novelraw Chapter 507: Joy
Chapter 507: Joy
Under this pincer attack from front and back, Fisher's rationality seemingly reminded him constantly that such an act of turning back was simply foolish to the extreme.
As long as one wasn't an idiot, they would know that as a Demigod assigned heavy responsibilities by the deities, the World Tree absolutely wouldn't sit idly by regarding the matters here. Moreover, this was still the Dragon God's territory; when the time came, the things they might face wouldn't merely be the World Tree alone.
The wisest choice was, of course, to ride Mikhail's Cardinal to leave right now, before the Demigods made their move.
But Fisher couldn't do so, because that Angel was still beneath the ground. Furthermore, if Fisher hadn't guessed incorrectly, right now the Authority of Death hadn't settled down yet, Chaos had also erupted, and the chief culprit behind all this was related to that Pandora.
Helaire was very likely in danger; it was impossible for him to abandon her and not care.
The moment he thought Helaire might die, Fisher's heart abruptly constricted. It was just as he had worried previously: afraid she would be reduced to ashes and smoke in the several massive wars in the future.
Anyway, the Death on his own body hadn't even been expelled yet. Even if he left like this, he couldn't live for much longer.
No matter what, he absolutely had to rescue that Angel.
He clenched his jaw tightly, leaping agilely and precisely among the broken walls and ruined buildings, trying as much as possible not to get close to the increasingly numerous black Chaotic substance below.
The true reason for the formation of that black substance was unknown, nor was its origin known, nor could its specific properties be described. He only felt this thing had traits similar to a fluid. It was full of indescribable, terrifying auras, giving him an extremely ominous feeling.At this very moment, just purely seeing that Chaos made him feel his brain swelling; he didn't dare to imagine what it would be like if he went down and came into contact with it.
As Fisher drew increasingly closer to the stone tower, only then did he discover that an underground corridor leading to an underground space had manifested at the bottom of the stone tower at some unknown time. And that endless black substance was precisely surging out from that narrow corridor, almost completely filling it up entirely.
He narrowed his eyes; his brain quickly made a decision.
He raised his Fluid Sword in hand, leaping over the entrance of that narrow corridor in one bound. Subsequently, he raised the weapon in his hands above the ground behind that corridor, which hadn't yet been submerged by the black substance.
Going all out with the power of the Mythical Rank, the next moment, the Fluid Sword—which had already transformed into a massive silver giant hammer—plunged fiercely toward the ground like a meteor.
"Rumble rumble rumble!"
In an instant, following an intense explosive sound, the ground in front subsided along with the cracks stimulated by that massive power.
Amidst falling rubble, Fisher stood steadily atop a relatively large fragmented piece of rubble as it dropped downwards.
"Gurgle gurgle!!"
"Boom boom!"
Thus, the broad karst cave space beneath the ground instantly entered his field of vision. But concurrently, he also saw the turbulent black giant waves below, as well as the faintly surging firelight hidden beneath the black giant waves.
When Fisher rode upon the fragment of the giant rubble plummeting down, he was instantly swallowed by the intense Chaos and Authority of Death assaulting his face.
This place was the epicenter of the entire Ideal State being polluted by Chaos, and it also happened to be directly above the Authority of Death. The buffs were fully stacked, let alone the fact that Fisher already had Death chasing him on his body to begin with.
Within this epicenter of Death and Chaos, that sensation of Death chasing gradually morphed into oppression. The gradually awakening Authority of Death was not at all weaker than the power of the "Infinite" Authority Renee had left on his body.
When Death gradually crushed Renee's power, he agonizingly clutched his chest and knelt down onto the rubble, allowing that piece of rubble to drop into the black vast ocean, subsequently floating up bizarrely.
But he paid no attention to the Death upon his body gradually swallowing him completely, nor did he pay heed to the gradually rampant ravings by his ears. Both his eyes completely red, he scanned all around regardless of consequences, shouting loudly at his surroundings,
"Helaire!! Where are you!?"
"Helaire!!"
"Helaire!!"
