Chapter 277: Harvesting Time
Up in the sanctuary, Rubedo listened to the transmission and smiled. He stood up from his throne. The Vanguard had successfully captured twenty-eight percent of his remaining soul fragments in a single skirmish.
"Keep them alive," Rubedo commanded. "I want their divine magic completely intact."
Rubedo walked toward the sanctuary’s observation deck. He looked down at a small pile of expensive silk cushions resting near the central control terminal.
’I sleep on the hard throne, and he sleeps in luxury.’ Rubedo chuckled softly. ’I may be spoiling him a bit too much. But I couldn’t help it. He wouldn’t sleep anywhere other than my lap, and then I had to be careful not to wake him up.’
Glitch lay curled into a tight ball. The Pre-Calamity Void-Weaver had recently evolved after digesting the magic of the previous Heralds.
His six legs were now elongated, and his once ash-silver fur had darkened to pitch black. Glowing geometric runes surfaced across his spine to lock the chaotic elemental energies into place.
Although he was still the size of an adult cat.
"Wake up, Glitch," Rubedo said.
Glitch opened his eyes while emerald primordial plasma swirled within his pupils. He stretched his six legs and let out a yawn, instantly absorbing the ambient radiation leaking from the console.
Despite possessing the compressed physical mass of a subterranean leviathan, he managed his weight flawlessly so he did not crush the delicate cushions beneath his paws.
"I have a meal for you," Rubedo promised.
Deploying the apex anomaly to the physical server was incredibly taxing, but with the rebate trait, it was better for him to send Glitch down again and again.
[ BASE SUMMONING COST: 1,500,000 DP ]
[ SUSTAINMENT UPKEEP: 50,000 DP PER MINUTE ]
Rubedo authorized the base summoning cost of one million five hundred thousand divine points and accepted the fifty thousand point per minute sustainment upkeep.
He activated the sanctuary’s teleportation array. The runic circles glowing on the floor instantly locked onto Iron-Scale’s coordinates inside the ruined courtyard.
Glitch trotted onto the platform and sat patiently as a flash of blue light sent him directly down to the planet’s surface.
Down in Aethelgard, Iron-Scale watched the spatial light erupt near the melted gates.
Glitch materialized on the stone tiles. The moment the anomaly entered the area, his absolute anti-mana field activated, and his Light-Eater passive triggered instantly.
Sarah screamed because the residual thermal energy in her veins violently ripped itself out of her body. The glowing white light vanished from her eyes.
Derek grasped his chest as the lingering divine durability evaporated from his bones. While Zach and Brittany convulsed on the ground while the invisible force siphoned their magical reserves directly into the environment.
Glitch opened his small jaws and inhaled deeply to swallow the extracted divine magic. He violently hollowed out their invincible power, turning the four Heralds into completely normal humans. They lay shivering and powerless in the dirt.
The glowing geometric runes across Glitch’s spine flared brightly as he digested the magic. He successfully secured four more fragments of Rubedo’s soul.
Iron-Scale stepped back to avoid the anti-mana field. He looked at the trembling Earthlings and waited for his master’s next order.
’If I could, I would keep Glitch down there, but he doesn’t listen to anyone but me, and I don’t want him to harm my army. Not to mention, he is physically weak. He hasn’t developed any combat ability, and I don’t want him to get hurt. After all, the pets can die.’
Iron-Scale watched the blue spatial light fade as Glitch returned to the orbital sanctuary with the devoured divine magic. The four drained Earthlings lay shivering on the cold stone tiles, completely stripped of their powers.
"Take them to the lower cells," Iron-Scale instructed, adjusting his grip on his massive polearm. "We will secure the city completely before we plan our next movement."
Gulag and Torix moved forward immediately to haul the prisoners off the ground. While Iron-Scale remained in the courtyard to coordinate the perimeter guards, the other two commanders dragged Derek, Sarah, Zach, and Brittany down the winding stone staircases of the palace.
The journey led deep into the subterranean vaults of the Trinity Hive, where the natural light faded completely.
Gulag unlocked a reinforced iron gate and roughly shoved the four prisoners inside. The heavy metal door slammed shut with a resounding echo, leaving them trapped in the dim lantern light of the dungeon.
Derek groaned, pushing himself up from the stone floor while clutching his cracked ribs. His body felt completely hollow without his metallic armor plating. As his eyes adjusted to the shadows, he noticed six figures sitting quietly against the far wall of the massive cell.
Jason and Chloe sat side by side, looking entirely drained. Beside them sat Tyler and Jessica, while Brandon and Ashley occupied the corner.
"Jason? Chloe?" Derek asked, his voice cracking with disbelief as he took a step forward.
Jason looked up for a moment but remained completely silent, his gaze returning to the floor. The glowing golden fire he once wielded on the Second Continent was entirely gone. Chloe huddled next to him, devoid of the sapphire arcane magic that used to summon blizzards.
Derek looked at Tyler and Jessica, remembering how powerful they had been before their deployment to the Third Continent.
Tyler’s toxic green sludge and Jessica’s pink cellular regeneration had failed to save them from the Vanguard.
Brandon and Ashley looked equally defeated, their volatile red magma and kinetic blue electricity completely siphoned away by the anomaly.
"You guys are alive," Zach whispered, slumping against the iron bars of the cell beside Brittany.
Ashley shifted her position against the wall, pulling her knees tightly to her chest. She looked at the four newcomers with a dull, vacant expression.
’If they are all here, then the rumors were true,’ Derek thought, his mind racing as fear gripped his chest. He scanned the dark corners of the cell, looking for the remaining members of their original high school class.
"Where are Chris and Megan?" Derek asked, his voice rising in panic. "Are they in a different cell?"
Ashley did not look up this time. "If they are not here, that means they are dead."
The blunt words hung heavily in the quiet dungeon. Derek fell back against the stone wall, his breathing turning ragged as the reality of their situation finally set in.
They were no longer heroes or Heralds. They were normal humans, trapped in the dark, waiting for the god they had betrayed to decide their fate.
And they were going to wait in fear until they lost all hope.
