World Keeper

Chapter 442: Bear Witness

As the days passed, the eyes of Earth focused more heavily on the impending disaster. At this point, even those normal civilians felt the sense of crisis growing. Electricity generators that had been created to convert mana into electrical energy began to fail all across the planet. Prismatic lights that danced across the sky in the northern reaches spread far enough that they were visible above even the planet’s equator.

The disaster was still weeks from arriving, but already its presence could be felt shaking the world. Many forces of Earth called for the aid of other worlds, hoping to suppress the calamity with greater troops. The Gate Plaza in the elven kingdom was similarly filled to the brim with civilians seeking shelter in other worlds.

Empress Margold stood on her balcony, staring up at the sun. She was well aware of where this danger came from. The institutions had been tracking its path from the very beginning. They had even estimated that, based on the trajectory the creature was taking, the scientists expected to arrive at the southern tip of the humans’ homeland.

Despite the threat landing so far away, there was no room for the empress to relax. Given the impact the creature had on the world, even from so far away, she was certain that nobody would be safe when it finally arrived. And so, her voice joined the countless others that looked towards the sky and trembled.

“My Goddess, please lend us your aid in this hour.” She earnestly prayed, her hands gripping the railing of her balcony. “I fear for the safety of your people. There is not enough time to evacuate everyone. No matter what you choose, I will remain within this land until my final moment.”

She had made this prayer over a dozen times in the last week, desperate for her voice to reach Ryone. But this time, finally, she received an answer. Watch the sky, my child. Watch closely.

The empress’s eyes widened when she heard that. She pulled out her communication crystal, and immediately spoke into it. “Get me a visual on the solar beast! Project directly to my throne room.”

After saying that, she did not even wait for a response, closing her eyes and focusing to teleport herself back to her throne. Aside from a few guards, the room was empty in her absence. When she appeared, those guards gave polite bows, before standing at attention at either side of the room.

Sitting upon her throne, she ran a hand over a projection crystal, which had begun blinking to indicate an incoming message. When the holographic screen appeared before her, she saw the image of a massive flaming lion running through a black abyss. This was a scene that she had witnessed numerous times before, but this time… something changed.

The beast halted its charge, staring ahead at three specks so insignificant that Margold would have never noticed them without the monster’s aid. When she saw them, when her sight zoomed in to make their forms out… her fists clenched. Once again, she pulled out the communication crystal.

“This is an emergency order. I am issuing a planet-scale broadcast, effective immediately. All transmission towers are to immediately relay visual from the manascopes watching the solar beast. Utilize the emergency broadcast crystals in every city.”

Following the words of the empress, the same scene that she was watching appeared in the center of every city in the world. Any home with a working mana generator, every mage tower, all of them shared the same image. The image of three women standing between them and destruction.

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“Looks like it’s time to start.” Ryone spoke, using mana to transmit her voice to the other two goddesses within the void of space. “Ashley, how much do you think you can restrain it?”

The demon goddess closed her eyes in focus. “If I burn half of my divinity, I can weaken its flames by about half. If I’m going to extinguish it all at once, I need it to be weakened first.”

“I’ll handle that, then. You save your energy until you can wipe it out altogether. Keliope, you’re on defense.” While it would be impossible for this monster to truly kill a deity, any damage that they took would still drain their divinity. As such, having a ‘tank’ was necessary in a fight such as this.

“Don’t worry.” The dark-skinned ursa spoke up, punching her fists against each other. She wore a pair of golden gauntlets, their wrists widened to create small shields. This was Keliope’s newest godly weapon, fashioned by Tubrock. “Nobody will hurt the two of you while I’m here.”

Ryone nodded, lifting her tome. Unlike the others, her godly weapon had not changed its form in many years, only having its functionality improved. “Against the flames of the sun, there is no water spell strong enough to snuff it out. Matter itself burns upon contact.”

Taking a deep sigh, a golden breath emerged from Ryone, washing over her book as the flaming lion stared at them. “I trade one tenth of my divinity for the power of absolute cold. I trade one fifth of my divinity for the power of absolute gravity.”

It must be remembered, Ryone was not simply the Goddess of Magic. That was but one of her three domains. She was also the Goddess of Wealth and Merchants. While her passion lay in magic, it could be said that her greatest strength was as a goddess governing trade.

If the God of Mirrors could mirror the divinity of others, then why could the Goddess of Merchants not trade for those same divinities? This was something that she realized after watching Dale develop, how she could fight beyond simple magic.

At this point, she had traded thirty percent of her divinity to ‘purchase’ the Cold and Gravity domains, temporarily adding them to her arsenal. Her deep brown hair turned an icy blue, while her eyes became pitch black. An aura of swirling light appeared around her person, captivating the flaming beast.

