Chapter 4 “ Ashes of a fallen Star”

"[Virtual Black Hole]!" Lailah chanted as she kept her grip on the entity tight.

The sphere began to eradicate and suck on all matter around it, devouring the space it occupied.

Lailah kept her grip tight. However, a wave of violet light sliced through the black hole. The dark sphere was sliced apart. Lailah gasped as the light wave sliced into her, severing her arm and the remaining wings on her left side.

The black hole was dispersed and the entity stood there unscathed. The space where the black hole once occupied was a swirling mass of iridescent colors. It walked up to her and raised its hand above her head.

"I won't die in vain," she growled.

The entity paused for a few seconds before ultimately bringing its bladed arm down upon her. Blood sprayed across the barn as Lailah's body slowly split in half down the middle. The wet sound of meat being torn was the only sound aside from the bawling of an infant that echoed through the barn.

"Sophia…," the entity muttered. It turned and walked toward the crying infant. It looked down at the infant. For the first time, an emotion flashed across its face. Hatred. Enmity. Loathing. All of them passed through its eyes simultaneously. "Sophia… do you feel like a hero yet?"

Its arm morphed into fearsome serrated claws. It raised its arm and thrust it at the infant.

However, as if knowing it was in danger, the infant bawled even louder. And, in that instant, a flash of iridescent light consumed everything.

It was a disturbance that had shaken them all to their core. They hadn't felt a great unease like this since their Father died in the Great War. Her older brother had insisted on taking an army and marching on the town, yet she knew better than to provoke the Gods that ruled there. As powerful as they were, provoking a war would only expose their weakness. She sighed as the wind whipped against her face. It had been centuries since she felt this uneasy; she had almost forgotten how it felt like.

However, as she gazed upon a barren crater that spanned into the distance, a chill ran down her spine. The cold, biting air of the Ukrainian winter blew her golden blonde hair. Her blue eyes flicked across the desolate wasteland where there used to be a town, along with a dense forest. Her black dress billowed in the winter wind as she descended to the ground.

"If I recall, Michael said that there was a church in this town," she said to herself as she began to walk toward the crater's center.

[Uriel.] A magic circle appeared by her ear.

"Michael," Uriel said as she scanned the crater.

[Anything?] her brother asked.

"No. Just… a crater. It's about the size of New York City, I think," Uriel said, eyeing the edge of the crater.

She continued to walk. The only sounds that could be heard were the soft winter winds and the crunching of dirt beneath her boots. Uriel couldn't shake this feeling of impending danger. Scarlet red flames licked the earth as a greatsword formed in her hands. The sword's glowing red blade sent tongues of fire scattering everywhere, scorching what remained unburnt from the ensuing blast that created this massive hole in the Earth.

"Strange," Uriel mumbled. "What could have happened here?"

Her question was answered by the sound of an infant bawling. Her eyes widened as she rushed over to the source of the cries.

"What… is that?" she asked as she approached the source of the cries. At the center of the crater sat a golden barrier inscribed with faint Hebrew characters. Before the spherical barrier was a sludge-like shadowy entity that crawled toward the child.

Uriel slowly walked over to it. Her presence was preceded by the overwhelming divinity that flowed from her. Her aura had completely swallowed the crater and even the area beyond. If the entity had to guess, her divine power had swallowed the entire region where this country was located.

The entity appeared to have sensed her presence and it recoiled almost immediately at her presence. "Ascendant… you feel like… an Ascendant," it said. Its violet eyes gazed at her warily.

"I assume you were responsible for this," Uriel said as she leveled her blade at the monstrous creature.

"Ascendant… Sophia…," the entity said as it tried to reconstitute its form.

"Sophia?" Uriel raised an eyebrow. "Unfortunately, I don't know anyone by the name of Sophia. But… since you managed to massacre an entire town under the jurisdiction of Heaven, I'll ask you for a favor."

The entity stared at her warily.

"Please… die~!"

The entity sprung at her, intent on devouring her.

Uriel stood calmly as she raised her blade. Her feet spread slightly apart as flame swirled around her. The entity's shadowy form flickered as it came barreling toward her, as if whatever source her flames stemmed from was something abhorrent to the malevolent beast. She thrust her sword forward.

The entity was too late to avoid it. The sword's growing red blade pierced its skull, jutting out at the other end. The entity spasmed for a few seconds before its arms gripped the sword tightly in an attempt to pull it out.

"It's no use. These flames embody a fragment of the power that brought forth the world's Genesis. The fires of Creation that forged the world shall burn you apart here and now," Uriel said coldly. She twisted her grip on the handle of her sword slightly as a torrent of flames surged through the creature, incinerating it and the land behind it for miles. It created a searing line visible from space.