Chapter 182 - 182: Divinity vs Divine Creation
Chloe raised her translucent, sapphire hands. The halo of arcane crystals hovering above her head began to spin with terrifying speed.
"Freeze them," Chloe commanded, her voice echoing with chilling celestial resonance.
A massive blizzard of razor-sharp arcane crystals erupted from her fingertips and swept across the canyon floor. The temperature instantly dropped to absolute zero. Hundreds of Vanguard infantry and Second Continent spearmen were completely encased in thick, impenetrable blocks of magical ice before they could even scream.
General Gulag roared in fury as the frost crept up her heavy legs. She slammed her bone club against the frozen ground, shattering the ice gripping her feet before turning her weapon to smash the frozen prisons holding her trapped soldiers.
On the other side of the crater, Iron-Scale darted through the blinding blizzard. He deflected a volley of golden fire from Jason with his star-iron blade. The supreme commander moved with blurring speed, but his attacks simply passed right through Jason's radiant form without leaving a scratch.
"You are fighting a god now, little lizard!" Jason laughed, swinging his massive blade of divine fire in a wide arc. The golden flames easily melted the rocks around them.
Iron-Scale gritted his teeth and flipped backward to avoid incineration. 'Physical strikes cannot harm a being made entirely of light,' the Kobold analyzed quickly. 'We need a completely different approach.'
High above the Shattered Maw, Red sat in his sanctuary and watched his Vanguard commanders struggle against the awakened Heralds. He interlaced his fingers and stared blankly at the overwhelming display of divine energy.
His eyes slowly drifted from the main monitor to the dark, swirling void outside his sanctuary window. The faint smirk entirely vanished from his face, replaced by a look of cold, calculating judgment.
"Since you are so eager to throw divine powers around," Red muttered softly to himself, the dark energy of his Sovereign domain beginning to crackle around his hovering chair. "I suppose I should show you what true divine power actually looks like."
Red raised his hand and opened his Sovereign interface. He selected his most terrifying asset for deployment.
A glowing crimson prompt instantly materialized in front of his eyes:
[ BASE SUMMONING COST: 1,500,000 DP ]
[ SUSTAINMENT UPKEEP: 50,000 DP PER MINUTE ]
The cost was absolutely astronomical, a drain on his hard-earned resources. Red did not hesitate for a single second. He pressed the confirmation rune.
Down in the canyon, Jason raised his blade of divine fire to incinerate the Vanguard army. Chloe prepared to summon another massive blizzard of arcane crystals.
Before either Herald could strike, reality simply ripped open above them.
There was no explosion, no brilliant flash of light. It was a tear in the very fabric of the world.
All sound in the Shattered Maw instantly ceased. The roar of the beasts, the clashing of weapons, and the crackling of magical fire were completely muted.
The colors of the canyon temporarily inverted into sickening, washed-out hues.
Then, a small creature stepped lightly out of the void and began to fall.
It was a six-legged fox, no larger than a newborn baby. Its fur looked like a canvas of shifting midnight, completely devoid of light.
It plummeted gracefully through the air between the two floating mortals.
The moment the tiny fox entered their airspace, its absolute anti-mana field violently activated.
Jason's massive golden wings flickered like a blown-out candle. The radiant light forming his armor shattered into mundane dust. Across the canyon, the halo of arcane crystals hovering above Chloe dissolved into ordinary water droplets, and her translucent sapphire form instantly reverted back to human flesh and bone.
Stripped entirely of their stolen divinity, gravity violently reasserted its hold. Jason and Chloe shrieked as they plummeted from the sky and crashed hard into the rocky dirt of the canyon floor.
The tiny, six-legged fox landed gracefully between them without making a single sound.
Jason groaned, clutching his bruised ribs. He stared at the adorable creature sitting calmly on the rocks. Furious and humiliated, Jason reached out a hand and desperately tried to summon his golden fire to incinerate the beast.
However, nothing happened. The ambient mana in the air was completely dead.
Glitch tilted its small head. It trotted over to Jason on its six tiny paws and sat down right in front of the terrified Herald. The baby fox opened its small jaw and simply inhaled.
A terrifying suction force gripped Jason's very being. The radiant golden energy which was the soul mass ripped from Red's chest began to forcibly bleed out of Jason's pores.
The glowing mist was siphoned violently through the air and flowed directly down Glitch's tiny throat.
Jason screamed in pure agony. The fox wasn't even touching him, but it felt as if his insides were being hollowed out by a black hole. Glitch devoured the stolen energy effortlessly, its small, void-like eyes staring blankly at the thrashing human.
Chloe pushed herself up from the dirt, entirely paralyzed by terror. She watched the harmless-looking baby beast effortlessly strip away the invincible power of a Herald.
Out on the canyon perimeter, Iron-Scale and General Gulag slowly closed the distance, their weapons drawn and their predatory smiles returning.
Glitch did not stop with Jason. The tiny, six-legged fox turned its head slightly toward Chloe and inhaled once more.
The sapphire arcane energy instantly began to bleed out of the girl's pores. Chloe collapsed to her knees, clutching her chest as she joined Jason in screaming. The agonizing sensation of having their invincible power hollowed out completely overwhelmed them.
The glowing mist of blue and gold flowed through the air, swirling together before vanishing entirely down the baby fox's throat.
Now, Jason and Chloe were nothing but normal humans. If they had skills or abilities they had gained or developed, they could still use them, but not the divinity they were so arrogant about. They were no different from normal humans.
"My followers will take care of you two and show their hospitality," Red muttered in the void.
Once the Heralds were thoroughly drained and left gasping in the dirt, Red immediately cut the connection to save his rapidly depleting resources.
The tear in reality opened up right behind the tiny beast. Glitch let out a small, satisfied burp, turned around on its six paws, and trotted happily back into the void. The spatial rift snapped shut, leaving Jason and Chloe completely powerless, bruised, and surrounded by the heavily armed Vanguard army.
Iron-Scale walked up to the trembling, coughing humans. He pressed his star-iron blade back against Jason's throat.
"Tie them up," Iron-Scale hissed. "And strip them of those silver robes."