Amidst the aerial combat, Greed dominated the weakened celestial in close sword combat, sending him crashing down back to the ground with enough force for him to crater a hundred metres deep.
Descending to the ground calmy, Greed looked at the long tear line running through his shirt, sighing softly before turning to the bleeding Qutia at the bottom of the crater.
Despite his beaten and battered state, the man did not falter, even chuckling lightly when he felt the demon's red eyes lock onto him.
His aura flared wildly and the entire area trembled under the weight of their powers as the two readied themselves for the final clash.
"Incarnation of Greed
Avatar of Greed: Partial Activation."
The giant red humanoid half-body construct of sin energy emerged behind the High Demon, wielding an enlarged replica of his great sword while dense amounts of demonic energy flowed into the sword.
"How about I give you a little peek at what you wish to attain? Try not to die."
Qutia suddenly spoke in response to the Greed's Unique skill activation, stabbing his sword into the ground and taking a deep breath.
[Geomantic Wrath.]
Once again, a hush settled over the surroundings as the two of them locked eyes in absolute silence.
"Covetous Blade."
Greed rose his demonic energy infused great sword overhead, the giant avatar mirroring his movements while the Celestial concentrated the essences of metal and crystals around him.
"Ephemeral Larceny."
The High Demon called out as he released a mighty downward slash, unleashing a destructive blend of demonic and sin energy that seemed to cleave even space, tearing rifts in the air as it bore down on the celestial.
[Convergence: Seismic Shatter Storm!]
Qutia stomped his foot on the ground, the law essence of earth responding to his will and causing spiked stone pillars to burst forth from the ground, directing them to skewer Greed and his avatar as the area turned into a treacherous terrain of rocks and crevices.
Seismic waves pulsed in all directions, causing devastating tremors to knock back the demon back, while also creating widening the crevices into chasms to swallow him.
As if that was not enough, a tempest of crystalline shards rained down upon the Avatar of Greed with the fury of a raging storm. These razor-sharp shards cut through Avatar's defences, aiming to inflict devastating damage on Greed who was protected within.
Greed's slash shattered the stone pillars as it hurtled towards the celestial, engulfing the area in a swirling tempest of destruction.
What followed was a catastrophic explosion of conflicting energies that rippled outward with devastating force, tearing through the immediate vicinity of the ruined castle.
Buildings crumbled, stone structures shattered and the castle walls caved in, leaving a swath of destruction and chaos in its wake.
The surrounding structures fared no better, as the tremendous power of the clash tore through them, leaving behind a scene of chaos and ruin.
The ruined city's once proud structures now lay completely obliterated, but only a small portion of the city was actually affected. The central part, including the castle, bore the brunt of the destruction, reduced to debris and rubble, while the outskirts remained largely intact.
Part of the reason for this was that most of the power of the attacks was concentrated on reducing their defensive values, leaving only a not-so-small percentage, which was enough to destroy the city centre when coupled with the AOE effects of the Geomantic Wrath skill.
This devastating aftermath was revealed as the dust, smoke, and flames slowly cleared up.
About 50 meters apart, the two combatants stood, each showing the toll of their brutal confrontation.
Greed bore numerous cuts and wounds all over his body, blood dripping from the gashes on his torso and face.
However, it was nothing compared to the state of the celestial.
Qutia's body was mangled, a gory slash wound tearing his torso from the upper left shoulder, through his lungs, heart and other organs, before stopping just around his stomach area.
It was clear that his injuries were fatal, and he staggered, gasping for breath, on the brink of collapse.
With such evident differences in their conditions, there was no doubt about the victor.
Even so, both Greed and Pride had expressions of surprise as they saw that despite these obviously fatal injuries, Qutia was still alive.
"Celestials have the same vitals as every other humanoid race, right? So how the heck is this dude not in the afterlife already?"
Greed asked as he pulled his sword back and coated it with demonic energy, preparing to deliver one final strike to behead the celestial when Pride held out her hand and stopped him.
"Why?"
"He seems to want to talk."
"Huh? Can his mouth even move in that state?"
[One does not necessarily need their mouth to 'talk', you know?]
The aged celestial's voice rang out in response to Greed's question, momentarily startling the demon but he quickly calmed down and he realised what the man was doing.
'Is it some form of Open Speaking? Directly from his soul?'
[You've won, Demon of greed.
The only reason I'm not completely dead is because I'm supplying my body with the essence of the law of life, but even that can only keep me alive for a little longer.]
Qutia was an existence who had once surpassed the level of transcendence; even though he had long lost all that power, killing him was no easy feat.
[The energy of the law of greed…it broke the final layer around my soul, I'd be dead within a few minutes.]
The man chuckled lightly, blood pouring out of his lips before looking up at the two demon siblings and asking them a question.
[Did you know that you demons of Gozon are very, very lucky?]
"Lucky?"
[Yes. You all would have perished a thousand years ago at the hands of the goddess Artemisia if it wasn't for the fact that she was under close watch by the other gods.
The restrictions in this Orithya galaxy are quite stringent, after all.]
