Thief of Time

As Dia ran through the plan, the monster threw back its head and let out a deafening, monstrous howl that seemed to rattle the dome itself. It began to deform a moment later, its silhouette and presence pulsating with a virulent fervour.

Dia winced as something in her body threatened to change, and some survival instinct of hers kicked in. Mana flooded out of her body a moment later, creating a thin film of mana that somehow shut out the corrupting influence that this thing spread. Similar emanations of power pulsed out of the others, and Dia felt a touch of ease knowing that they wouldn’t turn on her and Risti just yet.

A monstrous roar filled the entire dome as the Aberration began to deform ever further. The bugs that made up its original body turned into chitinous plates that grew and grew, taking the monster even further from its original humanoid form.

“It’s…evolving?” The Moon Emissary generated a spear of moonlight, before hurling it at the enemy. Right before it struck, however, the colours of the world seemed to invert, and in that moment of utter wrongness, the spear came apart.

“Some law is protecting it,” the Dark Herald replied. “A foreign law from Limbo. We can’t hit it until it’s done with its metamorphosis.”

“This would be a very good time for the divinities to rain lightning, though,” Dia muttered.

“And it seems that they have no reason to, sadly,” the Moon Emissary replied. “The Lord and his peers must have their own compunctions in interfering…it’s possible that they think of this as a mere probe by the enemy. Besides, it is time that you mortals learned to fight for you own.”

“We’re already fighting…”

“Enough about that,” Risti replied. “Look! Prepare to execute the plan; nothing’s changed!”

The monstrous form unfolded a moment later, turning into something huge. It reminded Dia of a giant chicken or something, just that said chicken was made up of squirming maggots that numbered in the billions, and her stomach did another flip.

Her stomach seemed to be doing that quite regularly now.

Throwing its head back, the monster let out another monstrous roar, before fixing its white, glowing eyes on them. A terrific gust of wind surged at them a moment later, and the feeling of utter wrongness returned as a solid wall of white maggots rained down on them.

Dia poured mana into her blade and slashed out a moment later. At the same time, the others churned out their own attacks, and the storm charging towards them came apart as the maggots died by the thousands.

The combined counterattack slammed into the monster immediately afterwards, and the bird-like thing reeled slightly.

Dia took a deep breath in that moment. “Brace the barrier. I’m about to use an ultimate skill.”

“Got it,” the Moon Emissary replied. “Go!”

Another presence appeared high above the ground as Dia activated the first skill, Sword Fall. Back then, it was already pretty destructive enough, but now that she had caught the timing to strengthen her skill with her hexa-folder mana…

The bird let out another roar as the gigantic weapon phased through the barrier that trapped the Aberration with ease, and another disgusting ripple shook the monster. In that instant, both wings burned with white, incandescent flame, the chitin melting to form vague outlines of grotesquely oversized, over-detailed fists.

A thunderous shockwave shook the ground as a fist smashed into the falling sword. Red coursed through her vision for a moment as a solid wall of air smashed her body, and she vaguely registered a rolling motion.

“Ugh…”

Dia got back up slowly, just in time to see the sword pierced through the chitinous, monstrous fist.

“Impact is coming. Brace yourself,” a calm voice spoke.

Dirt churned a moment later, and the ground shuddered and heaved, like some gigantic horse buckling. Cracks formed all around the place as the ground beneath the gigantic sword and the monstrous avian Aberration crumbled, and Dia winced again as the ground seemed to swallow the monster.

“It’s immobilised!” Risti shouted. “Go for the kill!”

At those words, the two divine servants, the familiar spirits of the great Dark and the three Moons, moved into action. Light and shadow gathered rapidly as the sword that her Sword Fall had conjured faded away, and the air hummed once.

Everything went silent a heartbeat later.

Her eyes flew shut as the shuddering ground completely went berserk. She stumbled a moment later as the ground underneath her feet seemed to turn into liquid, and her instincts screamed at her. Her hands and arms jolted into motion, grabbing at the closest thing nearby and pulling her to it.

