Chapter 446 - 444:Apostle of Pride.
A collective sigh of relief left Dante’s friends as they saw the man appear, nod, then disappear once more.
Well, at least Leo, Paku, and Malachi sighed in relief. Sulvan didn’t even budge. It was just as he had claimed, a minor thing for his master, as the crimson-red man burned even brighter, having had his faith proven true.
The others could only shake their heads wryly, speechless. They really couldn’t bring themselves to tell the man anything, for his words had been proven right.
Now, they didn’t know where Dante had disappeared to this time around, but they were not panicking again. Not this time. They would be damned if they gave Sulvan another excuse to lecture them like kids.
"The Thief has fled with the Artifact." Their thoughts were brought to a halt as the grating voice of one of the pale beings echoed through the region.
"We must find and retrieve her.The Master must not be kept waiting." Another one spoke up as they got ready to begin searching, but—
"You will do no such thing. Not while I stand here." Sulvan’s plain voice shut them down.
"Hmmm? Foolish mortal, you dare stand in the way of Master’s plans?" The being numbered 3 focused his gaze on Sulvan as his voice rang out.
"Do you know who we are? Do you know whose plans you’re interfering with? Do you wish to have your entire civilization punished for your own folly? Don’t you—" The being labeled 1 began threatening in an emotionless voice, but,
"You talk too much..." A palm burning with crimson flames had already wrapped around its face. "I’ll leave the others to you. Do not disappoint Master." Sulvan’s voice rang out from behind him as he took the being labeled 1 away from this region.
Silence reigned once more as the three others looked confused, not understanding what had just happened.
"Well, you heard the fucker!! I guess it’s time to show out!! Ahahahaha... you guys seem even more interesting than the last group." Malachi, now calmer after realizing Dante was fine, regained his excitement.
"GROW!!!" He thrust his staff out, aimed straight at the being with the tag 4 as his staff grew in exponential length—
BANG!!!
Slamming into the chest of 4 and then pushing him farther away from the region until he couldn’t even be seen.
"I’ll be seeing you fuckers, ahahahahaha!!!" With a single bound, the monkey disappeared, chasing after the being he had sent flying into the farther reaches of space.
"Enough of this!" The one with the tag 2 finally had enough as the chain around its arm began glowing, a heavy aura pressing outward from it, but,
BOOOOM!!! A gargantuan-sized fist landed squarely on the being’s head, rocking it and sending it flying into the distance.
"Hehehe... that monkey isn’t the only one excited, you bastards. Let’s see just what Absolute’s upgrades can do." Paku, still in his miniature form, shrank back his disproportionately large arm as he also vanished, chasing after his own target.
All that remained present between Aetheris and extinction was Leo and his depression.
"Haaa... why did I have to be the one left behind?" The griffon just sighed as he shook his head, seemingly already tired before the battle even began.
"Mortal, do you wish to stand in my way?" The being with the tag 3 asked plainly.
"Well, all your friends are about to get beaten badly, so I can’t perform too shabbily, can I?"
"You believe your friends capable of felling the harbingers of my lord’s will? O mortal, you know not the forces you’re playing with."
"I may not know the forces I’m playing with, but I do know the forces playing on my side, so yes, I do believe you guys are getting owned." Leo nodded assuredly.
"If that is so, then let us begin. You shall delay my task no further." Done with his words, 3 put out his arm and then—
CLANG!! CLANG!! CLANG!!
The chains wrapped around it came off with a rattling sound that echoed through the void of space.
"For daring to stand in the way of my lord’s plans, your punishment has been decided." The being paused, leveling Leo a dead stare as its words finally concluded:
"Atone for your folly with your DEATH!"
"Haaa... I hate working.."
....
"Here comes monkey!!!" Malachi’s jovial voice rang out loud and true as his golden form came barreling after 4, not willing to give the strange being a chance to adjust.
But alas,
WENG!!!
A golden chain shot straight at him.
BANG!!!!
Crashing into his head as his body was sent careening back.
"Ughh..." The monkey righted himself before he could be pushed back any further.
"Damn.. I felt that one." Shaking his head to get the lingering dizziness off, he settled his gaze upon the pale 4 that now had a golden chain circling its body like it was alive. The space around it was being pressed and forced into a tiny vacuum as its presence seemed too large to be contained.
"Filthy creature. You dare stand before Master’s plan? Know your place!" Not one for words like his other partner, 4’s chains shot out like a serpent, appearing before Malachi’s face in a blink.
