Chapter 937 - 936: What The Elders Feared

Enigma stared at the God of War.

Doomed?

The same god who had laughed inside the World Devouring Serpent’s jaws could barely keep his remaining hand still.

Enigma had made that hand bleed. He had not made it shake like this.

He looked toward the violet eyes.

At first, he felt nothing beyond the unease the god’s behaviour had already caused. However, the longer he watched those closed lids, the tighter something inside him became.

His Ouroboros bloodline stirred.

Hatred rose through it, and it was fierce enough to make his claws extend.

And beneath that hatred was fear.

It was nothing like the terror shaking the god beside him, or what someone directly beneath that gaze might endure. But Enigma was standing far beyond Velmora.

The distance should have meant something. He should not be feeling fear from such a distance because of a pair of eyes that were not even looking at him.

His mouth went dry.

What owned those eyes?

He searched his memories. Abyssal records, ancient illustrations, stories from elders... none described anything he could confidently connect to that violet sky.

But one conversation returned.

An elder had been speaking of their race’s decline.

"Our ancestors possessed a road to supremacy. Now their descendants struggle merely to find its beginning."

"What changed?"

"The power that was ours became a million times harder to attain."

"What power?"

The elder had hesitated.

"A seed. Seven seeds, if one could obtain a single one of them, then they have the opportunity to reach the peak. But if they are able to obtain all seven seeds, then..."

Enigma remembered leaning forward.

"What kind of seeds?"

"Enough. Knowing more may kill you. Surviving the knowledge may only make your life worse."

He had searched afterward.

Books offered fragments without explanations. Other elders gave him different versions of the same refusal.

"There’s a reason we’re not telling you the answers to your questions."

"Forget the question while you still can."

"Some answers attract things you cannot survive."

Enigma had resented them.

Now he watched the eyes, wondering whether he was seeing the reason.

First, a demon had begun becoming a Daemon.

And now this.

’Blackmoon... was it really you?’

He glanced at the God of War.

The god was still trembling. Whatever Enigma’s elders had refused to explain, this being clearly knew enough to be terrified.

Then the enormous eyelids opened.

The distant land sank beneath their gaze.

Enigma’s scales tightened. He caught his own instinctive step backward and forced himself to stop. Beside him, the God of War stopped breathing until the pressure settled.

Neither spoke.

Some time later, a violet spear formed beneath the pupils.

It descended.

BOOOOOOM!

The horizon heaved.

Mountains broke beneath an expanding wall of dust. Black fractures opened around a violet column that climbed beyond the clouds.

The tremor passed through the land below them and kept travelling.

Enigma braced himself, his injured side throbbing. The God of War’s expression hardened as the collision reached them.

Whatever had been beneath that spear...

He could see nothing through the destruction.

But black fire split the dust.

A cleft raced across the distant terrain, followed by crimson lightning. Then a red streak climbed toward one of the eyes.

"Someone survived," Enigma murmured.

Neither had seen the escape. At this range, the combatant was little more than a red mark between flashes large enough to cover a city.

The streak struck.

A colossal slash burst against a violet shield.

The God of War’s lips parted.

"Who would dare attack Him?"

Enigma had no answer.

He wanted to move closer, to see the figure hidden within the flashes. But he stayed where he was, and the god did the same.

They could withstand distant shockwaves.

That did not make entering the battle sensible.

An axe fell through the clouds. Violet spears followed, their explosions driving the red streak across the sky.

"Those aren’t missed shots," the god muttered.

Enigma saw it too.

Five violet suns blazed behind the fleeing attacker.

Pillars of fire swept between them. The crimson streak disappeared, emerged elsewhere, then was whipped toward a sun by a chain.

The sun burst.

But the attacker came out through the other side.

Enigma’s fingers slowly curled.

"Still alive."

A colossal fist pursued the figure toward the ground, only to shatter amid black flames.

The god watched without blinking.

