Chapter 477: Absolute Descent

Wincent raised the God Hand, and the white aura around him flared. The pressure in the air thickened until it felt like the sky itself was pressing down on the plaza. The hand of God rose with absolute power, its fingers spread out, and the mana around it responded.

A massive hand materialized in the air above them.

It was translucent, enormous, easily the size of a house. Its fingers curled slowly, deliberately, like a god preparing to crush an insect. The palm faced downward, and the pressure radiating from it made the shattered stones tremble.

Alice’s eyes snapped up. Her pupils shrank.

"Get ready," she said, her voice low and sharp. "He’s coming."

Azrynn looked up. Her breath caught in her throat. Her wounded side screamed, but she forced herself to stand.

The divine hand descended.

The sheer weight of its presence made the air itself heavy, pressing down on them from every direction. There was nowhere to run. The attack was wide enough to swallow the entire plaza.

Alice’s hands moved before her mind caught up. Void energy erupted from her palms, stretching outward to form the black kitten’s head barrier, its jaws wide open and solid. It materialized above her, Azrynn and Ignis, a canopy of shadow against the descending light.

Azrynn slammed her palm against the ground. Runes flared along her arm, then spread outward, layering themselves over Alice’s barrier like veins of glowing purple. The two defenses locked together, pulsing in unison.

Then the divine hand struck.

The impact was deafening.

The barrier cracked. Veins of cracks spread across the void surface, and the runes flickered, dimmed, then flared again. Alice gritted her teeth, her arms trembling. Azrynn screamed through clenched teeth, blood running from her nose.

The hand pressed down harder.

Azrynn’s voice came out in a choked whisper.

"Dammit... it’s too strong... we’re going to die..."

The barrier started to give way.

And then—

The hand stopped.

Alice stood beneath it, both arms raised, palms flat against the underside of the divine palm. Her feet had sunk into the stone. Blood ran down her arms in thin streams, dripping from her elbows, splattering against the cracked ground. Her violet eyes blazed and her teeth were bared.

"KGHHG!"

She held it with all her strength.

Wincent tilted his head slowly.

"Futile effort," he said quietly. "You’re only delaying your own death."

The God Hand pulsed. The divine palm pressed down harder.

Alice’s knees buckled. Her arms shook. More blood ran down her skin, pooling at her feet. The barrier beneath her cracked again, fragments dissolving into wisps of shadow.

Azrynn pushed herself up on one elbow, her voice breaking.

"Alice, stop! Your body won’t hold!"

Ignis, still on one knee, flames sputtering weakly around her arms, stared at Alice’s trembling back. Her eyes went wide. Her voice came out in a choked whisper.

"Alice..."

Alice didn’t turn. She couldn’t. Every muscle in her body was locked, every ounce of her strength focused on holding the hand above her. But her lips moved. Her voice came out strained, breathless, but sharp.

"What’s with those faces?"

She spat blood onto the ground.

"It’s pissing me off."

The divine palm pressed harder. Alice’s arms bent. Her bones creaked.

"Hurry up and run," she said. "Before I can’t hold this thing anymore."

Ignis stared at Alice’s trembling back. Her flames sputtered weakly around her arms, but her eyes burned.

"What are you saying?!" Her voice cracked. "There’s no way we’re leaving you!"

Wincent’s head turned slightly. A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

"You think I’d let that happen?"

The God Hand pulsed. The divine palm above Alice flickered, then split. A second hand materialized beside the first, smaller but just as dense, and it shot toward Ignis and Azrynn.

Azrynn saw it coming. Her body moved before her mind caught up. She threw herself in front of Ignis, both arms raised, runes flaring weakly along her palms.

"[Runic Seal]—!"

The divine hand slammed into her guard. The runes shattered instantly. Azrynn’s body was hurled backward, tumbling across the shattered stone, blood spraying from her mouth. She hit the ground hard and didn’t get up.

"AZRYNN!!"