That darkness seeming to devour Fisher's voice. Nobody here responded to him, as if that bad Angel had already been devoured by the darkness and lost her life...
But Fisher could not accept this result!
He raised the Fluid Sword, sitting atop the rubble. Morphing that Fluid Sword into the appearance of an oar, he wanted to move within that Chaotic vast ocean. Yet purely extending the Fluid Sword into that darkness caused an extremely freezing and terrifying sensation to transmit over via the Fluid Sword linked to his soul.
He instantly gritted his teeth in agony. At that exact instant, he unexpectedly felt his soul—which was fused together with his physical body—transform into a black hole, starting to devour that endless Chaos...
But he still didn't give up, merely paddling intermittently in the dark vast ocean, searching for that Angel's traces.
"Helaire!!"
Darkness constantly intruded upon his soul, and his soul continually distorted; even his own physical body also began to change along with it. The flickering ∞ symbols seemed like eyes looking all around, symbolizing him gradually stepping into madness.
Yet right amidst this seemingly hoplessly slim search, from the corner of Fisher's eyes, he suddenly saw a tiny bit of sparkling translucence within the darkness.
He paused slightly, subsequently gazing as far as his eyes could see. However, he saw that sparkling translucence flickering in the darkness deeper within the karst cave seemingly resembled a Crown flickering with faint light!
"Helaire!"
He ground his teeth, going all out heading towards that even denser Chaotic epicenter. But halfway through paddling, a burst of intense pain suddenly transmitted from his soul.
Fisher drew in a breath of cold air, subconsciously pulling up the Fluid Sword placed into the darkness, but surprisingly discovered that the Fluid Sword had already been eroded by Chaos until it almost had only a hilt remaining.
That mercury-like sword blade continuously wanted to grow back, but beneath that terrifying Chaotic aura, no matter how it grew, it was to no avail.
Consequently, within this manic dark sea, Fisher paused right in place just like this, barely less than a hundred meters away from the location of that Crown.
But from this distance, Fisher was already able to indistinctly see the situation at the Crown.
That was indeed Helaire.
He only saw her lower body completely devoured by that darkness at this time. Pitch-black meridians continuously spread all over her body, indicating that the Chaos was continuously eroding her everything. While upon her body, there were even more terrifying and malevolent wounds.
At her neck, Chaos-polluted blood flowed continuously from a golden bloodstain. Her left hand seemed to have been petrified by some powerful force, completely incapable of moving—similar to the situation of those Elves outside; it should be Pandora's doing. And there were even more electrical arcs flickering upon her body; those were the root cause severely injuring her.
Already severely injured, she had also been devoured halfway by Chaos. Her inherent Tier wasn't very high compared to other Mythic Species, not to mention this current situation involving a Chaos eruption that even Demigods were extremely fearful of.
The light from the Crown upon her head was extremely dim. Just like a candle in the wind, it seemed about to be thoroughly extinguished the very next second—something ten thousand times more severe than when she was previously severely injured by Lord Tao on the Tree Continent.
"Helaire!"
And following Fisher's anxious calling from the distance, the Helaire on the verge of death also seemingly faintly heard his voice.
Struggling, she opened her eyes slightly. Just like a window opening a tiny crack, through that tiny crack, she poured out all her strength wanting to see that person outside.
"Fi... Fisher..."
"What in the world happened here? Hold on, I'll come over right now..."
"Don't... don't come over... I've already been polluted by Chaos..."
Helaire coughed once, but her body was instead dragged down by that darkness, sinking even more. She also groaned in agony; those Chaotic black veins upon her body were also becoming increasingly numerous.
Looking at Fisher in the distance, she subsequently ground her teeth, using all her strength to lift her right hand.
"Pandora... wanted that Sigil you handed to me for safekeeping... She... cough cough... knew of your plans to borrow the Holy Grail... She betrayed Lord God, wanting to use Chaotic power in coordination with the Holy Grail and the Loom of Fate to enter the Twentieth-Tier, to create her Divine Kingdom... I couldn't stop them... But... Chaos lost control...
"I know... you need to use Lord God's power to break free from Death... So... I snatched the Holy Grail over... Lord God's power is still here..."