"Explain further."
Perhaps due to the fact that his time was running out, the celestial stopped dawdling and spoke at length.
[If Artemisia had not incurred a restriction for acting at the beginning of the war a thousand years ago, she may have wiped you demons off the face of this planet before the other gods could have even sensed a thing.
Unfortunately for her, the action she took was a bit too heavy-handed and attracted the attention of the god on Gozon's side who raised alarm.]
"And what was that action?"
Although Pride asked this, she already had a conjecture in her mind, one she had ever since the day she met Evan and found out that McEnda IV stepped into Aidos a thousand years ago.
Qutia drew in more ambient law essence to keep his body running long enough before speaking.
[She placed a barrier around the planet, one that prevented the Demon King who tried to enter this world after you deadly sins were sealed from being able to step foot on this planet regardless of the means.]
Greed's eyes widened in surprise when he heard this, but for Pride, it only served to confirm her conjecture.
"As I thought. Artemisia really did something. It makes no sense that McEnda was able to come into Aidos, but Alvey's brat could not, they were both Superior Transcendents after all."
[Hmm? Alvey's brat? Perhaps, the Demon King of a thousand years ago was Alvey's son?]
"Yes."
[Bwahahahahahaha!!!!]
The celestial suddenly burst out laughing after receiving Pride's confirmation, much to the high demon's confusion.
[I see! So, 'she' really got Alvey in the end!]
The man laughed out loud once more, uncaring about the blood that splattered around.
Suddenly, a ball of dark brown light emerged from his chest and floated towards Greed, stopping a metre away from the demon who looked it over with energy-infused eyes.
At a glance, he could see a network of runes intertwined within it, all coming together to form one single greater rune sigil.
[That's your prize. I eliminated all my celestial energy from it while we were talking, so it's safe for a demon like you to absorb.]
Greed nodded and stretched out his hand, coating it with demonic energy and then grabbing onto the ball of light that was the 'Geomantic Wrath' Unique skill, before infusing his energy into it.
Seeing this, Qutia shook his head with a wry smile, before deciding to use up the last of his strength to speak.
[One last thing.
The relationship between the gods of Aidos and Gozon, may not be how you think it is. I may be wrong, but just keep that in mind.]
With that statement, the life law essence flowing into Qutia's body ceased, and his soul's energy was finally exhausted, the wry smile he had remaining on his lips as his body dropped onto the cold hard ground.
◇ ◇ ◇
Lento City.
Nepte Province.
Great Western Empire.
February 10th
Year 1053
On the terrace of the City Lord's mansion, in the warm afternoon sun, three people sat around a table, playing a lively game of cards.
Laughter filled the air and drinks on the table added to the fun atmosphere as they strategized and slapped their cards on the table.
"Ha! Pick 2!"
The energetic voice of a blonde-haired and golden-eyed young woman rang out as she slammed a number '2' card onto the deck.
"Heartless choice there, Brenda.
Luckily, I can pass this on to you, Arnold."
Another '2' card was tossed onto the deck, courtesy of the dark grey-eyed teenager who sat next to the woman on the table.
Seeing this, the third person on the table glanced at the two cards in his hands left hand before looking back at the table and saying.
"I'm certainly not about to lose this game."
With that, he pulled out one of the cards, revealing it to be a '20', much to the shock of the other two.
"I want triangles."
The moment he spoke, a grin appeared on the face of the woman as she stacked up her cards and slammed them all on the deck all at once.
"I win!"
"Huh? How?"
Arnold was stunned by her sudden declaration, but after seeing how all the cards were of the same number, with the first being a triangle, he had no choice but to accept that she had won.
"Third time in a row…"
The other boy present, Richard, spoke with a sigh as he tossed his six cards onto the table before picking up his drink and sipping it, while Brenda continued celebrating her victory.
"My skills in cards are unma-!!!"
Her voice suddenly cut off mid-way, attracting the attention of the other two who turned towards her in surprise.
The joyful expression that was on her face a mere second ago vanished, replaced by a look of utter shock.
The hands she raised slowly dropped down as she bit her lips silently, and much to the surprise of the other two, they saw a single tear drop streak down her cheeks.
"The heck?!"
"What's wrong Brenda?!"
She ignored the worried voice of the two boys and looked up at the skies with her tear-filled gaze before whispering to no one in particular.
"So even you, Qutia, have passed on, huh?"
The moment she said that; Arnold instantly guessed what was wrong.
'One of the Fallen Celestial Deities must've died…'
The woman clenched her fist tightly and took deep breaths to calm herself, before wiping the tears off her eyes.
"I'd be excusing myself. I need to make a quick trip to Tarse."
She got up from her seat while speaking, before turning around and walking back into the mansion, leaving the two boys behind.
"So, what happened?"
Richard who was not close to Brenda enough to infer what just transpired asked for details, and Arnold offered him a simple reply
"Just take it that one of her very close friends died. Can't say more than that."
"Oh…I see."
That was all Richard said in reply, his tone neutral as he could not relate to the loss the woman was currently feeling right now.
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