Chapter 553: Arcadia, The First Planet In All Creation (XXXI)
"Fuu..."
He slowly walked towards the first Divine Trumpet.
The moment his fingers touched the Trumpet, the entire tower trembled.
A brilliant golden-white light erupted from the instrument, flooding the platform.
The Trumpet dissolved into countless particles of pure light that swirled around Aestrea like a storm before surging into his body.
Fwoooosh!
He felt it enter his body, feeling it with a strange power... but it strangely didn’t feel like strength being added.
It felt like something inside him had been unlocked.
A translucent panel materialized in front of his eyes, glowing with soft golden letters:
[You’ve been granted the ability to fly!]
Aestrea stared at the mocking message for a long second.
His left eye twitched visibly.
"...Seriously?"
Looking at the notification for a few seconds, his eyes narrowed slighly as he quickly realized something, especially since the Creator Woman had said that his power was actually getting closer to hers.
This was what the Trumpets truly represented.
They weren’t... powerups, but instead... they were something akin to keys! Fragments of the Creator’s absolute authority over the rules of existence itself.
By absorbing one, he had gained the right to ignore one of the fundamental laws imposed on this world, the prohibition against flying.
If the Creator Woman’s rules were absolute across the universe... then collecting all Twelve Trumpets would let him challenge that authority directly.
Aestrea looked up at the sky above the tower. His black-and-white aura flared once.
He took a single step forward... and lifted off the ground.
No resistance.
No invisible barrier pushing him back down.
He rose smoothly into the air, wind whipping through his long hair as he hovered above the platform.
His lips instantly curled into a faint and dangerous smile.
"So that’s how it works..."
Without wasting another moment, he shot forward like a black-and-silver comet, flying straight toward the second tower in the distance.
The landscape blurred beneath him as he accelerated, the frustration of the long climb completely erased by this new freedom.
Just in a matter of seconds, he reached the second tower. It was honestly more imposing than the first one.
Its surface shimmered with shifting hues of gold and deep azure.
Without slowing down, he shot straight toward the top, bypassing the endless staircase entirely thanks to his newly granted ability to fly.
He landed directly on the open ceiling platform at the summit.
There, floating serenely in the center, was the Second Divine Trumpet, glowing with a softer, more ethereal light than the first.
Aestrea smiled upon seeing it.
"Finally skipping the bullshit," he muttered.
But the moment the thought crossed his mind, his eyes narrowed sharply.
’No. There’s no way the Creator Woman would make it this easy...’
He raised his guard instantly, every sense on high alert.
His black-and-white aura flared around him as he approached the floating Trumpet with measured steps. He reached out cautiously and tapped it with two fingers.
The same rush of primordial power flooded into him. The Trumpet dissolved into particles of light and merged with his body, just like the first.
Yet... nothing noticeable changed.
No new ability panel appeared, surge of strength or obvious rule-breaking power unlocked.
Aestrea frowned but pushed the unease aside for now.
He didn’t have time to overthink it.
He took off again, flying toward the third tower.
Then the fourth.
Each time the pattern repeated.
He bypassed the trials by flying straight to the top, touched the Trumpet, absorbed its power, and felt the familiar sensation... but no visible change occurred.
By the time he reached the fifth tower, a growing sense of wrongness had settled in his gut.
He landed on the summit platform.
The Fifth Divine Trumpet floated before him, radiating a deep crimson light.
Aestrea stopped a few meters away.
"...Fuck."
Something was very wrong.
He activated Authority of Destruction without hesitation, pouring chaos energy into the space around him.
CRACK!
The world shattered like fragile glass.
The beautiful summit of the fifth tower, the floating Trumpet, the entire sky... everything fractured into millions of pieces and dissolved into nothingness.
The illusion broke apart violently, revealing the true scene beneath it.
Aestrea stood in a vast, dark chamber inside the SECOND tower.
The walls were made of pulsing black crystal, and in the center of the room hovered a nightmarish being.
It had twelve massive wings, each one covered in countless glowing eyes.
A single, enormous central eye dominated the middle of its wingspan, staring directly at him with malevolent intelligence.
The creature radiated power that rivaled the Trumpets themselves, twisted and filled with malicious judgment.
Aestrea’s expression darkened.
