SalivaSpittingWorm

Thanks for reading, if you like the story you know what to do. I want to thank everyone for the lovely reviews. Thank you very much for writing your opinion. I really appreciate it. I hope you enjoy the chapter. I decided it was time to give you a little information.

Peril Harbor - Three days before the attack on End of the World

A middle-aged woman in a simple dress and a long shawl over her shoulders walked slowly towards her home for the evening. She breathed on her fingers and rubbed her aching fingers, sensitive after a day's work.

She glanced up at the sky, growing dark, and to cut half an hour off her journey, she took one of the side streets. It was rarely used, so it was always deserted.

However, today it wasn't.

The woman glanced at the cloaked and thin figure leaning against the wall. One couldn't tell what gender it was because the person was wrapped in rags from head to knees, and all that was visible were the person's bare, dirty feet. As the woman approached, she could also smell the unpleasant odor of decay.

The person slowly moved its head in her direction, causing the woman to slow her step and consider whether she should turn back and take a longer route. But one wave of fatigue after another passed through her body; the vision of home was tempting and made her want to hurry. She didn't want to go back. She looked up at the sky again, and the fact that there was still light gave her reassurance to continue on.

As she approached, she heard the person whispering. "Cold... so cold... I'm freezing." The woman shivered and almost pressed herself against the opposite wall as she walked by, keeping a wary eye on the person. Other than turning its head in her direction, it didn't move.

She quickly walked past and listened to the mumbling of the crazy person. "Warm... it's warmer. Ah, it's warmer... so warm." There was an excited shiver in the voice, and it sent goosebumps up the woman's body.

"Warmer..."

The woman glanced back, feeling that the voice was not going away, and was startled to see that the person had followed her.

"Go away! I have nothing for you!" She called to the person, waving her hand as if trying to shoo away a stray cat.

The person raised her head when the woman let out a scream and started running. "Ah! Monster! Help!" She shouted.

She couldn't see the face clearly, but she could clearly see bulging red eyes and a disfigured gaping mouth over a large face. It was not the face of a human!

"Warm! Warmer!" She heard that thing behind her and looked quickly over her shoulder. "Ah!" She cried out in fright, for the thing was moving unnaturally fast, and with its arms raised and resembling claws, it raced at her heels.

The woman was running for her life, trying her best to speed up when she felt the thing touch the scarf around her shoulders. She immediately dropped it and used both hands to run.

The end of the alley was still far away, but she could see it now. She noticed that someone had walked through there. "Help! Help!" she cried desperately. The distant person looked up, but it was Peril Harbor. Few here had heroic tendencies. The person quickly ran off, leaving her at the mercy of fate.

"Bastard!" the woman was in tears.

In a chase where lives were on the line, no one paid attention to their surroundings. So neither the creature nor the woman saw the black orb with the red eyeball that swept through the air above their heads. The black eyeball stopped and looked down and darted towards the creature. The red pupil disappeared, and the black orb spread sideways.

A tall man in a suit suddenly leapt out of the black, sprawling shadow-like puddle, holding his top hat with one hand and clutching a walking cane in the other. He dropped down like a stone pillar right onto the back of the fleeing monster, which collapsed under the sudden onslaught.

THUMP!

There was a dull sound as the monster was reduced to nothing but a doormat of a tall man. "'Look at that~" the man said in a deep voice that sounded pleased.

"Ugh..." The creature below him snapped out of its stun and began to struggle.

Hellcage calmly lifted his leg high into the air without moving his body in any way and struck the monster violently.

Smack!

"Gah!" The monster groaned in pain.

"Be good and stay down." Hellcage said calmly. The monster turned its head and saw a pair of red glowing eyes staring at it from under the brim of the hat and froze. Then it began to tremble.

"You're the Coldfade that attacked Marik, aren't you? Hmm... I've been looking for you." He ran his eyes over the figure shivering beneath him. "You evolved pretty quickly despite everything." Hellcage squatted down and gripped the back of the monster's head with his long fingers. Black tendrils like worms ending in red dots began to spread out from his fingers and surround the monster's head.

