The light of hope

The large amount of energy gathering in one stop pushed all the gods to move away from Seth, Krum included.

After his previous experience with Seth, Krum didn’t dare take another detonation head-on but remained vigilant. Seth’s prior trick of being alright after a detonation was still fresh in his mind.

As everyone gathered their energies to protect themselves, a bright light shone into the darkness of space, blinding everyone involved.

Seth, who had just used enough energy to ensure Maya won’t get injured and was about to pull the trigger on his detonation, also paused, moving his eyes toward the source of all that light.

“This…” muttered Razim, suddenly raising a barrier made out of water energy before her. The same reaction came from all the gathered gods, all using their powers to protect themselves, while Krum used his hands to cover his vitals.

Seth was the only person who didn’t waste any effort to protect himself, instead just staring into the light as a feeling of relief washed over his soul.

Rays of light shifted and hit every god assembled without exception. On the other hand, Seth felt his sources slowly shrouded in a gentle, comfortable light.

‘Stop the detonation. We’re leaving," a firm and familiar voice resounded in Seth’s soul through Lust’s link. He wasted no moment stopping his detonation, allowing all the gathered energy to dissipate and his vortexes to stop revolving.

<Energy levels at 0%>

<Average damage at 42%>

The system informed Seth of the consequences of his canceled detonation, but Seth didn’t care as his senses blurred, and he was carried away by the light covering his sources.

By the time the other gods had fended off the sudden attack and could see again, the place where Seth stood beforehand was empty, and a comet of light was trailing off into the distance.

Krum and Gaia’s faces fell while Dukbium exclaimed, “It’s her.”

On the other hand, Razim allowed the water energy she used to protect herself to dissipate and smiled lightly as she watched the direction the comet was heading, back toward Seth’s world.

Remembering Seth’s conversation with Gaia about Seth’s world being under the Tower’s protection, Razim allowed her body to dissolve into energy and drifted away, heading in the same direction.

Razim was also not the only one. Almost everyone gathered there was charging after the comet at a moment’s notice, with Krum taking the lead, running through space like she was walking on hard ground.

Dukbium and Vayu followed right after, turning into energy forms and flying just a few steps behind Krum.

Gaia was the only one who chose against following after Seth, instead returning to her world and disappearing in the opposite direction. She knew that the Tower had not rescinded its ward against her and that she had no hope of ever catching up to a light divinity.

Also, with Krum now free from any restrictions, she could only leave it to him to deal with Seth in his world, but for some reason, she had a bad feeling about everything.

Far into the distance, Seth allowed his thoughts to follow the lust link and said, ‘You have no idea how happy I am to see you, Leora.’

‘Me too, Seth. Quick question: I started running home impulsively, but I don’t know if it’s safe. Should we change direction?’

‘Home is fine. Krum might be able to beat me, but I know someone he has no chance against.’

‘Alright. Do you want me to break a spike? We can reach there faster.’

‘No need. None can catch up to you, but be ready to do it if the Tower appears. Even if the chances are low, that thing can move through space, so don’t hesitate.’

‘I understand.’

Seth sighed and said, ‘I’m sorry, Leora. For not being able to help you… I ended up needing your help instead.’

‘What are you talking about? I’m just happy I got there in time… Also, I thought gods were such big deals, but those two… I am quite disappointed. Nothing but relentless idiots.’

Seth chuckled, knowing how Dukbium and Vayu’s chase must have gone, ‘Have you tried speaking to them?’

‘I did. After I pulled the two far enough from our world and got used to my divinity, I waited for them to ask what they wanted, but that ugly bastard told me he wanted me to be his and straight on attacked me.’

‘Haha, I’m surprised you didn’t try to kick his ass.’

‘I wanted to, but Light said I can’t fight them yet or I’ll lose, so I just ran again. I would stop and hide into some star, using my energy to cover my presence and focus on gathering more energy, but those two always had a way of finding me every couple of months or so, so I’ll have to move again. What happened to you? Where did you disappear?’

‘It’s a long story, but in short, I was traveling through time. I’ll get you up to speed later. How did you find me?’

‘Oh, Light felt a Darkness divinity manifesting and told me it happened back home. The two fools chasing after me also turned toward our home, so I followed them from a distance.’