She opened her eyes slowly once her body was secured, and then narrowed them to a thin slit. There, in front of her, were two familiar spirits pouring their full power into a narrow chasm, which was melting from the sheer heat of it all. The ground continued to buckle and twist as the trapped monster roared over and over again, and Dia watched on in silence.

“They can’t keep this up for long,” Risti spoke from behind her. “This level of power…they’ll be exhausted soon. Dia…”

“…I’m not sure if Perfect Domain of Swords will work, though. It’s a physical attack.”

“Just go for it,” Risti replied. “Trust the plan.”

“Fine.” Dia consolidated her thoughts, and then called up her mana again. “Activating…now.”

Something burst out of her in that moment, and night turned into day. Lush greenery grew from all around her as a bright sky shone down on them. Only the chasm, which was busy glowing red, was unaffected by this sudden change in scenery, but Dia didn’t have the time to think about the superfluous things right now.

She gazed at the skies, where thirty-three thousand swords, each glowing with an immense might, hung.

“…It’s a majestic sight,” Risti whispered.

“Isn’t it?” Dia asked. “Go.”

At her command, the glowing swords, each of them rippling with the full force of a hexa-folder, charged into the void. The two familiar spirits, who had been suppressing the monster so far, darted out of the metallic torrent’s way, and then took up position around the chasm as the swords flew inside.

Dia held her head as she attempted to sense the swords that had formed under the influence of her skill. While that would be impossible for skills released from a skill medium, this was her very own skill. She could control these swords as they flew, if only barely, but the mana they contained was not her own.

That mana was useful for penetrating defences and nothing else.

The shuddering ground began to still as more and more swords dove deep into the chasm. Each of them, bearing the full lethality of a hexa-folder, would shatter shortly after or upon contact, destroying the physical structure of that Aberration.

“Is it really going to work?” Dia asked, wiping away at the blood streaming down her nose.

“Ants can fell an elephant. And your ants are sharp ones enhanced by mana,” Risti replied. “Besides, the monster’s struggles are weakening rapidly. It’s working.”

“Is it Domain of Swords, or is it that of my Salvation Star skill that’s actually doing the heavy lifting here?” Dia shook her head, watching as the last of the swords vanished into the chasm. “And it’s over.”

“Yeah.” Risti looked at the two familiar spirits, who gathered power once more. With a flash of muted light, the chasm crumbled into fine motes of sand, which the Moon Emissary scattered with another blast of moonlight.

The two familiar spirits fished up an unmoving person, and the dome of light surrounding them dissipated.

“Well, we’re done here. Summary execution and whatnot.” Risti let out a sigh. “Finally. We can stop this stupid thing of waking up every night to chase this guy…supposedly, anyway. But this probably won’t be the end anymore. If they’re really correct, we’re in for it now.”

“We?”

“The world,” Risti clarified. “The end of the world is fast approaching. We better get of this one soon.”

“That’s up to the Omen, though…”

The Dark Herald landed next to them. “What about the Omen?”

“Nothing much in particular,” Risti replied. “Are we done here, then? Can we leave now?”

“Yeah. Tulip wanted me to convey her thanks,” the Dark Herald replied. “Also, I’ll be dropping by to pick up my colleague tomorrow. Just so you know. Don’t look surprised when you see me or anything. Officially? We don’t know each other.”

“Same drill, I know,” Risti replied. “It’s nice working with you.”

“Same here.” The Dark Herald nodded once, and then took a step back. “Well then, this is farewell. Have a good rest. I’ll drop by in the evening.”

“Thanks for letting us get some sleep, then.” Risti stifled a yawn. “See you around.”

“I’ll bring you two back first, with your permission.”

“Many thanks.” Risti yawned again. “Much appreciated.”

Dia yawned as a flash of darkness returned them to the Farah Palace, where no one inside was aware of the earth-shaking battle that had just occurred.

And for everyone’s sake, it was better that way.