Off to the side where Ais had basically been petting Al like a pet bunny, Al noticed that the petting stopped, so he looked around at the sights before him now.
"The city, it's been isolated from the world in a wall of fire? The sky, it's so dark, not even a single star in sight?"
Al uttered, sounding helpless as he could feel the intimidating pressure from all of the dragons out there. But then… he turned even more, noticing that Ais had a radically different expression on her face.
Tears flowing uncontrollably, as if the flood gates opened, and the dam had ruptured. Both eyes in total fury, as she shouted out the anger in her tiny heart. She made a move to go forward, but she couldn't go any further. Al held her, keeping her from moving towards her death, the words on his back glowing white hot as he couldn't bear to just watch her go die.
It was then the mirrors showed the sources of the two sounds from earlier… One had a body the size of a mountain, and emitted a deadly aura that would kill the weak if they weren't prepared, and those who were… The other, a similarly massive body, coiled up to support its massive snake-like structure, numerous tendrils spread from its head, each wriggling & writhing with the destructive killing potential dwarfing any of the dragons around them.
"Hey, aren't those the Behemoth, and the Leviathan?"
"But the Zeus & Hera familias killed those monsters!"
"I know! I saw it with my own eyes! The Leviathan's corpse was used to seal off the dungeon exit near Melen!"
"How are they alive then!?"
Hermes clicked his tongue. "Damn it, Zeus, why are these two monsters back? Even Origin Wolf won't stand a chance-"
He was interrupted by the cackling laughter of the one dubbed, Absolute Evil. And so, the mirrors focused on him.
He floated in the air as if nothing gravity was a meaningless concept to him. His arms stretched out to the side, as he breathed in slowly… Attempting a grand display of villainy. Oh this does feel good.
"How do you like it? My two new children? Each so brutally defeated by the Zeus & Hera familias. So unfair don't you think? Here they are, powerful monsters, and yet were challenged by a group. Shameful! I have given them a chance to give back what they received. And with them all dead, or driven from the city…"
Evilus smirked with a truly malicious expression.
"So, how does it feel?! How's it feel to be in such an utterly hopeless situation? There are no heroes who can help you now. Any that could were driven out of the city by the ones currently masquerading as the strongest!"
He laughed, his monologue pointing out all of the horrible things that have gone on as a result of their very own actions. Even if you had a plan Ouranos, you really shouldn't have driven those two monsters out of Orario. You should have known I would have taken that chance to just fuck everything up. I feel stronger down here with every passing second, I can feel it, my temple is almost here, and once it is, I'll truly be invincible.
The stir Erebus caused with his poison tongue was steep, it created so many issues within the united front. Ganesha's children had mixed feelings about it…
"There's a lot of truth to this piece of shit's words."
"Yeah, we don't have a chance at defeating those monsters."
"Agreed, maybe if it was just one of them, and we had time to prepare ahead of the battle."
"We also just recently leveled up, despite our battle against the dragons in the east, I doubt we'll get lucky a second time, without spending time to make proper adjustments. Personally I feel like I could have done more during the battle."
"Same here. I don't dare to speak for Bulwark, nor his counterpart, but I doubt they could handle this either."
"We've seen enough of their strength to know even of where their limits lay"
"HEY! No need to get so down just yet. There's hardly any time left after all." Bokhoir, looking worse for wear, though not remotely as bad as the Freya familia members who collapsed next to Freya. "Oh, yeah, these idiots tried to fight these new dragons when they showed up. You're lucky Nernatti and I got them out of there in time. Otherwise they'd be dead right now."
"Bokhoir, what do you mean by there's not much time left?" Finn asked, as someone healed his broken thumbs. "The way I see it right now, you've only got two possible reasons for saying that."
"Wrong, I've only got one." Bokhoir laughed.
The stark difference in attitude was enough it caused Erebus to speak again.
"I should add that I've boosted these two children of mine by a level from their original strengths. And as you wait there, a haze of the strongest of deadly poisons is floating your way."
"Ahahahaha! Oh shove it, moronic false god." Bokhoir laughed, then turned to face him directly. "You have no idea what kind of power you've just awoken. I've seen it once. You're done for."
"False… God…? Mortal, you dare to anger me with such an insult? I AM EREBUS THE PRIMORDIAL GOD OF DARKNESS! I AM ABSOLUTE EVIL!"
"Heh, looks like a petulant child in need of an ass-whooping to me." Bokhoir smirked, crossing his arms. I can feel it. Just a little longer…
Erebus exploded in a fit of rage, the darkness over the city thickened, several times over.
"You brat. You wouldn't be this bold if you weren't powered up by a god's power."
"And you wouldn't be lording over the mass genocide, and committing unforgivable crimes against all of Gekai, going as far as to order the death of mothers carrying the unborn."
"I'm a god, I'm not bound by- huh?"
Erebus was interrupted by a young boy, who couldn't have been much older than 8.
The boy shouted out with a deep nerve of steel. His fists balled up, as he glared daggers at Erebus.
"SCREW YOU!! YOU DAMN DEMON! GODS ARE WARM!!!! AND CARRING! AND LOVING!!! YOU'RE NOTHING LIKE THEM!" His voice carried quite a way for someone so small. "When Origin Wolf comes back he's going to beat you good!"
Erebus was confused by what he had just heard. He was about to respond, however, something stopped him.
"Well then, I suppose I don't have a choice now, do I?" A voice familiar to many spoke, one that shattered the terror, even the one currently plaguing a blonde haired girl. "Hmm, you've all done well to handle things this long. Sorry it took me so long to get back. The 80th floor is really quite a ways down there. Then these horny bastards tried to kill me with pathetic attempts to summon calamities." He continued, tossing the bound gods to the side, some of them smiled from the pain.
"What?! You're supposed to be dead!"
"AHAHAHAHA! Tell me, Erebus, do you even know what's down in the dungeon? Cause I do, floor 80 is no joke. And even despite your meddling using that shitty arcanum I still cleared the whole floor." He spoke, walking forward, cracking his neck, and stretching all of his muscles. He paused… "You should leave the rest of this to me, you'll only get in the way… Well now, with all of us in agreement, I suppose I should get started… It's hunting time, a little dragon season…"
He readied himself, howled, a bone chilling sound, eerily familiar to the gods. And then…