"For a lowly creature like you to look with ill intent at someone belonging to our Liege is a disgusting and unforgivable act..." An angry hiss slipped into Hellcage's voice.

"Um. Excuse me?" Hellcage immediately withdrew his hand and looked up to see that the woman the monster had been chasing had returned. Hellcage straightened but didn't get off the monster, securing it in place with his weight. "Ma'am. You shouldn't have come back," he said, letting out a small sigh.

"Ah. I'm sorry, but you saved me. You're a hunter, aren't you? If it wasn't for you, I would have died. That monster almost got me. I had to come back and thank you." The woman smiled at Hellcage.

Hellcage removed the top hat from his head and pressed it to his chest with a slight bow. "There is no need to be thankful. Truly." As he straightened, he put it back on his head and offered the woman his hand, palm facing up. "You really shouldn't have come back, ma'am." He repeated as the woman placed her hand on his after a moment of hesitation and confusion.

"No. I just wanted to be polite..." The woman said, but Hellcage cut her off with a calm voice.

"If you hadn't come back, you might have lived longer. I'm sorry, ma'am, but I have my own rules to follow. No witnesses." As Hellcage said this, he gripped her hand tightly and pulled her to him.

The woman had surprise in her eyes. "What...?"

Blood spurted out as her body crashed into Hellcage's body, and the woman's eyes instantly became blank, and her entire body became lifeless. "Unfortunately, it seems that dying today was indeed your fate, ma'am." Hellcage remarked while watching as the woman's body was suddenly folded backward like folding paper, and the large mouth that appeared on his stomach gradually chewed up the victim.

It took a full minute to handle the victim. The moment the arms and legs disappeared into the big mouth, the mouth disappeared, and his clothes reappeared, which bore no sign of any mess.

Hellcage sighed. "How uncomfortable. But there's nothing to be done about it. Now back to you." He looked down at the monster, who was no longer shaking in fear. It just remained frozen, staring ahead.

"This has ruined a bit of my mood. Even though you deserve to die, I'll give you a chance. If you survive the task I give you, not only will I not kill you, but I will open the door to paradise." Hellcage let out a cold laugh.

Peril Harbor - 22nd Street the next morning

Marik watched Hellcage, who sat across from him, slowly sipping his morning coffee. Marik had dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep. At night, he underwent training with the Monster Hunters, and by day, he was busy preparing for the attack on the temple of the god of the Moon and Night.

Hellcage calmly sipped a cup of tea with his pinky raised in the air. Marik processed what Hellcage had told him. It hadn't occurred to him that he had deliberately sought out the Coldfade monster and finally discovered it yesterday. He also said that he wanted to use the monster in their plan for the attack. Although Marik couldn't call it an attack directly, but more of a complete mess-up with the god Baa.

"So. How are you going to use that thing? Coldfade, I mean," Marik finally asked after drinking most of his coffee.

Hellcage finished the rest of his tea and placed his cup on the table. "I'll just throw it in the temple and let it make some commotion there," he replied. "It's not Coldfade anymore, by the way. She evolved into a Warmseeker."

Marik rubbed his temple. "Coldfade or Warmseeker, it doesn't matter. If she... it's her, yes? If you release her into the temple, they'll kill her quickly. It's full of people with blessings."

Hellcage shrugged. "It doesn't matter. It will serve the purpose."

Marik eyed the nonchalant Hellcage curiously. "So... you don't mind? That she can die?"

Hellcage turned his head in confusion. "Why would it bother me?"

"Well... It is, after all... well... a monster. And you... we're not..." Marik struggled a bit with how to explain. But Hellcage already knew Marik pretty well, so he understood what he meant.

"Ah. You mean if I don't mind one of my kind dying, right? You don't have to worry about that, Marik. The only ones I care about are the residents of the End of the World and the followers of our Liege."

Marik was hesitantly silent, and Hellcage sighed. "Hm. I see. Marik, don't think about it too much. And you mustn't assume every monster is innocent. Monsters are monsters. They'll kill you if you hesitate." Hellcage held up a hand and scratched his temple as he thought about how to explain.

