CH. 104: Stars Aligned

*The Purge Siren*

This alarming sound alerted the entirety of Orario. It's the start of the morning and people were already facing a calamity. Probably the disaster of the century.

"What's this sound??"

"What's happening?!"

"It's the end of the woorld!!"

These were the most frequent lines repeated by the confused citizens of Orario. The ground shook heavily. The seism lasted for more than five minutes, getting more amplified by the second.

This abnormal situation called for the presence of Orario's top ranked familias to the scene. "Wh—What's going on here??!" Hestia shouted, shocked of this mess. Buildings were crumbling and people died at every second of inactivity from their side.

"A-Aaron! We need to evacuate the citizens!" Hestia ordered the captain of her familia. "Yes my goddess!" He replied with a serious expression. Aaron and some of his direct subordinates spread across the city to save as many people as possible.

As the ground continued shaking heavily, the Loki and Freya Familia just arrived, and they were as shocked as Hestia's. "Wh-Wh-Wh—WHAT A MESS!" Loki shouted while hiding behind Ais.

The blonde haired girl looked at the environment and analyzed the situation. "What is causing all this? We didn't receive instructions." Ais said as she glared at Loki.

The childish orange haired goddess Loki just kept mumbling and looking around, "I-I... I don't know..." She said, ultimately.

This was the first time the siren of Babel would let out such alarming sound. Normally the event in which the alarm would break off, instructions will follow the sound, but this time, it was different.

Then suddenly, the sound of the alarm became distorted, getting more and more unclear by the second. The members and gods of the familias looked around, to see what could be described as the more terrific, traumatizing and unexpected scene.

"The... The t-tower of Babel..."

"...IT'S CRUMBLING!!!"

Babel, the huge tower that seemed to be infinite in length was tangling around like a spaghetti noodles. Chunks of bricks and stone falling from the immense skyscraper, making the ground shake in a never seen before seismic activity.

People glared with tower as they watched the infinite tower of Babel crumbling before their eyes. The ones having survived the catastrophe up until now were filled with despair, watching as their demise literally filled their eyes before feeling the shattering sensation of being buried alive by what they considered to be a unmovable masterpiece.

*KABOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

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Following the explosion of Babel on the ground, Orario was filled with a never ending silence. Dead bodies everywhere. Cut limbs in all sides, gory scenes everywhere and survivors crying and screaming in insanity.

In the same place the Familias gathered, the huge debris were thrown away and people. Or more like, adventurers, started getting to the surface. "Cough cough—... i-is everyone okay??" This was goddess Hestia. Babel literally falling on them would have being fatal if she didn't use some of her divine power to protect herself and her children.

Usage of divine magic was very random, sometimes working while some other times not. Not only that, but the usage was extremely limited, but somehow, Hestia found it much easier using it this past month. As if, the restrictions were broken and ripped off. As if, the force controlling her and restraining her was gone and erased.

But anyway, Hestia blew the boulders away from the surface and created a path for the Familia members to get up, some were slightly damaged while the others were seriously injured.

Unfortunately, the same thing couldn't be said for the Freya and Loki Familia. Concerning Freya, she had been protected by her literal meat shield Ottar who suffered massive but not so fatal damage, all for the sake of Freya's well being.

Ais, she was heavily injured. Scars all overs her body. Armor broken to pieces, shattered clothes and blood dripping from her head. She even had to use her sword in order to support her weight and stand up.

Many, many were dead following this catastrophe. This was, the darkest day of Orario.

"cough cough... Th—This is unbelievable..." Loki mumbled, she sweated profusely while holding her arm that was probably broken. Freya suffered no damage apart from a bit of dust on her flesh but still kept an indifferent expression, one of the members of her familia healed Ottar while some were dead, unfortunately.

"Goddess Hestia!" This voice which emerged from afar was that of Aaron who quickly came back to check on his Mistress's well being.

"A-Aaron, report the situation" Hestia asked.

"Terrible. We managed to save some people but we believe many were buried alive under Babel. We were so worried about you and our comrades." He said, out of concern for everyone.

Suddenly, while the situation seemed to have calmed down a little. Another anonymous figure appeared out of the pilled dust.

It was the same elderly man from the 70th floor of the dungeon. One who walked frenetically with bare foot that resonated throughout the scene, towards the figures he recalled to be respectively, Hestia, Loki and Freya from heavens.

He was the same person responsible for all of this. Not flinching at death, nor at the immense quantities of souls the Underworld was absorbing by the second. This was the God of Death, Hades.

"Wh—Who is he?? A survivor??" Hestia asked.

Loki took a step back, "N-No... No normal human could have survived such a crash.. His aura is distressing..." She exclaimed with a cold sweat on her forehead.

Freya's brows frowned, she looked at this figure with clear hatred, "It's Hades. The God of Death and one responsible for all this.." She said.

Everyone looked at Freya in disbelief, "H-HADES?! WASN'T HE BANISHED A LONG TIME AGO?!" Loki asked in shock.

"Affirmative. He was indeed banished.. but now that we're seeing him in his original form, I can only guess that he was sealed away in the deepest part of the dungeon.." Freya explained.

The ones who heard her started connecting the dots until they realized that this guy was the real deal. If they had to compare everything they've being through in the dungeon up until now, they were all nothing but mere trials preparing them for the Ultimate fight.

A battle between mortals and the grim reaper himself. A fight between a god of death and puppets bound by this concept.

"Ha.....Ha....Haha...HahahahahaAHAHAHAHAHA!!" The elderly man laughed maniacally. The laugh of a real devil who showed no remorse after killing so many in this insane catastrophe.

"Y-YOU BASTARD!!" Tione unleashed her dagger then jumped towards Hades at incredible speed. She would never forgive him or let him live for what he has done to her best friend Tiona.. the poor girls was unconscious on the ground with multiple wounds on her body with fresh blood dripping.

"H-Hold a second Tion—" Ais tried stopping her teammate from going on such suicide attack but she herself found much difficulty walking and moving due to the bruises and scars on her body.

"DIIIIIE!!" She yelled in a berserk state while swinging her dagger and attacking Hades. Reaching him, she swayed her dagger in all directions, cutting the god's flesh and making blood fly everywhere.

Meanwhile, Hades didn't give a damn about this and he just laughed his ass off while he was being cut by this berserk girl who craved for revenge.

Everyone was shocked to see this. Hades was being cut, attacked and killed yet he just laughed while remaining in the same nonchalant mood. Everyone started thinking that Tione was inflicting some serious irreversible damage.

But then...

When she stopped, she panted heavily while glancing at all the cuts of the man's body. And in an instant, all of Hades's wounds regenerated immediately. What Tione inflicted to him for almost half an hour disappeared at once with no effort.

"B-BASTARD!!" She shouted.

Tione swinged her arm vertically and tried attacking him once again.

But this time, Hades was smiling horrifically. He caught her hand and completely neutralized it.

At this moment, Tione shouted and screamed in pain, her hand was being corroded by Hades. The poison slowly consuming her wrist, then her hand, after that her arm, her entire shoulder, torso and eventually her entire body.

Tione's young body became an empty corroded shell with extremely dry skin that transformed to dust. Her dagger fell to the ground while her body became so dry it deteriorated to dust.

"N-No way....."

"T-Tione... Tione..." Finn repeated again and again from shock.

"T-TIOOOONEE!!"

Tione's friends shouted in fear and shock after seeing Tione literally dying in front of their eyes.

Hades was a devil. But now, he was going to be the least of their worries. After all, the stars were aligned. And some particular individuals were going to be freed very soon...