Destroying My Own Novel

“So, what are we going to do next? It’s impossible to keep the sword in place if we are going to hit it. Someone or something needs to hold the sword down,” Aurea asked as she looked at Luciel walking toward her.

“You’re going to do this alone, Aurea,” Luciel said as she pulled out the handleless sword from her rib. “With that being said, I’m going to lend you my sword,” Luciel threw the sword at Aurea.

Aurea catches the sword and the sharpness of the blade easily cuts her palm. She couldn’t hold the sword so tightly or her fingers might get cut off, but if she didn’t hold it tightly, the sword would fly away during the fight.

“What do you mean I’m doing this alone?” Aurea asked. “I can’t hold this sword either!” Aurea said as she showed her fingers were halfway through from being cut off by just holding it.

“I have to attend the meeting with all the Major Arcana and Constellations. It appears I can’t decline the invitation thanks to my Authority is still too low,” Luciel answered as she looked at Aurea’s hand that had already healed. “Your regeneration is faster, so you should be able to hold it in,” Luciel said.

Aurea tried to hold the sword properly and focused on her healing ability. It was exactly as Luciel said that her regeneration was faster than the damage the blade did. She then swung the sword around until she got used to the pain and the amount of power she needed to regenerate the wounds.

“Also, Jeanne,” Luciel paused as she turned around to look at Jeanne. “You’re going to hold the sword so Aurea could break it. It’s the only way since once you hold the sword, it would be impossible to remove, so be ready,” Luciel continued.

Jeanne looked nervous and started to reimagine that moment.

“I know you’re nervous, but we are going to be there to protect you,” Kiersha wrapped her arms around Jeanne’s neck from behind. Next to her was Vixelleth. They both were going to protect Jeanne. “You won’t feel a pain,” Kiersha giggled mischievously as her snake started to slither around Jeanne’s left leg and up to her thigh.

“Kiersha’s specialty is to manipulate dreams and the subconscious. She’s going to enter your mind to save you later. Vixelleth will ease your mind with her unholy water,” Luciel explained.

“Your life’s worth is more valuable in Mykel’s eyes than us. We will do anything since we are going to be rewarded if we do our job properly,” Vixelleth said as she sucked black water from the ground. “Since we are in Gehenna, there’s nothing that can match my ability when I have this,” Vixelleth played with the black water that floated above her left hand.

Jeanne looked at the black water that couldn’t even reflect the lights. She didn’t know if she should be worried or relieved after she heard that from Vixelleth. She didn’t have any choice but to trust them since they were there to prove their worth to Mykel.

“If you’re going to leave us here, then how will we be able to prevent him from leaving?” Beldathiel asked.

“That has been taken care of,” Luciel said as she looked at Nephilim with the floating book above her hand. “She borrowed two of my skills, and one of them is the skill to control all hell,” Luciel explained.

Nephilim smugged as she opened the book and let two papers float around her.

“Belda, you’re Mykel’s last hope. If things went badly, you know what to do,” Luciel held Beldathiel’s hands.

“I understand,” Beldathiel smiled gently as she nodded her head.

“Zasalamel, protect Beldathiel in my stead. I don’t want to see a single scratch on her body,” Luciel lifted her head to look Zasalamel in the eye.

“Your words are my wish, your highness,” Zasalamel said as he bowed his head.

Luciel saw a notification in front of her and it was the signal that Mykel had sent. The vote to approve or reject the summoning of all Major Arcana into the Hall of Arcana. She then approved the request and saw the total vote. She was surprised that out of 22 Major Arcana, 22 votes approved the request.

“She’s really not going to let the opportunity go,” Luciel talked to herself.

The invitation had been sent to all the Constellations, and the timer appeared in front of her.

“In three minutes I’ll be summoned. You can start after I left,” Luciel said as she looked at every one of them.

All of them looked at Luciel and didn’t say anything except for Aurea who had been swinging the handleless sword. She had been wanting to activate her [Soul Siphon] skill since she took trillions of souls that were trapped in the pit and wanted to turn them into her strength.

“It’s time,” Luciel closed the notification. “Good luck, all of you,” Luciel looked at them one last time before he disappeared.

“Be ready,” Beldathiel said as she walked to the back while all her other sisters prepared everything. She then turned around and looked at Jeanne. “You can start whenever you’re ready, Jeanne,” Beldathiel pulled out her dice and stared at Jeanne with a serious expression.

(In the Hall of Arcana)

21 Major Arcana had gathered and saw the mess with their own two eyes. All the Constellations were terrified by the indestructible Temple of Triumph that had been turned into ruins. Only a few of them knew what truly happened while the rest heard rumors about Mara’s wrath.

Although only a few of them knew, everyone’s eyes were pointing at Mykel who was standing at the front. Everything happened because of him and his new role as the head of the Judgement Arcana which was equal to the World Arcana.

Knowing what had happened by connecting the dots, nobody wanted to join the Judgement Arcana faction. They were too scared to get involved in the personal business between him and Mara.

A notification appeared in front of Mykel. It was the amount that was needed to rebuild the temple.

“A hundred trillion Arcana Coins?” Mykel talked to himself. He then started hearing whispers coming from behind him. That amount would be impossible to fill, and even if they used all their coins for this, it would be a waste.

Mykel scoffed and paid the amount on his own.

The temple started to rebuild itself and everyone was shocked who paid for it. A single gesture of walking toward the temple by Mykel gave them the answer to that question. Hera and all the heads of Major Arcana followed him from behind, and then the rest of the Constellations decided to follow.

The structure of the temple changed and it looked a bit bigger than before. They all waited in front of the giant door into the hall since the hall was still being rebuilt.

Mykel failed to realize it at first and finally understood that the Temple of Triumph was a place that the system made. The temple had its own rule, and that was no violence inside the hall. The system chose Mara as the executioner to punish those who violated the rule. With that being said, if Mara decided to violate the rule, she would be punished by the system.

“(As long as you don’t attack her, she can’t do anything either. So you must not make the same mistake as last time by throwing your flame at her)” Lucifer warned Mykel.

“(It was self defense, sort of…)” Mykel replied.

Mykel realized it after he looked at Mara’s [Character] story, and she was planning to provoke him. She was satisfied with the results of the previous encounter and was expecting it to happen again.

Mykel connected the dots and concluded that even Mara was powerless inside the hall. He wouldn’t have noticed it if Lucifer hadn’t mentioned the rule inside the Temple of Triumph.

As soon as the gate started to move, the vast space above them suddenly turned black. They lifted their heads and gulped as something dove down and landed in the hall.

The black clouds started to spread inside the hall and leaked to the outside of the hall. Nobody dared to take a step forward because the clouds were so cold even for the Skadi. Suddenly, Mykel entered the hall with confidence.

“Trying to provoke me with a threat from the start?” Mykel asked as he smirked and stared at the lump of dark clouds.