‘That’s when I stumbled upon the fight between you and that thing, so I continued to remain hidden in a mirage, waiting to see what would happen, but after Light told me you’re detonating your sources, I couldn’t wait anymore and acted.’

‘I wonder why Lust couldn’t feel you before….’

‘Because someone was blocking the link before now,’ commented Lust, hijacking the link Seth and Leora used to communicate.

‘Who is that?’ asked Leora.

‘My lust source’s will. The same type of existence as Light, more or less,’ said Seth.

‘Oh, sorry about that. I didn’t block the link on purpose,’ Leora quickly apologized. ‘I spent most of my time forming illusions around my divinity to try and find a way not to get spotted, and it became a habit.’

‘It’s fine. Lust is just overreacting. How long do you think it will take you to get home?’

‘Hmm, half an hour?’

‘Alright. I’ll try to recover as much energy as I can until then. You focus on watching out for the Tower.’

‘Mhmm.’

Seth closed the link and slowly started recovering his energy. As Seth expected, the Tower didn’t intervene, and the rest of the journey went smoothly.

By the time they had reached his world’s atmosphere, Seth had barely recovered about 30% of his energy, but it was better than nothing.

With the system informing him of their imminent arrival, Seth restored the link and quickly said, ‘Don’t go to Endora yet. Drop us in Pain.’

‘Pain?’ asked Leora, but before Seth could reply, a loud cracking noise resounded all around, and they landed on the ground, the light covering Seth’s source fading away and forming Leora’s body.

Leora’s pure white skin was covered in a long white gown, and she smiled wide as she looked at the seven sources hovering mid-air.

Seth materialized his body, keeping Maya still sealed for now, and smiled back at Leora, “You’re even more beautiful than I remembered.”

With Leora lowering her head, Seth came close to hug her, but before he had the chance to, her body disappeared and reappeared a few feet behind, leaving Seth standing awkwardly with his hands outstretched and one of his eyebrows raised questionably.

Leora’s face turned red, and she quickly said, “It was not me… Light, please.”

“Hmph,” a snort resounded in the air as light energy gathered and formed into a white orb hovering to the side, “You didn’t even thank me for saving you, and now you plan on getting all handsy with my host?”

Seth ignored the orb of light, teleporting before Leora and continuing what he had started. Moving his arms around her waist, Seth held her gently onto her lower back and brought his face just a few inches from hers, staring right into her silvery eyes.

“I missed you,” whispered Seth, bending forward and giving her small, rosy lips a brief peck.

Leora’s slim hands moved around Seth’s head, playing with his soft hair as she nodded and kissed him back, “I missed you too, Seth.”

Feeling the rage coursing through her companion, Leora giggled, and she peeked at the orb of light sitting behind Seth as she said, “That’s your fault, Light. You should apologize. We both know you wouldn’t be here if not for Seth.”

After reprimanding her divine will, Leora looked into Seth’s eyes and said, “I’m sorry. She can be a bit mean, but she’s a kind soul. Much like somebody else I care deeply about.”

Seth could feel his face reddening with Leora’s surprisingly profound words and cleared his throat, turning to look straight up at the large hole that was slowly fixing itself.

“I didn’t expect you to rush straight through the seal placed on Pain.”

Leora giggled softly and didn’t call Seth on the change of topic, looking up and asking, “Is there any issue? I can fix it if so.”

“Not really. I hope that didn’t hurt any of the council members….”

Leora shook her head, “There was no soul presence in the energy I broke.”

“That’s normal since they have no souls… Well, no matter. We needed to get in anyway.”

Leora lowered her head and looked at the strange fields before her as she asked, “What happened with this place? It feels so heavy and… bloody?”

Seth nodded and followed her look, gazing at the red mist in the distance, “I couldn’t have described it better myself. I’ll tell you everything once we’re out of this predicament, but first, there’s someone we must meet.”

“Alright,” replied Leora, allowing Seth to hold onto her hand as she drew Light’s avatar back inside her body. Space energy covered the two in the next moment, and they appeared right in the center of the fog.

Leora’s eyes turned brighter, and she peered even through the fog, her eyebrows scrunching up at the sight before her.

Mummified people were crucified all over the capital, their bodies withered and bloodless. Strangely, they were still alive and moving, their pains lingering weakly in the atmosphere.

“What is this place?” asked Leora.

Seth sighed and said, “The feeding ground of two horrors.”