Within her right hand, she originally gripped a black Holy Grail that still possessed a smear of potent power. The final remaining bit of energy blurred within that Holy Grail—urged by Helaire's final all-out effort—transformed into a Demigod-Tier aura.
Just like a key, that Death Rule frantically chasing Fisher was overturned at this moment.
Death, which had chased Fisher for a very long time, finally dissipated away at this very moment.
Yet this was also the only thing that remaining bit of power within the Holy Grail could manage to do.
And as Helaire used her final bit of strength to urge that Holy Grail, the radiance across her entire body again became exceedingly dim. The bit of power originally capable of resisting Chaos vanished entirely. In the blink of an eye, she slowly sank into the black ocean.
The Holy Grail clutched in her hand powerlessly slipped down along her palm and dissipated. Amidst that sinking of inevitable perishing, she unexpectedly let out a long breath. Those slightly opened pair of eyes also powerlessly closed bit by bit.
Yet right until the end, she still smiled at Fisher, whispering to him with some regret,
"Fisher... no wonder... you've never met me in the future... Truly a pity..."
"It's alright... Cupid's arrow... is still here..."
The next second, before she finished speaking her words, her entire person maintained that final smile, gradually about to sink into that Chaos.
The light upon that Crown was already about to dissipate, along with everything of that Angel about to be devoured by Chaos.
"Rumble rumble rumble!"
The karst cave above had already started collapsing. The World Tree's entire body instantly ignited with intense radiance resembling the sun; there were a full nine of those radiances, illuminating everything in heaven and earth into an extremely dazzling golden-yellow.
Judging from that terrifying aura, the World Tree didn't even hesitate to destroy the entire Dragon Tail Island to suppress the proliferation of Chaos.
The paleness of the sky, the darkness beneath the ground. At this moment, within Fisher's eyes, the entire world seemingly only had black and white colors.
But in the eyes of Fisher, whose eyes were wide with rage and shock, there was exclusively only Helaire who was continuously sinking within the darkness.
Perhaps Cupid, who controlled love, indeed wasn't some powerful Angel; in the face of the danger at this moment, her power appeared so insignificant.
It was just that Cupid's arrow she left somewhere on his body was clearly still there, and that place clearly still retained her residual warmth.
Fisher clutched his own chest. Before his heart, which was on the verge of stopping completely at that instant, he seemed to feel that Cupid's arrow—that arrow about to ignite, becoming as scorching hot as magma.
Even if he had entirely broken free from Death at this moment, having complete the purpose of coming to this era, even if Helaire's death was truly destined, just like how he wanted to change Asuka Karasawa but was utterly powerless to do so no matter what...
But he didn't want to regret.
If Helaire truly died right before his eyes, he might genuinely regret it for a lifetime.
"Are you kidding me!!"
The next second, accompanying an angry roar that seemed to want to separate these two colors, Fisher, his face malevolent, stepped forward a step. The immense force instantly shattered the rubble beneath him.
Immediately following, his entire person directly leapt down from that rubble, jumping toward that profound and dark ocean.
"Hum hum hum!"
That black vast ocean below dispersed bit by bit before his furious aura. Like bloodlust and restlessness, it opened its bloody gaping mouth toward him; also like an embrace, it opened its bosom toward him...
"Plop!!"
"Ahhhhhahh!"
In the instant Fisher plummeted into that profound darkness, that darkness—seemingly profounder than the entire Universe—instantly trembled like boiling water. He felt an unprecedentedly massive agony, causing him to howl and roar, unable to endure it any longer.
Countless maddening ravings and the collapse of Rules seeped into his soul along his fragile body, just as it did to all other living creatures, seemingly intending to completely fill up and dye his soul.
But similarly, upon thinking that the current Helaire was also enduring such torment, he grew even more anxious. Therefore, no matter how painful it was, he utilized all his strength to swim toward the place where Helaire was located ahead.
Such a process was difficult to describe. Merely staying inside for one second, any robust Soul or living Consciousness seemingly would be swallowed by that black Ocean, fusing into one entity with the Ocean just like a handful of clear water.
