Lounged within the air, the pink-haired woman patiently waited for her associates.
Livian had sent a distress signal to her superior only several minutes before.
In the meanwhile, before they would come, Livian—her curiosity sparked—decided to take the liberty of further examining this chaotic storm of Pure Death-related Will.
In Neo-Elysium, while not an exactly common occurrence, it was still rare.
From past documentation such events tended to happen time-to-time.
Usually once every few centuries, some edgy—emo bastard, who had been fucked by the world so much that, by some miracle, they managed to condense an Initial that corresponding towards the pure Death or pure Destruction spectrum, would appear.
Normally, condensing such an Initial would be deemed near to completely impossible due to the spread of corruption such an Initial would impose on the neutral Will.
Initials are the most honest desire of the practitioner. Unlike sentient beings, the ego of the Initial only possesses one incentive from its creation till destruction—purpose, the why they were given when created by the practitioner during the Second Destination.
Pure Death & Destruction Initials are just any other, but their only purpose is to satisfy the purest forms of Death or Annihilation. Genocide and End—abstractly both derivatives of the same.
Now, practitioners endowed by these types of Initials gradually begin to wither. Their cognitive abilities are the first to corrupt—altering thought into something gritty, and even forcing a more apathetic paradigm.
Then the body, over time, begins to weaken. Negligible at first, but the cumulative damage amassed though time would become utterly severe and lethal, if not for the fact bodies naturally strengthen with each Destination.
This process continues for several years before the Initial's ego completely blossoms—forcefully manifesting itself whenever the practitioner attempts to cross the threshold between the Fifth and Sixth Destination—during the process of consumption.
A battle of attrition between the practitioner who set out to begin their path, and the desire that launched this path into fruition.
So how about winning a battle between death?
How laughable. No—humorous even.
How would one even go about fighting death?
All beings by natural order are deemed equal under the eyes of death, so how would you win against this all mighty inevitable?
Simply, you don't.
Death is the natural opposite of Life, and a practitioner is alive—thus living, the opposite of Death.
Condensing an Initial related to Pure Death is not just the recipe for disaster—it is the death of the practitioner, and anyone else who was unfortunate enough to fall in between the crossfire.
Yes, Pure Death and Pure Destruction Initials are terrifyingly strong—dumb, but irrefutably powerful regardless.
Though the cost to obtain such power is never worth the suffering, especially since it always leaves the practitioner trapped in purgatory.
Though the cost to obtain such power was not worth the suffering that comes along, especially since it always keeps the practitioner trapped within a state of purgatory.
~~~
~~~
~~~
FWOOOM!
SWOOSH
The loud sounds of wind being cut, and objects flying at speeds that would make terminal velocity seem silly, were a group of four individuals.
It was a similar sound to that of a plane flying overhead, but just slightly pitched less.
Leading this group was a greed haired fellow that excluded a bright yellow aura—one normally associated with the charisma of a charismatic leader.
After several seconds, George sensed Livian's presence. Looking up, he met her gaze—crimson eyes that did little to conceal their sassiness.
After several seconds, George sensed Livian's presence within his perception. Looking up he met a set of bright crimson eyes that did little to conceal any of her sassiness.
"Livian," George said, gesturing a wave. "Lead us to the location."
Already aware of their arrival, Livian loudly humph'd, annoyed, before shifting her body back—flying into the distance, guiding Cloud - 4 towards the anomaly's location.
Leighton shot Livian's distancing silhouette a disdainful glance.
How dare that annoying bitch have the nerve to dismiss George in such a manner?!
Her right eyelid twitched slightly, then she relaxed, letting out a long sigh.
Resolving herself, holding back this built-up animosity, Leighton followed the skank with the rest of her platoon.
She could always give that condescending insufferable wretch an earful later.
Darting through the air at breakneck speeds, the group passed over the vast gray cascade of fog covering the entirety of the Dullen woods.
After a few minutes, the group of five finally reached their destination.
Floating several hundred feet above ground, they stopped at a relatively close proximity, but a safe distance from the wall
"So, you believe that son of a bitc–I mean—" Liam quickly rectified his vulgar words, clearing his throat. "That's the Fifth Destination threat? Why did you deem it class black though?" he asked, confused.
"Growth, from what I can tell, the Impose the previous practitioner possessed was growth-related." Livian said with a frustrated voice. "Since they inevitably failed during minor-destination of consumption, their Initial, which I assume to be Pure Death related—was able to steal their abilities of rapid growth. As such allowing this goliath sized mass of chaotic, egoless Will, hellbent on destruction. "She answered.
