Chapter 1254: The Second Trumpet
Thunder crackled in the void surrounding them as the fabric of reality itself collapsed with a single attack.
Even without using the code, Shiro could see that her orbital cannon had wiped out a large chunk of 'existence' as a whole with several paths connecting realms together being severed permanently. A singularity had been formed, consuming the infinite void and leaving a zone where no light nor mana could escape.
But despite all this, Shiro could still sense Aria, causing a bead of sweat to drip from her head.
For the first time in a long while, Shiro felt unsettled by Aria's physical defences.
"You know nothing yet continue to jump headfirst into the unknown without even taking into account the consequences of your actions upon the entire realm! FOOLISH! ARROGANT! You fight for a cause with oblivion as the reward!" Aria's voice cut through the silence as mana erupted from her body.
Despite being in the centre of the null mana zone, she started to flood the entire area with energy causing it to stabilize for a brief moment as a tier 9 magic array appeared behind her.
"I know what I must do not because it is written in fate! I will do what I have done many cycles before!" Aria declared.
A second trumpet coalesced behind her as she brought it up to her mouth and activated the instrument before Shiro could even try to stop her.
As the wave of sound echoed out, the entire area seemed to have set on fire as all of the moisture was sucked out in an instant. Shiro barely managed to activate some defences but her right arm was caught just before she could protect it, causing it to be dried up into a husk.
Bloom and flames erupted out of her arm as a result of the first trumpet, giving Shiro no other choice than to tear her arm off her shoulder.
Quickly healing herself, she bent her body back with Aria's sword grazing the tip of her nose.
With every single slash, a wave of blood flame would wash over in an attempt to kill Shiro.
"Know that your resistance will only cause more people to suffer for your actions!"
Gritting her teeth in annoyance, Shiro had no other choice than to activate some of her berserk skills in order to keep up with Aria.
Energy enveloped Shiro's body as she ignored the blood flame and grabbed Aria by the wings. Throwing Vinri and Iriel aside, she latched onto Aria's back and plunged her teeth into her neck, tearing out a chunk of flesh before kicking against Aria's back and ripping out two of her wings.
Jumping back, Shiro took a sharp breath in as her arms were now drained of moisture. Two blades of nanobots formed around her shoulders, cutting off the arms so that it didn't spread to the rest of the body.
Just as Shiro was healing her arms, Aria healed her wounds and returned to peak condition.
"In the first cycle, after Anima had shredded the divinity of the original First Born of Creation, she could've ended the world but she was stopped. 'I' had used the last remaining vestiges of my life not to kill you. Because I had known doing so would be the worse case scenario. I burned everything I had! My chance at reincarnation! My soul! Everything! Just so that you will be sealed within a small domain at the edge of everything in the next cycle! Where your influence is weakest so that destruction would not befall the entire realm. But no, you would not stay there quietly! 'I' had burned everything only to 'wake' up and find out you continue to wreck havoc upon this land.
"Do you even comprehend what it's like to embrace death knowing you did everything, even burning the essence of your own being to seal someone because they couldn't be allowed to die nor get stronger? Only to wake up, and see that everything you did was futile?! My strength! GONE! My divinity, GONE! I had done everything I could but you still awakened." Aria shouted out in madness as her eyes burned red with fury. The flames around them surged with her emotions as the barrier she had put in place started to show signs of collapsing.
"Even with my powers gone, I have done my best during every cycle! Hoping to pave the way for the people you don't favour! How did it feel, Shiro!? How did it feel to erase thousands of worlds with your own hands?!" Aria questioned as she slammed her hand down.
Crimson energy burst forth from the blood and lashed out towards Shiro, each holding the power to kill a god with one blow.
Tilting her body to the side, Shiro dodged the first attack. Narrowing her eyes, she resummoned Vinri and Iriel before dashing forward. Reinforcing her hands with nanobots so that she didn't have to continuously harm herself to heal, Shiro vaulted over the second attack before flipping her body through the air.
Letting go of Vinri, she slammed her heel into the pommel, sending it forward at blistering speeds towards Aria.
Just as Aria attempted to brush it aside, Shiro swapped places with Vinri, her eyes glowing with the power of Error.
Several tier 9 magic circles gathered upon Iriel's blade as Shiro cleaved down with as much strength as she could muster. The sound of bones crunching under Iriel rang out as the blade dug deep into Aria's body but stopped midway.
Instead of focusing on defence, Aria reached out towards Shiro's stomach and tore out a large chunk of her flesh with her hands as blood flame poured into her body.
"Though I suppose you need to live up to your title as First Born of Destruction. Even if you strive for balance, you bring nothing but death and destruction! Run all you want but you cannot escape what you've been made to do!"
Lifting Shiro up slightly by her ribs, Aria twisted her body in a circle and kicked Shiro in the chest, shredding a hole through her chest before letting go and watching her body fly back towards the no mana zone she had created.
Before Aria could speak, she noticed a magic circle on her back as Shiro suddenly grabbed her by the face. Fury burning in her eyes as a wall of blades surrounded them.
Slamming Aria against the wall of blades, Shiro gritted her teeth and dashed while grinding Aria's head against the serrated edges. A trail of blood marked their path as Shiro didn't care what Aria was saying to dissuade her.
Her will was firm and it would not break under such meagre provocation. As long as she doesn't give up, there is always a chance. It is only when she stops do they lose all hope.
"ARGGGG!" Crying out with adrenaline, Shiro grabbed Aria's collar with her spare hand and attempted to rip her head off her body as she activated more berserk skills to enhance her strength.
The sound of muscle fibres tearing rang out as Aria's body dissolved into a burst of light.
*BANG!!!
An explosion pulsed out as Shiro's body was flung back. A barrier could be seen collapsing around her as it was activated at the last possible moment when Shiro realised Aria had escaped.
Tilting her head back, Shiro could see Aria floating in the sky with one hand across her neck with blood trickling through the gaps before being healed up.
Aria's face twisting with anger as she summoned the third trumpet.
Time suddenly stopped, causing Aria to widen her eyes as she didn't see Shiro cast the spell.
"I've been busy preparing traps for you while you were monologuing about how tough your life has been."
Seeing Shiro appear behind her, Aria couldn't react in time as she tore the arm holding the trumpet off her shoulders.
Roaring out in defiance, bones erupted out from Aria's back and stabbed into Shiro's body.
Feeling the moisture being drained out of her body at blistering speeds, Shiro could only give up momentarily and teleport away before healing herself. But this only gave Aria the chance she needed as the third trumpet was blown.
The blood surrounding the area started to turn purple as poisonous fumes were emitted by the liquid. But it wasn't poison in the traditional sense. The moment the fumes came into contact with the nanobots, corruption started to spread through the wave in an attempt to attack Shiro.
She recognised it to be a similar corruption to what the people in the world of creation suffered. The moment she is attacked by the 'poison', she risked her core being set off balance. While the chance was low, Shiro didn't want to risk that chance and immediately cut off the nanobots that had been affected.
Rotating her mana into an orb, she slammed it down, causing a wave of energy to push everything away from her and kept it at bay using rotational force.
When she glanced back at Aria, her body was mutating due to the effects of the third trumpet. Along with the wings, additional appendages were bursting out her back with vines created from bone.
A single glance into the code showed Shiro that Aria had a variety of energy surging limitlessly within her body that she was simply unable to contain fully.
But Aria didn't care, she didn't have the luxury of worrying about her safety.