"If another human pulls a gun on you and threatens you with it, will you also think about his reasons for doing it and not defend yourself with all your might?" He gave him an example.

Marik did not hesitate to answer. "Of course, I would defend myself."

Hellcage nodded. "So there you have it. It's the same with monsters. In fact, in most cases, the monster will try to kill you. Kill them first, or if you want to consider them as possible followers for our Liege, always better knock them down anyway."

Marik took another sip of his coffee and frowned when he realized it had gone cold, so he set the cup aside since he didn't like cold coffee anymore. "But aren't all monsters potential followers?"

"All races follow our Liege, not just monsters," Hellcage shrugged, but then looked at Marik thoughtfully. "That's actually one of the few things I disagree with our Liege on. In my opinion, she should choose who she blesses carefully." He sighed resignedly.

"But she's rather stubborn about this. Or at least she was... After being betrayed, I hope she'll be more careful."

Marik's attention was immediately drawn when he started talking about Liege and how she had been betrayed. "Betrayal? What happened?" He tried to get more information out of Hellcage.

Hellcage remained silent, looking at Marik. " I believe I can tell you something now," he said slowly. "Do you remember the legend of the coming of the gods?"

Marik nodded. "Yes. The gods destroyed the old society, the land was destroyed, fragmented, and the world was plunged into darkness for many millennia." He quickly recalled a text from a book he had read many times.

"'Correct. I did some research on this world myself and managed to piece together a lot of things. First of all... the gods that came back then are not the same gods that are here today." He looked at Marik, who blinked in confusion.

"Um... what?" He thought so hard that deep lines formed on his forehead. "I mean... sure. During the God Wars, some died, but..."

"These are not the same gods." Hellcage interrupted his thoughts harshly.

"Wait... explain that to me." Marik was confused. Everyone knew that when a god died, another would quickly be born to replace them. For example, it was known that the God of Plants and Harvest had been reborn. The Sun Goddess was born after the sun reappeared. The God of Craft was renamed the God of Steam after discovering the power of steam and electricity. The God of Moon and Night created a replacement when the old god decided to go into eternal sleep. But otherwise, he hasn't heard of any of them being replaced.

"Some are probably dead. I'd have to go through the temple records from the higher places to know for sure who, but I can't get to those right now. But I'm sure the rest of the gods have ascended higher and become Higher Gods," Hellcage explained.

Marik blinked rapidly, his head beginning to ache as what he heard seemed rather surreal. "Higher Gods?"

Hellcage laughed briefly. "Indeed. All of these gods of yours, they're Lesser Gods. Every creature evolves. And so do the gods. Our Liege is now a Newborn God, then there are the Lesser Gods, followed by the Higher Gods. The Higher Gods then go to the Celestial Pantheon. Huh? Why are you so pale, Marik? Did you really think the gods had no other goals and have nowhere to advance to?"

Marik was rather shaken by the realization. More gods? Higher than theirs? Celestial Pantheon? "That... I mean... what's... even higher?" Marik asked with concern.

Hellcage paused dramatically. "Primordial Gods."

"Ah." Marik let out a long sigh and slumped lower in his chair. There was silence for a moment as Marik digested this and Hellcage let him.

It was a few minutes before Marik straightened up again. "All right. Good. But what does this have to do with our Liege?"

Hellcage held up a significant index finger. "That, my dear admirer, is a good question. Why am I telling you all this?"

Marik frowned, not liking Hellcage's deliberate teasing, but he forced himself to think about it. They were talking about traitors. But Hellcage started talking about gods. It didn't take long before he looked up in surprise. "Wait. Wait! The gods who destroyed the original world are the traitors?!"

Hellcage nodded.

Presence - South part of The End of the World - Corridors Maze

Archbishop Libertia watched the corridor in front of them, lined with mirrors, and just the thought of passing between them gave her chills.

