lit up as bright as a real sun.

“NO!”

Yasterah threw her javelin at the center of the light.

An explosion of silver light erased the blood javelin.

All the people waited with bated breath. That silver light, reached to the farthest corner of the mysterious place. It gave them a sense of divinity.

The sliver light dimmed and revealed the form of Freya, but she was no longer the same as moments before.

Her hair became longer, reaching her ankles. Her black hair turned completely lustrous silver. A silver halo as big as half of her body hanging on her back, pulsating with silvery light waves. Her aura was completely different, as if it was someone else’s. On her left arm, the one that touched the artifact, it was covered by ever-changing scripts and words. Although the words were incomprehensible, each of them carried an inviolable sense of truth.

The transformed young woman who had taken everyone’s attention, even the Devil Gods avatars, slowly opened her eyes. Peacefully, as if awakening from a slumber.

Her pupils were no longer circle like normal humans.

“You... How can you have hers-”

Yasterah’s inquiry was cut short by the action of another.

“ESTELLEEEEEEE!!! Estellle! Estelle! Hyaaahahhhahahaahahahaha!”

The silver-haired Demon King, who had the demeanor as aloof as a machine all this time, ran towards Freya with his arms spread apart. His eyes were full of longing. He was like a person trying to embrace his long-lost lover.

Freya impassively outstretched her hand, manifesting a silverly sword. With prefect calmness, she slashed at the Demon King.

After the slash, one second the Demon King looked fine, the next second he was submerged by a wave of silver energy. The power was even above the previously shown Divine Weapon.

“HYAAAAAHAHAHA! KAAAAKAKAKAAAAA!! ESTEEEEELLLLEEEEE!!!”

Despite the overwhelming damage he sustained, the Demon King laughed maniacally to the end. After the wave of silver faded, not a single trace of him could be seen.

“That sword... and Absolute Silver Slash... You really are-”

Freya made a second swing at Yasterah. The power was no less than the first.

“So that’s how it is. Very well, I’ll retreat for now. Can't have my precious child’s body come to harm.”

Yasterah’s form disappeared too, but she left some parting words.

Freya’s third slash was aimed at Lichzen’s avatar. Because it was the killer of her master, Freya used greater power compared to the other two. A downward slash that was bisecting heaven and earth utterly destroyed the abomination to the last remnant.

The target wailed, the Holy element attack was incredibly effective against an undead. It magnificently exploded, releasing the trapped dead souls in its body.

Most of those souls were prisoners, sinners, but they all looked glad and at peace, conveying to Freya their gratitude as they vanished to the afterlife.

Freya looked in silence for a short moment before glancing at Grausam.

The Level 5 ran away then and there.

One of they remaining cultists ran away one after another. Leaving only Freya and three her friends.

Freya fell to the ground in exhaustion after no longer able to maintain her transformation. The Aurora Scroll separated from her body, floating docilely as ever. The repelling force was no longer there, so Eliott, Hunter, and Casey arrived at Freya’s side in no time.

“Leader! Are you okay?”

“By the Divine, what what that, girl?”

“Stop shaking her you two, let me treat her.”

In the peak of exhaustion but still aware, the presence of her friends, bruised but all alive, Freya thanks the Goddess for this blessing.

However, the absence of Master Gregory and Cedric felt like there was a hollow in her heart.

Freya remembered everything. That form of hers, it was only possible by the power of the Aurora Scroll. That power was a power of that Freya possessed in the future. A future of her that has realized her full potential. It was temporarily and the connection not perfect, but its significance couldn't be overstated.

“I’m fine, everyone,” Freya tried to stand up. “I’m not hurt, just tired. In fact, you three looks worse than-”

Tanael yoinked the Aurora Scroll after breaking invisibility and ran like a bandit while their guards were down.