Chapter 600 Deal?

Chapter 595

"Co... fuck my damn mouth... cough... kuh...." Ray was seen coughing violently as he slid down the wall.

He felt suffocated, as though all the air had been sucked out of his lungs.

Drawing in a huge breath, he wheezed loudly while internally activating his [Celestial Healing].

His internal organs and ruptured blood vessels began mending at an impressive rate as he knelt in front of the wall, his eyes fixed on the trembling Red Ball of Energy.

Scanning the place with concern, he could see that his friends were safe behind a barrier that was now shattering like fragile glass.

His eyes caught the stands where the other Celestials were seated.

More than half of them had been obliterated, leaving only a small number remaining.

Cracks ran through the ground, forming fissures like those one would see during an earthquake.

Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Ray shook his head to clear the ringing in his skull before sucking in a sharp breath.

The pressure from earlier had already lifted, allowing him to stagger to his feet with his teeth bared in a grin.

"And I guess I was right, since you couldn’t even kill me properly. If I can withstand that, I can definitely kill you."

Ray’s eyes turned a shade whiter as sparks crackled between his fingers.

"And I’m curious. Will that Great ’Reset’ you all speak of still happen if one of you is gone?"

Valor’s ball of energy turned an even deeper shade of red, its radiance intensifying with every passing moment.

If it were possible, steam would have been seen oozing from the ball. However, Asterion’s voice cut through the tension like a sharp knife.

"You really are gutsy. You wouldn’t back down no matter what, huh?"

"Tsk." Ray merely scoffed as he waited to see what would happen next.

He was ready to fight to the death if the situation called for it.

As long as his friends remained safe and sound, and it seemed Edd would make sure of that for some strange reason.

"Fine, then. How about a deal?" Asterion asked.

"A deal?"

"...."

"As Celestials, we all have conditions, a role to play in the universe to keep it moving. And it’s clear that you aren’t prepared to die yet. Honestly, killing you would be another hassle on its own. So let’s do this—"

"Cut to the chase, my Liege." Ray snickered with a mocking bow.

Valor looked ready to erupt, but Asterion continued.

"You won’t be killed. But you won’t be allowed to roam freely."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that the holding room you were brought out of will be your new home from now on. You will be imprisoned right here in the Celestial Realm for all eternity," Verus replied, his earlier calm voice now sounding like lightning striking the hearts of the humans present.

They had remained quiet all this while for fear of making things worse for Ray.

They had already learnt their lesson during the Military Trial.

But now—

"Oh, hell no! Nobody is killing him, and nobody is keeping Ray!" Van bellowed, fury evident in his eyes.

"I have been calm all this while, allowing you all to play your games, but I need to make this clear now," Raze uttered calmly as he began walking forward.

Tak. Tak. Tak.

With each step he took, his ring shone. Soon, a battle axe appeared in his grasp as he passed by Edd and raised the weapon, pointing it in the direction of the First Ones.

"No one gets to keep or harm a member of my squad. Even if I have to fight cosmic beings, I will do so. But you aren’t keeping Ray."

Edd’s hands tightened as he watched the others walk forward to stand behind their Captain, their weapons ready for anything.

’Why? How? Why are they doing this when they don’t even have their abilities?! How gutsy can these people be?!’

"You want to threaten us?" Verus questioned as the temperature began rising once again.

Valor was about to unleash something when—

"If you even think of harming them, I will become the very thing you are afraid of. Not a single hair on their heads should be harmed." Ray sneered, his eyes glowing bright white.

A pair of red eyes ignited within his shadows, waiting for his command.

Asterion hummed once in realisation before speaking.

"Let’s modify this a bit. Your friends will be sent back to the mortal realm, to the exact places they were picked up from, without a single hair on their heads being harmed.

"But you will still have to stay here. So choose what you want."

"Like hell—"

"Alright. Deal." Ray cut Caster off almost immediately.

"...."

"Wh-wha—?!"

"Like hell we are gonna leave you he—!"

"Edd," Verus calmly called out, and then—

SNAP!

"NOOO!" Raze roared, just as he was about to rush towards Ray, when a bright light swallowed them whole.

Van and Trisha were also moving towards the Tribrid, who immediately lowered his hands, his eyes reverting to normal.

Tears glistened in his eyes as he flashed them a smile.

"I’m sorry."

The light consumed them, and soon, both they and the light vanished from view.

"Evidence."

Verus pulsed once, and a hologram appeared in the air. Through it, Ray could see a bright light travelling at the speed of, well... light.

It passed through worlds, planets, and stretches of space before reaching Alcatraz. Soon, it crashed into Ray’s house with a bang.

The beam brightened, and his cohort staggered out of it.

The moment they did, the beam disappeared, and so did the hologram.

"Are we really about to do this?" Valor questioned in his grating voice.

"Better than anything we have at the moment. Edd." Asterion issued the command, and with it, a beam of light consumed Ray, transporting him to his cell without any resistance.

Edd, too, was no longer in the room, leaving behind the thousands of Celestials who were still there.

The hall remained silent for a moment, only for Asterion to scoff.

"Drop the illusion."

Verus merely sighed, and soon, the Celestials in the room broke into fragmented pieces before disintegrating from view.

This left the chamber empty... hollow, even.

"Is this the right decision? Keeping him here?" Valor still couldn’t help but question.

"He will be useful. I have a feeling, and I guess we have seen the button to push in order to get him in order," Asterion replied, his ball of energy shaping into a smirking mouth.

"Shouldn’t we find a way to get rid of the Celestial within him? Aside from Edd, he is the first Celestial to see the First Ones. Nobody should have seen us," Verus asked.

"It will be fine. Besides, this isn’t our realm form, so let it be," Asterion added with a light chuckle.

"Tsk. I have a Domain to look after." Valor scoffed, and soon, he vanished from view.

And at the same time, Ray had just landed in his cell, with Edd standing before him.