Another matter was the continued development of light and dark power. There was still no real progress there. As long as enough was invested, light and dark could let Mephist see bits of the past and future, like watching a documentary.
It sounded impressive, but it was not very useful. Even if you rewind a mountain by a hundred years, it is still a mountain, and you do not see what happened on it in detail, just a few flashing fragments at best. Using it on Lilith and Bella was just as meaningless.
One stayed at home in Sky Island reading all day, and the other had been sleeping in a pocket of space before he fished her out, so there was nothing interesting to see. More importantly, it often felt like bad reception, with blurry fragments, and sometimes he even saw Lilith turn into a giant crystal or Bella self-destruct on the spot, things he had never seen before.
Once he got closer, everything turned into static and he could not see anything at all. As for the so-called past and future, it might just be a general direction, and Belial rarely found it accurate. Still, he did not expect that Miss Witch had encountered some bad luck in the past, with a random red light blowing away half of Sky Island.
Belial felt it looked a bit familiar, but he was sure he had never seen it before. "Who did something like that? Throwing trash in a place with nothing at all, that's really awful."
Thinking this, Belial turned his head to the side and froze slightly, then rubbed his eyes. His vision was already extremely strong, able to observe areas thousands of miles away with just his naked eyes, and even farther when combined with his perception.
So far, only he could see light and dark power directly. But now, what was he seeing? High above the distant sky was a dense, thick mass of darkness, like crude oil, spreading with overwhelming force.
There was no light left there, and the amount of darkness exceeded everything he had seen before combined. More importantly, the hunting mark he had placed on someone who stole his prey and ran away some time ago had lit up.
"…" ...
"Ah! My cola!" A violent shockwave knocked the cap loose, and the blockbuster spilled all over Bella's skirt.
Lilith reacted quickly and caught the fried chicken that was about to fall, then looked up toward where the disturbance came from. That was where Belial had been earlier, and now there was only a huge crater left behind.
It was not enough. Not enough, not enough, not enough, not enough, not enough…
Far from enough. It had to keep eating, eat more and more. All around was a sticky, dark green swamp filled with massive vines covered in twisted limbs and blood-red flowers, corroding and digesting everything nearby.
Even soil and rock were devoured without exception. Dense roots had already pierced deep into the magma underground, greedily consuming everything they could reach. Some monsters reduced to half-skeletons were stuffed with disgusting matter and staggered back to their feet.
"Roar!" The blasphemous offspring of life, shaped like mountains with a spine like a range, opened its mouth and roared. Its enormous dragon-beast-like head was lined with dense fangs growing from its cheeks, opening and closing as it devoured the fundamental rules of space itself.
Even with the abyssal Rift above supplying it with power, and its own proliferation accelerating, it had already consumed countless kilometers of land, along with all Magic and life there. Earlier, it had even digested the soul of a collapsing Crimson God, yet it still felt no satisfaction.
The nutrients it seized were not fully converted into power right away. Instead, they piled up inside its body like a bloated pig, forming disgusting tumors on its massive frame and spawning warped beasts that attacked all living things. That mindless frenzy, eating even as its stomach threatened to burst, made the two hiding in space break into nervous sweat like Gold Rank beans.
"…With the gods investing this much already, why hasn't that monster regained its sanity and rebuilt the Divine Kingdom?" "You serve the gods all the time. Why don't you ask them?"
The dragonman frowned slightly. If the gods had already poured so many resources into this thing and felt the pain of it, what would happen to the others? The pope beside him stroked his beard twice and answered calmly.
"I'm afraid of being eaten." "Me too."
The two observers were puzzled. Even if this god was half-awake and its mind not fully repaired, it should not be this crazed, eating nonstop without even reclaiming its former power. Reconstructing Laws and establishing a Divine Kingdom domain should have been instinct.
The current state was strange. It was even desperately pounding at the Shard shell. Logically, it should first erode the Barrier and secure its position, making it easier to deal with the Great Dragon that would likely arrive soon.
Yet instead, after opening just a gap, it impatiently shoved its limbs inside like it was digging out bird eggs. What was its goal? "Must… eat… must get it…"
"The seed…" "…to become…"
Unaware of their thoughts, the monster continued devouring outside while thrusting its tendrils into the Barrier. Its mind did not clear as its power returned. Instead, urgency and growing pain drove it deeper into madness.
Besides the desperate resistance of the small insects inside, there was also a wound that still would not heal. No matter how much it ate, the wound only hurt more. It was left from the day it awoke, when it swallowed a fragmentary soul of one of its own kind and was struck by a familiar presence.
It fled, but the wound clung like a curse, carved not only into its flesh but into its memory as well. In that moment, it gained something called longing. That unstoppable stance, the form that devoured all things and dominated heaven and earth.
"I want to become like that." That was its final thought before falling into a space of nothingness.
So it kept devouring, like that being did, forcing its body to expand. It twisted its canopy into a grotesque beast's head and raised rows of mountain-like spines along its back. Though a plant, it forcibly reshaped itself into the form of a Great Dragon, complete with bones, skin, a huge maw, and sharp teeth.
Yet something was still missing. No matter how much it ate or altered itself, it could not truly become like that being. Until it sensed, in a small world, the aura of a similar seed.
If I eat that seed like it did, then I can become it. Holding onto that thought, it opened its mouth wider and pushed its tendrils even deeper into the Barrier.
"…Eat you…" "For…" "Roar!!!"
Not wanting to pay attention to the roaring that kept echoing in her ears, filled with endless greed and malice, Luna slipped out of the ruined shelter and ran toward the front battlefield. Sacred Tree Hall had long been breached, and most of its remains had been swallowed by a terrifying dark green sea that grew claws and fangs. Even though the huge monster outside had not focused on this area, traces of its filth were still left behind.
"Roar…!!!"
Sensing life other than themselves, several twisted creatures rushed forward, their forms forced together from trees, animals, and even Elves. They opened their huge mouths and charged at the small Half-Elf girl. A mad instinct deep within drove them with only one thought, to devour what stood before them.
"Go away!"
Forcing down the nausea, Luna drew the shortbow from her back. Her small body moved with agility, the triangular sprout mark on her forehead giving off a faint glow as the shadow of a giant bear appeared behind her. She raised the Sprout Shortbow that Vivian had given her.
There was no quiver, yet in this urgent state, she did not question it. As long as the thought formed in her mind, an arrow woven from tender shoots appeared in her hand. Empowered by the bear's strength and the spell circuits on the bow, the shot blasted the monsters apart into Shard fragments, then purified them.
The remaining twisted parts sank into the soil like sludge. What lay on the ground were broken logs, an animal corpse, and the bodies of two Elves. Luna recognized them as neighbors who had attended her birthday feast, people whose fruit desserts grown with natural Magic had always tasted sweet.
Sadly, she would never get to eat them again.
"…"
Luna did not understand many things, but she knew a terrifying monster had come. The powerful adults, Vivian, and the elders had all gone to face it. The exit to the outside world she had once longed for was now sealed, and everyone was hiding deeper inside.
She had slipped out on her own. She could shut off her sensing ability under the Lord, and with help from the remaining animal and plant friends, she had made her way here. She wanted to help, because so many were gone, the uncle next door, the older sister who played with her, the grandfather who basked in the sun all day.
She did not want to lose Vivian too.
"Ugh… ngh."