*Mirrors were a tricky thing and had to be handled with great care. She herself knew that there was a two-thousand-year-old mirror hidden and secured in their secret archives that reflected everything except reality. More than one person had gone mad looking into that mirror, and there had even been recorded cases of complete disappearances.

So what Libertia saw were not just mirrors but a multitude of gateways to other worlds where anything could look back at her.

Libertia took a deep breath and reached forward.

"Φεγγάρι-άνοιξη, φως στο σκοτάδι της νύχτας, δείξε μου το δρόμο και δέσε με στο στόχο".

She said a prayer, and a tendril of white light flew out of her fingers, moving forward towards the end of the corridor. Halfway there, however, the silver thread suddenly bent and flew through the glass of the mirror, emerging from the next one a little further, only to plunge into the next and the next. By the time the end of the thread wrapped around the door handle at the end of the corridor, the other half of the corridor looked like it was tangled in a web.

"I thought so," Libertia exhaled, frowned, and turned to Vicar, who had been following her the whole time. "We'll move forward, keep your back to my back, and make sure nothing attacks us. Report anything unusual and use the strongest prayer you know to protect yourself." Vicar nodded quickly, trying to hide the way his knees were shaking.

The vicar did as she said and pressed his back against hers. It made Libertia feel somewhat uncomfortable, but at least now she had eyes on the back of her head.

"I'll go slowly. We'll run if we have to. If that's the case, you need to grab me and run."

She clutched her own talisman, and a silver shield shimmered around her and Vicar as they took a step. It was a little clumsy at first before the Vicar synchronized, but then they advanced without a hitch.

Libertia stared ahead at the thread, refusing to look at the mirrors around her. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do with her peripheral vision. She now regretted not having more holes made in her hood for her horns so she could pull it tighter to her face and narrow her vision.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see their reflections in the mirrors, looking and moving like them without a single hesitation. Yet her heart always beat faster for a moment as they moved from one mirror frame to another.

They hadn't even made it halfway down the corridor when the Vicar's trembling voice rang out.

"Archbishop... that... that mirror is strange."

Libertia frowned but didn't move her eyes. "Don't look in them too much."

"It's not... I mean, I don't look directly, but... "

Libertia halted her steps. "But what?"

"As we walked past, our reflections stopped in the middle and disappeared. And now there's nothing there. Nothing at all." Vicar looked toward a nearby mirror that didn't even reflect the opposite wall.

Libertia was concerned. "Our reflections have disappeared?" She allowed herself a sidelong glance at the mirror next to her and jerked.

Their reflections were there. She could see herself and Vicar behind her, but her face was blank, as if smeared with paint, all that remained was the hue of her skin, and it was the same with Vicar's face. Libertia shuddered, then gritted her teeth. That was why she hated mirrors. Anything with them was too much of a gamble.

She turned to Vikar and grabbed his shoulders, turning him towards her. But his golden mask looked fine.

"What about my face? Is there something wrong with it?" She asked.

Vicar shook his head. "No. It looks fine." He assured her, and Libertia sighed. She was worried that the mirror had already managed to do something to them. They may have had protection, but she still didn't have complete confidence.

Libertia shook her head. "Ignore it. The more we notice these things, the more tense and rushed we get." They returned to their original position and stepped forward again.

They had barely gone a few steps when they heard voices. Libertia stopped dead in her tracks again and stared ahead.

"Haha... what are you wearing? Are you hoping to finally catch someone this year?" A woman's voice rang out.

"What? Doesn't it look good on me?" another, also female, replied.

"That's not it. It's just not your style."

Libertia raised an eyebrow at the conversation. She kind of expected to hear voices, ghosts, and who knows what else, but not the voices of two women talking about clothes. She took another step, intending to ignore the voices, but what she heard next stopped her in her tracks.

"You didn't read that? They've been repeating 'Scream' in every print for almost a week now."

"I haven't had time. What's going on again?"

"Lord Abraham is attending this year."

For a moment, there was stunned silence, but the silence also came from Libertia, who hadn't expected to hear that name.

"Aaaah! Lord Abraham? Really? You're not lying? He finally got permission?"