"...Fuck you."
The twelve-winged guardian let out a soundless laugh that vibrated through the chamber, its countless eyes blinking in unison as it prepared to attack.
’I can’t believe that the second trumpet is a mere trap...’
The moment Aestrea touched the Second Divine Trumpet, the world had already begun to betray him.
The surge of power he felt was real; the Trumpet had merged with him.
But the tower, the sky, the sense of progress... all of it had been a carefully woven illusion from the very instant of contact.
"It seems that I’ll need to kill you then..."
The guardian’s central eye locked onto Aestrea.
WOOOOOONG!
It unleashed the first attack without warning.
A colossal ring of blinding golden light exploded outward from the central eye, spinning rapidly as it expanded.
The ring carried the concept of absolute judgment as anything it touched would be judged unworthy and erased from existence.
Aestrea moved instantly.
He blurred to the side, but the ring adjusted its trajectory, chasing him like a living thing. He summoned both swords and slashed upward with all his strength.
SHIIIIIIING!
The cross-slash met the ring head-on.
The Heaven Swallowing Sword devoured part of the light while the Midnight Sword cut through it, but the ring was too dense.
It exploded on contact, sending Aestrea flying backward. He crashed into the far wall, cracking the pulsing crystal.
Splurt!
Black blood sprayed from his mouth as several ribs shattered.
Before he could recover, the guardian fired a thick beam of pure divine energy from its central eye, a lance of judgment that burned hotter than a star.
VWWWWWWOOOOOOOM!!!
Aestrea kicked off the wall and dodged sideways.
The beam grazed his left shoulder, instantly vaporizing flesh and muscle down to the bone.
The pain was excruciating, but he used the Authority of Karma to reverse the worst of the damage while charging forward.
He appeared right in front of the guardian and unleashed a furious barrage.
Shing! Shing! Shing! Shing!
The Midnight Sword carved deep gashes across three of its wings, golden-black ichor spraying out.
The Heaven Swallowing Sword pierced straight into the base of another wing, devouring the eye-covered membrane.
"KRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!"
The guardian screeched and instantly retaliated by flapping its wings.
Hundreds of smaller rings of light shot out in every direction, filling the chamber like a deadly storm.
Aestrea spun like a tornado, cutting down dozens of rings, but several were still able to strike him.
One sliced across his chest, opening a deep wound that aged the flesh around it.
Another hit his thigh, nearly severing the leg. Black blood poured freely as he kept moving, refusing to slow down.
He used Authority of the Abyss to open multiple voids that swallowed several rings, then Authority of Ruin to decay others mid-flight.
Closing the distance again, he drove both swords into the guardian’s central eye.
Splurrsh!
The blades sank deep.
The giant eye burst with golden-black fluid, spraying across Aestrea’s face and torso.
"KRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!"
The guardian let out an ear-piercing wail and flapped its wings violently, creating a shockwave that sent Aestrea crashing into the ceiling.
BOOOOOM!
He embedded his swords into the ceiling to stop himself, then pushed off, diving straight down like a falling star.
The guardian fired another massive beam from its damaged central eye.
Aestrea twisted mid-air, letting the beam pass inches from his body, then slammed both swords down into the top of the creature’s wingspan.
BAAAAAANG!
He carved downward, slicing through multiple wings in a single devastating strike.
Eyes popped and exploded, golden-black ichor raining down like a storm. The guardian roared in agony and unleashed its most powerful attack yet.
It created a perfect sphere of judgment light around itself, then detonated it.
KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The explosion filled the entire chamber.
Aestrea was caught in the blast.
His body was battered by rings of light and raw divine energy. Skin tore, bones cracked, and multiple deep gashes opened across his torso and limbs.
Black blood sprayed in wide arcs as he was thrown against the far wall, embedding himself several feet deep into the crystal.
"Kurgh, splurghh...!!!"
He coughed violently, blood pouring from his mouth.
He pulled himself out of the wall, regeneration already kicking in at full force. Black-and-white chaotic energy swirled around him as he prepared to charge again.
"...Moonlit Ice Lotus Sword Art."
From his eyes, a sudden dark-red colored smoke leaked out.
『 Third Move! (✦ Dual Moonlight’s One Flash ✦) 』