The monkey roared as he punched out in retaliation, but—
CRAAACKKK!!!!
His fist got crushed, shattered, and turned into minced meat.
BOOOMMMM!!!!
The chain didn’t lose momentum, colliding with sickening impact on the monkey’s chest as he was sent flying back unceremoniously.
"Get back here!" The chain snaked out, wrapping around the leg of the flying monkey before pulling him toward 4.
A terrifying amount of energy began gathering around the pale being as he raised his hand, a finger pointing at the approaching figure of Malachi.
"For your ignorance and folly, atone with your death."
"Penance Beam...." A brilliant white beam shot straight at the monkey. Wherever the beam passed, everything was erased. Dead asteroids. Distant dead planets. Nothing was spared.
The energy beam arrived at its intended target as—
ZIING!!!
It engulfed the monkey’s form, erasing it completely, silence returning to the void of space where they were.
4 looked at the space the monkey had been in. There was nothing there but a patch of white, almost like a stain in space.
"Your penance is complete. Judgment has been delivered. In your next life, know whose will you dare to resist." 4 muttered emotionlessly as he got ready to return to the region they’d been in, but—
"Heh! All this talk about judgment and atonement. Do you even know who you’re trying to sentence?" A casual and mocking voice stopped him cold.
"Hmmm?" An expression finally found its way onto the pale being’s face.
"How?" 4 questioned as he looked at Malachi’s still pristine form standing right behind him.
"Hehehehe!!! How I do what I do, freak, is none of your concern."
"Indeed. All that matters is passing out my master’s judgment. You may have survived by a miracle, but a miracle won’t save you from your atonement."
"Miracle? Judgment? Atonement?" Malachi questioned quietly. "Do you even understand just what it is you’re trying to judge?" The monkey’s tone slowly began changing.
"I had intended to have some fun with this fight, but I’m already strapped for time, yet here you are talking about judgment?"
"Me? You wish to judge me?" The monkey laughed, his aura slowly deepening. "Little fucker. Do you know the epithet I received after that bastard changed me?" He asked, answering himself before 4 could even speak:
"Apostle of Pride: The Absolute’s Ego."
"That’s what you’re trying to judge."
"You’re trying to judge the physical representation of the Ego of a man who believes himself above all and below none."
"You’re trying to force atonement on the physical manifestation of the Pride of a being that believes himself incapable of wrong."
"You’re trying to sentence the physical manifestation of the Pride and Ego of a man so arrogant, something ancient had thought it proper to bestow someone the title of being called his ego, while expecting you to carry it with reverence."
"That is what you’re trying to judge."
"So let me ask you, do YOU know whose will you dare stand against?"
The pressure within the region suddenly deepened as Malachi’s entire demeanor changed.
His eyes became proud and contemptuous. His voice took on a condescending tone, and then he spoke:
"I am the Apostle of Pride. I am the Absolute’s Ego. All those that stand before me. All those that stand below me. Lose. Your. Will."
HONG!!!
Like a command to the world itself. Like a decree issued to creation itself.
The pale being, 4, was rendered instantly powerless. No resistance. No fight. Just shut down.
"Impossible... what... what is this!???" True emotion finally bled into the creature’s tone as panic set in, but before he could even begin to understand what was happening—
"Bow..." Malachi’s voice rang out once more, and then—
"No... no... impossible.." 4 bowed. His knees folded as he prostrated himself properly.
Step. Step. Step.
The sounds of Malachi’s steps on the empty void of space echoed like death knells as 4 began trembling.
"Do you understand it now? Before the ego of that bastard, you’re nothing. Before that bastard’s pride, your master is nothing." The monkey lectured in condescension.
"In your next life, learn who you can stand before, and who you should bow before."
4’s trembling intensified as Malachi opened his mouth once more:
"Under the authority of the Absolute, I DENY your right to exist. Now, BEGONE."
Craack!!
A jagged fissure immediately tore through 4’s body—not just his body, but his very existence—as just like that, under Malachi’s command, the body of 4 cracked, shattered, and drifted into the void in gray, disappearing particles.
A deafening silence reigned once again in the void as Malachi stood silent, his eyes locked onto a far distant location where he could feel it: the others were just about done as well.
"I guess it’s time to go back." With that, a golden light flashed over his body as he disappeared from the spot.
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A/N: Eyy? Monkey? Acting cold? Eyyy???? Anyways,
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Thanks for reading...