Libertia's legs trembled, and she took a quick step forward to make the Vicar stagger in surprise and almost fall. She quickly walked over to the mirror from which she heard voices and looked into it.

"Ah," Libertia gasped in surprise.

The mirror reflected the view of the black city. The buildings were pure black, as if they were built from cooled lava. The houses were tall, some at least five stories high, and the streets were black as well, lined with street lamps that glowed even in broad daylight. People and non-people walked quietly along the streets, but most stood looking up.

Two young women stood in the mirror with their backs to Libertia. They were dressed gauntly, but their long, thin tails tipped with sharp points curled excitedly behind them, their muddy wings opening and closing excitedly as they talked. Both girls also had horns on their heads.

"This..." Libertia was stunned. This was the original appearance of her race. But she had never really seen a Kadion who still had everything. When she saw the women's wings move, she felt the scars on her back itch. When she saw their tails curl, she unconsciously wiggled a little, as if she suddenly got the feeling of a phantom hand. Someone who had suddenly lost a limb but somehow could still feel it.

She saw a lot of Kadion on the streets, but she also saw a lot of them flying in the air. They were jumping off buildings and flying into the air. In fact, there was more traffic in the air than on the ground. There were strange round objects floating in the air with wings that stayed in place and had a red or blue eye in the center that changed color on its own after a while.

Whenever the red eye appeared, the Kadion in the air would stop, and a number of other Kadions would fly past in a different direction. When the eye changed back to blue, the ones that had been hovering before went forward.

"This..." Libertia repeated, still stunned, not knowing what else to say.

"Archbishop?" Vicar heard beside her but found it hard to tear her gaze away. Why was her heart pounding so hard?

"Ah! It is the Thorn Castle! Look!" Suddenly the girl's back cried out, pointing upwards with her hand.

"I see! I see! It's true! Lord Abraham will indeed be attending this year's Mating Festival!" She shouted down while the two holding hands jumped up and down.

"Mating Festival?" Libertia repeated while she also looked up. The Mating Festival was an ancient ritual, but due to the current situation, it couldn't be performed. According to the elders' stories, it was a flight dance. When single Kadions flew through the air in search of a mate. Flight dynamics were once very important to the Kadions, and in most cases, these couples never separated again.

Kadions in modern times used a similar method but could no longer fly, so instead chose a mate through normal dancing. However, Libertia assumed that the faction that refused to have their wings and tail removed continued to hold the Mating Festival.

Libertia couldn't think about it anymore as she stared at the large piece of cliff coming through the air. It was a black majestic castle with many towers and terraces on which other Kadions stood, waving to those who flew by or jumped straight off the terraces themselves to join those in the air.

Libertia approached the glass. "Thorn Castle." The residence of their ancestor and god Lord Abraham. She had heard of it but never knew it looked like this! She also had no idea that Thorn Castle could float.

Soon, a large man came out onto one of the balconies. Libertia immediately walked closer to the mirror, almost touching his nose.

"Archbishop!" The Vicar called out again, but Libertia ignored him. She was mesmerized by everything she saw. Her heart danced, her brain told her to be careful and that it was all an illusion, but her heart told her that what she was seeing was history. The history of her people.

"Lord Abraham! Lord Abraham!" Kadion all began to chant; it sounded like hundreds of voices, even Libertia couldn't help but say his name softly.

The man on the balcony raised his hands to greet everyone. He was a blue and good-looking man. Handsome with ebony black hair and beard. He had the build of a warrior, and the light armor of green with gold trim and ornaments only accentuated his strong physique. His horns were turned to the side and pointing upwards, and behind his back were a pair of powerful black wings.

"Welcome, my people! Without further delay, let us begin the Mating Festival!" He shouted in a strong, commanding voice that carried far away as he jumped off the balcony himself. His wings spread wide, and when he caught the undercurrent of warm air, it carried him high into the air.

