155 We Are Getting Weaker (1/2)

Chulainn's three heads howled and his muscles tensed. He then lowered his gaze and stared at Karaskan with his body bent to the front. The next instant, the ground burst with a loud noise and his big figure disappeared.

Karaskan's eyes narrowed and looked up. Chulainn's was already up there, with his three mouths ready to use their magic. The first head was ready to blow an unstoppable fire, the second one had dense lava flowing up its throat and the middle head surprisingly carried light energy.

Karaskan moved in slow motion and chanted too ”[Resurrection]” His Manifestation was extremely fast compared to Chulainn. Absolute darkness surrounded him to form something like a spherical s.h.i.+eld as Chulainn howled and spat out his three-colored magic.

The white, crimson, and deep red fused to become a gorgeous, sparkling red fire. That wave of fire clashed with a suddenly erupting ma.s.s of darkness.

At the same moment, the s.p.a.ce in the sky cracked strangely and a blue fire joined the fray. Lilis and Lanya looked up in surprise and the two powerhouses using their Manifestations panicked a little.

When the First Art made contact with the two Manifestations, a m.u.f.fled explosion occurred. The darkness from Karaskan and the fire from Chulainn exploded together and spread for hundreds of miles. But all of it was covered by the blue flames, like a dome.

That's why the explosion didn't make any sound and the shockwave was never produced. At some point, the flames in the sky stopped spreading further and instead came back from the horizon to gather above Pandora's temple.

The sky was slowly uncovered and only the thick dome made of blue flames was left. At some point, the flames burned stronger. And completely disregarding Chulainn and Karaskan's attempts to control their magic, it started pulling the two Manifestations upwards.

It only took a minute for the first art to lock both the darkness and fire together inside of a sphere hovering above the ground level. Karaskan and Chulainn both jumped back as they dazedly witnessed their magic being pulled in the air by the blue sphere.

They were even more shocked when they saw it getting smaller before basically compressing and crus.h.i.+ng their magic to nothingness. When the Manifestations had been stopped, the azure fire took the form of a spiral and weakly spun before being thrown back in the sky as if it was siphoned.

The first art one more time covered the sky but now the overall quant.i.ty of flames was a lot less. Now, it only covered the sky for a few miles instead of thousands like before.

The Mad G.o.d and the h.e.l.lhound stared dumbfounded. They were both astounded and greatly aggravated because their Manifestations had been stopped by a single magic that even wasn't over yet. Heck, it was still growing stronger as they were staring at it.

”Is that the First Blue Art?” Chulainn muttered through his teeth ”(It seems to be continuously gathering power and storing it... Is that the hidden effect?)” He thought and then looked at another direction now that the barrier around them had disappeared.

His eyes swept over the giant crater that had just been created by their earlier clash and then fell on all the G.o.ds and Ifrit who were flying in their direction.

”It seems that your plan is not going to end up well for you after all” Chulainn snickered and said to Karaskan.

The Mad G.o.d sneered and looked behind him, at the temple who was totally unscathed by the explosion of which it was the center. Karaskan smirked and turned into a shadow that crawled inside.

Chulainn glared at him but didn't dare to follow him in. He was sure that if he tried to step inside that temple, he wouldn't be able to get out.

When all the G.o.ds arrived with Ifrit, they all stopped beside Chulainn and didn't enter too ”What do we do now. I don't think we can do anything to that” Aphrodite pointed at the s.h.i.+ning temple which was radiating with a really scary aura.

”I don't know. This temple is where Pandora takes refuge when it's ready to open” Azes said ”But right now, I don't think it's 'ready' anymore. It's already 'opening'”

”Tell us exactly what will happen then. You still didn't give us a clear answer” Poseidon asked but a huge shadow suddenly broke through the roof of the temple and landed right in front of the G.o.ds.

The figure was ten meters tall and was holding a huge hammer with one hand. The appearance of the newcomer shocked many. A skin that looked like cracked charcoal. His hair was literally fire. He had a cross-shaped scar on his forehead and his face was expressionless and hollow. His red and unfocused eyes swept over the place and scanned the individuals in front of him.

He then ignored them and turned around as he shouldered his hammer. Pandora immediately flew out of the temple too and expanded to become even bigger than Chulainn. The runes were even more visible now, giving off a mysterious feeling.

The box then started diffusing a lot of different sounds. Keys unlocking, gears turning, metallic noises, hammering sounds, and even some weak detonations. Pandora was opening.

Chulainn jumped back with Lilis and Lanya on his heads and joined the G.o.ds. In the end, Chulainn, Lilis, Lanya, Poseidon, Hades, Azes, Gabriel, Michael, Aphrodite, and Ifrit, were all standing together, staring at the big guy who had just made his entrance.

All of them together were the peak of this plane. But at the same time, all of them were hesitating. Even Ifrit felt threatened when he looked at that ten meters tall demon.

Only Aphrodite had a really conflicted expression on her face in contrast with everyone else ”…Hephaestus” She muttered.

”What?!” Zeus exclaimed in shock when he heard that ”That Hephaestus?” He observed the demon with extreme attention and his eyes widened. Although his appearance was nothing like before, it definitely was Hephaestus.

”I knew it…” Azes said ”So it's really because he went to find the lost Pandora that he left Heaven after all” He uttered and both Zeus and Aphrodite grunted ”It seems like he finished by being corrupted by it…he's now its guardian” When Azes finished talking, Hephaestus suddenly turned his head to look at him.