Chapter 1178 - Testing The Challengers
"Are you sure this is the right place?" Chronos asked with a frown as they were now approaching the edge of the universe where the system had placed a restriction, preventing them from going beyond. If they wanted to break this barrier, it would be no easy task. But that's only if they were going to do this forcefully.
"Yes it is, we're not going to be going beyond the barrier. We're going to look for the void that's caught in the middle. Once we reach this rift, we should arrive at Shiro's old domain." Gaia nodded as she reached out with her hand and sliced down.
*KRKK!!!!
Cutting a tear in the void, all five of them walked through the rift and entered a strange world. The space in this place was unstable as it was in the middle of the known universe and the barrier. However, it miraculously held itself together.
Flying through the rift, the gods could feel a chill down their spine as fear slowly crept into their hearts but they managed to supress it.
"In order to find Shiro's old domain, it requires a bit of luck. However, I've already made some preparations so we should be able to find it almost instantly." Gaia said as she pulled out an orb.
Realising that it was a sealed orb that contained some of Shiro's destruction aura when she was frozen by Beelzebub, Nyx raised an eyebrow and stayed silent while Gaia started to release the seal on the orb.
The moment a slither of destruction energy escaped the orb, the entire realm started to have an reaction. The surrounding space started to twist and rip while their position was locked into place.
"Don't fight it, allow the spacial current to take you to her old domain." Gaia instructed as she continued to release the destruction aura from the orb.
Little by little, a figure started to appear before them. With long white hair and a mist like body, a pair of red eyes glare towards the five.
Without opening her mouth, the figure raised her hand and snapped her finger.
Before the primal gods could even react, they realised that they were now in the middle of a strange garden. All of the plants and buildings here have long been destroyed and there was no signs of life.
Suddenly, a pillar of light erupted from the centre of the garden as they looked at one another and nodded their heads.
With Tartarus acting as vanguard, Gaia as support, Nyx as Mage, Chronos as control mage and Ouranos as all around support, the five made their way towards the centre with their guards up.
As they approached the centre, they stepped onto a bridge and saw an old building with a single person standing besides the table. She was looking at herself in the lake before turning to them.
Realising that it looked similar to the avatar that teleported them here, the five could only swallow their saliva nervously as they were potentially dealing with a being that had the powers of a First Born. Something they couldn't compare to at this stage in time.
Suddenly, a quest appeared before them.
[Defeat the Shard of Destruction to pass the test.]
Looking at the quest, the five gritted their teeth and nodded at one another.
"Don't hold back." Nyx said as the other four agreed.
Activating his war armour, Tartarus rushed forward as Gaia activated her support buffs onto him.
Summoning a greatsword, he cleaved up towards the figure while Chronos appeared behind him.
Drawing a runic diagram instantly, he froze the figure in time so that they couldn't dodge.
However, just as he did this, the figure gathered mana into her finger tips and sliced apart his spell, causing it to fail while also jumping out of Tartarus' attack range.
Furrowing his brows, demonic energy gathered in his arms as Tartarus launched a wave of energy from his sword while aiming his palm towards the figure.
A cluster of chains erupted out from his hand as it tried to wrap around the figure's body but a barrier appeared, blocking the chains.
"The hell." Tartarus muttered in annoyance as he quickly jumped to the side, allowing Nyx to fire her spell.
Darkness encroached from the edges of the garden as it swarmed towards the figure in the centre.
Standing up straight, the figure let out a laugh before slamming her hands together. Bringing them apart, a tier 9 magic circle could be seen.
"Get down!" Gaia shouted as roots erupted from the garden into a shield.
*BOOM!!!!
Before it could even form properly, a wave of destructive energy exploded out and erased the roots from existence.
Widening her eyes, Gaia watched as the destructive energy surge towards her.
"Stop spacing out!" Ouranos shouted out as he jumped in from of her.
Stomping down with his foot, the air swirled around him, creating a flow that diverted the destructive energy to their surroundings.
Glancing back in shock, Gaia could see that most of the garden that they were just walking past had now been turned to dust.
"This isn't someone you can just space out and use support spells with." Ouranos frowned as Gaia swallowed her saliva and activated a few spells on herself so that she could boost her physical powers.
Looking at the figure that now sat on the roof of the building, Gaia could tell that it was smiling while eyeing the five of them.
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[Test the Challengers.]
Five challengers have come to receive a boon from the First Born of Destruction. Test their worthiness. Once they pass a certain threshold, it'll count as a pass. During this test, you will gain access to a small portion of your power. This will only last for this trial.
If they pass, you will be allowed to invoke your old privileges to grant them a boost to their divinity rank.
Reading this, Shiro furrowed her brows while looking at the five misty figures.
'Should I even help them? It's not like they're related to m-' Before Shiro could even finish her thought, the vanguard dashed towards her with armour wrapping around his body.
'Tch, not even waiting. So hasty.' Shiro frowned as she wanted to activate Analysis to increase her perception. However, a system notification appeared in front of her.
[During this Trial, you can only use your old spells. Most of your techniques will be unusable.]
[Available Spells: Seven Gates of Destruction (Gate 1, 2, 3 and 4.)]
Raising her eyebrows, Shiro wanted to hop back but felt the fluctuation of Time Strands that attempted to pin her down in time, stopping her from doing anything.
'Wait… Are they?' Furrowing her brows, Shiro wondered if these five are who she thinks they are but couldn't confirm anything so she decided to probe them a little for now.
'Second Gate of Destruction – Invil.'
Gathering energy into her finger tips, Shiro destroyed the spell that the second figure wanted to cast and jumped back, narrowly dodging the greatsword strike.
The Second Gate of Destruction was a spell she designed in order to get rid of the pesky spells that tried to bind her. A technique developed with the purpose of destroying her prison in mind. While it did not succeed in its original purpose, it turned out to be a rather powerful counter to all spells that she could see.
Plus, it had the additional effect of sealing away that spell for the time being.
Without giving her a break, black chains chased after her.
'Third Gate of Destruction – Argia.'
The spell that allowed her to destroy all spells targeting her and absorb it as energy.
Blocking the chains, Shiro watched as the caster jump to the side while the mage in the back activated her spell.
Feeling a familiar fluctuation of mana, a smile slowly crept up on Shiro's face.
'So it was them. If the reward is for them to reach Rank 4 Divinity then I suppose I should make sure I push them to the limit!' Shiro grinned as she recognised Nyx's spell anywhere. After all, she was most familiar with Nyx.
'Fourth Gate of Destruction – Cilis.'
An AOE that absorbs energy to become stronger! The stronger the defence, the stronger the spell. As Anima, she had created this after studying the toughness of the prison that prevented her divinity from leaking out. The result was Cilis!
'I've toned it down slightly. Depending on how they react, I'll have to adjust myself accordingly.' Shiro thought to herself as she now had access to a portion of her old power. Even though it's just a portion, if she was serious, she can still kill a Rank 3 god with a snap of her finger. Of course, she had no intention of doing that with these five.
Watching Gaia created a barrier while Ouranos tried his best to divert the energy of destruction, Shiro sat down with a satisfied grin on her face.
'Fantastic. Let's push them a little harder so that they can get Rank 4.' Shiro chuckled while eyeing them up.. She had already given plenty of training to Lyrica and the others, it's time for the Primals to have their share of training.