Finally, this creature seemed to feel a sense of danger from the trio, lifting one of its heavy paws. With its body hundreds of kilometers long, even just this one paw could trample over smaller cities, and it now came crashing towards the three goddesses.

“Didn’t I just say that I wouldn’t let you do that?!” Keliope asked, charging up just above the other two. Her had punched out, a golden shield wrapping around the trio. “I am the Goddess of Defense, and I challenge you to break my shield!”

Flaming claws struck against the barrier Keliope erected, leaving long white marks along it. Gritting her teeth, Keliope repaired the damage done while the goldenleo opened its mouth to roar. Even in the dead of space, the strength of this roar could be felt, sound being carried by the shockwave.

“Sorry, Kel.” Ryone muttered, focusing on her new domains. Once she had adjusted properly, a large diagram began to spread out from her feet. “I’m ready to fight now. Once my attack launches, drop your shield.”

Keliope gave a small nod as Ryone began her chant. “I am the one who holds the laws of magic. One thought to create, one thought to banish. Be still, be cold, and cease. Feel the chill of eternity, the darkness that rests at the end of time. Compress, condense, and gather. Let nothing escape your ebon grasp.”

In Ryone’s palm, light seemed to twist and distort, a sphere of utter darkness appearing with a faint ring of light. The goldenleo struck out at the barrier again and again while she continued her chant, white marks gathering and spreading with every strike. Thankfully, Keliope was able to continue to repair the barrier, with only a bit of heat slipping through.

“Ethereal darkness, the final trap of creation, that which has existed since the dawn of time.” Ryone’s voice grew louder, carried by her mana and echoing even past the barrier. Lifting her hand, she gently pushed it forward. The mass of darkness mixed with swirling light slowly shot forward. “Black Hole.”

Keliope’s eyes widened when she heard the name of the spell, realizing why Ryone was so insistent on her dropping her shield to let the attack through. “Nope!” She shouted out, not even hesitating to open a wide gap in her barrier to let it through.

Ryone was not simply ‘simulating’ a black hole with magic. No, she had traded to obtain the Gravity and Cold domains. Keliope reasoned that this was a true black hole created through her magic, once which she was controlling with her temporary power. If it attached itself to Keliope’s barrier, the ursa goddess was entirely unconvinced that she would be able to maintain the shield protecting them.

The goldenleo saw a gap forming in the barrier, and its attacks grew more frenzied. Lunging towards them, a giant claw came crashing down at the open shield. It did not even seem to notice the small shape in its path, the void that its paw crashed into.

This time, the attack of the monster never reached them. The heat from its flames stopped before even touching the barrier. The three goddesses watched as the tiny spot of darkness greedily ate away at the fire. Flesh ripped and tore as the creature screamed into the void, trying to free its arm.

After several agonizing seconds, the arm was pulled free of the black hole. This was done only after the goldenleo struck out with its other paw, cutting off everything below the elbow. It was now left with naught but a stump, its eyes glowing with hatred. However, it failed to notice the smile on Ryone’s face.

She pointed two fingers forward in an almost casual gesture, before flipping her hand and pointing those fingers upwards. To the astonishment of the monster before them, the sphere of death that had claimed one of its arms now sped up, immediately embedding itself in the goldenleo’s chest.

“This thing costs a lot to maintain.” Ryone spoke up. “Once you’re able to act, wipe it out!”

Ryone was constantly supplying energy to maintain the black hole at its peak condition, a heavy drain on her divinity. However, this was undeniably her greatest weapon to use outside of the planet’s atmosphere. A fact that could be seen, given how the health of the goldenleo was constantly dropping.

With the black hole embedded in the monster’s chest, it was no longer able to move freely. Instead, it was left to struggle, trying to pry itself away in a desperate bid for survival. Feeding on its mass, the black hole actually seemed to grow larger against its body.

As the icy blue color began to fade from Ryone’s hair, Ashley stepped forward. Black flames danced around her body as she extended her hands forward. The flames that made up the body of the goldenleo seemed to freeze all at once. As she pulled her hands apart, the flames began to scatter, dispersing into space. All that was left was the orange outline of a feline form, rapidly being absorbed by the black hole in its chest.

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Empress Margold was watching the screen with rapt attention, unwilling to look away for even a moment. This battle would determine the fate of their world, after all. Even though she was certain that the gods would not lose, Ryone herself had instructed her to watch.

When the fight finally ended, and Ryone banished the black hole that she had created, the three of them vanished from the void. The world could only see how the three Goddesses had worked together to defeat a monster that could upset the balance of the world without even being close.

All around the world, cheers began to echo out, causing birds and beasts alike to scatter. It had been so long since the world witnessed the true power of a deity, but now that very power had been used to save them from destruction.

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