Later, chains drew the four remaining suns’ burning fragments into a cage.

Its explosion hurled the red light downward.

Enigma waited for it to rise again.

Instead, another violet column erupted below.

Then something white pushed out of a pupil.

A head.

Its eyeless face smiled, and its mouth opened upon another face. That mouth opened too, exposing another farther inside.

Enigma’s expression tightened.

"What kind of god-like being makes that?"

The God of War gave him a sharp, frightened look.

"Do not dare compare HIM to us."

Black radiance rose from the ground.

Feet formed. Legs followed. A towering body straightened beneath six spreading wings, its sword rising beside four pale horns.

Enigma stared at its face.

The jaw.

The mouth.

’Blackmoon?’

The resemblance disturbed him.

But Blackmoon had not possessed those horns, those wings, or that upright eye with its silver cross. Distance blurred the finer features, and the enormous form made the differences harder to judge.

He could not be certain.

However, the power reaching him left no doubt about something else.

A Daemon.

A powerful Daemon.

His blood recognised that much without needing an elder’s explanation.

The giant raised its sword.

Black flames and crimson lightning gathered into a cut so enormous that it overshadowed the broken mountains.

At the same time, the mouths beneath the violet pupil released a white point.

Enigma could see it.

Despite the distance and the towering attack approaching it, that tiny light remained horribly distinct.

The God of War recoiled.

"It’s finished."

Enigma could not tell whether he meant the giant or everyone watching.

The attacks met.

The comparison looked absurd. Enough power to carve through mountains, opposed by something that should have disappeared against its edge.

Instead, the lightning vanished.

White spread through the slash.

Enigma’s heart sank.

Then black fire curled around the speck.

The god leaned forward without seeming to notice.

A white glare swallowed the distant battlefield. When it withdrew, the speck was gone.

The damaged slash remained.

"No."

The word escaped the god softly.

The cut struck the shield.

Violet fragments scattered.

However, the battered attack faltered before the eye itself. Its remaining flames began coming apart.

The god’s shoulders lowered a fraction as he seemed to be relieved.

Then a second cut appeared.

It was smaller and horizontal.

It crossed both irises before the first attack had finished fading.

The eyes split.

So did the white head and the faces nested within it.

The God of War’s eyes widened until Enigma could see white around them.

"That’s impossible."

His remaining hand rose, then stopped.

"He cut... he actually cut..."

The divided pupils still looked downward.

But the severance was there.

Enigma could not deny it any more than the god could.

He did not mistake this for a wound upon whoever owned the eyes. But someone had severed the gaze that had terrified a god.

The giant began dissolving.

Its sword faded. Black motes scattered from its limbs, and soon the figure it had concealed was lost below their sight.

Neither observer moved.

Then a voice reached them.

"Interesting."

It was faint and distorted, as though the word had crossed a distance too vast for sound to survive intact.

Enigma felt it beneath his scales.

His heart stumbled.

Beside him, the Aether around the God of War’s remaining hand collapsed. His lips drew away from his teeth, and the fear on his face deepened.

The violet remnants vanished.

And the presence left.

For a long while, only the destruction below made any sound.

Enigma kept looking toward Velmora, trying to fit what he had witnessed into what he knew.

The pieces would not meet.

The God of War eventually lowered his hand.

"The Daemon must die."

Enigma turned, though he was not surprised that the God of War now realized that it was a Daemon that was the source of the tribulation.

"He survived HIM."

The god’s voice steadied.

"Although he survived, the battle must have exhausted him. He will be wounded and weak."

His gaze hardened.

"I have to kill him now, before he recovers. A Daemon like that cannot be allowed to live."

The god had finally found something he believed he could kill.

Aether gathered beneath his feet.

But Enigma’s claws were already moving.

An emerald-edged strike tore across the god’s path. He caught it against a hastily formed shield, and the collision shattered the silence.

BOOM!

Enigma placed himself between the god and Velmora.

"I cannot allow that."