"Hooray!" Everyone present shouted excitedly and threw themselves into the air. The people who were not of their race remained standing in the street, cheering and clapping loudly for everyone. Kadions of all sizes and colors flew through the air, filling the sky. Some clashed in the air in an embrace before breaking away from each other and flying on, while others had remained close to each other and began to chase each other through the air, twirling around each other, tangling their tails, and dancing around each other.

CRACK!

Not long after, the earth and sky shook, and there was a loud cracking sound. As Libertia watched the air dance on the mute, the sky suddenly cracked. A long crack appeared and slowly grew larger.

Everyone in the air stopped and looked upwards.

A rumbling sound that resembled heavenly drums carried through the sky, and the earth began to groan and shake. The buildings began to sway due to the tremors, and the people who were standing on the ground began to fall to the ground.

Everyone watched in shock as the crack in the sky continued to widen before it stopped for a moment.

Shatter!

And then the sky shattered. Cosmic vortices rippled through the cracks in the sky, shattering the sky even more. The earth began to shift at that moment, large chunks of earth popping out of themselves into the sky or sinking into the ground. Houses were being torn down in all directions or falling.

"Aaaaah!" Someone started screaming, and that was like a trigger. Everybody started screaming and running.

Lord Abraham flew high into the air. "Calm down! Everybody down! Help the flightless!" he shouted, flying up to the crack himself.

He raised his arms, and his entire figure began to erupt with energy. He raised his hands above his head, but whatever he was about to do he didn't manage to finish.

A golden chain flew in from somewhere from the side and wrapped around his arm, pulling him to the side. Lord Abraham looked in that direction with eyes glowing with power. "You!"

BOOM! BOOM!

Explosions shook the sky, and the sky suddenly began to fall. Lord Abraham looked up at the descending sky and quickly cut the golden chain with his free hand, but more chains came from the side, dozens of them, wrapping around his body.

Lord Abraham roared angrily and broke the chains. He fought off more chains with his fists but quickly flew towards the descending sky.

There were other Kadions flying towards Abraham who decided to help their master. They began to glow with blue energy and formed their forces, attacking the golden chains that constantly bothered Abraham, but few of them could stop them. They were torn and scattered like a swarm of flies, falling to the ground below.

But before the fight could continue, a blue-tinged wave of energy rushed through the air, and everything suddenly froze. The sky continued to shatter, the ground continued to shake, but nothing else moved.

The sky continued to fall, and what it touched disappeared. To Libertia, who was watching everything through a mirror, it looked like the sky was trying to connect with the earth. The sky was falling, and the earth was rising. The moment the two merged, everything went black.

Libertia remained standing in front of the mirror, feeling her heart beating fast, her breath shortening, and sweat running down her back and forehead. "No... no... what happened... what happened to Lord Abraham? What happened!" She cried urgently, gripping the edges of the mirror as she tried to shake it.

"Archbishop!" The Vicar next to her grabbed her arm. Unlike her, he saw nothing in the mirror but her reflection itself. He knew something was wrong, but he was afraid to pull her away from the mirror because she might be caught in some illusion and it might damage her mind.

The glass in the mirror wavered, and a black hand shot out, covered in bright points like a starry sky. Libertia was startled and pulled away quickly, but not quickly enough. Long fingers ran over her cheek, burning through skin and flesh until the white bone of her skull was revealed.

"Aaah!" Libertia cried out in pain and immediately sent a stream of silver light into the mirror. The mirror shattered, and the black hand fell to the ground, where it slid into a dark puddle.

"Hahaha. Your terror and despair taste sweet, Archbishop." A young male voice sounded in the corridor.

Libertia was in pain, but quickly came to her senses. The terror she had experienced at the sight of the destruction of her own race persisted.

"Is that... true?" She asked softly, her eyes scanning the hallway.

"Hahaha. If it weren't true, it wouldn't shake your heart so much." There was a reply, and a figure in tattered clothes and starry skin appeared in all the mirrors in the corrido

SalivaSpittingWorm

*According to spirituality, as older the mirror gets, the more its ability to reflect reality is distorted. From personal experience, I recommend being wary of mirrors.