Ignis screamed. She tried to push herself up, but her legs gave out. She collapsed onto one knee, flames sputtering, helpless.

Alice’s voice cut through the chaos, sharp and desperate.

"Listen to me, Ignis!"

Ignis’s head snapped toward her. Alice’s face was streaked with blood, her arms trembling under the weight of the divine palm. But her eyes were steady.

"Take Az and get out of here!" Alice’s voice cracked. "I can’t hold this thing much longer damn it!"

Ignis’s lips trembled. Her voice came out small, broken.

"But... what about you...?"

Alice’s jaw tightened. She forced the words out through gritted teeth.

"Don’t worry about me. This is my job as your big sister."

Her arms shook. Blood dripped from her elbows.

"So hurry up and go!"

Azrynn stirred. She pushed herself up on one elbow, coughing blood onto the ground. Her voice was hoarse, barely a whisper.

"Don’t be stupid... What will Adam say when we leave you here..."

Wincent’s voice drifted across the plaza, calm and cold.

"Have you finished your goodbyes? I won’t be generous enough to wait any longer."

The God Hand pulsed. The divine palm above Alice pressed down harder. Alice’s knees buckled. A choked gasp escaped her lips.

Ignis watched Alice’s blood pool at her feet. She watched Azrynn struggle to rise and fail. She watched Wincent stand there, calm and untouched, like a god passing judgment.

Her chest tightened. Her vision blurred.

’What am I doing...’

Her fingers dug into the cracked stone.

’I’m useless. I can’t move. I can’t fight. I can’t even help them...’

The flames around her arms flickered.

’What kind of dragon am I...?’

Wincent patience was gone.

The God Hand flared. The white aura around him compressed, then exploded outward. The divine palm above Alice doubled in size, then tripled. The pressure it radiated made the air itself scream.

"[Absolute Descent]."

Every bone in Alice’s body felt it. This attack will be very dangerous when it hits all of them.

’Damn—’

Her teeth ground together. Blood streamed from her nose, her ears, her eyes. The void barrier above her cracked, then cracked again. Fragments of shadow peeled away and dissolved.

’I have to focus it. All of it. Every last drop. Compress it. Layer it. Like Adam’s back—’

The memory came unbidden. Adam standing in front of her, always in front of her, his back a wall she could hide behind. Unmoving and unbreakable.

’—like his back that I’ve always watched from behind.’

The void energy in her core surged. It stopped leaking. It stopped flickering. It compressed, tighter and tighter, until it was no longer a barrier but a single, absolute point of darkness.

The divine palm pressed down.

The void held.

Wincent’s eyes widened slightly. The God Hand pulsed again, and the divine palm pressed harder. Alice’s arms bent. Her feet sank deeper into the stone. But the void didn’t break. It couldn’t be absorbed. It couldn’t be destroyed. It was no longer energy, it was will.

Azrynn, who understood Alice’s intentions, immediately used all her energy to write runes on the ground and protect the area around Ignis, and made the barrier even stronger.

The divine palm shattered.

The explosion was immense. A shockwave of white and black light tore outward, leveling what remained of the plaza. The ground split open in a crater a hundred paces wide.

When the smoke cleared, Alice lay at the bottom of the crater. Her body was broken. Her eyes were closed. The void energy that had once coiled around her fingers was gone.

A few paces away, Azrynn lay crumpled against a shattered pillar. Her breathing was shallow. Her runes had gone dark.

But Ignis was untouched.

A faint shell of void energy flickered around her, the last remnant of Alice’s barrier. Ignis also saw the remains of Azrynn’s rune symbols slowly breaking apart. It had protected her, and only her. It dissolved a moment later, leaving her kneeling alone in the center of the crater.

She stared at her own hands, trembling in her lap.

Her flames were gone. Nothing but cold ash remained in her core.

A single tear rolled down her right cheek.

Her voice came out in a whisper, cracked and hollow.

"I’m useless...."