Nodding in understanding, Liam as well as his younger twin, Lily, shivered involuntarily.
A sharp spine-chilling sensation seeped through their being, spreading into their muscles—creeping into their thoughts was a retching feeling.
It was fear, but they quickly suppressed it.
"How should we proceed, boss?" Livian asked.
After some contemplation and weighing several options, George eventually came to a conclusion.
"It's still a peak Fifth Destination anomaly, correct?"
"Yep. Give or take a few days, and I believe that this thing will reach the Adapted stage."
"Minimal damage towards the surroundings does not seem feasible, no?"
Livian, knowing what he was referencing, nodded.
He sighed.
"We'll have to destroy the anomaly manually," George said matter-of-factly. "Everyone ready to bear arms? We'll attack the wall's exterior. Do not allow any residual Will from your Initials to leak out during the assault."
Hearing their superior's orders, immediately elicited a chain reaction of dazzling spectacle that pulsed outwards with an array of heterogeneous light that radiated from the group.
White, violet, red, teal, dark brown, yellow, and a collection of other colors collided as each of them summoned their Initials and animated their respective imposes onto reality.
George, finishing his summon, now clad a regal set of bluish-tinted silverine armor, with two robust complementary gauntlets donning his hands.
Leighton held a yari in one hand, with several deep onyx shurikens in the other.
Lily dual-gripped a massive kusarigama, its chain several feet longer than the conventional size, with a large silver mace latched to the chains end.
With a large smug grin tugged across his features, Lian cusped a large white scythe resting it casually over his shoulder where he looped his arms around slinging them, in a similar fashion a person would when they rested the squat bar onto their trapezius.
Lastly, Livian, slacked by her side, was a large neon-pink and teal rail gun the size, its barrel and body the length of several men, that she effortlessly lifted parallel to her gate.
Each of the three with the exception of George, tapped their wrist where a small inconspicuous tattoo that pictured a cartoonishly designed white theatrical mask with a smile was etched into their skin.
With activation stimulus, four identical orange transparent suits manifested, covering their bodies entirely.
"Is everyone ready to proceed!" George said
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
"Yeah."
Without a follow up command, George blasted himself towards the wall.
His gauntlets shone with the potency of density, and it felt the weight of the earth was backing his fists—guiding him to demolish anything before him.
Raising one gauntlet near his neck and positioning the other to his front, George braced himself for contact with the Wall's abyssal-black exterior.
BOOOOOM!
A shower of deep back fragments of the wall rained from the sky hitting the ground where they immediately kamikazed before exploding.
…Boom
Bang…
Boom!
Several kilometers of the Wall's exterior were demolished into oblivion. The chaotic Will scattered, destroying everything it touched before dissolving back into neutral Will after several seconds of absence from the Pure Death Initial.
As George lashed down hell with his thousands of consecutive punches against the wall, the others contributed their share of an equal amount of damage against the wall.
Propping her yari overhead, Leighton clenched her body's needed mussels before she threw the yari like a ballistic towards the wall.
The twins, both with regard to fair competition—even though this important mission…—were both working separately. This was done to determine which of the two were superior.
Swinging the lengthy chain of the kusarigama, building speed and power Lily increased the mass and density of the mace via her Impose, with her Initial wiggling within her brain from jarring force, its inherent destructive properties were circulated into the metal before it made contact with the Wall.
Seeing his sister's exceptional finesse, Liam not wanting to be out done, began to circle his large scythe in between his fingers, and using the principle of electrostatic repulsion, he was able to increase the speed of the scythe to blinding speeds that disoriented perception.
Charging his scythe's blade with his Will, Liam determining an interval of timing, began to spray out countless amounts of energy blades towards the Wall.
Flying in the background, Livian charged her with will railgun—
BOOOOM!
A vast powerful undercut current of vibrant crimson light ushered forth from the rail gun's barrel steadily carving away large portions of the wall, all while she simply laid in the back.
The Wall, with its frivolous defenses and nonexistent offense, was swiftly demolished by Cloud - 4 with Livian's support.
Of course, this victory came at the expense of the surrounding 90 km of land.
The vista was unrecognizable, becoming a war zone littered with deep craters, and the landscape was unrecognizable.
This piece of land was once part of the Dullen Woods… Now, it looked nothing of the part.