Yet Fisher, in whose eyes existed only that continuously sinking Helaire, hadn't realized in the slightest that at this moment, he was like a vortex within the dark vast ocean. As that ocean-broad Chaos endlessly flowed into his Soul and body, he remained boundlessly bottomless, absorbing the surrounding Chaos like a black hole.
That vast ocean that treated everyone equally, wanting to swallow them all, for some unknown reason opened up its secrets before Fisher's Soul.
"Hum hum hum!!"
At this moment, at the outer layer and deep within the world, that source-like, indistinct Spirit World... passing through those nascent stars flickering one after another, passing through that winding river of Consciousness devoid of Rules and shapes, passing through remnants of civilizations of unknown origins... somewhere profound within the Spirit World, seemingly at a linking point to somewhere outside, at a gap situated resembling the Ultimate, a burst of melodious singing faintly transmitted over again.
At this moment, hiding outside the physical world, within the Spirit World, inside the overlapping and intertwined crevices of Space and Time, that deity enveloped in Destiny's golden light first noticed that singing originating from outside the Spirit World. As if intimidated, the golden light upon His body grew increasingly bright. Yet He didn't expect that singing seemed to not notice Him at all, heading straight past the profound depths of this place.
At this moment, the Crevice also abruptly grew restless, erecting layers of sturdy barriers as if wanting to block that singing. But each and every thing seemed like a mere bubble in front of that singing...
At this moment, that great existence hiding within the physical world, continuously hammering the stars and galaxies between the suns with His massive power, unexpectedly paused, seemingly also having heard that singing which made even Him tremble exceedingly...
Beneath Him, that gender-neutral Demigod with a pale complexion narrowed their eyes, gazing with a stern expression toward the outside of the world, toward the direction of the Spirit World.
The next second, the illusory giant wings behind that Demigod opened bit by bit. In a flash, he disappeared from his original spot.
But what in the world was that terrifying singing singing about?
Even the Deities didn't know; they purely, solely felt a smear of pure joy from within that singing.
"Helaire!!"
Fisher, continually swimming strenuously within the dark Ocean, could not feel his own uniqueness. He could not feel his own Soul being able to bear this entire, endless Ocean, nor could he feel the joy within that singing originating from some unknown place beyond the boundaries...
At this time, his brain was on the verge of thoroughly exploding. He also didn't know what his form and Soul would be corroded into. His eyes only held that continuously sinking Angel.
When Helaire's entire person was about to sink completely, he gritted his teeth, his eyes red, making a strenuous grab forward. At that instant, all his desperate efforts ultimately materialized as that Angel's bright and pale wrist.
He firmly grasped Helaire.
At that instant, perhaps due to hallucinations or ravings, he abruptly heard a profound singing of unknown lyrics, and it was as if the body of the person before him was the main body of that singing.
"Are you kidding me! How can you die?!"
But the madness inside his brain was too excessive; how could he distinguish it?
The only thing he could do was tightly pull her into his own embrace, locking her within his arms.
At this moment, his manic inner heart finally seemed to have found a safe haven, becoming a little more at peace.
Trembling, he hugged the Angel in his embrace tightly, unable to bear letting her go again.
"Fi..."
In his embrace, Helaire, feeling the warmth of his body, opened partly her eyes while on the verge of death. Seemingly puzzled, seemingly uncomprehending, yet also seemingly joyous, she looked at this man who had poured out his all to come to save her...
But only a moment later, these emotions became unknown to others as her eyes closed.
Fisher's complexion was extremely pale. That feeling of Chaos continuously surging into his body was an extremely painful process. The ravings and madness by his ears were like an electric drill seeking to bore right through his brain.
He also didn't know when he would go entirely mad, but before then, he had to bring Helaire out.
Fisher hugged Helaire tightly in his embrace. Narrowing those eyes that had already turned blood-red, he looked up at the nine terrifying balls of light, resembling suns, that were drawing nearer and nearer above.
[Pleading for votes, tips, and support; this is very important to me!]
[Extremely grateful for the support!]
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(Chapter Ends)